Bank of Japan Governor Ueda said most bankruptcies are due to rising prices and labor shortages, and only a small number are directly attributable to an increased interest burden.

A senior HEZBOLLAH official said on Feb 2 the group will not accept any partial ceasefire with Israel, rejecting proposals to trade an Israeli halt to strikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs for HEZBOLLAH stopping attacks on northern Israeli settlements. He said HEZBOLLAH only accepts a comprehensive, complete and genuine ceasefire, not a return to the pre-conflict status. Lebanon’s state news agency reported Israeli airstrikes on Feb 2 hit multiple sites in southern Lebanon including Dweir and Nabatieh, killing at least 12 and wounding four, including Lebanese army personnel. HEZBOLLAH said its fighters launched a series of attacks on Israeli forces in southern Lebanon in the early hours of Feb 2.

TrendForce projects AI data center expansion and a compute arms race pushing transmission rates above 1.6Tbps have led NVIDIA, Google and Meta to strategically lock EML and CW-DFB LD supplier capacity. Suppliers are ramping output to meet demand, lifting combined monthly capacity to about 50.7 million units by 2026—over twice current levels. Broadcom, Lumentum and Sumitomo Electric hold the top three positions with roughly a 55% combined market share.