Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: An international study involving researchers at Sweden’s Uppsala University found that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets lost about 11.3 trillion tonnes of ice between 1979 and 2023, corresponding to more than 3 centimetres of global average sea-level rise. The findings cover 44 years of ice-sheet mass loss.

TREE NEWS update: Chongqing Economic and Information Technology Commission deputy director Wang Han said one in every three motorcycles in China is produced in Chongqing, which he described as having the country’s most complete motorcycle industry system. Speaking at the 2026 China Motorcycle Chongqing Forum, Wang said the city is building a “one-hour motorcycle industry circle” under its 33618 modern manufacturing cluster plan, with the sector showing improved structure and upward momentum.

TREE NEWS update: A suicide bombing in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has killed 31 people, police said on Thursday. The attack is the latest in a series of deadly bombings in the region bordering Afghanistan. Authorities have not yet claimed responsibility or named a suspected perpetrator.

TREE NEWS update: Brussels has rejected calls to impose a bloc-wide digital services tax, declining to pursue an EU-level levy on digital companies. The decision leaves national digital tax measures in place rather than creating a single EU-wide regime. No figure or timeline for any alternative proposal was given.

TREE NEWS update: Zhang Bin, a researcher and deputy director at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of World Economics and Politics, said on September 19 at the Tsinghua PBCSF Chief Economists Forum that China’s main economic imbalance is strong supply against weak demand, a total imbalance driven by weak business and household expectations. He said individual rational behavior compounds into a negative self-reinforcing loop, which is a market failure requiring strong external force to break, with stronger counter-cyclical adjustment the most effective tool.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Natural Resources activated a Level IV geological disaster defense response for Sichuan province. The move, announced by the ministry, places the province under the lowest tier of China’s four-level emergency response framework for geological hazards. No further details on the triggering conditions or affected areas were provided.

TREE NEWS update: A suicide car bombing at a police compound in Kohat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killed 21 people and wounded more than 100, Pakistan’s health authorities confirmed on the 18th. The blast, which collapsed the compound’s mosque roof, killed 16 police officers, with over 70 officers among the injured. President Zardari condemned the attack, attributing it to “Khawarij” militants and saying their elimination is vital to national security.

TREE NEWS update: Zhang Xue Motorcycles unveiled five new motorcycles at the 2026 China International Motorcycle Expo in Hall N7, with founder Zhang Xue presenting the lineup. Prices range from 27,980 yuan for the 600V to 138,000 yuan for the 820RR-RS, while the 27-model 500F is priced at 30,580 yuan and the 820RR-RC at 128,000 yuan. Zhang said comparable international-brand configurations sell for 1.5 million yuan, less than one-tenth of his company’s price.

TREE NEWS update: Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (E-Town) has issued the city’s first dedicated policy for the new materials industry, the Administrative Measures on Accelerating Innovation-Driven Development of the New Materials Industry. The policy targets advanced basic materials, key strategic materials and frontier innovative materials, and sets out 12 support measures across four areas: innovation drive, technology transfer, two-way empowerment and factor support.

TREE NEWS update: A landslide struck near Shijia Gully tunnel in Zhiliuhe village, Gesala township, Yanbian county, Panzhihua city, Sichuan province, in the early hours of the 19th. Preliminary figures show five people are missing.

TREE NEWS update: Xu Jian, vice president of the Research Institute of Highway under China’s Ministry of Transport, said at the 2026 China Automotive Industry Development (TEDA) International Forum that freight autonomous driving is moving from closed sites to open roads and that autonomous platooning is accelerating. He projected a model combining new-energy electric heavy trucks, autonomous platoons and multi-energy integration, with scaled ‘warehouse-to-warehouse’ autonomous highway freight by 2030 using point-to-point fixed-route direct runs and container or trailer swaps.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s public mutual fund net asset value totaled RMB 39.63 trillion at the end of August 2026, up RMB 529.309 billion from the end of July, a roughly 1.35% month-on-month increase. The 165 licensed public fund managers comprise 150 fund management companies and 15 asset management institutions holding public fund licenses.

TREE NEWS update: The Eurogroup met in Dublin on 18 April to discuss the eurozone’s latest economic situation, focusing on the impact of recent oil and gas price rises on the economy, households and businesses, as well as measures to address higher energy costs. The meeting took place as energy prices were cited as adding pressure to Europe’s economy.

TREE NEWS update: A debris flow struck near Shijia Gully tunnel in Zhiliuhe village, Gesala township, Yanbian county, Panzhihua, Sichuan, in the early hours of Sept 19. Sichuan’s emergency management department dispatched a working group to the site and mobilized a Wing Loong drone for communications restoration and aerial reconnaissance, coordinating with Panzhihua and Yanbian emergency bureaus. Rescue and relief operations are under way.

TREE NEWS update: Germany’s government said on the 18th it has agreed with the federal states on a package of relief measures, including a fresh round of fuel tax cuts and a cap on fuel prices, to ease the strain of persistently high fuel costs on households and businesses. The agreement covers both tax relief and a price ceiling at the pump.

TREE NEWS update: Zhang Xue Motorcycles has already reached its full-year 2026 sales target in August, founder Zhang Xue said at the 2026 China Motorcycle Expo in Chongqing. The company had set a floor of 50,000 units for 2026 with a stretch goal of 60,000, but now expects full-year production and sales to reach 100,000 units.

TREE NEWS reports: Zhongtai International chief economist Li Xunlei said on September 19 at the Tsinghua PBCSF Chief Economists Forum that global economic imbalance is hard to avoid and is the norm, with balance only temporary. He said no system is perfect and institutions must be continuously revised and reformed. Li added that China’s international circulation is relatively smooth while its domestic circulation remains blocked and urgently needs resolving.

TREE NEWS update: A landslide struck near Zhiliuhe Village in Gesala Township, Yanbian County, Panzhihua, Sichuan, in the early hours of September 19, leaving people missing. Local authorities have dispatched emergency response and firefighting rescue teams to the scene to carry out search and rescue operations.

TREE NEWS update: Tsinghua PBCSF chair professor Ju Jiandong proposed on September 19 issuing 10 trillion yuan in yuan-denominated sovereign bonds to foreign investors, a sum equal to about 7.13% of China’s projected 2025 nominal GDP. Speaking at the Tsinghua PBCSF Chief Economists Forum, Ju said the issuance would deliver a “triple rebalancing”: of external assets and liabilities, of domestic demand, and of central versus local government finances.

TREE NEWS update: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Chairman Liao Lin met on September 18 with Chee Hong Tat, Singapore’s Minister for National Development and Deputy Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, to discuss deepening financial cooperation, advancing financial market connectivity and supporting the international use of the renminbi. ICBC Vice President Zhang Weiwu and Singapore’s Ambassador to China Peter Tan attended the meeting.