Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi hails the retrieval of rare earths from close to 20,000 feet below sea level as a world first. She faces an election on Sunday.

Korean officials have been unable to stop the US from increasing the tariff on their exports, as the National Assembly needs to pass a special law on the deal, which could take a few more weeks

The race to build AI infrastructure has caused chipmakers to divert manufacturing capacity toward more lucrative HBM chips, while bitter past experiences kept them from expanding production lines

Top memory chipmaker sees its fourth quarter profit more than double, says it will invest $10bn in US AI companies

President Trump hikes tariffs on South Korean goods to 25% after asking why the Korean legislature has not approved the trade agreement reached with President Lee last year

Takaichi's promises to cut taxes, boost the economy and spending on defence have spooked investors, as Japan has one of the world's biggest debt levels

Takaichi plans to dissolve parliament on Friday ahead of the snap vote on February 8 for all 465 seats in the lower house of parliament

Trump urges Iranians to keep protesting. Meanwhile, analysts unsure if Trump will impose a higher tariff on China, plus countries that are US allies. States are also waiting to see if the US will intervene in the crisis

The Nikkei shot up on Tuesday amid widespread speculation that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will call a snap election, possibly in just a month's time

MiniMax is the second of China's so-called 'AI tigers' to go public, the first being Zhipu AI which made its market debut on Thursday, and also saw solid gains on Friday

Trump says Venezuela posed a greater threat, than Taiwan does to China. Meanwhile, Beijing accuses the US of spreading the 'law of the jungle' as it exits global bodies

A three-month curb on Chinese exports of rare earths, like that seen during 2010, could cost Japanese businesses 660 billion yen ($4.21 billion)