Top News
Trump talks land swaps, Zelensky rejects territorial concessions
US President Donald Trump, who is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit at the end of this week, said any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia would involve "some swapping of territory." Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, vowed that "Ukrainians will not give up their land to occupiers" and won backing from Europe and NATO that he be given a seat at the talks. A White House official said Trump is open to the idea of Zelenskiy attending, but preparations are underway for only a bilateral meeting. Putin opposes Ukraine's participation.
CBS TV news in the US reported that the White House is quietly promoting a peace plan to European allies that would give Russia the entire Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and continued control over the Crimean Peninsula. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It's estimated to control 20 percent of the country now.
UN Security Council members condemn Israel's Gaza plan
Israel was heavily criticized at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Sunday over its plan to take over the whole of Gaza by military force and over a humanitarian crisis in the territory, where Palestinians are dying of starvation and food-seekers are killed by soldiers. Denmark and Greece called for the military plan to be scrapped. China called the action "collective punishment" of the Palestinians. Russian called it "reckless intensification." Staunch ally the US accused other members of "prolonging the war by spreading lies about Israel."
Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the planned offensive is the only way to end the war and free remaining hostages held in Gaza and free the territory from Hamas. He also denied that Israeli is starving Gazans. Israeli protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa over the weekend to oppose a plan that has deeply divided public opinion.
India, Iran leaders confirm attendance at Tianjin summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the two-day leaders' summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, scheduled to begin on August 31 in the northern city of Tianjin. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian will also attend the meeting, the Mehr news agency confirmed. This year's summit is expected to be the largest since the organization was founded in 2001 by China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. In 2017, the group was expanded to include India and Pakistan. Iran became a member in 2023, followed by Belarus in 2024.
Top Business
Nvidia chips a security threat, Chinese media say
Nvidia's chips pose security concerns for China, a social media account affiliated with China's state media said on Sunday, after Beijing raised concerns over backdoor access in H20 chips. The chips are also not technologically advanced nor environmentally friendly, according to an article posted on WeChat by Yuyuan Tantian, an account affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV. "When a type of chip is neither environmentally friendly, nor advanced, nor safe, we as consumers certainly have the option not to buy it," the article concluded.
Nvidia was given the go-ahead to resume chip sales to China by the US government as part of trade talks with China. Nvidia said it specially designed the H20 chip to address US security concerns. The company has strongly denied the chips contain technology that would allow tracking and remote control.
Separately, the Financial Times reported that Nvidia and rival AMD have agreed to give the US government 15 percent of their revenue from chip sales to China, under an arrangement to obtain export licenses for the semiconductors.
Huawei to unveil artificial intelligence breakthrough
Tech titan Huawei will reportedly announce this week a major advance in AI inference, the technology that runs the models. The breakthrough could reduce China's reliance on high-bandwidth memory technology, a critical bottleneck in the performance of AI models, boosting large-model inference speeds. Industry experts note that the step underscores an industry shift from pushing model capabilities to maximizing application value. If Huawei's technology delivers as promised, it would accelerate China's AI self-reliance in an increasingly competitive global market.
China Mobile posts 5 percent increase in net income
China Mobile, the world's largest mobile carrier by subscribers, said first-half net income rose 5 percent from a year earlier to 84.2 billion yuan (US$11.7 billion). Telecom revenue rose 0.7 percent to 467 billion yuan. The Hong Kong-listed company said it expanded its customer base to over 1 billion mobile users, including 599 million 5G network customers. Capital expenditures totaled 58 billion yuan. The company said it deployed 187,000 additional 5G base stations, raising the total to 2.6 million. China Mobile said it will pay an interim dividend of HK$2.75 (35 US cents) a share, up almost 6 percent from a year earlier. Looking forward, the company said mainland demographics and a nearly saturated phone market pose challenges that require innovative growth strategies.
Economy & Markets
China consumer prices flat, producer prices decline
China's consumer prices in July remain unchanged from a year earlier but rose 0.4 percent from June. Core prices, which exclude food and energy, rose 0.8 percent from a year earlier. Producer prices in the month fell 3.6 percent from a year earlier, but narrowed to a 0.2 percent decline from June's 0.4 percent drop. Dong Lijuan, chief statistician of the National Bureau of Statistics, attributed the decline in factory-gate prices to extreme weather and global trade tensions that affected some industries. Wen Bin, chief economist at China Minsheng Bank, said that government efforts to end price wars in some industries will support recovery in prices going forward.
Patriotic films score big at the box office
A film about the Japanese massacre in the city of Nanjing in late 1937-early 1938 led the box office in China this weekend, taking summer cinema receipts to 8 billion yuan (US$1 billion). "Dead to Rights," which marks this year's 80 anniversary of China's victory over Japan, has earned more than 2 billion yuan since its debut on July 25. Among other new releases this summer related to Japanese aggression are "Dongji Rescue," which tells the story of how a Chinese fishermen defied gunfire to rescue over 300 British captives from a Japanese ship in 1942, and "Mountains and Rivers Bearing Witness."
Corporate
BMW recalls 230,000 cars in China
BMW will recall more than 230,000 imported and locally made vehicles in China over potential safety risks, the State Administration for Market Regulation said. The recall addresses two separate defects in X5, i4, i5, i7, iX, i3, iX1, and iX3 models. One involves loose power connectors in starter generators that could cause stalling or engine fires. The other relates to insulation fault detection, which may mistakenly cut power to electric drive units, raising collision risks. Large-scale recalls like this highlight the challenges automakers face in ensuring safety as electric and hybrid vehicles become widespread, particularly in China.
CATL reported to suspend production at lithium mine
China's Contemporary Amperex Technology Co (CATL), the world's largest maker of lithium ion batteries for electric cars and other electronic devices, has suspended production at a major lithium mine in Jiangxi Province for at least three months, Bloomberg reported. It said the suspension came after the company failed to extend a key mining permit that expired on Aug. 9.
OpenAI's new GPT-5 model 'lacks memorable characteristics'
OpenAI's latest GPT-5 artificial intelligence model met some lukewarm response in China. Zhang Linfeng, assistant professor at the School of Artificial Intelligence at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, told the Shanghai Observer that the latest upgrade "doesn't come with revolutionary breakthroughs, lacks memorable characteristics" and isn't significantly ahead of Chinese- developed models. Sam Altman, chief executive of US-based OpenAI, hailed the latest upgrade as "PhD level" in terms of speed and capability.
Chipmaker Hygon posts 40 percent rise in half-year net
Beijing-based semiconductor maker Hygon Information Technology reported first-half net income increased 40 percent to 1.2 billion yuan (US$167 million) on a 45 percent increase in revenue to 5.5 billion yuan. The Shanghai-listed company cited a continuous domestic demand for high-end chips and said it has deepened its ties with upmarket processors. It forecast that its revenue will grow an average 35 percent in the next three years.
Sany units fined US$27 million by Indonesia
Three subsidiaries of Chinese construction machine manufacturer Sany were fined US$27 million for anti-competitive practices by Indonesian regulators, The Paper reported. The case is related to Sany Heavy Equipment International Holdings' decision in 2023 to require two local Indonesian distributors to purchase trucks, heavy equipment and spare parts exclusively from its three local subsidiaries, which were also selling products directly to other customers.