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On August 25th, Alibaba Cloud announced that its Cloud Sandbox Snapshot feature will officially launch commercial billing starting at 00:00 Beijing time on September 7th, 2026. Snapshot supports full-state snapshots (including memory and disk) of running sandboxes, enabling second-level recovery of the sandbox or cloning of multiple new sandboxes based on the snapshot. It is suitable for scenarios such as resuming interrupted Agent tasks running for extended periods, second-level cold starts for environment warm-up, and parallel cloning exploration.

Siemens Energy shares rose about 2% after reports that the company had hired Goldman Sachs to pursue a potential sale of its steam turbine stake.

August 25th - my country is the world's largest producer and exporter of audio products, with over 80% of the world's audio equipment originating from China. Wang Tianxing, Deputy Chief of the Product Supervision Section of Haicang Customs, under Xiamen Customs, stated, "From January to July this year, Fujian Province exported 20.47 million speaker and loudspeaker-related products, a year-on-year increase of 16.8%. Among them, Xiamen City exported 17.39 million speaker and loudspeaker-related products, a year-on-year increase of 30.5%." With the peak export season approaching, Chinese audio companies are seeking new growth points in the global market. Emerging markets such as South America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia are becoming important drivers of exports. Data from Qichacha shows that as of August 25th, there are 1.9737 million existing audio-related companies in China. The number of registered audio-related companies has shown a significant upward trend over the past decade, with the total number of registrations expected to exceed 400,000 in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 22.36% to 435,300, setting a new high for registrations in the past ten years. As of now, 246,600 companies have been registered this year.

On August 25th, according to the local governor, a fire broke out at the Afipsky oil refinery in southern Russia after a drone attack overnight. The governor of Krasnodar Krai stated that local emergency services are handling the fire at the facility, located near the Ukrainian border. Ukraine's actions against Russian refineries this summer have caused Russia's daily oil processing volume to fall to multi-year lows and exacerbated fuel supply pressures. Several regions are currently facing fuel shortages and rationing measures. To support the domestic market, Russia has implemented a temporary ban on the export of most diesel, gasoline, and aviation fuel. The Afipsky refinery, owned by the privately held ForteInvest, has a crude oil processing capacity of approximately 180,000 barrels per day.

France's INSEE consumer confidence index for August was 86, below the expected 87 and the previous reading of 86.

On August 25, amid escalating sanctions against Iran, the U.S. government issued a reward of up to $10 million on August 24 for information leading to the arrest of senior Iranian armed forces officials, including Ahmed Vahidi, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to the U.S. State Department website, the reward list includes five individuals: Vahidi, Ali Abdullahhi, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and Saeed Agjajani, commander of the Revolutionary Guard's drone command. The latest U.S. reward list now includes 14 individuals.

Ukrainian President Zelensky: US President Trump congratulated Ukraine on its Independence Day.

August 25th - According to foreign media reports, sources revealed that Japanese high-frequency trading firm Dharmacapital relocated all its employees to Singapore earlier this month, meaning it no longer operates in Japan. Japan's higher tax rates compared to other Asian financial centers were partly the reason for the relocation. Akiyoshi Shiotani, CEO of Dharmacapital Pte, stated, "The main reason for the relocation is better access to global markets. Japan remains our most important market." According to the registration list published by the Japanese Financial Services Agency as of July, Dharmacapital was the only Tokyo-based company among the 53 high-frequency trading firms participating in the Japanese market. Tokyo has struggled to maintain its position as a major international financial center, and some financial professionals choose other cities over Tokyo due to factors including relatively high income tax rates and language barriers.

August 25th - This year, leveraging its advantages as a multimodal transport hub, the Khorgos Port has seen rapid growth in import and export freight volume, reaching a record high for the same period. According to statistics from Khorgos Customs, from January to July this year, the Khorgos Port's import and export freight volume reached 27.012 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 2.4%, ranking first among Xinjiang ports.

On August 25th, research firm Digitimes reported that major cloud service providers are expected to place increasing emphasis on operational efficiency and financial discipline in the second half of 2026, as spending on AI-driven infrastructure continues to surge. Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft's combined cloud revenue reached $106.3 billion in the second quarter, with annual growth accelerating to 43%, the fastest pace since 2020. Digitimes stated that Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, and Meta are expected to increase total capital expenditures to a record $745 billion. While these companies remain optimistic about AI demand, rising investment costs have already put pressure on free cash flow, prompting cloud service providers to seek cost control, financial adjustments, and more efficient AI service solutions to balance growth targets with increasing investment risks.

The Nikkei 225 index closed up 328.34 points, or 0.50%, at 65,856.43 on Tuesday, August 25.

Turkish Foreign Ministry: Turkey welcomes the US decision to remove Syria from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.

On August 25th, the draft Law on Farmland Protection and Quality Improvement was submitted to the 24th session of the 14th National People's Congress Standing Committee for its third review. The third draft further added provisions regarding talent, funding, and compensation. Specifically, it prohibits any unit or individual from withholding, misappropriating, or diverting funds for high-standard farmland construction. Major grain-producing areas have played a crucial role in farmland protection and food security. To further reflect the compensation for these areas, the third draft adds provisions for the state to improve the compensation mechanism for major grain-producing areas, refine the fiscal transfer payment system for these areas and major grain-producing counties, and improve the inter-provincial horizontal compensation mechanism for grain production and sales areas. The third draft also adds provisions to protect the high productivity of black soil, ensuring that the total amount of black soil does not decrease, its function does not degrade, its quality improves, and its production capacity is sustainable.

August 25th - Germany's economy grew by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in the second quarter, higher than the preliminary estimate of 0.2%. GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.0%, indicating a continued recovery in economic activity. The Federal Statistical Office of Germany stated that the economy continued its growth momentum from the beginning of the year, with exports once again becoming the main driver of growth. External demand was the strongest contributor to economic growth, with exports of goods and services increasing by 2.0% compared to the first quarter. Imports increased by 1.5% quarter-on-quarter. The upward revision of GDP data was partly driven by stronger-than-expected wholesale and retail trade activity. Newly released trade data showed that exports performed even more robustly in June, increasing by 3.7% year-on-year, mainly supported by strong demand for chemical products, electronic products, optical products, and transportation equipment. Domestic investment remained uneven, with overall gross fixed capital formation declining by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, machinery and equipment investment declining by 1.4%, and construction investment increasing only slightly by 0.1%, indicating that the construction industry still faces continued difficulties. Consumption growth remained moderate, with both household and government consumption increasing by only 0.1% quarter-on-quarter, indicating that the role of domestic demand in the economic recovery remains limited.

On August 25th, Sony Financial Group economist Takayuki Miyajima stated that one of the biggest risks facing the Japanese government bond market remains Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's expansionary fiscal policy. "Given the US government's expressed caution regarding the weak yen and rising Japanese government bond yields, the Takaichi administration is unlikely to continue pursuing fiscal expansion while ignoring market and Washington's concerns," he added. "If this expectation proves wrong, the fiscal risk premium could rise again, potentially pushing the (10-year Japanese government bond) yield significantly above 3%."

On August 25th, Danske Bank senior analyst Jesper Fjarstedt stated in a report that escalating geopolitical tensions have added new complexity to the upcoming Jackson Hole symposium. Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh will speak on Friday, and "the market widely expects him to avoid giving clear policy signals and is unlikely to directly discuss Treasury intervention in the market." Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Bessant stated on Monday that the US is launching an operation aimed at isolating the Iranian regime and warned that countries and businesses doing business with Iran will face US retaliation.

On August 25th, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun, a panel of experts from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry approved a proposal on Monday to establish a subsidy program to support companies in diversifying their crude oil and naphtha supply sources. This proposal is part of Japan's efforts to reduce its reliance on petroleum products imported via the Strait of Hormuz and is expected to be incorporated into the government's upcoming energy diversification policy. The program will compensate companies for the additional costs incurred by avoiding the Strait of Hormuz. The Japanese government will levy fees on all companies importing crude oil and naphtha and use the collected funds to finance the subsidy program. Companies that prioritize sourcing via the Strait of Hormuz will bear a higher cost burden. Meanwhile, the panel also confirmed that the national petroleum reserve program, including naphtha, will be restored to the equivalent of 90 days of consumption by the end of March 2028.

According to Saudi media Hadas, the chairman of Iraq's Supreme Judicial Council has arrived in Tehran to discuss judicial cooperation.

On August 25, the draft revision of the Banking Supervision and Management Law was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for its second review. The second draft further strengthens the responsibilities of banking regulatory agencies in protecting banking consumers, improves relevant systems, and specifically regulates illegal activities such as the misappropriation of customer funds by banking financial institution employees. The second draft adds a list of prohibited actions by banking financial institutions and their employees that infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, including not infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of depositors and other customers through misappropriation of funds, not forcing customers to bundle or sell products or services, not providing depositors and other customers with products that do not meet their risk tolerance in violation of suitability management regulations, and not using improper means for debt collection. To provide stronger legal support for preventing and resolving banking financial risks, the second draft splits Chapter Four, "Supervision and Management Measures," into two chapters: "Supervision and Management Measures" and "Risk Disposal," clarifying the division of responsibilities between the central and local governments in risk disposal for banking financial institutions, strengthening risk disposal measures, and specifying the ways in which deposit insurance fund management institutions and other entities participate in risk disposal.