Live news: Pakistan prepares for elections

Celebrations will ring out across Asia and beyond this Saturday with the beginning of the next lunar year — the year of the dragon for most countries that mark the occasion.

Before that, Pakistan goes to the polls amid heightened political controversy. Former prime minister Imran Khan will not be taking part, having been sentenced to 10 years in prison last week, but his embattled party is doing everything it can — including adopting artificial intelligence — to get its vote out. The winner will be announced on Friday.

It will be a peak week for corporate earnings, particularly in the US. Media will be a strong theme here with results from Fox, News Corp, Disney, Thomson Reuters and The New York Times Company. Also, it will be a busy week for carmakers — notably Nissan, Toyota and Ford — and (yet more) tech — Alibaba, Arm, Spotify and Uber.

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