U.S. State Department approved sale to South Korea of AIM-9X Sidewinder Block II tactical missiles and related equipment, estimated value $125 million.

China's State Administration for Market Regulation has launched the 2026 quality-strong-chain top-10 landmark projects and will roll out 166 targeted R&D tasks. The program aims to precisely fill urgent gaps in key fields and strengthen quality support for priority industries, continuing focus on high-end instruments, new energy and industrial robots while expanding into embodied intelligent robots and solid-state power batteries and adding industrial machine tools, drones and advanced synthetic biology manufacturing. Work will coordinate standards, metrology, testing and accreditation across the full quality-infrastructure chain and prioritise strategic, frontier and practical outcomes.

Iraq's prime minister said the country is facing a difficult period and the government has multiple plans to address its economic problems.