Flash News

TREE NEWS update: US embassies across multiple Middle Eastern countries issued new security alerts on the 19th, warning that military conflict between Yemen’s Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia could escalate rapidly. The alerts said the Houthis had launched a fresh round of attacks on Saudi Arabia, and advised Americans in the region to remain highly vigilant and prepare for possible travel disruptions.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan said on September 20 that the city will further expand its dim sum bond market and develop RMB-denominated gold and commodities markets, to help raise China’s international pricing power in those areas. Hong Kong’s offshore RMB loans hit a record RMB935 billion last year, and the RMB business facility quota has been expanded to RMB500 billion.

TREE NEWS update: Russia’s Defense Ministry said on the morning of September 20 that air defenses intercepted and destroyed 1,110 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight. The ministry said the drones were downed over 20 regions and the waters of the Black Sea. The figure, if confirmed, would mark one of the largest single-night drone interceptions reported since the war began.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said on the 20th that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until Iran’s conditions are met, rejecting the framing of a choice between war and negotiations. Qalibaf said Iran has conveyed its conditions through intermediaries, and that a return to previous talks and the reopening of the strait are impossible unless those conditions are met, Iran’s legitimate rights are recognized and US commitments are honored.

TREE NEWS reports: UBS now expects global AI capital expenditure to approach $1 trillion in 2026 and climb to about $1.4 trillion in 2027, with rising memory costs as the main driver. Memory-related spending is projected to jump from $71 billion in 2025 to $367 billion this year and $923 billion in 2027. Memory cost inflation accounts for roughly 60% of this year’s AI capex increase, and by 2027 will exceed the entire net increase in AI capex as other component spending declines.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will prioritize open-source foundation models and vertical industry models to strengthen the software and hardware base for next-generation smart manufacturing, Vice Minister Xin Guobin said at the opening of the 2026 World Manufacturing Convention in Hefei, Anhui, on September 20. The ministry will take next-generation smart manufacturing as its main direction, he said.

TREE NEWS update: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on September 19 that Turkey is ready to provide assistance to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement following recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthi movement. Fidan said signatory states are monitoring the attacks on Saudi Arabia and that Riyadh’s military needs may center on technical issues Turkey can meet. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed the pact on August 7, under which an armed attack on any one is treated as an attack on all three.

TREE NEWS update: China launched nine satellites into preset orbits on the Lijian-1 Y18 carrier rocket from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The payloads include the Qinling-01 and -02 satellites, Pujiang-4, Pengcheng Shoufa, Diting-01 A/B/C, Chaozhisuan-1 and Yunxiao Tanluzhe. The mission was declared a complete success.

TREE NEWS update: Yichun Times New Energy Mining Co., a unit of CATL, published a pre-approval public notice on Sept. 18 for the environmental impact report of its lithium mining project spanning Zhenkouli in Yifeng County and Jianxiawo in Fengxin County, Jiangxi. The filing, posted by the Fengxin County ecology and environment bureau, opens the report and public participation statement to public comment.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation will research and draft compliance evaluation guidelines for online trading platforms, Zhu Jianqiao, director of the administration’s online transaction supervision department, said at a State Council Information Office briefing on September 20. The regulator will also accelerate construction and use of the national online market supervision platform and push for cross-level, cross-department interconnection of regulatory data to support platforms’ qualification verification duties.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s National Energy Administration reported that nationwide electricity consumption in August 2026 reached 1,033.2 billion kWh, up 1.7% year on year, breaking the 1-trillion-kWh mark again. Peak power load hit a record 1.56 billion kW, 49.69 million kW above the previous year’s maximum, with seven days exceeding last year’s peak.

TREE NEWS update: China Mobile and Qualcomm announced on September 20 that they completed the world’s first U6G-band 6G prototype base station and terminal prototype interconnection test, based on 3GPP’s latest definition, at China Mobile’s collaborative innovation base. The end-to-end verification combined the U6G band, 400MHz downlink and 200MHz uplink channel bandwidth with 30kHz subcarrier spacing, a 128-channel ultra-massive MIMO base station and a 6G terminal prototype platform.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s overnight Shanghai Interbank Offered Rate (SHIBOR) fell 5.20 basis points to 1.3650%, with the 7-day rate also down 5.20 basis points at 1.4100%. The 3-month SHIBOR edged up 0.10 basis points to 1.4310%.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s national railway network moved 2.69 billion tonnes of freight in the first eight months of this year, with average daily loading of 187,400 wagons, state railway data show. Volumes edged up slightly from a year earlier and remained at a high level, providing transport support for lowering logistics costs and sustaining stable economic operation.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation will expand testing and certification services into key industries including BeiDou navigation and integrated circuits during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, vice minister Shu Wei said at a State Council Information Office briefing on September 20. The plan calls for building at least 30 national quality inspection centers and 300 public testing service platforms, with a focus on core components and advanced industrial equipment.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Medical Products Administration will step up early-stage guidance for innovative drugs targeting new targets and mechanisms, deputy director Yang Sheng said at a State Council Information Office briefing on May 20. The regulator will implement a drug trial data protection system and create market exclusivity periods for pediatric drugs and rare-disease treatments, while extending its medical-device innovation program to frontier fields such as brain-computer interfaces.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said on September 20 it will keep pushing standards upgrades for ten traditional industries and advance standards-setting for emerging and future industries. Zhu Jianqiao, head of the administration’s online transaction supervision department, said at a State Council Information Office briefing that at least 20,000 national standards and at least 1,000 mandatory national standards will be drafted or revised. The plan also includes at least 200 overseas pilot applications of Chinese standards.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation will deepen enforcement of the newly revised Anti-Unfair Competition Law during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Vice Minister Shu Wei said at a State Council Information Office briefing on September 20. The regulator will run regular special enforcement campaigns targeting false advertising, mutual smearing, commercial defamation and commercial bribery, and will handle a batch of typical cases. It will also strengthen trade secret protection, exploring local regulations and management rules.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation will accelerate revision of the Price Law during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, spokesperson and deputy head Shu Wei said at a State Council Information Office briefing on September 20. The agency will draft rules against below-cost dumping, issue cost-calculation standards with industry associations, and build a “1+1+N” legal framework, opening cost investigations and price inspections into companies engaging in malicious low-price competition. It will also push price-behavior rules for internet platforms.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said it will prioritize cracking down on prominent violations of consumer rights during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, announced at a State Council Information Office briefing. The regulator will tighten oversight of online sales and livestream shopping, expand online dispute resolution to cover major e-commerce platforms, and strengthen credit systems in the consumer sector.