Weekend Buzz: 10-11 October 2026

Trump Strikes Deal for Russian Deliveries of Diesel

President Donald Trump said he struck a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin under which Moscow will supply more than 4 million tons of diesel to the US and global markets. The deliveries begin immediately, with 300,000 tons of diesel in October and 500,000 tons in November. The US is waiving sanctions on Russian energy exports through next April to facilitate the deliveries. Diesel prices in the US, which have doubled since the start of the Iran war, will be "coming down and fast," Trump said in a post, about four weeks ahead of mid-term elections where fuel costs have become a campaign issue. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the deal, saying Russian proceeds from the sales will go toward further terrorizing the people of his country. Kiev has been escalating drone strikes on Russian refineries as the Kremlin steps up its attacks against Ukrainian energy infrastructure to cripple electricity and heating supplies as winter approaches. Diesel is vital in operating manufacturing and agricultural equipment.

Saudi Arabia Confirms Deaths From Houthi Airport Attacks

In the Middle East conflict, Saudi Arabia confirmed three citizens were killed and several others injured in attacks on Riyadh airport by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis, who have been fighting a civil war with the Saudi-supported, internationally recognized government of Yemen for years, have stepped up their involvement in the conflict, reportedly laying mines in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that controls shipping traffic through the Red Sea. At the same time, the frequency of Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz on the other side of the Arabia Peninsula has risen to a war-time high. Global benchmark Brent crude futures closed New York trading at US$104.72 a barrel.

US Decision to Livestream Execution by Firing Squad Elicits Backlash

The decision by the US Defense Department to livestream the execution by firing squad of an army major convicted of shooting dead 13 unarmed soldiers at a Texas base in 2009 triggered immediate backlash. It would be the first public execution in the US in a century and the first by firing squad since the end of World War II. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended his decision. "People need to understand that there are serious consequences for these types of things," he said. Nidal Hasan, who was an army psychologist, is due to be executed on December 3. In his court martial, he apologized for "mistakes" and said he believed he was acting to protect Muslims and the Taliban in Afghanistan. His attorneys have asked for a court review of the case.

Eugene Fidell, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, said the decision harks back to the brutality of the Middle Ages. Conservative Republican Senator John Curtis said a "civilization erodes when it cultivates an appetite for executions as a form of entertainment," and Republica Senate colleague Thom Tillis called the decision "beyond disgusting." US Vice President JD Vance said he won't watch the execution.

Powerful Earthquake Hits Panama

A powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck the coastal waters off Panama on Friday afternoon, at the shallow depth of 12 kilometers. Early videos showed collapsed buildings, with reports of injuries but no deaths yet. Panama City's public transit system suspended service on two metro lines and evacuated passengers from some stations. Schools were closed, and Panama's main international airport temporarily suspended flights amid aftershocks. Panama Canal authorities said the waterway is operating normally.

South African Human Rights Pioneer Wins Nobel Peace Prize

The 2026 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Navanethem "Navi" Pillay, the 85-year-old South African lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela, fought apartheid, sat on international tribunals related to genocide claims in Rwanda, Myanmar and the Palestinian territories, and served as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The Nobel Committee said the prize was a pointed response to a global "shift towards power politics" that comes "at the expense of legal frameworks and global respect for law and justice." Hours after the announcement, the Trump administration announced fresh sanctions on the International Criminal Court, a global body established in 2002 to prosecute individuals accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Top Business

Nvidia-Backed Australia AI Data Center Operator Pulls IPO

Nvidia-backed Australian AI data center operator Firmus withdrew a planned jumbo initial public offering, citing market volatility and conditions. The company said its board determined that the terms of the proposed offering did not adequately reflect the strength of its business nor its long-term growth outlook. Firmus reportedly planned to raise US$5 billion in its IPO, which would have been the second-largest new share sale in Australian history. The IPO valued the company at around US$30.6 billion. Last month, Firmus said it had signed an agreement with Meta to provide computing capacity at its AI data centers in Southeast Asia, built on Nvidia's DSX platform.

Hong Kong Asset Manager Reportedly Seeking to Buy Majority Stake in Evergrande Unit

PAG, a Hong Kong private asset manager, is in talks to acquire a majority stake in the property services unit of debt-laden China developer Evergrande Group, Reuters reported. Evergrande Property Services said last month that it had entered an exclusivity agreement, which ends on October 27, with an unidentified bidder for a potential sale of its shares. Liquidators of parent Evergrande Group informed Evergrande Property Services that they were seeking ‌to sell a 51 percent stake in the company. Evergrande Property Services, which holds a big portfolio of properties on the Chinese mainland, is the parent's most valuable remaining asset. It faced financial pressure after revelations that the parent illegally diverted 13.4 billion yuan (US$1.83 billion) in loans and deposit certificates from the property services unit to fund general group operations. The parent group, with accumulated liabilities of US$300 billion, was subsequently placed in liquidation by a Hong Kong court.

Artex Agent Reverts to Closed Source After Hacks on South Korean Banks

The Chinese developer of Artex said the AI agent has been switched to closed source from open-sourced after cybersecurity firms identified it as a tool used in a recent hacking campaign against South Korean banks. Artex was developed by Chinese cybersecurity engineer Li Puhua. "Given the misuse of the tool, the Artex project will no longer be updated and will be converted to closed source," said the developer, who uses the GitHub handle "Autumn-27."

Artex's Github page has been taken down, according to Reuters. Artex was to developed to help companies and organizations conduct security risk testing and improve their security capabilities. It's not a stand-alone large language model but rather connects to externals such as ChatGPT, Claude and DeepSeek.

US Boots Microsoft, Adobe From 'Green Card' Foreign Residency Program

The Trump administration has suspended Microsoft and Adobe from accessing the "green card" residency program that allows foreign skilled talent to work in the US. "There has been no company in the US that has abused the system more than Microsoft," Vice President JD Vance said. He said the company laid off 6,000 American workers last year while benefiting from 6,300 temporary worker visas and nearly 3,000 green residency cards. US Labor Department figures show that Microsoft was the largest filer of so-called Perm applications, a program requiring that employers show that foreign hires aren't replacing US workers. Microsoft said in a statement that about 80 percent of those applications were extensions or changes to the status of current employees, not the hiring of new workers.

Economy & Markets

China, EU Reach Accord on Hybrid Car Exports

China and the EU reached a deal that could cut Chinese exports of hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars to the bloc by more than half, European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told a press briefing in Beijing, following talks with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. The EU is seeking to curtail Chinese imports to ameliorate its record trade deficit with China. China's commerce ministry said both sides will adhere to "procedures concerning company price undertakings" for hybrid cars, suggesting that one way of curbing sales would be to set higher minimum price tags for Chinese cars sold in Europe. Chinese automakers have made significant inroads in the EU vehicle market in recent years. They held about 12 percent of Europe's new car sales in August, accounting for about one in three plug-in hybrid sales in the region. At the Paris Auto Show that begins next week, exhibitions by Chinese auto brands will double from two years ago to 20.

Foreign Banks in China Raising Dollar Deposit Rates

Foreign banks' US dollar fixed-deposit rates on the Chinese mainland continue to climb, with Malaysian Public Bank's Shenzhen branch offering 4.1 percent on 12-month dollar deposits, with a minimum threshold of US$2,000. Bank of East Asia China offering 4.1 percent 3-month terms for new customers depositing US$50,000. The rates compare with rates generally below 3 percent at the start of the year. The increases reflect expectations of rising interest rates in the US and come as US-dollar deposit rates at major domestic banks remain low. For example, China Merchants Bank's app shows short-term deposit rates at below 1 percent.

Alibaba Advice for Making Money in E-Commerce: Beware of AI

Alibaba International Station President Zhang Kuo said in a podcast that his team compiled 107 e-commerce tasks from over a million real business records, then ran them through tests on the most advanced AI frontier models under fully unsupervised conditions. It found that the pass rate for completing tasks without human intervention barely exceeded 61 percent. That stands in sharp contrast to the "99-point leaderboards" touted at every model launch. Zhang's conclusion: high scores in coding, math or general agent capabilities have almost no correlation with actually helping merchants make money in e-commerce, and business decisions on payments, procurement, budget allocation and product positioning should remain in human hands.

Meta Blocks Rival ByteDance Ads on Its Platforms

Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, banned advertisements by ByteDance, the Chinese parent of TikTok, on its platforms in the US and other countries, marking a step up in a rivalry between the two tech titans. Meta's ban also affects its platforms in Canada, Egypt, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand and Vietnam. "We don't have to run ads from a competitor whose goal is to pull people off our apps," Meta said. TikTok's website shows that it does not support links that open or log users into other social media apps. However, users can still add links to their profiles that direct people to those platforms' websites. TikTok operates in the US as a majority American-owned joint venture after a deal was reached with ByteDance to avert a ban on TikTok in the US, where the site has more than 200 million users.

China Proposes New Rules to Protect Gig Workers

China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security proposed the nation's first set of regulations intended to protect an estimated 80 million workers in digital-related "gig jobs," including delivery couriers, ride-hailing drivers and livestreamers. A draft document released this week seeks to regulate the use of algorithms by platform companies, strengthen basic labor protections, clarify employment arrangements, and improve mechanisms for resolving disputes. Emerging occupations associated with the digital age have created job opportunities and make work hours more flexible, but they have also given rise to problems such as withheld pay, excessive working hours, opaque work assessment algorithms and inadequate protection against occupational injuries.

Global PC Shipments Plunge 20 Percent on Stockpiling Hangover

Global shipments of personal computers tumbled 20 percent in the third quarter to 62.7 million units, according to International Data Corp. The company attributed the decline to an inventory hangover from early-year stockpiling. China's Lenovo topped shipments with 15 million computers, down 23 percent, and Hewlett-Packard ranked second, though it suffered a 31 percent plunge in shipments. Dell fell 25 percent. Apple and Taiwan's Asus were the most resilient of suppliers. IDC warned that prices of consumer computers will remain high on rising costs of memory chips.

Americans Falling Further Behind on Debt Repayment

A report from the US Federal Reserve says the number of American families behind in loan repayments has risen to 20 percent, a level not seen since the 2007-09 recession. A separate survey by the New York branch of the Fed showed the household debt-to-income ratio has worsened in the past year and is likely to continue.

Corporate

BYD Poised to Start Launch of Seven New Models

BYD, China's biggest new energy carmaker, plans to roll out seven new models in the fourth quarter, with prices spanning from entry-level commuter cars under 100,000 yuan (US$$15,000) to million-yuan, all- electric supercars. The flurry of new models is aimed at reversing a 4 percent year-on-year decline in global sales in the first nine months of the year. The new models include the Dynasty Series Han electric vehicle, due to launch next week, and the premium Denza Z premium model. The company will also be unveiling its first plug-in hybrid pickup, the Shark.

Reports of Maextro Car Model Suffering Brake Failures Denied

China carmaker JAC denied a report that the Maextro model developed with Huawei had brake pedal bracket failures in testing under actual road conditions. ByteDance-backed automotive content platform Dongchedi had claimed that all three Maextro V800 models it tested experienced bracket failures during emergency braking. The Chinese luxury electric car brand said its vehicles comply with national safety standards.

Pony.ai, Uber Announce Start of Robotaxi Testing in London

Chinese robotaxi company Pony.ai and US-based Uber announced they will launch seventh-generation robotaxi road testing in London in coming weeks, making the British capital the second European city for their partnership after a debut in Zagreb, capital of Croatia. Pony.ai is planning to deploy more than 2,000 robotaxis across five European cities, supplying self-driving systems and vehicles, and Uber providing the booking platform.

Xpeng Opens Automated Production for Iron Humanoid Robot

Chinese electric carmaker Xpeng officially launched an automated production line for its Iron humanoid robot at its plant in Guangzhou. The company said it has automated more than 80 percent of core processes and aims to produce 1,000 units per month starting at year's end. The robot features Xpeng's self-developed Turing AI chip, and the company's robotics division has attracted US$900 million in investment.

Tansun Tech Shares Soar on Deal to Buy Nvidia Processors

Shares in Tansun Technology surged 12 percent on Friday after the Shenzhen-listed fintech services provider said it signed an agreement to purchase 20,000 Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 Blackwell processors from an undisclosed seller. The order is valued at up to 2.4 billion yuan (US$340 million). Tansun Technology supplies AI- and blockchain-based fintech services, mainly to banks, and has been building computing-power leasing into a second growth business serving internet giants and large language model developers.

Geely Expands Into Canadian Market

Chinese automaker Geely Auto announced on Friday that it has formally entered the Canadian market and plans to begin selling vehicles to consumers there in 2027. The company said it has started establishing local operations and is building out a retail and service network across Canada. Geely did not specify which models would launch first, how many dealerships it intends to open or what pricing strategy it will pursue.

Sangfeng Bags US$2.8 Billion Waste-Management Contract

China's Sanfeng Environment Group said a consortium with China State Construction Engineering has secured a HK$21.9 billion (US$2.8 billion) contract to design, build and operate Phase 2 of Hong Kong's Integrated Waste Management Facilities project. Sanfeng shares rose 1.7 percent on the news. The project is designed to process 6,000 tons of household waste a day, the company said.

Ex-Greentown China Chair Charged With Bribe-Taking

Hong Kong's anti-graft agency charged Zhang Yadong, former chairman of Greentown China Holdings, with accepting HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) in bribes linked to the developer's 440-million-yuan (US$62 million) acquisition of a Dalian project. The Independent Commission Against Corruption alleges that between January 2020 and March 2023, Zhang, 58, conspired with a middleman, a shareholder in the Dalian developer and his own son to take the money for pushing through the acquisition. Greentown China shares closed down 3.6 percent in Hong Kong on Friday.