Asia Pacific

• NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan won an award for animation storytelling at the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting+ Awards 2026. • The winning animation follows the journey of a rural swordsman, focusing on themes of discipline, experience, and late-stage mastery. • Additionally, Eurovision Services was recognized with multiple wins during the same awards ceremony.

• The Asia Pacific Report highlights the ongoing humanitarian crisis facing the Rohingya people, emphasizing urgent concerns regarding their safety and lack of accountability. • In a separate political development on May 14, 2026, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned to the center of legal and political turbulence. • This resurgence of controversy has reignited national debates over constitutional processes and the potential for impeachment proceedings against the President.

• Asia-Pacific markets traded higher, with notable gains including South Korea's Kosdaq (over 3%), Kospi (0.52%), Hong Kong's Hang Seng (0.66%), and China's CSI 300 (0.78%). • Investors are reacting to diplomatic efforts regarding a U.S.-Iran peace deal, though tensions remain as Tehran intends to keep its enriched uranium stockpile domestically. • Economic data showed core inflation dropped to 1.4%, falling below both the previous March reading of 1.8% and the 1.7% forecast by Reuters economists.

• Citigroup announced plans to expand its Asia-Pacific prime brokerage division by approximately 10% this year to attract more hedge fund clients amid growing regional activity. • The hiring push targets capturing increased hedge fund business in APAC, a key growth area for the U.S. bank's securities services. • This move aligns with broader bullish sentiment in Asian financial markets, particularly in tech and AI sectors driving stock gains.

• Pinecone launched a new cloud region in Singapore to serve the Asia-Pacific market, expanding its AI knowledge infrastructure capabilities across the region. • The Singapore region deployment positions Pinecone as a key provider for enterprise AI applications requiring low-latency data access and localized infrastructure in Southeast Asia. • This expansion reflects growing demand from regional organizations for specialized AI infrastructure and vector database services supporting advanced analytics and machine learning workloads.

• Asia-Pacific merger and acquisition deal values have collapsed to $127 billion, marking a significant decline triggered by major tariff announcements across the region. • The tariff shock has disrupted corporate transaction activity, with financial advisers reporting substantial pullback in deal pipelines as companies reassess expansion strategies amid trade uncertainty. • Investment banks including JPMorgan and Houlihan Lokey are recalibrating their M&A advisory strategies, with deal values falling sharply compared to earlier 2026 forecasts.