Daily Buzz: 21 September 2026

Russia Says Ukrainian Drone Attacks Aimed at Election Disruption

Russia reported that Ukraine fired 450 drones at the Moscow region on Sunday, accusing Kiev of attempting to disrupt the final day of parliamentary elections. They were reportedly part of a larger attack of about 1,000 drones across Russia. In the Moscow region, drones hit a major oil refinery and a logistics warehouse, triggering fires. A residential building was also reportedly damaged. Two people were reported killed and 20 injured. Flights were temporarily suspended at Moscow's biggest airport. Exit polls following three days of elections – the first since the war with Ukraine began more than four years ago -- showed parties backing President Vladmir Putin easily retaining control of Russia's lower house of parliament, an expected outcome since anti-Putin candidates were effectively barred from running. Turnout by mid-day on Sunday was over 45 percent, according to Central Election Commission Chairwoman Ella Pamfilova.

Houthi Group Launches Drones, Missiles at Saudi Capital, Red Sea Oil Sites

Yemen's Houthi militants claimed responsibility for drone and ballistic missile attacks on the Saudi capital Riyadh and Saudi Aramco oil facilities on the Red Sea, near where Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline from the Persian Gulf ends. The Saudis said they deflected multiple missile attacks. A column of black smoke was seen rising from fuel tanks near Riyadh's international airport, disrupting flights temporarily on Saturday. The militant group has been in a civil war with the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government in Yemen since 2014, entering the wider Middle East conflict in July by announcing a Red Sea blockade against Saudi shipping. Saudi Arabia has been using the Red Sea, which links to the Suez Canal, as a shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

Separately, the US military said energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz reached a six-month high in the past two weeks, with its forces supporting more than 2,000 commercial vessel transits moving over 1 billion barrels of crude oil. Independent global trackers of oil flows say Persian Gulf shipments remain at about half of prewar levels, when the strait carried about 20 percent of global oil supplies. The bulk of that oil went to India, China and Japan. Global benchmark Brent crude futures resumed trading in New York at around US$103.70 a barrel.

German Chancellor Calls Election Results a 'Disaster'

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called the results of two state parliamentary elections a "disaster," after exit polls showed his center-right Christian Democratic Union party heading for its worse defeat in 75 years. His grasp on power after 16 months in office is looking increasingly vulnerable. In the largely rural Baltic coastal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the far-right Alternative for Germany Party, an anti-immigration, pro-Moscow party that shook Germany's traditional political foundations two weeks ago with a state election win in Saxony-Anhalt, was leading with 38 percent of the vote, with the Christian Democrats clinging on 5 percent, the minimum threshold to qualify. In the Berlin region, his party was trailing the left-wing Die Linke party. Merz's approval ratings have dived to 10 percent after his government has failed to deliver on economic growth promises.

Top Business

CXMT Says New Chip Process Near to World's 'Most Advanced'

Chinese memory chip giant ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) said on Sunday that it has narrowed the gap in dynamic random-access memory technology with global rivals like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix as it unveiled a fifth-generation technology platform, dubbed G5, which increases the number of dies produced per wafer by at least 50 per cent from the previous generation. CXMT displayed two mass-produced LPDDR5X products based on the G5 platform. The high-speed, low-power DRAM chips for mobile devices each lift capacity to 24 gigabits. The milestone marks a breakthrough for CXMT on the high-end memory technology roadmap, bringing its process capabilities in line with the industry's most advanced production nodes. Shanghai-listed CXMT, the Chinese mainland's most valuable listed tech firm, is the world's fourth-largest DRAM maker, with its share of global revenue rising to 9.5 percent in the second quarter from the first three months of the year, ranking it behind Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron Technology. CXMT announced last week that it will move into production of NAND flash chips. Vice President Luo Xiaodong said Hefei-based CXMT will continue to improve its technology and develop high-performance, reliable memory products to meet market demand.

RoboTechnik Expected to Begin Hong Kong IPO Today

Chinese automation equipment maker RoboTechnik Intelligent Technology is expected to begin taking subscriptions for its Hong Kong initial public offering today, seeking to raise about US$800 million, Reuters reported. The Shenzhen-listed company, based in Suzhou, makes equipment for solar cell manufacturing and assembly, and testing systems for silicon photonics devices used in optical interconnects for data centers and AI infrastructure. Its shares are expected to begin trading on September 29. The company prospectus said it plans to use listing proceeds for research and development, factory capacity and global sales. RoboTechnik reported first-half profit of 6.6 million yuan (US$986 million), turning from a loss of 33.3 million yuan a year earlier. Revenue jumped 145 percent to 608.5 million yuan.

Trump Announces 'AI Force" to Oversee Development of the Technology

US President Donald Trump announced he is forming an "AI Force" to oversee the nation's artificial intelligence industry. In an online post, Trump said the goal is to protect the development of what he called "the next Industrial Revolution" and a key to national economic growth. He has rejected calls to slow down development and called fears of superintelligence going rogue and overpowering humans as "a hoax." Trump said he will be appointing a new AI czar, replacing David Sacks, won was named White House AI and Crypto Czar in 2024 but left the post in March, saying he believes that fears about AI's potential threat to humanity are overblown but caution is warranted.

Beijing Market Regulator Probing Practices of Four Travel Platforms

Beijing's market regulator announced this weekend that it is launching formal investigations into four major online travel and accommodation platforms, Fliggy, Tongcheng Travel, Tujia and Meituan Travel, for possible violations of unfair competition laws. All four platforms said they cooperating with investigators, four days after they collectively pledged to end "exclusive partnerships" and "lowest-price guarantees." In July, Trip.com, China's biggest travel platform, was fined a record 5.2 billion yuan (US$773 million) for abusing market dominance -- the first antitrust case in China's online travel sector.

Anthropic Delaying IPO a Month, Media Reports Say

US AI giant Anthropic is pushing back its initial public offering in New York to November from an earlier expected October date, media reports said. The maker of the Claude large language models is expected to seek to raise as much as US$100 billion in the share sale, seeking a valuation of up to US$2 trillion. The delay gives the company time to report what are expected to be strong third-quarter results and also let pressures from the current debate about AI safety to subside. Reuters reported that Anthropic is considering releasing a new AI model ahead of its IPO.

Economy & Markets

China's Central Bank Leaves Key Interest Rates Unchanged

The People's Bank of China kept its prime borrowing rates steady for a 16th consecutive month. The decision leaves the one-year rate, used for corporate and personal loans, at 3 percent, and the five-year rate, a benchmark for mortgages, at 3.5 percent. The decision stood in contrast with rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan last week, but was in tandem with the Bank of England's leaving rates unchanged.

China's Electricity Consumption Rises 1.7 Percent

China's total electricity consumption, regarded as one barometer of economic growth, rose 1.7 percent in August from a year earlier to above 1 trillion kilowatt-hours, the second consecutive month above the 1 trillion threshold, according to the National Energy Administration. Growth was largely driven by electric-vehicle charging and battery-swapping services, which surged by half, and a 38 percent jump in use by internet data services. Residential electricity consumption, however, fell 4 percent due to typhoons, heavy rainfall, and cooler temperatures. The national peak load hit a record 1.56 billion kilowatt-hours last month, and cumulative consumption in the first eight months of the year rose 4.3 percent to 7.2 trillion kilowatt-hours.

ZTO, Other Express Delivery Firms Raise Prices

ZTO Express, YTO Express and other Chinese express delivery companies simultaneously raised prices on Sunday for pickup services in Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. Anhui saw a minimum increase of 0.15 yuan (2 US cents) per parcel, while Jiangsu raised prices by no less than 0.1 yuan per parcel, primarily targeting franchise outlets and corporate clients without affecting individual consumer shipping rates. That follows an earlier round of price hikes in several cities in Henan Province. The increases are seen as a response to a regulatory crackdown on industry price-cutting wars.

China's New Housing Provident Fund Rules Come Into Effect

China's overhaul of Housing Provident Fund withdrawals took effect on Sunday, expanding flexibility for fund contributors. For the first time, renovating owner-occupied housing and paying property management fees qualify for withdrawals, while rental withdrawals no longer require rent to exceed a set ratio of household income. Flexible employment workers are now granted the right to make voluntary contributions. The goal of the revisions is to better reflect the diverse needs of contributors. Many localities across China have been adjusting their provident fund policies, with withdrawals gradually allowed for daily housing expenditures such as renovation, property fees, aging-friendly home modifications and elevator installations. China's Housing Provident Fund is a mandatory, government-managed savings program, requiring both employers and employees to make monthly contributions. It was established in 1994, principally to provide preferential mortgage rates for home purchases.

India Rejects Latest US Tariff Threat on Purchases of Russia Oil

India rejected a newly signed US law authorizing tariffs of up to 100 percent on countries that continue buying Russian oil and gas. Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh called the measures unfair and said India won't bow to external pressure. India, a nation scarce in energy resources, has been the largest single foreign buyer of Russian oil.

Corporate

Dongfeng to Trial Human-Like Robots

Dongfeng Motor Group plans to begin small-scale trials of humanoid robots by the end of this year as the Chinese automaker expands into embodied intelligence technologies. The company's humanoid robots are expected to support factory manufacturing in tasks such as sorting and quality inspections. Dongfeng said it aims to improve the robots' capabilities to match human performance by the end of 2027. The automaker also plans to deploy its independently developed robotic dogs in dealerships for customer services sooner than humanoid robots. As part of its global expansion strategy, Dongfeng said it will invest 50 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion) overseas by 2030, launch more than 50 vehicle models and build 10 overseas production sites.

Qianye Jewelry Stores Clear Gold Inventory

Several Qianye Jewelry stores in China have started clearing out gold jewelry inventories after the company's founder was reported incommunicado amid a liquidity crisis at the long-established Chinese gold retail chain. Some outlets are offering gold products at 990 yuan (US$148) per gram, well below the prevailing price. The Fangyuanli outlet near the company's headquarters in Beijing said it would sell its remaining stock before switching to another jewelry brand. Some franchise stores, however, continued normal operations, with employees saying customers' orders were being processed manually after the company's ordering system failed. Northeast Securities, Qianye's sponsoring broker, issued a risk warning earlier this month, saying it was unable to contact company founder Lin Mingjie and his wife, and expressed doubts about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. Qianye shares, traded on China's National Equities Exchange and Quotations, have plunged 93 percent this year.

Yitoa Intelligent Control to Sign Chip-Licensing Pact With Synaptics

Yitoa Intelligent Control, a Chinese distributor electronic component, said it will be signing a 15-year exclusive manufacturing and sales licensing agreement for three types of vehicle display chips from California-based Synaptics. The company said in a Shenshen stock exchange filing that it will pay Synaptics US$20 million in the deal. The chips can be deployed in touch-enabled large screens for central vehicle control and entertainment.

Fulongma Links Up With Huawei on Self-Driving Sanitation Vehicles

Longyan-based Fulongma Group, a supplier of environmental sanitation equipment, announced a partnership with Huawei Technologies to develop autonomous driving systems for sanitation vehicles. Huawei Cloud Computing Technology will develop a self-driving system exclusively for Fulongma's sanitation vehicles under a three-year, 200-million-yuan (US$30 million) contract, Yicai reported. The system will include cloud-based and vehicle-end software.

Nerin Signs US$498 Million Contract to Build Zambia Copper Plant

Nerin Engineering, a Chinese provider of non-ferrous metal engineering services, said it signed a US$498 million contract to build a copper tailings treatment plant for Zambia's Konkola Copper Mines. The facility will have the capacity to process 70,000 tons of tailings a year, the Nanchang-based company said. Nerin will handle project design and equipment procurement, construction, installation and technical support. The company said its first-half overseas revenue topped 502.9 million yuan (US$75 million), accounting for 73 percent of total income, Yicai reported.

Zangge, Yuntu to Acquire Control of Congolese Potash Miner

China's Zangge Mining and Yuntu Holdings said they plan to jointly spend US$171 million to take control of Kanga Potash in the Republic of Congo. Under the agreement, the two Chinese companies are forming a joint venture, with Zangge holding a 75 percent share, to acquire 92 percent of Kanga. Under a Congolese government permit, Kanga has rights to a mine a deposit that contains 810 million tons of potassium chloride resources.