Day: February 12, 2026

Former McKinsey partner to lead Australian opposition party

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Australia’s main opposition party has ousted its leader Sussan Ley after only nine months and replaced her with a former McKinsey partner. Angus Taylor pledged to return the Liberal Party to a conservative social and economic agenda to step up opposition to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who won a second term in a landslide last year. Taylor, who was elected on Friday in a leadership vote of MPs, known as…

Japan seizes Chinese fishing boat inside its economic waters amid rift with Beijing

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Authorities in Japan have seized a Chinese fishing boat and arrested its captain in a move that is likely to inflame an ongoing diplomatic row between Tokyo and Beijing. The seizure, which occurred on Thursday about 170km from the south-western port city of Nagasaki, came after the skipper refused an order to stop for an onboard inspection, according to media reports. A Japanese fisheries agency vessel intercepted the Chinese boat and its 11 crew after spotting it in Japan’s exclusive economic zone – an area within 200 nautical miles (370km)…

Africa’s yuan pivot: why more top lenders are eyeing China’s bond market

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Beijing’s push to internationalise the yuan is gaining a new vehicle in Africa as another major multilateral lender is set to diversify towards the Chinese currency to slash borrowing costs and reduce the risks of dollar volatility. Multilateral lender Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has confirmed that a debut panda bond issuance is “on the table for this year”, as it looks to deepen its ties with Chinese capital markets following last year’s successful triple-A Chinese rating. Banji Fehintola, the executive director for financial services at the AFC, said that entering…

Trade bellwether Singapore says global ‘fragility’ will hit economy

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. After a turbulent year defined by geopolitical tensions and tariffs, Singapore’s economy came through relatively unscathed. Yet the city-state — widely seen as a bellwether for global trade — has warned that the worst is yet to come. “Despite mounting stresses, the global economy proved more resilient than anticipated and the system continued to function,” Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said during his budget speech this week. “This year, however,…

Bangladesh dynastic heir defeats Islamist challengers in post-uprising election

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The heir to one of Bangladesh’s main political dynasties is set to take power after the country’s first general election since a student-led revolution toppled longtime leader Sheikh Hasina in 2024. Several local broadcasters reported early on Friday that Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party had crossed the threshold for a majority in Bangladesh’s 300-seat parliament, citing unofficial vote returns. The election commission is due to unveil official results later in…

Make every penny count for combat, China’s military told in countdown to Lunar New Year

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The PLA has been told to close the funding loopholes and tackle the deep flaws in combat readiness exposed by an anti-corruption drive in the aftermath of the downfall of China’s top general. In a brief Lunar New Year speech via video link to the People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the PLA to bolster combat training and maintain a state of combat readiness, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “The past year has been unusual and extraordinary. The PLA has deepened its political rectification, effectively…

China’s MiniMax releases cheap AI model ‘designed for real-world productivity’

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Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company MiniMax has released a new model “designed for real-world productivity”, hot on the heels of new releases from its domestic rivals in a frenetic week for China’s AI industry. The update to its M2 large language model comes as investor interest in smaller Chinese AI companies hits new heights, with global investors looking to capitalise on China’s rapid progress in AI beyond the traditional tech giants. Citing in-house benchmark scores, MiniMax said on Friday morning that M2.5 was its most powerful model yet, with performance…

‘Becoming Chinese’ memes reflect a world shaped by China’s ascent

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Across social media, a curious phrase has been circulating: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.” It appears under videos of hotpot dinners, DHGate hauls, Chinese streetwear fits and users joking about switching their phone interfaces into Chinese “for the aesthetic”. It has even spawned an ecosystem of spin-offs: “Chinamaxxing”, “you will turn Chinese tomorrow” and countless posts where people half-joke about becoming “more Chinese” by the day. But beneath the humour of what looks like yet another disposable internet trend sits something more revealing. The…

An important election for India — in Bangladesh

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This article is an on-site version of the India Business Briefing newsletter. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning. It’s a veritable political circus in New Delhi these days with questions about the trade deal, a cabinet minister’s communications with Jeffrey Epstein and a book by a former army chief jostling for headlines. I am not complaining. In today’s newsletter, the government further tightens regulations about AI-generated content. But first, an important election in Bangladesh. Results in…