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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Bishkek during the 26th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit. The August 31 meeting covered political ties, trade, defence, energy, space, mobility and contacts between people. Modi and Putin also discussed regional conflicts and cooperation through major multilateral forums. The talks marked their first in-person meeting of 2026 and continued a series of high-level exchanges between India and Russia.

Egypt and China mark 70 years of diplomatic relations, with talks on strengthening bilateral ties across various sectors and consultations on regional and international issues. Economic ties are significant, with trade reaching $20.78 billion in 2025 and Chinese investment in major Egyptian projects. Egyptian exports to China reached $840.8 million in the first half of 2026, with imports totaling $10.4 billion during the same period. Trade between the two countries reached $11.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up from $9.3 billion a year earlier.

Business

South Korea’s consumer prices rose 3.1% in August from a year earlier, official data showed. The increase accelerated from 2.8% in July and returned headline inflation above 3%. Fuel costs remained a major source of price pressure during the month. Petroleum product prices climbed 14.2% from a year earlier, though the increase slowed from July. Mobile phone service charges also recorded a sharp annual increase, rising 26.7% from August 2025. Underlying inflation also strengthened in August, with core consumer prices, excluding food and energy, rising 3.4% from a year earlier.

Technology

Japan is expanding its fight against investment fraud with a new system that uses artificial intelligence to spot warning signs earlier. The Consumer Affairs Agency announced the package on September 1. It will analyze consumer complaints for language and patterns linked to fraudulent schemes and failing businesses. The package says AI will supplement existing keyword searches and support earlier alerts, investigations and enforcement when complaint data indicate serious risks.

China’s digital industry generated 20.71 trillion yuan in revenue during the first half of 2026, up 13.6% from a year earlier. Total profit reached 1.79 trillion yuan, an increase of 19.3%. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the sector’s revenue growth accelerated by 4.1 percentage points from the same period last year. The industry’s profit margin reached 8.6%, up 0.7 percentage point. China’s largest digital industry centers accounted for most of the national total. The 10 leading provincial-level markets generated 17.21 trillion yuan in combined revenue, up 13.2%. They represented 83.1% of national digital industry revenue and contributed 87% of overall revenue growth. Central China recorded 2.86 trillion yuan in digital industry revenue, an increase of 28.3% from a year earlier.

Michibiki No. 7 forms part of Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, known as QZSS. The satellite network provides positioning, navigation and timing services that work alongside the U.S. Global Positioning System. Japan has operated QZSS services since November 2018. The system serves Japan and can also support users across parts of the Asia-Oceania region. Japan’s Cabinet Office oversees the QZSS program through its National Space Policy Secretariat.

Japan successfully launched its H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki No. 7 navigation satellite on Tuesday. H3 Flight No. 9 lifted off at 4:23:31 a.m. Japan time from the Tanegashima Space Center. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, confirmed satellite separation about 29 minutes and four seconds after liftoff. The agency said the rocket followed its planned flight path and placed QZS-7 into its predetermined orbit.

The valuation shift reflects broader recalibrations across international financial markets as institutional managers re-evaluate capital commitments tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure. While competing hyperscale computing enterprises including Alphabet and Tesla accelerated capital investments toward data centers, robotics, and autonomous transport networks, Apple maintained disciplined expenditure controls over consecutive fiscal quarters. Market participants increasingly view Apple’s disciplined spending approach as a operational buffer, allowing the firm to expand its proprietary Apple Intelligence software ecosystem without incurring high infrastructure depreciation costs. Trading patterns across major equity benchmarks highlighted diverging sentiment between hardware component suppliers and consumer technology platforms. Nvidia shares experienced increased selling pressure alongside wider pullbacks across semiconductor equities, as investors scrutinized the timeline for financial returns on massive artificial intelligence data center investments. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index recorded notable weekly declines as market participants reassessed elevated valuation multiples across pure-play chipmakers. Despite persistent demand for graphics processing units, concerns surrounding energy supply constraints, macroeconomic interest rate trajectories, and capital expenditure intensity weighed on semiconductor equity prices.

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