Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi Arabia carried out 124 airstrikes and missile attacks on Yemen in the past 24 hours, hitting Sanaa, Taiz, Lahij, Jawf, Saada, Hajjah and Hodeidah and causing multiple casualties. Saree said F-15 jets flew from a base in Khamis Mushait and missiles were launched from the direction of Najran, and that strikes have totaled 3,024 since Saudi Arabia escalated its military campaign. Saudi Arabia has not responded.

TREE NEWS update: A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Vanuatu at 13:37 local time on the 24th, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center reported. The quake’s epicenter and depth were not immediately specified in the center’s monitoring update. No tsunami warning or casualty information was included in the initial report.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Ni Hong visited the National Technology Innovation Center for Green and Low-Carbon Buildings, inspecting research labs and receiving a work report. Ni said the ministry will continue to support the center and urged it to seize opportunities in artificial intelligence, activate building-sector data assets, and build a data foundation to support industry upgrading.

TREE NEWS update: The Chengkou Renhe Bridge on the Kangyu section of the Xi’an-Chongqing high-speed railway achieved full-span closure on October 24 after the final concrete pour. The milestone lays a foundation for the line’s scheduled opening.

TREE NEWS update: The United States has reduced staffing at four of its embassies in the Middle East amid concerns over Iran, with the affected missions located in Jordan, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The drawdown affects diplomatic posts across the region.

TREE NEWS update: The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has appointed Wang Zhijun as a member of the Hunan Provincial Party Committee, its Standing Committee, and its secretary, the committee announced. Shen Xiaoming will no longer serve as Hunan party secretary, Standing Committee member, or committee member. The decision was made by the CPC Central Committee.

TREE NEWS reports: China exported 15.16 million complete motorcycles in January-September 2026, up 11.76% year on year, with export value rising 21.19% to $10.287 billion, according to customs data compiled by the China Chamber of Commerce for Motorcycle. Africa was the largest destination and fastest-growing region, taking 5.7221 million units, up 32.05%, worth $3.195 billion, up 38.60%. Imports totaled 54,000 units, up 11.39%, valued at $293 million, up 10.93%.

TREE NEWS update: China’s civil aviation sector will officially operate the 2026/2027 winter-spring flight season from October 25, 2026 to March 27, 2027. A total of 216 domestic and international airlines plan to schedule 116,000 passenger and cargo flights per week during the new season.

TREE NEWS reports: Broad-based ETFs listed in China attracted a net 236.14 billion yuan ($33 billion) over the 20 trading days from Sept. 17 to Oct. 22, equal to 94.59% of the 249.66 billion yuan that flowed into equity ETFs in the period, Wind data show. On Oct. 22 alone, broad-based ETFs took in 51.66 billion yuan. Money went mainly to products tracking the CSI 300, STAR 50 and ChiNext indices.

TREE NEWS update: A magnitude 4.2 earthquake struck Zadoi County in Yushu Prefecture, Qinghai Province, at 08:07 on October 24. The epicenter was located at 32.51 degrees north latitude and 93.94 degrees east longitude, with a focal depth of 10 kilometers.

TREE NEWS update: Indonesia’s Mount Semeru in East Java erupted at 6:34 a.m. local time on October 24, sending an ash column about 1,000 meters high, with the eruption lasting about 124 seconds. The Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation advised people to stay outside a 5-km radius of the crater and banned activity along river channels up to 13 km southeast of the crater, warning of pyroclastic flows, lava avalanches and volcanic mudflows.

TREE NEWS update: Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it signed letters of intent with Finland’s Nokia and satellite manufacturer ICEYE to develop new defense and satellite communications capabilities. The move comes as Kyiv seeks alternatives to SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield services, which have been restricted in Ukraine, causing high-speed drones to lose connection and crash. President Volodymyr Zelensky said reliable communications are a matter of national security.

TREE NEWS reports: Boeing has halted production of its 777 freighter since August due to a dispute with a parts supplier, people familiar with the matter said. Production of the 767 also has been disrupted because of a dispute over wing components. The twin stoppages affect two of Boeing’s cargo aircraft lines as the planemaker works through supplier tensions.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday corrected its September corn data, citing a “processing error,” deepening farmer and analyst doubts about the reliability of government crop forecasts that routinely move markets. The National Agricultural Statistics Service said it found the error after a crop report projecting a larger-than-expected U.S. corn harvest sent corn futures sharply lower, as farmers grapple with soaring fuel and input costs.

TREE NEWS update: Amazon Web Services has essentially sold out its cloud computing capacity through the end of 2027, with a large volume of orders already booked into 2028, CEO Andy Jassy said. Speaking on a video podcast with Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz and general partner Erik Torenberg, Jassy said the company is straining to meet surging demand from AI labs and enterprises.

TREE NEWS reports: The China-Europe freight train “east corridor” handled 6,024 trips this year as of yesterday, up 40.3% year on year, with annual traffic surpassing 6,000 trips for the first time and hitting a record high for the period. The route links land ports and seaports in both directions.

TREE NEWS update: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on October 23 that the agency is accelerating its lunar base construction and crewed moon landing plans, aiming to return astronauts to the lunar surface within two years. Under the current schedule, the Artemis 3 mission is planned for summer 2027, when four astronauts will fly a two-week mission in Earth orbit and conduct docking tests with lunar landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. Artemis 4 remains planned for 2028 and would mark the first crewed moon landing since the Apollo program.

TREE NEWS update: North American Blue Energy Partners Inc., which is developing Venezuelan oilfields in cooperation with the U.S. government, is deploying a sixth drilling rig to expand oil production in Venezuela. CEO Alejandro Betancourt said Nabep’s output in western Venezuela has reached a record 115,000 barrels per day. The company plans to bring in a total of 60 rigs, 30 steam boilers and 70 pieces of heavy construction equipment under its 25-year plan.

TREE NEWS reports: The United States is moving to relocate some diplomatic personnel from posts in the Middle East, with staffing levels being adjusted at multiple embassies in the region. The reported drawdown comes amid heightened regional tensions, though specific posts and numbers were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: Barclays said depleted inventories and recovering demand are tightening the physical oil market, with short-term oil risks firmly skewed to the upside. The bank noted that policy efforts to ease diesel tightness have not removed the upward pressure. The assessment points to a market where supply buffers are thin as demand picks up.