Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Chinese regulators are investigating domestic large-model developers DeepSeek and Moonshot to determine whether their cooperation or exchanges with US AI company Anthropic posed a risk of leaking user data or sensitive information. The probe, reported on September 22, targets two of China’s most prominent AI model makers over their US ties.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Vice Chair Jefferson said the central bank’s discount window remains ready to lend to banks smoothly and effectively when needed, according to remarks prepared for the New York Fed’s annual Treasury market conference on Tuesday. He noted that usage of the facility tends to rise when money market rates come under upward pressure.

TREE NEWS update: New York Fed President John Williams said the transition of US Treasuries and Treasury-collateralized repo to central clearing is moving ahead of schedule, with activity shifting from uncleared to cleared markets in advance of upcoming regulatory deadlines. The shift requires eligible secondary-market Treasury trades and repo and reverse repo agreements to be cleared through a central counterparty.

TREE NEWS update: UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for stronger international AI regulation, warning of a dystopian future marked by excessive corporate power and ‘killer robots.’ He said frontier AI models are shifting power from governments to a handful of private companies and individuals, and that AI is advancing faster than the world’s ability to grasp its consequences. Guterres urged an international agreement on new AI safety safeguards.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai’s Cyberspace Administration, together with the municipal economic and IT commission, the Shanghai branch of the CSRC and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, held a multi-party symposium on the afternoon of September 21 on online information governance for the city’s pioneer industries. Authorities said they will build more communication channels and step up network governance, lawfully handling illegal information, self-media accounts and MCN agencies to support high-quality development of integrated circuits, AI and biomedicine.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment jointly launched a carbon emissions metrology review and baseline survey of key emitters covered by the national carbon emissions trading market. The two departments said the exercise provides a clear roadmap for carbon metrology management at those emitters and underpins solid data for fair and impartial trading in the carbon market.

TREE NEWS update: Douyin announced a crackdown on content and accounts that covertly divert users to off-platform transactions, saying some users used everyday sharing, outdoor-exploration posts and persona-building to promote tobacco and wildlife hunting while using code words and homophones to evade detection. The platform said it is tightening risk patrols, model detection, manual review and tip analysis, and applying tiered penalties including content takedowns, mutes and bans, with suspected criminal leads reported to authorities.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance released a draft guidance on accelerating accounting digitalization for public comment. The draft sets out guiding principles and overall goals, and calls for stronger regulatory and institutional safeguards, including an evaluation mechanism and case-promotion system for accounting digitalization. It also proposes a standards framework covering accounting data, management accounting metrics, internal control reporting, sustainability disclosure, digital confirmations, CPA audit data and digital accounting products, plus international cooperation on standards.

TREE NEWS update: Zhai Jiachang, former Party member of the Tianjin Municipal Urban Management Committee and former Party secretary and director of the Tianjin Municipal Public Utilities Administration Bureau, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China over serious disciplinary and legal violations. The Tianjin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision opened a case review and investigation into Zhai with the approval of the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing called for stricter full-chain food safety supervision at the 2026 National Food Safety Week main event held in Beijing on Wednesday. Zhang, a member of the Politburo, said the “four strictest” requirements must be implemented consistently, with tighter controls across production, storage, transport and sales, and urged platform companies and testing and certification bodies to fulfill their responsibilities.

TREE NEWS update: ChuanDa ZhiSheng announced it received a case-filing notice from the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which has opened an investigation into the company on suspicion of information disclosure violations. The company said its production and business operations remain normal and that it will actively cooperate with the probe and fulfill its disclosure obligations.

TREE NEWS reports: Franklin Crypto executive Chris Perkins said the SEC and CFTC have already given institutions the regulatory certainty the crypto industry was waiting for, speaking on the Bits + Bips podcast a week after the Senate blocked the crypto market-structure bill. Perkins argued the rulebook came without Congress acting, as the industry continues to press for market-structure legislation.

TREE NEWS update: China’s market regulator released a draft revision of its antitrust compliance guidelines for companies operating overseas and opened it to public comment. The update adds overseas enforcement agencies’ focus on the digital economy across monopoly agreement, abuse of dominance and merger control chapters, and sets out the latest merger filing thresholds in the EU, US and Germany. It also flags foreign investment security reviews, foreign subsidy reviews and private civil antitrust litigation in major jurisdictions.

TREE NEWS reports: US prosecutors are investigating whether Binance knowingly allowed Iran-linked trades to pass through its platform and whether the exchange’s 2023 compliance fixes held. Binance said it maintains a “zero-tolerance policy” for sanctions violations. The probe examines whether the compliance measures the exchange agreed to in 2023 remained effective.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission reported 29,171 cases of violations of the Central Eight-Point Regulation in August 2026. A total of 35,901 people were criticized, educated or disciplined, including 24,494 who received Party or administrative sanctions. The monthly disclosure has now continued for 156 consecutive months.

TREE NEWS update: A court in Guiyang, Guizhou province, sentenced Song Chaohua, former deputy head of the Sichuan Provincial People’s Congress Standing Committee, to death with a two-year reprieve on bribery charges, the Intermediate People’s Court said in a first-instance ruling. Song was found to have accepted more than 148 million yuan ($20 million) in bribes. He was also stripped of political rights for life and had all personal property confiscated; his illegal gains and interest will be recovered and turned over to the state treasury.

TREE NEWS update: French President Emmanuel Macron wrote to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 18 April urging the EU to immediately ease fuel quality standards to bring down energy prices. Macron called for relaxing European fuel quality rules, raising the biofuel share in diesel, and delaying the EU Methane Regulation by one year.