Morning Briefing — September 13, 2026
Morning Briefing — September 13, 2026
World News
Swedes vote in tight election that could bring far right into government — Sweden held a closely fought general election on Sunday, with the centre-left opposition led by Magdalena Andersson holding a narrow lead over Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's right-wing bloc. Kristersson has pledged to include the far-right Sweden Democrats in cabinet if his bloc wins, which would mark their first entry into government. Reuters/NBC News
BRICS nations adopt joint declaration urging Middle East restraint and open trade — Leaders of the BRICS bloc unanimously adopted a joint declaration at the 18th summit in New Delhi, calling for calm in the Middle East and stressing the smooth flow of global trade, supply chains and energy. Modi hosted Xi, Putin, and Pezeshkian among others at the two-day meeting. Al Jazeera
Houthis capture strategic island in Bab el-Mandeb Strait — Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have seized a strategic island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, threatening Saudi oil exports through the vital shipping lane. Saudi Arabia shut down a major oil pipeline as a precautionary measure after it came under attack. NPR
Iran hardliners said to launch attacks in defiance of leaders, sabotaging peace deal — Two people were killed in an Israeli strike on a vehicle in Gaza, with the IDF saying it targeted Hamas members. Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthis claimed an attack on a Saudi base and a Palestinian was reportedly beaten by settlers in the central West Bank. Times of Israel
Mass anti-AfD protests sweep German cities after Saxony-Anhalt breakthrough — About 150,000 demonstrators took to the streets in around 20 German cities including Berlin, Hamburg and Munich in protests organised by Pruef, which advocates a ban on the AfD. The demonstrations followed the far-right party's election win in Saxony-Anhalt, where it is now seeking to form the first extreme-right state government in Germany since World War II. Times of Israel/AFP
BRICS leaders meet in India as wars and US tensions test the bloc — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted Russian President Putin, China's Xi Jinping, Iran's Pezeshkian and other BRICS counterparts for a summit focused on trade, investment and global conflicts. The bloc aims to shape the global agenda for emerging and developing countries as US ties fray. NPR
Business
Wall Street snaps losing streak as inflation comes in line with expectations — US shares staged a broad relief rally on Friday, with the Dow up 0.98% to 52,573, the S&P 500 up 0.86% and the Nasdaq up 0.96%, ending a four-session slide as August CPI printed near expectations and oil retreated. Markets now expect at least one more Fed rate increase at the September 16 meeting. Rio Times
US 10-year Treasury yield tests 5% as Fed hike bets firm — The US 10-year Treasury yield traded at 4.974%, its highest level since briefly topping 5% in October 2023, reinforcing expectations of a Fed rate increase and pressuring emerging market currencies. The VIX volatility index dropped more than 11%, signalling a calmer backdrop supporting carry trades. Rio Times
Canada's Q2 GDP grows 3.3% annualised as recession fears fade — Canada's economy posted strong second-quarter growth driven by high exports and domestic investments, with an upward revision to first-quarter figures easing recession fears. One economist said the revision put worries of a technical recession in the "trash bin" ahead of the Bank of Canada's rate decision. CBC News
Carney enacts retaliatory tariffs on US steel, dairy, electronics — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's government implemented dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs starting September 8 on US steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, paper and electronics. The move came after Washington imposed a 50 percent levy on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. Al Jazeera
Carney rebukes Lutnick over collapsed US trade talks — Carney fired back at US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick's claim that Ottawa tanked trade talks for political reasons, saying unelected US cabinet members are not experts on Canadian politics. Carney accused the US of shifting its red lines after negotiations were scrapped but maintained a mutually beneficial deal remains possible. CNBC
FAO Food Price Index rises in August led by sugar — The FAO Food Price Index averaged 133.3 points in August 2026, up 1.9 percent from the revised July level, driven mostly by concerns over global sugar supply for the 2026/27 season. Dry weather in the EU, El Niño effects in Asia, and lower output in Brazil's Center-South region tightened the outlook. FAO
Global clean energy investment hit record $2.1 trillion in 2025, ETC finds — The Energy Transitions Commission's Energy Transition Monitor 2026 found renewables supplied 99% of the growth in global electricity generation in 2025, though rising energy demand means emissions are only plateauing. The report notes the world has breached 1.5°C of warming and remains on track for around 2.5°C. Energy Transitions Commission
Technology
Former Anthropic safety researcher warns AI could kill all humans within a decade — Anthropic safety researcher Joe Benton resigned, warning the company is hiding safety incidents in a lengthy public post that garnered over 2 million views. His departure marks the second Anthropic safety exit in two days after Jacob Coxon left on September 9, saying AI companies are racing to build systems smarter than humans that humanity may not survive. Crypto Integrated / X
Russian threat actor uses 33 AI agents to breach 395 organisations via PaperCut — GreyNoise researchers reported a Russian-speaking threat actor deployed hundreds of AI agents built on OpenAI's Codex and a DeepSeek model to exploit newly disclosed vulnerabilities. The campaign compromised at least 440 PaperCut NG/MF instances across 395 organisations in 48 countries. Help Net Security / AI Weekly
OpenAI launches GPT-Rosalind for biological research — OpenAI launched GPT-Rosalind in its API and Codex product to help researchers connect findings across scientific papers and plan experiments in biology. Yelp separately deployed the company's GPT-Live-1 to power more natural, interruptible reservation phone calls. Crypto Integrated
Anthropic and OpenAI ship major model milestones in same week — Anthropic released Claude Opus 5 alongside the Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1 frontier pair, while OpenAI pushed GPT-5.5, GPT-5.6 Sol, and the full-duplex voice model GPT-Live. Anthropic also launched Project Glasswing with a $100M usage-credit commitment after observing near-human-expert vulnerability discovery in its Mythos 2 Preview model. Agents Radar
Sakana AI releases Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 as unified orchestrator — Sakana AI shipped Fugu Max and Fugu Ultra v2 on September 11 as a single learned orchestrator that routes queries across a pool of open-weight and specialist models behind one OpenAI-compatible API. The release aims to combine the strengths of multiple model families under a unified interface. AI Weekly
Sam Altman confirms OpenAI won't go public this year — OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will not IPO in 2026 despite having filed confidentially, citing safety concerns as making it an ill-advised moment to go public. The statement disappointed Wall Street, which had been anticipating one of the biggest tech listings ever. Fortune / LLM Stats
UK police record surge in deepfake and AI-generated crime — Twenty police forces in England and Wales recorded 163 crimes involving keywords like "AI-generated", "deepfake", and "nudify" by July 2026, up from just 10 in 2023. The figures come from a Telegraph investigation highlighting the rapid rise of synthetic media-related offending. Telegraph / LLM Stats
Renewable Energy
EIA forecasts US solar generation to jump 21% in 2026 — The Energy Information Administration's September 2026 Short-Term Energy Outlook projects US solar generation will grow 21 percent in 2026 and another 18 percent in 2027. Solar's share of total US electricity generation will rise from 7 percent in 2025 to 9 percent by 2027, while coal-fired generation falls 8 percent this year. GreentechLead / EIA
Renewables supplied 99% of new global electricity generation in 2025 — The Energy Transitions Commission's Energy Transition Monitor 2026 found that renewables supplied 99 percent of growth in global electricity generation last year, with solar, batteries and EVs beating every forecast. But rising energy demand means global greenhouse gas emissions are only plateauing rather than falling. Energy Transitions Commission
UN warns world will breach 1.5C Paris limit, hit at least 1.8C — A new UNEP report says the 1.5°C limit in the Paris Agreement is all but breached, urging countries to minimise the period of overshoot and wrestle temperatures back down. The report identifies an 'overshoot, peak, and decline' pathway as the best remaining option to eventually return below 1.5°C. Clean Energy Wire
Record renewables-plus-storage investment in first half of 2026 — Investors spent a record amount in the first half of 2026 on projects that pair renewable energy — mostly solar — with batteries. The surge came despite Trump administration attacks on renewables, as developers rush to safe-harbor projects ahead of new sourcing restrictions. Canary Media
CATL says sodium-ion batteries will reach cost parity with LFP by end of 2026 — Chinese battery giant CATL expects the cost of sodium-ion batteries to reach parity with lithium iron phosphate batteries by the end of 2026 and continue falling as the industry chain matures. The milestone could unlock a cheaper, less resource-constrained chemistry for grid storage and low-cost EVs. Renewables Now
China added record 500 GW of renewables in 2025, over 60% of global growth — According to the IEA, China commissioned nearly 370 GW of solar PV and 117 GW of wind capacity in 2025 — 13% and 48% higher than 2024 respectively. China's shift from long-term fixed tariffs to competitive auctions in June 2025 prompted developers to rush installations in the first half of the year. IEA
California becomes eighth state to sue over Interior offshore wind buyback — The US Interior Department is using tax dollars to pay firms to abandon offshore wind leases and invest in fossil fuels instead. California just became the eighth state to file suit to stop the program, escalating a legal fight over the Trump administration's rollback of clean energy support. Canary Media
Soil Science
Biochar shows promise for remediating microplastic-contaminated soils — A comprehensive review in the Soil Science Society of America Journal evaluates biochar as a cost-effective, environmentally sustainable strategy for remediating microplastic-contaminated soils. The authors flag knowledge gaps in microscopic biochar-microplastic interactions and field-scale application that should guide future research. SSSA Journal
Cover crops show clearest gains in soil health across US long-term trials — A study led by the University of Wisconsin and co-led by University of Kentucky researchers analysed long-term US agricultural trials and found cover crops delivered the most consistent improvements to soil health metrics. The paper was published in Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. Phys.org
New Vadose Zone Journal review outlines priorities for unsaturated-zone research — A multistate group of soil scientists published a review in the Vadose Zone Journal that maps out key emerging research areas for the unsaturated soil zone. The paper aims to guide investment in hydrology, contaminant transport and root-zone modelling research. Soil Science Society of America
FAO Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal seeks $2.5 billion for 2026 — The FAO's first Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal seeks $2.5 billion to assist over 100 million people across 54 countries in 2026. Though up to 80% of acutely food-insecure people live in rural areas, only 5% of relevant funding supports food production, and each dollar invested in a farmer's field returns roughly $3 in local food value. FAO
FAO Food Outlook: global wheat stocks to hit record high in 2026 — Global wheat inventories are expected to expand by 3.6 percent to their highest-ever level by the end of the 2026 seasons, while world rice stocks are forecast to grow 2.2 percent to a new record. Fertilizer prices have retreated 40% from their April 2022 peak, supported by China's return to global markets with higher export quotas. FAO
FAO Global Conference on One Health in Agrifood Systems set for 21-23 September — The FAO Global Conference for Actions on One Health in Agrifood Systems will bring together global leaders, technical experts and stakeholders from 21-23 September to accelerate the practical application of One Health across agrifood systems. The event connects soil, plant, animal, human and environmental health. Coalition of Action for Soil Health
New research on soil erosion published in European Journal of Soil Science — A new open-access research article published 6 September 2026 in the European Journal of Soil Science by Torra, Hürlimann and colleagues examines slope and soil-loss processes in a Mediterranean mountain catchment. The journal continues to publish rapid-turnaround research spanning molecular to global scales. European Journal of Soil Science