Top News
EU mulls 'nuclear option' as prospect of US trade deal by August 1 dims
The European Union is considering deployment of a package of "anti-coercion" measures adopted in 2023 that give the trading bloc wide-ranging economic retaliatory powers against coercive policies of other countries. The arsenal, sometimes called "the nuclear option," moved to the forefront after US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the August 1 deadline for a 30 percent tariff to be imposed if no trade deal is reached won't be extended. President Donald Trump has been pushing for the EU to open its markets wider and said he favors up to 20 percent tariffs in any deal.
The EU measures under consideration if no deal is reached include restrictions on imports, bidding on public tenders, services, direct foreign investment and protection of intellectual property rights.
China rebukes EU sanctions ahead of summit
China's Ministry of Commerce, in a statement, rebuked the EU for including two small Chinese banks in its recent 18th round of sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine. The ministry said there were no grounds for the action and China continues to oppose "unilateral sanctions that lack international legal basis." The reproach came ahead of the 25th China-EU summit in Beijing on Thursday. President Xi Jinping will meet that day with EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa, the Foreign Ministry announced.
Israel condemned for 'inhuman' treatment of starving Gazans
The UK and 27 other countries signed a statement denouncing Israel's "drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians" at food distribution sites in Gaza. The group, which also includes France, Canada and Italy, called for an immediate end to the war.
Israel rejected their condemnation as it launched its first ground assault on the city of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where thousands of displaced people from southern Gaza had fled to safety. The attack followed the killing of more than 100 Palestinians at food distributions sites by Israeli forces over the weekend. A local doctor in Gaza said 19 Palestinians died of starvation in 24 hours.
Top Business
US may include China purchases of Russian, Iranian oil in trade talks
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the scope of talks on a trade deal with China may be expanded to include Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil, which are subject to US sanctions. He also said there is no rush to finalize a deal, despite an August 1 deadline imposed on most trading partners.
India poised to deliver first domestic chips
India will roll out its first domestically manufactured semiconductor chip this year, marking a milestone in its push to become a global technology hub, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. He said six chip plants have already been approved and are under construction. India, long a key center for chip design in cities such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru, is now moving into manufacturing to reduce reliance on imports and bolster its economic resilience.
Investors win their bet on Japan election results
Investors who sold Japanese stocks and bonds in the runup to Sunday's election betted correctly that the shaky coalition government of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba would lose control of the upper house. US bank Goldman Sachs said global hedge funds last week sold Japanese equities at the fastest rate in almost two-and-a-half months.
Ishiba said he has no plans to quit after the bruising defeat. The coalition of Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party and junior partner Komeito still controls the more powerful lower house. The election saw a swing to the right, with an anti-immigration party a big winner. Ishiba must tackle a sluggish economy and pressure from the US to sign a contentious trade deal by August 1.
China says Wells Fargo banker investigated in 'criminal matter'
Wells Fargo banker Mao Chenyue has been blocked from leaving China due to a criminal matter, China's Foreign Ministry said in the first comments since the US bank suspended all business travel to China pending her release. The Shanghai-born bank executive is based in Atlanta. The ministry didn't give any details of the criminal matter. Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest US bank, said on Friday it is "working through the appropriate channels" to secure her return.
China tops world in Internet users
China leads the world with 1.1 billion Internet users, with a penetration rate of 79.7 percent, according to a new report from the China Internet Network Information Center. Internet users aged 60 or older reached 161 million. China was followed by India, the US and Indonesia in user numbers. User figures reflect size of national populations, but penetration rates favor smaller countries. According to a 2025 report from World Population Review, Bahrain has a 97.8 penetration rate, followed closely by Finland and Australia.
Economy & Markets
China power demand rises
China's electricity use in June grew 5.4 percent from a year earlier to 867 billion kilowatt hours, according to the National Energy Administration. Consumption rose 4.9 percent in primary production and 10.8 percent in households. In the first half, electricity use was up 3.7 percent to 4.84 trillion kilowatt-hours. The figures reflect both continued recovery in China's economy and modest growth in manufacturing.
Assets in Chinese bond exchange-traded funds surge
Chinese assets in exchange-traded funds tracking bonds rose US$10 billion from the start of the year to more than US$50 billion at the end of June as investors sought a hedge against deflationary pressures and showed support for the corporate sector, Bloomberg reported. Assets related to corporate debt increased sixfold, accounting for half of bond ETFs. China has added 18 credit-focused ETFs this year, including 10 tracking technology fixed-income instruments.
Xiaomi shares rise on collaboration with Nvidia
Shares in China's Xiaomi surged 1.3 percent in Hong Kong on Monday on local news reports that US chip giant Nvidia is collaborating with the electric carmaker and consumer electronics company on artificial intelligence, driving software and other products. During his visit to Beijing, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang praised Xiaomi vehicles and met with Lei Jun, Xiaomi's chairman and chief executive.
China central bank keeps rates steady
The People's Bank of China left its key lending rates unchanged. The one-year loan rate, used as reference in household and corporate lending, remains at 3.0 percent, while the 5-year rate used as a benchmark for mortgages stays at 3.5 percent.
Corporate
JD fuels surge in robotics development
E-commerce giant JD.com is a leading investor in three fast-rising robotics startups -- LimX Dynamics, Spirit AI, and EngineAI -- underscoring a pivot toward embodied artificial intelligence and a strategy to fuse proprietary AI models with robotics hardware for logistics, retail and consumer services. The move positions JD at the center of China's industrial technology shift, alongside rivals like Alibaba and Baidu.
Shenzhen-based LimX Dynamics said its full-size humanoid robot will enter commercial production in late 2025 for use in JD's retail and supply chain networks. Hangzhou's Spirit AI raised nearly 600 million yuan (US$83 million) in a round of financing, debuting its Moz1 robot powered by a vision-language-action model. EngineAI, also Shenzhen-based, secured almost 1 billion yuan as it scales up production of its PM01 humanoid robot.
Unicom plans big jump in AI computing
China Unicom unveiled ambitions plans to accelerate its artificial-intelligence computing infrastructure, including exploring a 100,000-GPU cluster deployment and targeting computing speed equal to 45 quintillion floating-point operations per second. Unicom Chairman Chen Zhongyue said that would position the telecom giant among the world's most powerful AI computing benchmarks. The company is also accelerating its bandwidth-capacity technologies.
Kone upgrading digital technologies
Finland elevator company Kone said it is undertaking a major digital upgrade of its manufacturing facilities in China that will hasten local services and accelerate exports. Its production and research center in Kunshan, its largest in the world, is already fully automated, with robots handling large items such as elevator doors, Yicai reported. The century-old company sources 99 percent of its components from Chinese mainland. It will soon announce new investments in China.
Oriental Yuhong acquires Chile building-supply retailer
Beijing-based Oriental Yuhong, a supplier of waterproofing materials, is acquiring Chilean building materials retailer Construmart for US$123 million to expand into the South American market. Construmart operates about 31 building-supply supermarkets across Chile.