Real-time News

Conflict Update: 1. Sources: Air raid sirens sounded in Kyiv, Ukraine. 2. Russia claims to have attacked an oil tanker near Odessa, Ukraine. 3. Russian Ministry of Defense: Russian forces shot down 351 Ukrainian drones overnight. 4. Ukrainian military: Attacked a Russian military factory in the Rostov region. 5. Russian Ministry of Defense: Russian troops seized three more settlements in Ukraine. In the past 24 hours, "Eastern" forces have inflicted more than 315 casualties on Ukrainian troops. 6. Russian authorities claim a Ukrainian drone attack in the Belgorod region of Russia killed two people and injured two. 7. Russian online retailer Ozon stated that its logistics center in Dagestan caught fire after the drone attack. 8. A Ukrainian drone force commander stated that Ukraine hit a Russian MiG-29 fighter jet and two Russian vessels in the Black Sea. 9. Market news: Sources say the Perm oil refinery in Russia suspended operations after a drone attack on August 21. 10. Kremlin: Russian armed forces are working to identify missile production sites in Ukraine and will take measures to destroy these facilities. Other developments: 1. Russia and Ukraine exchanged 20 prisoners in Belarus. 2. The UK will provide Ukraine with Storm Shadow missile production technology. 3. Ukrainian President Zelensky suggested using frozen Russian assets to partially cover the shortfall. 4. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Karas: Proposed stricter sanctions against Russia this autumn. 5. French President Macron: Need to intensify the crackdown on Russia's shadow fleet and further coordinate sanctions measures. 6. EU: Today's approval of financial aid to Ukraine is an addition to the already approved €16 billion Ukraine procurement plan. 7. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: The latest financial aid to Ukraine will be used to help Ukraine with urgently needed missile defense systems, ammunition, and radar. 8. Ukrainian President Zelensky: Despite Russia's attacks and attempts to completely blockade shipping, three to four ships are still entering the port of Veliko Odessa every day. 9. British Prime Minister Burnham: The clear message to Russian President Putin is that Ukraine will never relinquish territory that Russia cannot win on the battlefield. More measures are needed to curb Russian oil and LNG exports. 10. Russian President Putin signed a decree to protect infrastructure. Critical infrastructure owners who fail to secure their facilities in the face of external threats may have them transferred to temporary management. 11. According to Ukrainian media: Due to the Russian attack, the visit to Kyiv by US Middle East envoy Witkov and Trump senior advisor Kushner has been postponed.

Artificial Intelligence: 1. Alibaba's Wan3.0 video big data model officially launched. 2. Meta plans to launch the "HATCH" AI agent platform in the coming weeks. 3. Alibaba's liver cancer AI model accurately identifies tiny tumors, featured again in a top international journal. 4. Nvidia in talks to invest in Perplexity, whose valuation may exceed $30 billion. 5. The Dark Side of the Moon: Kimi K2.5, the first-generation trillion-parameter multimodal model, will end its service life at the end of this month. 6. Amazon Web Services: AWS Glue 6.0 upgrade reduces AWS Glue prices by 30%. 7. Former OpenAI employee Luke Metz has joined Meta's Super Intelligence Lab. 8. Lancium announced a partnership with Nvidia to advance the development of gigawatt-scale AI factories in its over 15GW portfolio. Integrated Circuits (Chips): 1. SK Hynix is introducing advanced packaging technology for its next-generation HBM solution. 2. Nvidia's Groq 3 LPX AI inference accelerator is in full production. 3. Xiaomi unveils its new generation self-developed processor, the Xuanjie O3: using a 3nm process, integrating 24 billion transistors, with an AnTuTu score exceeding 5.22 million. Other: 1. Joseph Tsai and Wu Yongming increase their holdings of Alibaba shares by HK$120 million. 2. XPeng Group: The humanoid robot IRON will officially launch next year. 3. Institutions predict a 14% decline in global smartphone shipments in 2026; Samsung aims to regain the top market share. 4. Smart ring manufacturer Ora plans to raise up to $3 billion through an IPO, targeting a valuation exceeding $16 billion.

On August 25th, British Prime Minister Burnham stated that he and other European leaders plan to travel to the United States next month to lobby US President Trump to allow Ukraine to receive some of the US Patriot air defense missile stockpile before winter. "I look forward to going to New York in September," Burnham said in an interview in Kyiv on Monday evening, referring to the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York, which will be his first visit to the US since becoming Prime Minister. He added, "The specific details are not yet fully finalized, but I am very likely to go, especially after today's talks. I am quite clear about what I need to do in the coming weeks."

Market news: British Prime Minister Burnham plans to visit the United States next month to lobby Trump for support for Ukraine.

August 25th - According to The Information, Meta Platforms (META.O) plans to launch its consumer-facing OpenClaw AI assistant (internal codename Hatch) as early as the coming weeks, and plans to launch its latest AI model, "Watermelon," in October. Hatch is part of Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg's ambitious plan to monetize the company's massive AI investments and diversify revenue streams beyond advertising. Previous reports indicated that Meta considered a tiered pricing system, including a monthly premium subscription fee of up to $199.99, which would include higher usage limits. Hatch is reportedly trained to access websites such as DoorDash, Etsy, Reddit, Yelp, and Outlook.

According to The Information, Meta Platforms (META.O) plans to launch the “HATCH” AI agent platform in the coming weeks.

On August 25th, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) released preliminary data on August 24th, showing that the GDP of OECD member economies grew by 0.5% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter of 2026, slightly faster than the 0.4% growth in the first quarter. However, the growth rate of the G7 economies slowed, with GDP growing by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, lower than the 0.4% in the first quarter. The data shows that the economic growth rates of five members—Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US—all slowed. Germany and Italy both saw GDP growth of 0.2% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, Japan by 0.3%, and the UK and the US by 0.4%. Canada's growth rate rose from zero in the first quarter to 0.8%, and France's economy rebounded from a contraction of 0.1% in the first quarter to growth of 0.2%. Of the 30 OECD members with available data, 27 saw quarter-on-quarter GDP growth in the second quarter, while 3 remained flat. The GDP of OECD member economies grew by 2.3% year-on-year in the second quarter, higher than the 1.7% growth in the first quarter.

On August 25, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement on the 24th, saying he had approved the formal withdrawal of the US designation of Syria as a "state sponsor of terrorism." The Syrian transitional government welcomed the US decision. Rubio stated that the Syrian transitional government had taken significant steps in counterterrorism, and the US decision "removed the last major obstacle to private sector investment in Syria" and will "promote Syria's economic recovery and its reintegration into the global economy." In the same statement, Rubio also announced the removal of the Liberation Army of Syria (HAL) from the US list of designated terrorist organizations.

UK Maritime Trade Organization: Crew reports safety, but related environmental impacts were unclear at the time of reporting.

The UK Maritime Trade Organization has received reports of an incident 9 nautical miles northeast of Ash Hisha, Oman, where the tanker captain reported that the vessel was attacked by an unknown projectile, resulting in damage to the engine room and loss of power.

August 25th - According to Nikkei, Japan plans to allocate approximately 100 billion yen (about US$628 million) to help domestic companies purchase submarine cable-laying vessels to mitigate risks such as rising costs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications will include this expenditure in its fiscal year 2027 budget request, scheduled for submission at the end of August. The ministry is considering covering about half of the vessel procurement costs, with each vessel potentially costing over 40 billion yen. Procurement costs have been rising due to the depreciation of the yen and increasing raw material prices. This will reportedly be the first time Japan has directly supported the procurement of submarine cable-laying vessels. The 2027 budget plans to support the purchase of 3 to 5 vessels, aiming to encourage private sector investment.

According to Nikkei, Japan plans to spend $630 million to purchase a submarine cable laying vessel.

On August 25th, former Bank of Japan official Seiji Adachi stated that the Bank of Japan is very likely to raise interest rates next month, confirming widespread market predictions. In an interview, Adachi said, "The Bank of Japan is essentially in a dilemma. The market has largely priced in a rate hike. If the central bank doesn't raise rates, the yen could weaken significantly again." This comes after US Treasury Secretary Bessant indicated that policy action was needed after foreign exchange intervention and expressed hope that Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda would raise interest rates. "Bessant has repeatedly hinted that the Bank of Japan will be the next institution to take action," Adachi said. "Given this, the government cannot tell the Bank of Japan 'don't do it.'" Adachi pointed out that Japan's inflation momentum is strong, and after the expected rate hike in September, the Bank of Japan is likely to continue raising rates. He stated, "I think the Bank of Japan will act again in January next year, and the rate hike cycle is very likely to continue for some time, even exceeding the previously considered end point of the cycle at 1.25% or 1.5%."

Boeing (BA.N) has contracts related to foreign military sales projects, with customers including Japan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Poland.

Boeing (BA.N) has been awarded a contract worth up to $131.2 billion for the U.S. Air Force's F-15 Eagle Crest program. The contract is expected to expire on August 24, 2031, with an option to extend to August 24, 2036.

Sources say JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N) and Santander are leading a financing round of up to $15 billion for Argentina’s liquefied natural gas project.

On August 25th, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Baghae held a press conference on August 24th, addressing regional issues and Iran-US relations. Baghae emphasized that Iran has the right to strike at all sources of aggression, and that the US threat to impose a new round of sanctions on Iran is a serious violation of international law. Regarding the US threat to impose so-called "toughest sanctions" on Iran, Baghae stated that the Iranian government understands the current economic pressures and business difficulties it faces domestically, which are part of the pressure the US has exerted on the Iranian people over the past decades. The Iranian government had previously assessed the situation and is taking all necessary measures to counter the economic sanctions. He condemned the US for calling its sanctions against Iran "economic warfare," stating that this demonstrates the US's disregard for the free trade system between nations and national sovereignty.

On August 25, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday halted a lower court's injunction against President Trump's executive order restricting mail-in voting, clearing a path for Trump to implement his measures, though other legal restrictions remain. The Supreme Court granted the Justice Department's emergency request to temporarily suspend a June ruling by a Boston federal judge that had previously blocked Trump from implementing the executive order in 23 Democratic-led states and Washington, D.C. The executive order, signed by Trump in March, mandated the compilation of citizen lists, prioritized prosecutions of officials who sent ballots to ineligible individuals, and restricted the Postal Service to delivering ballots only to eligible voters. Trump has long questioned the security of mail-in voting and pledged to end the practice. Since Democratic voters are more inclined to vote by mail, the restrictions could benefit Republicans. Previously, judges ruled that the president had no authority to change state election administration methods, while the Justice Department argued that states were acting prematurely. With the midterm elections approaching, legal disputes surrounding mail-in voting restrictions are expected to continue.

According to the Korean labor union: Hyundai Motor and the Korean labor union have reached a preliminary wage agreement.