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Ukrainian lawmakers: Ukrainian President Zelensky has submitted Yevgeny Khmara as a candidate for the position of Minister of Defense.

On August 18th, Robin Li stated during Baidu's earnings call that Kunlun Chip maintained strong momentum in the second quarter, continuing its expansion into multiple industries amidst robust demand. Market recognition of Kunlun Chip's stability, efficiency, and adaptability in large-scale applications is steadily increasing. Kunlun Chip's inference throughput and overall computing efficiency have further improved, enhancing its ability to support diverse and demanding AI workloads at scale. Currently, Kunlun Chip has completed the R&D and commercialization of three generations of AI chips and will continue to advance its product portfolio, including the latest M100 optimized for large-scale inference and the upcoming M300.

On August 18th, Baidu (09888.HK) CFO He Haijian revealed during Baidu's earnings call that Baidu plans to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on August 26th to seek shareholder approval on several related matters, and expects the main board conversion to take effect within this year. During the call, Baidu stated that it is preparing for inclusion in the Southbound Stock Connect program after the conversion and hopes to be included as soon as possible after the conversion is completed. In July, Baidu's board of directors approved the conversion of its Hong Kong listing status from a secondary listing to a dual primary listing and submitted an application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, which has since confirmed the change.

On August 18, Al Jazeera reported that Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi stated that the US goal in this war is to force Iran to surrender, but "we will not surrender." He said, "The US is now begging to negotiate with us on our terms." He stated that the memorandum of understanding signed with the US contains "13 clauses favorable to us and 1 clause favorable to them," and accused Israel of doing everything possible to undermine and prevent the implementation of the agreement. He stated, "We won the war, we won a diplomatic victory, and we forced our enemy to accept our terms." He added that Iran's military and battlefield capabilities provided strength for its diplomatic efforts in the negotiations.

On August 18, U.S. Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barak posted on social media that the United States was deeply concerned about Israel's airstrikes on the Abu Zukur airbase in Syria, believing that "this action constitutes an unnecessary escalation and does not contribute to regional stability." Barak stated that the Syrian transitional government has neither adopted a hostile stance nor continued to support "proxy armed forces." He pointed out that "in fact, the Syrian transitional government has repeatedly expressed its willingness to ease relations with Israel." Earlier that day, the Syrian state news agency, citing military sources, reported that Israeli warplanes carried out multiple airstrikes on the Abu Zukur airbase in Idlib province in northwestern Syria.

Industry sources say Airbus is tentatively planning to conduct the maiden flight of its A350F freighter in the third week of September.

The expiration of the ceasefire and the escalation of tensions in Lebanon have pushed up premiums, causing international oil prices to continue rising. A chart provides a quick overview of the pre-market conversion prices of crude oil between domestic and international markets.

The U.S. export price index rose 8.2% year-on-year in July, down from 10.20% in the previous month.

The U.S. import price index rose 5.9% year-on-year in July, down from 7.10% in the previous month.

The U.S. export price index fell 1.3% month-on-month in July, compared with an expected 0.2% and a revised previous reading of -0.7% (from -0.60%).

U.S. building permits rose 5% month-on-month in July, compared with a previous reading of -2.60%.

US housing starts fell 12.4% month-over-month in July, with the previous figure revised from 19.00% to 19.7%.

According to Politico: The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's injunction against the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies at certain places of worship.

The EU foreign policy chief stated that Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, and Ukraine have aligned themselves with the relevant measures.

EU foreign policy chief: The EU welcomes other countries reaching an agreement on restrictive measures against Belarus.

On August 18th, Pansen Macro analyst Rob Wood stated in a report that the latest UK employment market data will encourage Bank of England policymakers to keep interest rates unchanged. He said, "The employment situation is slightly weaker than expected, indicating that the labor market is still slowing, but currently only easing very slowly." Wood noted that wage growth is within a reasonable range consistent with the inflation target, but is unlikely to slow further and may even accelerate slightly in the coming months. He also mentioned that private sector wages, excluding bonuses, rose 4.8% month-on-month, the largest monthly increase since December last year.