China

The domestic film industry ends 2025 with $7,3 billion of box-office revenue, +20% year-on-year, with 80% of the total ticket earnings generated by about 1,2 billion admissions to domestic films, according to major industry trackers Maoyan and Beacon

China’s top leadership convened in Beijing from 10 to 11 December for the Central Economic Work Conference to determine the country’s economic direction for 2026, the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan

Authorities will launch investigations and criminal probes for the deadly blaze that engulfed 8 residential blocks in Tai Po, Hong Kong, causing 35 deaths and 280 missing: the rapid spread of fire was “unusual” with styrofoam material found in buildings

New data centres with state funding will have to only use Chinese-made artificial intelligence chips, according to Reuters sources, and regulatory authorities ordered data centres that are less than 30% complete to remove all installed foreign chips

Two top military leaders have been expelled from the ruling Communist Party and the military on corruption charges; they are the most senior officers to be purged in an anti-graft drive that began in 2023

Golden Panda Film Festival concluded in Chengdu, Sichuan; 5.343 works were presented, of which 3.910 from 126 foreign countries; 27 prizes in 4 categories will be awarded: films, documentaries, animation, tv and series

Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge has undergone a five-day load test ahead of the opening later this month: 96 trucks drove onto designated points to test the bridge's structure; 625m above a river, it will be the world's highest and longest mountain bridge

Thousands of mosquito-eating fish have been released into parks in Foshan, Guangdong province, to control the spread of dengue fever, chikungunya and other diseases transmitted by mosquitoes; over 4.000 chikungunya cases have been reported in the city

Beijing has once again stated that only the Chinese government can choose the future leader of Tibetan Buddhism; the Dalai Lama, who will turn 90 this month, had instead said that his successor will be identified by a Tibetan exile group

The first cluster of satellites for a planned AI supercomputer system have been launched; it will be the first-of-its-kind array and will enable scientists to perform in-orbit data processing