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Adani Group announced a $100 billion investment through 2035 to build AI‑optimised data centres powered by renewable energy, one of India’s largest private digital‑infrastructure pledges. The plan aims to meet surging demand for AI compute while reducing carbon intensity, but realization will depend on financing, grid upgrades, storage and supply‑chain partnerships.

Palestinian Ambassador Jawad celebrated his first Lunar New Year in China, using the occasion to emphasize deepening China–Palestine ties amid Beijing’s broader outreach to Arab states. His remarks—set against a $100 million Chinese pledge for Gaza reconstruction and the upcoming China–Arab Summit—underscore China’s growing diplomatic and humanitarian role in the Middle East.

The United States has moved additional air and missile-defence assets into the Middle East and repositioned aircraft from the UK ahead of indirect talks with Iran in Geneva, signaling pressure and preparing for possible military options. The surge aims to strengthen bargaining leverage but increases the risk of miscalculation and regional escalation with wide economic and strategic consequences.

Iran’s IRGC navy held major drills in the Strait of Hormuz on February 17, 2026, with its commander saying the force could close the strait rapidly if necessary. The exercise is a calibrated display of asymmetric maritime capability designed to deter adversaries and exert leverage, while full closure would be costly and escalatory for Tehran.

Apple is accelerating development of three AI-focused wearables — high-end smart glasses, a clip-or-necklace pendant and camera-enhanced AirPods — that rely on Siri and visual context awareness while remaining tethered to the iPhone. The company aims to start production on its glasses prototype by December 2026 with a 2027 launch, and is also expanding AI into home devices; success hinges on major improvements to Siri, privacy safeguards and consumer acceptance.

Elon Musk has opened a candidate public beta of Grok 4.2, requiring users to opt in and inviting public feedback. The model claims a new fast‑learning capability and will receive weekly updates accompanied by release notes, accelerating xAI’s iterative development approach but raising questions about safety and oversight.

Anthropic released Claude Sonnet 4.6, a model that can perform multi-step computer tasks like filling web forms and coordinating across browser tabs, and claims better resistance to prompt injection attacks. The upgrade accelerates practical automation while raising new security and governance challenges as AI agents gain control of interfaces.

Apple is rapidly developing three AI-focused wearables—a pair of smart glasses, a clip-or-necklace pendant and more capable AirPods—each built around a visually aware Siri and integrated tightly with the iPhone. The initiative signals Apple’s ambition to lead multimodal, AI-enabled consumer hardware while navigating technical, privacy and regulatory hurdles.

The United States has redeployed aircraft, extended troop rotations and sent more air‑defence systems and a second carrier strike group into the Middle East ahead of indirect talks with Iran in Geneva on 17 February. Washington intends the posture to squeeze Tehran at the negotiating table while retaining the option of military action if diplomacy fails, a gambit that raises the risk of regional escalation and market disruption.

A Chinese report says that after Tehran signalled a possible US move away from military action, President Trump issued a one-month ultimatum and the US sent a second carrier group to the Middle East. The combination of hardline deadlines, naval deployments and a volatile regional context raises the risk of miscalculation with serious implications for energy markets and global stability.

A firm reported buying 2,486 bitcoins for about $168.4 million, bringing its holdings to 717,131 BTC with a total spend of roughly $54.52 billion and an average cost of $76,027 per coin. The move underscores growing corporate adoption of bitcoin but raises questions about market concentration, accounting, and financing risks.

The US has sent 18 F‑35A fighters from RAF Lakenheath to the Middle East with tanker support, marking one of the largest recent F‑35 movements to the region. The deployment is a calibrated show of advanced airpower intended to deter Iran but carries risks of escalation and logistical strain.

U.S. F-16s scrambled twice on 15 February to investigate high-altitude objects over northern California and Nevada; NORAD later determined the contacts were meteorological balloons and not a threat. The response underscores persistent post-2023 sensitivity to unidentified aerial objects and the operational burden of distinguishing benign payloads from hostile surveillance.

AI is set to be the defining force in consumer electronics for the lunar Year of the Horse, driving changes across chips, sensors and software. While foldable phones are a logical battleground — and a possible next hit for Apple — the real competition will be about integrating efficient on-device intelligence, managing supply-chain costs and meeting regulatory expectations.

Iran’s IRGC conducted the main phase of naval exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on 17 February 2026, with commanders asserting the ability to close the waterway quickly if required. The move underscores a persistent vulnerability for global energy shipments and raises the prospect of heightened naval deployments, insurance costs, and diplomatic friction.

Staff at a military-run rest home in Lanzhou spent Lunar New Year’s Eve providing companionship and listening to the stories of elderly veterans, including a 99-year-old Korean War veteran and a 102-year-old resident. The occasion combined social care with informal ‘‘red education,’’ demonstrating how China preserves revolutionary memory as its veteran generation ages.

India has signalled plans to marshal about $200 billion to build data centres that will underpin a national AI push, a package that reportedly includes commitments from Google, Microsoft and Amazon. The pledge underscores New Delhi’s ambition to secure compute capacity and foster a domestic AI ecosystem, but faces major logistical, fiscal and regulatory hurdles before it can deliver results.

A major Chinese AI startup raised over $700 million in a round led by Alibaba and Tencent, valuing it above $10 billion. The founder — a post‑1990s entrepreneur — said the company holds more than ¥10 billion in cash and is not pursuing an IPO, highlighting a shift toward long‑term, control‑oriented growth amid an intensely competitive AI funding surge.

A Chinese Academy of Sciences institute reports an aluminium‑based lithium‑ion battery that, when fitted to a production EV, sustained over 92% discharge efficiency and charged to 90% in 20 minutes after a 24‑hour soak at −25°C. The result, if validated and scalable, could reduce winter range loss and simplify thermal management, widening EV usability in cold markets.

China’s Spring Festival Gala prominently featured humanoid robots whose stage performances were presented as signs that embodied intelligence is moving from innovation into industry. Firms showcased advances in facial actuators, dynamic balance and large embodied datasets, a combination that could accelerate commercialization but raises questions about robustness, safety and regulation.