Real-time News

August 27 - The China Earthquake Networks Center officially measured a 5.3-magnitude earthquake in Colombia (6.75 degrees north latitude, 73.08 degrees west longitude) at 00:45 on August 27, with a focal depth of 150 kilometers.

On August 27th, Anthropic reported that it has agreed to pay Nscale $45 billion over the next six years to lease approximately 460 megawatts of AI computing power from Nscale's Monarch data center in West Virginia. According to sources, Nscale will use NVIDIA's (NVDA.O.) Vera Rubin chips, with deployment expected by the end of next year. The entire Monarch campus has a planned capacity of approximately 1.35 gigawatts and a total investment of approximately $71 billion, with about $47 billion allocated to AI chips. The remaining buildings will begin providing computing power in 2028. The project was originally planned to be leased by Microsoft, but Microsoft withdrew this summer, and Anthropic subsequently became the tenant. In recent months, Anthropic has also reached computing power agreements with Fluidstack, Volta Infra, and SpaceX for $50 billion, $10 billion, and $45 billion respectively, further securing computing resources ahead of its IPO.

The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that Russian air defense systems shot down 51 Ukrainian drones in a single day over multiple regions of Russia and the Black Sea.

On August 27, US President Trump confirmed on the 26th that CIA Director Ratcliffe had recently visited Russia, saying the visit "may have some results," but did not elaborate further. In a radio interview that day, Trump called Ratcliffe's visit "somewhat routine." He then hinted that Ratcliffe's visit was related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying, "We are working to bring an end to the war, and both sides want to see it end."

On August 27th, IDC reported that Apple's (AAPL.O) first foldable iPhone, launching in September, is expected to ship over 10 million units in its first year, despite a potential price tag of $2,500, driving renewed growth in the foldable phone market. IDC projects global foldable phone shipments will grow by 12.6% this year and 18% next year, with Apple accounting for 40% of global foldable phone shipments by 2027. Meanwhile, due to rising prices and supply constraints of components such as memory chips, IDC predicts a record 16.7% contraction in the global smartphone market this year, stating that "the era of cheap smartphones is over."

According to Nikkei, Japanese memory chip giant Kioxia will build a new manufacturing plant in Iwate Prefecture, with an estimated investment of over 1 trillion yen.

The yield on the five-year U.S. Treasury note fell slightly after the auction and is currently up 3.42 basis points at 4.383%.

Google (GOOG.O) has launched the Gemini 3.5 speech-to-text transcription model.

The US 5-year Treasury auction on August 26th yielded a winning bid of 4.393%, compared to 4.41% previously.

According to the German Geosciences Research Center (GFZ), Colombia was hit by a 5.2-magnitude earthquake; people were evacuated from many buildings in the capital, Bogotá.

Sources say Anthropic will receive 460 megawatts of computing power from NScale data centers.

On August 27, Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General, the Security Council, and UN member states, stating that the "economic isolation measures" announced by the United States on August 24 were aimed at forcing other countries to terminate their legitimate economic relations with Iran through secondary sanctions and restrictions on access to the US financial system, and constituted an extension of US law and policy beyond its jurisdiction. Araqchi stated that the measures would affect basic needs such as food, medicine, medical equipment, and energy, and cited a 2018 ruling by the International Court of Justice, accusing the US of violating international law. Iran demanded that the Security Council and UN member states condemn and reject the US's unilateral coercive measures and secondary sanctions, demand that the US immediately cease pressuring third countries, and called on the UN Secretary-General to assess their humanitarian impact. Iran stated that it reserves the right to pursue all possible avenues to hold the US accountable and demand compensation for related losses.

According to Interfax news agency, the Russian Ministry of Defense stated that Russian troops struck a cargo ship in the port of Izmail, Ukraine.

Market news: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the Mexican Foreign Minister today.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi sent a letter to the United Nations demanding condemnation of the "economic isolation action" and secondary sanctions announced by the United States on August 24, and stated that Iran reserves the right to pursue accountability and compensation.

European Parliament President Metzel: Canadian Prime Minister Carney will travel to Strasbourg on September 16 to attend European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's State of the Union address and formally address the European Parliament.

On August 27th, Nikkei reported that Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) plans to request 23.5 billion yen (approximately US$148 million) in budget for fiscal year 2027 to upgrade the launch capacity of its main H3 rocket, an increase of approximately eight times compared to 2.9 billion yen in fiscal year 2026. The additional funding will increase the H3's annual launch capacity from three in 2025 to six to eight, and shorten the minimum interval between launches from approximately two months to two weeks, aiming to attract overseas satellite launch demand currently dominated by SpaceX (SPCX.O). MEXT's total request for aerospace and space research and development budget for fiscal year 2027 will reach 375 billion yen, a significant increase from 151.3 billion yen in fiscal year 2026.

According to Nikkei, the additional funding will increase the H3 rocket's annual launch capacity to 6 to 8 rockets, and to 3 rockets by 2025.

Fitch Ratings: Soaring sovereign bond yields highlight ongoing fiscal challenges.

August 27 - It was learned from the People's Bank of China that the Tibet Autonomous Region Branch of the People's Bank of China has opened a "green channel" for the transfer of treasury funds, urgently allocated disaster relief funds for the mudslide at the Gyirong Port in Gyirong County, and organized the treasury within its jurisdiction to do its utmost to provide disaster relief services and support.