The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission announced that Cai Fuchao, former deputy head of the Publicity Department of the CCP Central Committee, is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law and is undergoing disciplinary review and supervisory investigation.
The US military has stepped up military operations after resuming the blockade of Iran, carrying out strikes against Iran during the daytime for the first time in three months.
Trump said in Pennsylvania that the United States is doing very well on Iran, and that U.S. military strikes will continue until he deems them sufficient, warning that next week he may expand the targets to power plants and bridges.
U.S. Central Command said U.S. forces used fighter jets, drones and naval vessels to carry out a sustained 7-hour attack on Iranian missile and drone facilities, naval capabilities and air defense systems.
Russia launched attacks on multiple regions of Ukraine, killing 6 people and injuring at least 20; casualties were reported in Odesa, Sumy and Kharkiv.
A federal court sentenced John Harold Rogers, a former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve, to 38 months in prison and 12 months of supervised release after his sentence, for sharing sensitive information with Chinese intelligence personnel and lying to investigators.
Lawyer Hou Zhiyuan, while attending the trial of lawyer Wang Qing for alleged fraud, intervened in a dispute between a family member and the police, and was taken by the police to the detention room's steel cage for 20 minutes, during which he experienced discomfort.
Cai Fuchao, former director of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, has been placed under investigation exactly ten years after his retirement.
The U.S. State Department said the United States has raised the case of Chen Youlin directly with Chinese officials and called on China to immediately release the seismology scholar, who has been detained for more than 600 days and faces charges of espionage.
Chris Smith and John Moolenaar jointly wrote to the Acting Attorney General, asking to investigate whether the vandalism of the June Fourth Memorial Museum involves transnational repression by the Chinese government, and to strengthen coordination between federal and local law enforcement.
U.S. Central Command said that after the U.S. military resumed the blockade of Iran, it ordered two commercial ships that attempted to bypass the blockade to change course.
Xi Jinping went to the area around Bansongyuan Road in Shanghai. The program said that local authorities had put in place multiple layers of security, including core, peripheral, and advisory personnel.
U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces launched missiles and drones at countries in the region over the past 7 days, attacking civilians and 7 commercial ships, killing, injuring, or leaving more than 10 crew members dead, missing, or wounded.
Iran launched new missile and drone attacks on Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait. Jordan said it intercepted 3 missiles, while Kuwait and Bahrain also reported intercepting or shooting down Iranian drones and airstrikes.
The U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a hearing to discuss preventing U.S. federally funded research from being exploited by China and the security vulnerabilities in the U.S. research system.
Committee Chairman Moolenaar said that China obtains U.S. technology through universities, laboratories and scientific research cooperation, and that the United States should strengthen research security to prevent federal funding from supporting research that could serve China's military modernization.
Israeli and Lebanese negotiators continued their talks in Rome under US mediation, discussing the implementation of a framework peace agreement and arrangements for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from two pilot areas.
During a visit to Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a joint drone production agreement with Ukraine, planning to combine Ukrainian technology with the scale of European industry to expand production.
A House committee report said that an investigation of U.S. Department of Energy-funded projects found roughly 4,350 scientific research papers involving Chinese institutions, more than half of which were related to Chinese defense research institutions.
After the Jinjiang shoe factory fire, local relevant departments intervened to interview merchants, demanding that they not deliver flowers to the shoe factory area. Meituan's system blocked the flower delivery function in that area, and some merchants said the delivered flowers were taken away by traffic police.
After the Jinjiang shoe factory fire, local shoe factories held a safety production meeting. The government's instructions focused not on improving fire safety facilities, but on 'fining 10,000 yuan and arresting people for every cigarette butt found'.
On July 15, an AITO car owner posted a video claiming that the vehicle was unresponsive after pressing the SOS button, with the screen prompting "Cannot make call due to overdue fees." The owner stated that the vehicle was recently purchased and had been sent for repair, and there was no issue with data expiration.
After attending a meeting in Nanjing, Huang Ruixue returned to Chengdu and died of sudden illness that night at the age of 54.
Statistical data shows that China's total retail sales of consumer goods grew by 1% year-on-year in June, turning from a 0.6% year-on-year decrease in May to positive growth.
On July 15, a fire broke out in the wedding banquet hall of Shuoguan Hotel in Linzi District, Zibo, Shandong.
China's real estate investment fell sharply by 18% year-on-year in the first half of this year, and the real estate market continues to decline.
In the first half of the year, China's fixed asset investment fell 5.7%, and total retail sales of consumer goods barely grew, almost stagnating.
Official data released by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) show that China's gross domestic product grew 4.7% year on year in the first half of 2026, after growing 5.0% in the first quarter.
On July 15, 2026, the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force searched the independent bookstores "Lau Ha Shuk Se" and "Tin Yuen Shuk Uk", arrested five staff members and persons in charge on suspicion of committing the sedition offense under Article 23 of the Basic Law, and seized multiple boxes of books.
In July 2026, the insider trading case involving Futu and Tiger Brokers brought by a US market maker entered judicial proceedings, and court records disclosed that the funding chain of the named defendants involved investment institutions controlled by former Hong Kong Financial Secretary Antony Leung and others.
On July 15, 2026, China's National Bureau of Statistics released data showing that national GDP grew 4.7% year-on-year in the first half of 2026, while growth in the second quarter slowed to 4.3%, falling short of the full-year target, with real estate investment down 18% year-on-year.
On July 15, 2026, the Pew Research Center released its latest cross-national poll, finding that in 25 of the 36 surveyed countries, favorability toward China exceeds that toward the United States — the first time in over 20 years that the organization has conducted this survey.
On July 15, 2026, a U.S. court sentenced former Federal Reserve senior adviser Rogers to 38 months in prison; he admitted providing internal sensitive information to a Fudan University collaborator and was convicted of making false statements during an inspector general investigation.
Rogers, a former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve, was sentenced to 38 months in prison by a federal court for sharing sensitive information with Chinese Communist Party agents and lying to the FBI.
In the first half of the year, national real estate development investment fell 18% year-on-year, further widening from the previous -15.2%; new residential construction starts fell 23.4%, sales fell 13.6%, and funds received by real estate developers fell 10.2%.
China announced that GDP grew 4.3% in the second quarter. Nominal growth exceeded real growth for the first time in 13 quarters, mainly driven by price increases upstream.
In the first half of 2026, China's GDP grew by 4.7%, and total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1.3% year-on-year.
In the first half of 2026, household loans in China decreased by 366.8 billion yuan, with short-term loans accounting for a decrease of 588.1 billion yuan.
On July 15, 2026, Rogers, a former senior adviser to the Federal Reserve, was sentenced to 38 months in prison for making false statements to investigators.
On July 15, 2026, reports circulated online that a flood control levee in Santai County, Mianyang City, Sichuan had already suffered serious structural fractures and gaps before the flood peak arrived, raising local residents' concerns about the quality of flood control engineering and flood discharge safety.
On July 15, 2026, the iconic “Sincerity Tripod” landmark at the Nan Market in Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning, collapsed and was destroyed after heavy rain. Its interior was found to be filled with a structure pieced together from thin sheet iron, prompting netizens to mock it as a fake vanity project.
In July 2026, rumors circulated online that Xi Jinping visited Shanghai for an inspection and stayed at the Shangri-La Hotel. Shanghai authorities implemented extremely tight security controls, issuing traffic control and road closure notices in multiple districts and imposing a comprehensive ban on drone flights.
On July 15, 2026, an AITO owner posted a video revealing that when the vehicle was in danger, pressing the SOS button failed to connect to the backend emergency call, and the in-car screen displayed a notice that the account was in arrears and calls could not be made, questioning whether the vehicle has serious safety hazards.
On July 15, 2026, after a major fire at Huiteng Shoe Industry in Jinjiang, Quanzhou, Fujian, local shoe factories held a safety production meeting. It was widely circulated online that relevant authorities instructed that finding a single cigarette butt within the factory grounds would result in a fine of 10,000 yuan and the pursuit of liability.
On July 15, 2026, on the opening day of the 36th Hong Kong Book Fair, a booth was set up on site for the launch of a new documentary book on Xi Jinping, with official books such as Xi Jinping: The Governance of China displayed together.
On July 15, 2026, Yicai reported that earnings forecasts for the first half of the year from 15 listed hog producers showed combined projected losses of 15.089 billion to 17.859 billion yuan, with the industry suffering widespread losses due to a plunge in hog slaughter prices and sluggish consumption.
On July 15, 2026, a video circulating online showed what appeared to be a ride-hailing driver in Chongqing attempting to jump off a bridge into the river. A similar suicide attempt had occurred in the area earlier, prompting public concern about the survival pressures faced by workers at the grassroots level.
On July 15, 2026, the Shanghai Municipal Government and the Municipal Public Security Bureau issued a notice and sent mass text messages to residents, announcing that from 0:00 on July 15 to 24:00 on July 20, temporary control airspace for drones would be designated across the city, prohibiting low-altitude, slow and small aircraft from taking off in violation of the rules.
On July 15, 2026, according to a report by the Associated Press, Hungary's former foreign minister Péter Szijjártó announced his resignation as a member of parliament to formally take up an executive position at Chinese automaker BYD, in charge of the group's global international affairs and overseas business expansion.
In July 2026, China introduced restrictions targeting AI companions, requiring platforms to intervene in users' unhealthy dependence and prohibiting chatbots from establishing virtual relationships with minors. ByteDance's Doubao subsequently shut down the feature that allowed users to create virtual companions.