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On July 18th, according to the Financial Times, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) released updated regulatory data this week on short sellers' bets on UK listed companies under new rules. The data contained several obvious errors, raising questions about the quality of information provided under the new disclosure regime. Previous regulations required the public disclosure of the specific names of hedge funds and investors holding significant short positions, but the new rules have removed this requirement. Instead, the regulator will now disclose the total short positions for each stock in an aggregated manner. The FCA released this data after the new rules came into effect. However, according to an analysis by data provider Breakout Point, the new information released by the FCA contains several obvious errors. Some positions were subsequently deleted or altered without leaving any record of the changes. The data also includes positions from several years ago, which are highly unlikely to still exist. Ivan Kosovich, founder of Breakout Point, stated that initial problems might be understandable and the situation is improving, but "hidden alterations" in official market records should not become the norm.

Bahrain's Ministry of Defense said it intercepted multiple Iranian airstrikes on Saturday.

The China Earthquake Networks Center officially reported that a 4.3-magnitude earthquake occurred at 13:47 on July 18 in Akto County, Kizilsu Kirghiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang (38.71 degrees north latitude, 75.07 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 10 kilometers.

The Kuwaiti military stated that Kuwait is currently intercepting missiles and drones launched from Iran.

July 18 - According to data from Xinjiang Power Exchange Center Co., Ltd., Xinjiang's total electricity transmission to other regions in the first half of 2026 reached 79.024 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 25.11%, of which 27.84 billion kWh was from renewable energy sources, a year-on-year increase of 33.92%.

Kuwait Airways said it has rescheduled most of its flights due to the closure of Kuwaiti airspace on Saturday.

The Kuwaiti military stated that Kuwait is currently intercepting missiles and drones launched from Iran.

On July 18th, Anhui Shenji Technology Co., Ltd., a chip subsidiary of NIO, participated in the World Artificial Intelligence Conference for the first time independently. In addition to showcasing the Shenji NX9031 chip and in-vehicle domain controller, the company also launched new AI products such as the "RuiDong" embodied intelligence development platform and a distributed intelligent agent platform. Since its establishment in June 2025, Shenji has completed nearly 3 billion yuan in financing. Currently, Shenji has formed a complete product series consisting of multiple chips including the NX9031X, NX9031U, and NX9031C, comprehensively covering three cutting-edge AI tracks: intelligent assisted driving, embodied intelligence, and agent inference.

According to Yonhap News Agency, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called for increased agricultural subsidies to protect food safety and safeguard farmers' livelihoods.

Iranian state television, citing the Iranian military, reported that Iran had struck U.S. military assets and fuel tanks in Bahrain.

July 18th - A landslide occurred in Pengshui County, Chongqing on July 17th, burying and leaving several people missing. The National Disaster Prevention, Mitigation and Relief Committee activated a Level IV national emergency response. To implement the important instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping regarding the landslide in Pengshui County, Chongqing, and in accordance with the "National Natural Disaster Relief Emergency Plan," the National Development and Reform Commission allocated 30 million yuan from the central budget to support the emergency reconstruction of infrastructure and public service facilities in the disaster area.

Russia claims that Ukraine launched 370 drones at Moscow, and that it has shot down most of them.

On July 18th, at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), Alibaba launched Meoo Team, an enterprise-level AI application creation platform. Its core capabilities include unified identity management, unified procurement and quota control, refined permission management, and team asset sharing. Meoo Team aims to solve problems faced by enterprises in AI creation, such as resource coordination, permission allocation, and asset ownership, improving the collaborative efficiency of teams in e-commerce, content creation, production and operations, marketing, finance, and education.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reports a 4.2-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Chiapas, Mexico, at a depth of 1.0 km.

July 18th - The 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference opened yesterday (July 17th) in Shanghai. At the sub-forum on "Artificial Intelligence and Energy: Two-Way Empowerment," an official from the National Energy Administration revealed that my country will accelerate the construction of a new energy system to provide a green foundation for the development of artificial intelligence. It is understood that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, inference load will exceed the previous training load, becoming the main consumption of computing power. The characteristics of latency sensitivity, large load fluctuations, and concentrated demand require that computing power collaboration shift from "spatial collaboration" to "multi-dimensional collaboration" between computing power load and the new power system. This necessitates the integrated layout of core elements such as intelligent computing power, large models, and corpus resources. Wang Hongzhi, Secretary of the Party Group and Director of the National Energy Administration, stated that nearly four out of every ten kilowatt-hours of electricity consumed in the whole society is green electricity. Sufficient and high-quality green electricity supply will promote green computing power from concept to practice, from the laboratory to application scenarios, ensuring that every kilowatt-hour of electricity is used to its fullest potential and that every token is associated with green development.

1. The EU imposes sanctions on one Russian individual and five entities. 2. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy: Discussed the appointment of an acting defense minister with the new prime minister. 3. The commander of the Ukrainian drone force stated that Ukrainian drones have struck 12 Russian ships in the Black Sea. 4. The Ukrainian Port Authority: Russia attacked Ukrainian ports 23 times in the first two weeks of July. 5. Naftogaz: A Russian drone attack caused a gas production facility in Kharkiv Oblast to shut down. 6. The Russian Ministry of Defense: Russian forces struck 24 Ukrainian military vessels in the past week. 7. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy: Ukraine destroyed a Russian Tu-95 military aircraft at Engels Air Base.

According to Iranian media reports, an explosion was heard in the Khorramabad region.

According to the Iranian news agency IRNA, Arab media reported that Iranian missiles successfully penetrated Jordan's air defense system, claiming that the Patriot missile defense system failed to intercept them effectively.

Market news: Apple (AAPL.O) will raise the price of iPhones in Japan by 10%.