Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Qatar’s mediators held more than 12 hours of talks with Iranian officials in Tehran on October 30, aiming to push the United States and Iran toward an agreement and prevent a fresh conflict after the US midterm elections. The Qatar-Iran discussions are set to continue on October 31 in Doha, Qatar’s capital.

TREE NEWS reports: The US has reported 4,852 confirmed measles cases so far in 2026, more than twice the total recorded for all of 2025, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on October 30. Experts say the resurgence of measles exposes weaknesses in the country’s public health system.

TREE NEWS update: Swiss Confederation President and Economic Affairs Minister Guy Parmelin led a business delegation to China’s Ministry of Commerce on Oct. 30, meeting Minister Wang Wentao. The two sides exchanged views on China-Switzerland economic and trade relations and the upgrade of their free trade agreement.

TREE NEWS update: China plans to send a three-person crew to the moon before 2030, with two astronauts landing on the lunar surface, according to details presented at the 7th Manned Space Academic Conference held at Beihang University in Beijing on October 31. The mission will use a “two launches, one landing” approach to achieve the crewed lunar landing.

TREE NEWS update: The 2026 World Laureates Forum opened on Oct. 31 at the Lingang Center in Shanghai, drawing 32 winners of top international prizes including the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Wolf Prize and Fields Medal. A further 23 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, 140 senior scientists and 78 young scientists are also attending the opening ceremony and main forum.

TREE NEWS update: A large zircon (hafnium) placer deposit has been discovered in Baicheng County, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, the first ancient river-lake zircon placer found in China, the Ministry of Natural Resources said. The find fills a gap in exploration for ultra-large zircon (hafnium) deposits in China and is expected to significantly raise the country’s self-sufficiency in zircon, of which China holds less than 1% of global reserves while Australia holds about 70%.

TREE NEWS update: Protests near Poland’s constitutional court on the evening of the 30th turned into clashes with police, with three protesters who entered the court grounds detained and several people injured. President Karol Nawrocki cut short a trip to Senegal and returned home urgently, saying he needed to stay in the country at this critical moment.

TREE NEWS update: China’s rhenium reserves have more than tripled after a reassessment of co-associated, low-grade and hard-to-process strategic minerals, the country’s mineral authorities said. The same review added gold equivalent to 50 large deposits and nickel equivalent to 30 large deposits, alongside increases in zirconium reserves. The figures cover retained resources of rhenium, gold, nickel and zirconium.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s October 2026 box office surpassed 2 billion yuan ($280 million) as of Oct. 31. The top three films for the month were “Shen Tan Zhi Hen Ji,” “Resident Evil: Night of the Outbreak” and “What Do You Mean, Couple.” The figure covers the full month of October.

TREE NEWS reports: Roland Berger partner Eric Esperance forecast at the 2026 Global Chinese Automotive Elite Joint Annual Conference that Chinese automakers will sell 2.7 million vehicles in Europe by 2030, with 37% produced locally. Capacity will be built through both greenfield investment and reviving idle European plants. He said EU tariffs and local-content rules are creating structural pressure, making deep localization essential for scale.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s manufacturing PMI for large enterprises stood at 50.2% in October, down 0.4 percentage points from September but still above the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The reading for medium-sized manufacturers fell 1.3 points to 48.4%, while the small-enterprise gauge dropped 1.4 points to 47.5%, leaving both in contraction.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s construction business activity index fell to 48.0 in October, down 2.3 percentage points from the previous month, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The services business activity index came in at 50.0, a decline of 0.2 percentage points month-on-month. A reading below 50 indicates contraction.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s official manufacturing PMI fell to 49.3 in October from 50.1 in September, dropping below the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction. The non-manufacturing PMI also slipped to 49.7 from 50.2, and the composite PMI came in at 49.7 versus the prior 50.7.

TREE NEWS update: China Green Development Group’s 60 MW liquid air energy storage national demonstration project in Golmud, Qinghai, has been successfully connected to the grid, marking a major breakthrough in engineering and commercial deployment of the technology. The facility, which stores and releases electricity and cooling energy using air at -194°C under near-ambient pressure, can help absorb 600,000 kWh of clean energy daily and deliver about 180 million kWh annually, enough to meet the yearly electricity needs of 30,000 households.

TREE NEWS reports: The Nasdaq 100 fell 3.5% on Friday, its biggest drop since early June, as a deepening selloff in technology stocks hit investors who had bet on the “All-in AI” trade. The three-week slump, driven by growing anxiety over whether technology can generate enough profit to justify the debt-fueled investment boom, sent investors rushing back to defensive sectors that had been long neglected.

TREE NEWS reports: The 10-year US Treasury yield fell 0.8 basis point to 4.9289% in late New York trading on Friday, October 30, bringing its October decline to 35.60 basis points. The two-year yield slipped 1.04 basis points to 4.5876%, for a monthly drop of 29.94 basis points. Both maturities traded in wide ranges during the month, with the 10-year between 5.3624% and 4.8898%.

TREE NEWS update: The Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed two missiles and two drones launched by Yemen’s Houthi movement toward Saudi Arabia on March 30, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said. The coalition said the missiles and drones were intercepted and destroyed on the same day.

TREE NEWS update: Russia plans trilateral talks with Ukraine, mediated by the United States, in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on October 30, calling them “decisive” for resolving the Ukraine issue. The specific date is still being coordinated.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. Department of Agriculture said it will not suspend live cattle imports from Mexico through New Mexico and Arizona ports despite a surge in New World screwworm cases. No infection has been found in animals entering the U.S., and strict quarantine procedures are in place before animals approach the border. U.S. screwworm cases jumped in October, with the parasite first detected in Arizona this week; 73 cases have been recorded in domestic animals since the outbreak began in early June, 21 of them still active.

TREE NEWS update: Argentina’s state oil producer YPF said Friday it has applied for government investment incentives for its Bajo del Toro shale project in Vaca Muerta, which is expected to require $8.73 billion in investment over its full lifecycle. The incentive program, launched by the Milei administration, offers tax, customs and foreign-exchange relief to attract large-scale investment.