On Aug 8 local time, the Romanian Defence Ministry said its radar surveillance did not detect any aircraft crossing Romanian airspace into Bulgaria after explosions near the Bulgarian-Romanian border. The ministry said it is continuing to monitor the border area and will issue further information if material developments occur. Bulgarian Prime Minister Radev said a drone entered Bulgarian airspace from the Romanian direction on Aug 8 and exploded inside Bulgaria; no casualties were reported.

The US Senate on Saturday approved a short-term funding measure to finance federal agencies through Dec. 11, aimed at averting a government shutdown weeks before the midterm elections. The bill passed 90-6; Senator Graham (R-S.C.) abstained. The measure lowers the risk of a shutdown on Oct. 1, the start of the new fiscal year, but does not guarantee one will be avoided — the House must reconcile the bill when it returns from recess.

National Bureau of Statistics urban division chief statistician Dong Lijuan said China’s CPI rose 0.5% YoY in July, a 0.5ppt slowdown from June. The moderation was mainly driven by weaker gasoline inflation: gasoline prices rose 1.0% YoY, with the rate down 16.0ppt month-on-month, cutting CPI’s upward pull by about 0.45ppt and bringing energy price growth to 0.6%. Excluding energy, industrial consumer goods rose 1.5% YoY, down 0.2ppt and contributing roughly 0.37ppt to CPI. Gold jewelry prices increased 24.6%; personal-care goods +1.7%; household appliances +0.2%; these decelerations together added about 0.13ppt. Computers, tablets and mobile phones rose 17.4%, 17.2% and 8.5% YoY, respectively.