Category: Flash News

On March 8th, it was reported that a US official stated that about 4000 Defense Department personnel began receiving termination notices this week. In addition, according to emails from the Personnel Management Office, 31000 civilian employees have submitted resignation applications, equivalent to 3.5% of the total number of civilian employees in the Ministry of National Defense. As of now, the resignation applications submitted by 11000 people have been accepted. (CCTV News)

On March 8th, with the escalation of artificial intelligence issues, Apple will postpone the promised update to Siri, including features launched in June last year, until “next year”. These features were originally planned to be used in the iOS 18.4 software update in April this year, but Apple engineers have been unable to fix the errors in the project. These delays have embarrassed Apple and heightened concerns about the company’s struggling in the field of artificial intelligence. (Bloomberg)

On March 8th, the Egyptian National News Agency issued a statement saying that a delegation from the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) arrived in Cairo on the same day to participate in discussions on advancing the second phase of negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire agreement. The statement said that Egypt is holding intensive talks with Hamas leaders, US and Qatari officials, among others, to promote the continued implementation of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Xinhua News Agency

On March 8th, it was reported that the city of Blanca in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, was hit by floods, resulting in 6 deaths. The local government stated that as rescue efforts continue, it is expected that the number of victims will increase. (CCTV News)

On March 8th, Millennium Management、 Top hedge funds such as Castle Investment had mediocre returns in February, as market turbulence reversed the momentum of several key trades and dealt a heavy blow to the trend of popular stocks. Multi strategy funds with a neutral preference for the stock market have been hit the hardest. The decline in performance is caused by overcrowding in a small portion of stock trading, especially in healthcare and technology stocks. According to a source familiar with the matter, Jain Global’s return rate was -1%, Millennium fell 1.3%, and Castle Investment fell 1.7%.

March 8, according to a source, the US government is studying how to relax sanctions on the Russian energy industry. The White House has asked the Ministry of Finance to explore a plan to relax energy sanctions before Trump and Putin hold talks on ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict. This will enable the United States to quickly withdraw sanctions in the event of a peace agreement. But they made it clear that this effort should not be understood as the United States lifting sanctions without Russia making concessions.

On the evening of March 8th, the Special Meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the Question of Palestine was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The conference is hosted by the Secretariat of the Islamic Cooperation Organization to discuss how to respond to Israel’s ongoing aggression, expulsion, and attempts to annex the land of the Palestinian people. This meeting emphasizes the firm rejection of any policies of expulsion, annexation, aggression, and destruction, while reaffirming that the Palestinian cause remains a core issue in the Islamic world.

On March 8th, the Indian Ministry of Defense announced that it has signed a $248 million procurement contract with the Russian Defense Products Export Corporation for a 1000 horsepower T-72 tank engine, as well as for complete and semi spare parts. The Indian Ministry of Defense stated that a technology transfer agreement has also been signed within the framework of the agreement.

On March 8th, just one day after granting Canada a one month tariff grace period, US President Trump announced that new tariffs will be imposed on Canadian timber and dairy products as early as the 7th, including a 250% equivalent tariff on dairy products. During his speech in the Oval Office of the White House on the same day, Trump stated that “Canada has been exploiting us for many years in terms of timber and dairy products,” and mentioned that Canada has imposed tariffs of about 250% on US dairy products and “extremely high tariffs” on timber. Trump said that the United States will impose equal tariffs, which may be implemented as early as the 7th or may wait until the 10th or 11th.

On March 8th, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell, in response to questions about whether the Fed is concerned that new government officials may change key indicators such as GDP and dissolve the Economic Advisory Committee, stated that the US economic data provided by government agencies such as the Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce is crucial to the mission of the Federal Reserve and is the “gold standard” in the world.