Flash News

TREE NEWS update: UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the government will require tech companies to prevent children from taking, sharing or viewing nude images on their phones and tablets, with legislation to be introduced ‘as soon as possible’. The move follows a deadline for Apple and Google to voluntarily adopt such measures, which they did not fully meet. The restrictions aim to protect children from online coercion to produce intimate images and will not apply to adults who have passed age verification.

TREE NEWS update: Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed an executive order on data centers, requiring projects to obtain local approval before proceeding. The order aims to streamline siting while ensuring community input, as the state seeks to attract AI and cloud infrastructure investment.

TREE NEWS update: Malone Lam, 22, pleaded guilty to leading an international social engineering scheme that stole $245 million in cryptocurrency. The plea marks a major resolution in one of the largest crypto theft cases. Lam faces sentencing, with potential prison time.

TREE NEWS update: Robinhood has taken stakes in Crypto.com and OG.com as part of a deal to expand its prediction markets business. The company will route event contracts through OG.com’s CFTC-regulated infrastructure. This move integrates traditional brokerage services with crypto and prediction markets.

TREE NEWS update: Irish media regulator launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s social platform X, focusing on the effectiveness of its age verification and parental controls. The regulator will assess whether X enforces age safeguards and protects users under 16 from adult content, citing potentially insufficient parental control features. If found in violation, X faces fines up to €20 million or 10% of annual revenue.

TREE NEWS update: Ireland’s media regulator has launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s social platform X, focusing on whether its age-verification and parental-control measures are effective. The probe will assess if X adequately protects users under 16, especially given adult content. If found in breach, X faces fines up to €20 million or 10% of annual revenue.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) added ‘King Kong Fund/King Kong Coin Issuance Co., Ltd.’ to its alert list of unlicensed entities on September 9. The entity claimed to have an address in Hong Kong, provided a local phone number, and appears to have marketed services to Hong Kong investors without a license under the Securities and Futures Ordinance. The SFC stated it must not conduct regulated activities or actively promote services to the Hong Kong public.

TREE NEWS update: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the United States insisted until the final moment on restricting Canada’s rights to protect and promote French and its own culture. He added that Washington also sought to interfere in Canada’s future trade agreements with other countries. Carney said the US demanded too much and offered too little, leading Canada to reject an unfair deal rather than accept submission over genuine economic partnership.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury announced new sanctions against Iran on [date]. The measures target [specific targets if known], expanding Washington’s pressure campaign over Tehran’s nuclear program and regional activities. No further details were provided.

TREE NEWS update: The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors (NAFMII) has issued a warning against China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. (CCXI) for violating self-regulatory rules in the interbank bond market, including breaching rating independence requirements. The association announced the penalty after an investigation into CCXI’s practices as a credit rating agency in the interbank market.

TREE NEWS update: The UK government under Prime Minister Andy Burnham is expected to announce a ban on trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank on Tuesday. The move signals a tougher policy on an issue important to the ruling Labour Party, but risks angering US President Donald Trump.

TREE NEWS reports: The Trump administration is seeking to expand US access to Venezuela’s mineral resources, including gold, beyond oil. The move could open Venezuela’s mining sector to US capital and secure supplies of minerals critical to national security.

TREE NEWS update: Polish prosecutors charged Roman Ż. with two offenses following his arrest on Sept. 5, making him the fifth suspect in the Zondacrypto investigation. The probe involves estimated losses of around $100 million.

TREE NEWS update: A Polish court has detained a fifth suspect in the investigation into cryptocurrency exchange Zondacrypto. The exchange’s two chief executives have vanished four years apart, leaving 1.3 million clients locked out of their funds.

TREE NEWS reports: Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has held talks with platforms about easing its 2019 ban on prediction markets. The regulator’s published position still defends the ban, but discussions signal a potential policy shift. The move could open the door for crypto-based prediction platforms in the UK.

TREE NEWS update: Xu Wenlong, former deputy general manager of China Construction Technology Co., Ltd., has been expelled from the Communist Party for serious disciplinary and legal violations. The announcement was made on September 8 by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), following an investigation by the CCDI’s discipline inspection group and the Sichuan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection. Xu was also removed from his post and his illegal gains will be confiscated.

TREE NEWS update: On September 4, China’s Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Data Administration jointly announced the launch of authorized operations for national satellite navigation positioning reference station network service data. This marks the first public data licensing in the country’s spatiotemporal information infrastructure sector, converting reference station data into compliantly tradable data assets. The move signals a new phase of market-oriented operations for BeiDou high-precision spatiotemporal data elements.

TREE NEWS update: ICBC Chengdu branch has granted a loan to a high-tech firm in Chengdu Hi-tech Zone, using a computing-power bill as the core credit basis instead of traditional collateral like property or equipment. This marks Sichuan province’s first “Token computing-power scenario” loan.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) will launch an interest rate swap contract linked to the China 7-day deposit institution repurchase fixing rate (FDR007) under Swap Connect before year-end, said Yu Xueqin, head of market division, at the HKEX China Opportunities Forum. The move aims to enhance offshore investors’ risk management tools.