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China will require food-delivery platforms to verify merchant licences, perform on-site checks at least every six months, and publicly display qualification information as part of new rules effective June 1. The measures aim to eliminate unlicensed “ghost” sellers, make platforms legally responsible for oversight and tighten penalties for violations, while posing operational and competitive challenges for platforms and small merchants.

All 31 Chinese provinces have reiterated a central directive to tighten administrative spending in 2026, seeking to free funds for core economic and social priorities. While many report concrete savings in items like official travel and meeting budgets, officials also acknowledge enforcement shortfalls and limited remaining scope for cuts, raising questions about substitution effects and broader fiscal health.

A tightening of global supplies for yttrium and scandium has prompted some US aerospace and semiconductor suppliers to ration or refuse orders. The shortage, rooted in near‑total production concentration outside the United States, risks disrupting engine maintenance and 5G chip supply chains and is forcing firms to prioritize major customers while policymakers weigh mitigation steps.

Hong Kong’s housing market has staged a clear rebound in 2025–26, with transaction volumes and prices rising after years of decline. Policy easing on buyer taxes, lower mortgage costs, rising rents and renewed mainland demand have combined to push Hong Kong ahead of mainland Chinese cities, where price falls have merely narrowed rather than reversed.

The People’s Bank of China will cut the foreign‑exchange risk reserve on forward sales to 0% from 20% starting 2 March 2026, a measure intended to lower hedging costs for firms, release bank liquidity, and shift toward more market-driven exchange‑rate management. The move comes as the renminbi has strengthened sharply and signals Beijing’s preference for normalised, market-based tools while retaining broader stability mandates.

China’s 2026 Spring Festival box office posted an eight‑year low in revenue and admissions despite record screenings and lower ticket prices, highlighting a structural shift in audience habits. Younger viewers are drifting to short‑form drama platforms, concentrating profits in tech firms and forcing a painful repricing of the traditional film industry.

Trip.com reported strong 2025 results with revenue of 624 billion yuan and net profit of 334 billion yuan, buoyed by a large one‑off investment gain. The company’s persistently high margins have strained upstream hotels and homestays, prompting an antitrust investigation and boardroom departures. Regulators are signalling a push to rebalance profits across the travel ecosystem, creating an uncertain outlook for Trip.com’s margin sustainability.

A post‑holiday surge in the renminbi has erased gains for many Chinese retail investors who chased higher yields by buying dollar deposits. With U.S. dollar rates no longer far above yuan deposit rates and the RMB appreciating, interest income has often failed to cover currency conversion losses. The episode underscores that foreign‑currency deposits are an FX bet, and banks’ product offerings, while intact, require clearer retail risk communication.

Pakistan’s security agencies released video claiming an airstrike on Kabul, a move that, if verified, would represent a significant escalation in cross-border operations and heighten regional tensions. The footage serves both as a potential record of action and a strategic signal to militants and regional actors, with verification and diplomatic fallout now central concerns.

A Rocket Force launch battalion that once chased speed records has deliberately slowed parts of its training after a near-miss revealed the dangers of prioritising time over procedure. Commanders used political education and procedural drilling to shift incentives toward disciplined, system-level performance, producing steadier and ultimately faster readiness in realistic drills.

Debris recovered on a Keelung beach, including items bearing navy insignia and a personal seal, has intensified public criticism of the Taiwan navy’s waste handling. The fleet command said the materials were from an earlier batch and blamed incomplete cleaning and seasonal winds, but citizens are demanding clearer accountability and better environmental practices.

Anthropic has publicly refused a Pentagon demand for unrestricted access to its AI model Claude, citing ethical and safety limits on mass surveillance and fully autonomous weapons. The Defense Department reportedly threatened to label the company a supply-chain risk and invoke the Defense Production Act; talks between Anthropic's CEO and the defense secretary did not resolve the dispute.

On February 27, Pakistani airstrikes struck parts of Kabul, Kandahar and Paktia, confirmed by Afghan government spokesman Mujahid; no casualties were reported. The strikes followed days of cross-border firefights and signal a marked escalation in Islamabad's response to threats it attributes to militants operating from Afghan soil.

Maduro’s U.S. attorney has moved to dismiss the criminal case, saying the U.S. Treasury briefly licensed then rescinded permission for him to accept Venezuelan state funds, effectively blocking payment for the president’s defense. The motion raises novel legal questions about whether sanctions-related executive actions can so impair a defendant’s right to counsel that a court must dismiss charges or provide other remedies.

A third round of indirect Iran–U.S. talks has ended with Iranian officials reiterating that Tehran will not pursue nuclear weapons. The mediated talks seek technical compromises on enrichment limits, IAEA access, and sanctions relief, but translating broad assurances into verifiable measures will be the essential next step.

A market forecast warns that an AI-driven shortage of DRAM and NAND will depress global smartphone shipments to about 1.1 billion units this year and keep memory tight through 2027. Contract prices for DRAM and NAND are expected to surge sharply, hitting low-margin Android brands hardest while advantaging suppliers and premium device makers.

OpenRouter data shows Chinese AI models surpassed US counterparts in weekly token usage in February 2026, driven by multiple efficient architectures and low costs. Markets split: Chinese cloud, data‑centre and power stocks surged while Nvidia’s valuation plunged, signalling a potential reallocation of AI value away from high‑end GPUs toward models and low‑cost infrastructure.

Kioxia has appointed Yoshihiko Kawamura as CFO effective April 1, 2026. The finance chief will be central to steering the memory-chip maker through capital expenditure decisions, market cycles and geopolitical headwinds as demand from data centres and AI grows.

Kuaishou’s 2026 Spring Festival campaign produced record daily activity driven by gamified cash incentives and QR‑based greetings, with a 60% rise in users of a shake‑to‑get red‑envelope feature and nearly 80 million participants across key events. The results highlight the platform’s skill at converting cultural rituals into digital engagement, but leave open questions about sustainability and costs.