AnewZ Morning Brief - 28 January, 2026
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 28 January, covering the latest developments you need to know....
RedNote, a Chinese lifestyle app known as Xiaohongshu, has seen a surge of over 500,000 TikTok users amid U.S. ban concerns. The platform, often called China’s Instagram, is exploring global expansion as it gains unexpected international attention.
Chinese social media app RedNote, known locally as Xiaohongshu ("Little Red Book"), has gained traction after over half a million TikTok users joined it, protesting a possible U.S. TikTok ban.
What is RedNote?
Dubbed China’s Instagram, RedNote is a lifestyle platform for sharing beauty, fashion, travel, and food recommendations. With over 300 million monthly users in 2023, it allows posts, discussions, livestream sales, and product purchases.
Who Owns It?
Founded in 2013 by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao, the app started as a shopping guide for Chinese tourists. It now counts Alibaba, Tencent, and Temasek among its investors, with Mao and Qu’s fortunes estimated at $2.5 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.
Global Potential
While primarily Mandarin-focused, the recent influx of TikTok users has pushed RedNote to explore English content. Unlike many Chinese apps, it operates a single global version, positioning it for broader appeal.
Executives hope to capitalise on the momentum to achieve global success akin to TikTok’s.
($1 = 7.3317 Chinese yuan)
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has strongly rejected a U.S. magazine report on the death toll during January unrest. Nationwide protests erupted in response to soaring inflation and a national currency crisis.
The death toll from nationwide protests in Iran has climbed to 6,126, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, often viewed as a bellwether for the complex diplomatic currents between the Kremlin and the West, has issued a startling prediction regarding the endgame of the war in Ukraine.
The strategic axis between Israel and Azerbaijan has been significantly reinforced this week as President Ilham Aliyev received Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in Baku.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said on Monday that Europe is "incapable" of defending itself alone without the United States, dismissing calls for a separate European defence force and stressing that transatlantic cooperation remains essential for the continent’s security.
The S&P 500 edged to a record closing high on Tuesday, marking its fifth consecutive day of gains, as strong advances in technology stocks offset a sharp selloff in healthcare shares and a mixed batch of corporate earnings.
Chevron is in talks with Iraq’s oil ministry over potential changes to the commercial framework governing the West Qurna 2 oilfield, one of the world’s largest producing assets, after Baghdad nationalised the field earlier this month following U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia’s Lukoil.
Argentina's economic activity shrunk 0.3% in November compared with the same month last year, marking the first monthly contraction of 2025, data from Argentina's national statistics agency showed on Wednesday.
Wall Street closed sharply lower on Tuesday as global markets fell after U.S. President Donald Trump’s new tariff threats against Europe unsettled investors and revived fears of renewed volatility.
Global markets are rattled after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new tariffs on eight European countries over Greenland, sending the euro to a seven-week low and raising concerns about renewed transatlantic trade tensions.
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