Daily News Brief — February 24, 2026

Geopolitics

★ Trump weighs "limited strikes" on Iran as US military warns of prolonged conflict (Reuters) | Israeli official says US military action against Iran is only a matter of time (Yicai)

★ Four years into Ukraine war, Russia faces increasing pressure but fighting continues (Reuters) | Nearly 2 million casualties as war becomes brutal daily reality (Caixin)

China restricts exports to Japan including 20 defense companies (Caixin)

Panama cancels China-linked port deal, hands canal terminals to Maersk and MSC (CNBC)

Russia investigates Telegram founder Durov in bid to control messaging app (Reuters)

UK PM Starmer meets Xi as UK-China relations evolve (Sinocism)

Hungary blocks new EU Russia sanctions, escalating energy dispute with Ukraine (Caixin)

Tech & AI

★ Meta announces major AI chip deal with AMD worth up to $60 billion over five years (NYT) | AMD stock surges 12% on Meta deal (Yicai)

Nvidia results face Wall Street skepticism amid AI spending concerns (CNBC)

IBM posts steepest daily drop since 2000 after Anthropic says AI can modernize COBOL (Reuters)

Anthropic joins OpenAI in flagging "industrial-scale" distillation campaigns by Chinese AI firms (CNBC)

★ Chinese AI startup MiniMax sees massive surge with 3T weekly token usage during Lunar New Year (36kr)

ByteDance lights up its "ChatGPT moment" during Spring Festival (LatePost)

Economy & Trade

★ Trump imposes new 10% global tariff after Supreme Court ruling blocks higher rates (Reuters) | China says it will decide on tariff countermeasures (Reuters)

US factory orders fall in December on commercial aircraft bookings (Reuters)

Fed's Goolsbee calls for rate cut hold as inflation remains problematic (CNBC)

Home Depot beats quarterly sales estimates on professional customer demand (Reuters)

China leaves benchmark lending rates unchanged for ninth straight month (Reuters)

Gold falls over 1% as dollar strengthens (Reuters)

US Politics

Trump to deliver State of the Union as voters sour on his economy (CNBC)

Most Americans say Trump is growing erratic with age, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds (Reuters)

ICE whistle-blower says training is 'broken' amid controversy over OpenAI and mass shooter (NYT)

Mandelson arrested over Epstein connections in UK political scandal (Reuters)

Only in Chinese Sources

Lunar New Year travel: 596 million trips, spending exceeds 803 billion yuan (Yicai)

Hong Kong receives over 1.5 million mainland Chinese visitors during holiday period (Caixin)

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and 20 Japanese defense firms added to China's export control list (Caixin)

Former UK ambassador to US Mandelson arrested in Epstein scandal, UK PM approval drops to new low (Caixin)

Sanya "occupied" by Russian tourists during Lunar New Year (TMT Post)

Spring Festival box office down 40% year-over-year (TMT Post)

JD.com founder Richard Liu announces 5 billion yuan investment in yacht business (Yicai)

China's PBoC chief discusses monetary policy in Xinhua interview (Sinocism)

Only in English Sources

The Looming Taiwan Chip Disaster That Silicon Valley Has Long Ignored (NYT)

How Russia Put Its Future at Risk by Remaking Its Economy for War (NYT)

These Ukrainians Don't Want to Be Traded to Russia for Peace (NYT)

Mexican forces say they tracked El Mencho to cabin by following his lover (NYT)

Russian soldiers describe commanders ordering executions of troops who refuse orders (BBC)

Waymo opens robotaxi service to 'select riders' in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Orlando (CNBC)

Novo Nordisk to slash GLP-1 list prices by up to 50% in US (CNBC)

South Korea's Hyundai Motor warns US tariff pressure may intensify (Reuters)

Stripe valued at $159 billion after tender offer (CNBC)

Reddit fined £14m for 'concerning' child age check failings (BBC)