Flash News

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation said it will optimize market-entry administration and deepen reform of the registered-capital subscription system, according to a State Council Information Office briefing on the 15th Five-Year Plan. The measures aim to lower institutional transaction costs and make it easier for companies and entrepreneurs to enter the market. The regulator also said it will use a combined policy approach to address ‘involutionary’ competition.

TREE NEWS update: Deep Blue Aerospace announced on September 20 that its self-developed pintle-injector reusable liquid oxygen/kerosene engine, Thunder R2.0, has completed its first 200-second long-duration test firing. The upgraded engine’s thrust has increased 50% over the original model to the 30-tonne class, the company said.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s total retail sales of consumer goods and services rose 2.5% year-on-year in the first eight months of 2026, the Ministry of Commerce’s consumer promotion department said. Goods retail sales grew 1.1%, or 2.7% excluding autos, while services retail sales rose 4.9%, outpacing goods by 3.9 percentage points. Rural consumer goods retail sales reached 4.4 trillion yuan, up 2.3%.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump returned to the White House from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland on the evening of September 19, cutting his planned weekend stay short by a day. The exact reason for the early return was not immediately known. CNN reported that Trump had reviewed and assessed options for striking Yemen’s Houthi forces while at Camp David.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the national agricultural mechanization development plan for the 15th Five-Year period, targeting a comprehensive mechanization rate above 80% for crop cultivation, planting and harvesting by 2030, with the rate in hilly and mountainous areas to reach at least 75%. The plan calls for wider application of AI and new energy equipment in farm machinery and sets out five areas of priority measures.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China conducted a 32 billion yuan 7-day reverse repo operation on the day, with the operation rate set at 1.40%. The open market operation injects short-term liquidity into the banking system at the unchanged policy rate.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s individual income tax on restricted-share transfers rose 59.7% in the first eight months of the year, tax authorities said, as active capital-market trading lifted securities transaction stamp duty, corporate income tax, personal income tax and domestic value-added tax. Securities-sector tax revenue grew 65.6% year on year over the same period, while insurance and other financial sectors posted gains of 14.6% and 18.5% respectively.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China kept its loan prime rates unchanged in September, with the 1-year LPR at 3.0% and the 5-year-and-above LPR at 3.5%. Both tenors were left at their previous levels, extending a steady run for the benchmark lending rates that anchor corporate and mortgage borrowing costs in China.

TREE NEWS update: Acer chairman Jason Chen said on the 19th that memory and CPU supply tightness is easing outside a few specs, but high component prices will keep pushing up end-product PC prices through the fourth quarter of this year, by an average of 5-20%. Prices are not expected to reverse until the second half of 2027.

TREE NEWS reports: Paramount Skydance is negotiating a settlement with California officials that would include a commitment to keep the company headquartered in the state, with other terms under discussion covering an editorial board to oversee CNN, theatrical release of 30 Paramount films a year, and the sale of some cable channels. Any deal would likely need the support of all 12 Democratic states suing to block the merger, as well as the Writers Guild.

TREE NEWS update: Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Mohsen Rezaei said on the evening of September 19 that Tehran has given the US government a list of seven conditions required to open any negotiations. Qatar has relayed the conditions to Washington as a mediator, and Iran is awaiting a response from President Trump, Rezaei said. The conditions include the US ending all hostilities against Iran, unfreezing frozen Iranian assets and lifting a naval blockade.

TREE NEWS update: Saudi Royal Air Defense Forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi movement toward Riyadh early on September 19, Saudi-led coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said. Al-Maliki said the Houthis also attempted to strike civilian and civilian facilities in Bisha, Taif, Farsan and Yanbu, and that all those attacks were also thwarted.

TREE NEWS update: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on the 19th that Turkey will honor its commitments under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement and may provide military technical assistance to Saudi Arabia following recent attacks against the kingdom. Speaking on Turkish broadcaster NTV, Fidan said signatory states are closely monitoring Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, adding that the agreement contains relevant clauses and that Turkey stands united on the issue. He specifically condemned attacks on oil infrastructure.

TREE NEWS reports: The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak has reached 7,541 confirmed cases, with 3,639 deaths and 1,823 recoveries. The case fatality rate stands at 48.3%, the ministry said. The figures cover the current outbreak as of September 19.

TREE NEWS update: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on September 19 that Turkey does not accept Saudi Arabia being drawn into the current US-Iran conflict, adding that Riyadh itself has no intention of being involved. Fidan said recent attacks on Saudi territory, sovereignty and infrastructure were serious, and that proposals aimed at ending the fighting have been conveyed to the parties. As a member of the Turkey-Saudi-Pakistan defense mechanism, Turkey is monitoring the situation and is willing to help meet Saudi military needs, particularly in technology.

TREE NEWS update: Guangzhou medical-insurance authorities, working with public security organs, dismantled a criminal gang that bought and resold recycled prescription drugs, with semaglutide the largest-value drug in the cases. Using a drug-traceability-code big-data warning model to flag suspicious patient visit patterns, investigators raided multiple storage sites and seized more than 8,000 boxes of drugs on the spot. CCTV reported that many drugs sold on online pharmacy platforms at prices far below physical stores carry recycled-drug risks.

TREE NEWS update: Yemen’s Houthi movement said on the evening of the 19th it carried out two military operations, targeting a “sensitive target” in Saudi capital Riyadh and a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu. Spokesman Yahya Saree said the group used large numbers of ballistic missiles, winged missiles and drones, calling both operations a response to Saudi airstrikes and claiming success. He said Saudi Arabia has launched 732 airstrikes on Yemen during the current conflict.

TREE NEWS update: US President Trump said on social media on the 19th that he will form an “artificial intelligence force” and will soon appoint an AI “chief” to lead it. Trump said AI represents the next industrial revolution or internet wave, with greater scale and influence, and could account for as much as 25% of US GDP.

TREE NEWS update: Russia’s Progress MS-35 cargo spacecraft completed a manual docking with the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station’s Russian segment on Friday, Roscosmos said. The craft launched Sept. 16 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket. It delivered more than 2.4 tonnes of cargo, including equipment and consumables for station repairs, propellant, drinking water and food.

TREE NEWS reports: Italy has reported more than 650 West Nile virus infections this year, about half of all cases recorded in Europe. Experts say rising temperatures and longer warm seasons are creating more favourable conditions for mosquito breeding, widening the virus’s spread across Italy and lengthening its transmission period.