Morning Briefing — July 2, 2026

World News

Russia moves to import fuel as Ukrainian drone strikes squeeze supply — Ukraine's sustained drone campaign against Russian refineries has caused a fuel crisis inside Russia, triggering restrictions and long lines at the pump. In an unusual move for one of the world's biggest oil exporters, the Kremlin is now looking abroad to shore up domestic fuel supplies. CBC

Trump won't renew USMCA, toppling a pillar of North American trade — The White House has declined to extend the CUSMA/USMCA trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, a striking reversal for a president who signed the deal in 2018 and once called it the most important trade deal ever. The pact now enters an annual review process, injecting fresh uncertainty into North American supply chains. NBC News

Iran-US indirect talks in Doha end without breakthrough — A fresh round of indirect US-Iran talks in Qatar wrapped up with no sign of headway toward a lasting deal, with negotiators circling issues supposedly resolved two weeks earlier. Tehran has said it will not open final-status talks until hostilities in Lebanon end and Washington releases frozen Iranian funds. Al Jazeera

Thousands of police deployed as anti-immigration protests spread across South Africa — South African authorities have surged police officers into multiple cities after anti-immigration protests turned deadly, with destructive clashes reported in several urban centres. Officials are trying to contain unrest that has widened beyond initial flashpoints. Fox News

Venezuela quake damage: nearly 60,000 buildings affected, NASA assessment finds — A NASA satellite assessment estimates that almost 60,000 buildings may have been damaged or destroyed by last week's back-to-back earthquakes in Venezuela. The death toll continues to climb past 1,400 as international teams arrive but a slow government response hampers relief. CBS News

Deadly roof collapse at Lahore tutoring centre under investigation — Police in Pakistan are investigating whether construction negligence caused the collapse of a tutoring centre roof in Lahore that killed children and staff. Books, shoes and other belongings of victims were seen at the site as recovery efforts continued. NPR

Manhunt after Monaco bomb attack wounds Ukrainian tycoon — Authorities in Monaco have launched a manhunt after a bomb attack described as an attempted assassination wounded a Ukrainian businessman. The incident adds to a string of security concerns targeting Ukrainian figures abroad. CNN

Canada Day unity messages cut short by severe weather in Ottawa — Canada Day celebrations centred on messages of national unity — reflecting the strained US-Canada trade relationship — before severe weather forced an early end to Ottawa's festivities. The country is also debating what comes next after Washington's decision not to extend CUSMA. CBC

Business

Canada's economy rebounds with 0.5% GDP growth in April — Statistics Canada reported real GDP rose 0.5 per cent in April, slightly beating expectations and reversing months of stagnation, driven largely by mining, quarrying and oil-and-gas extraction, with oil-sands output up 3.7 per cent. Economists called it a significant bounce-back that likely keeps the Bank of Canada on hold at its July 15 rate decision. CBC

Is Canada's 'technical recession' already over? — CBC's Peter Armstrong argues that despite the rebound signalled by April GDP, Canada's economy remains weak after a year without growth, weighed down further by Trump's trade war. He also flags that monthly GDP data has become highly revision-prone since the pandemic, making the recovery signal noisier than it looks. CBC

CRTC orders Canada's Big Three telecoms to justify fees or face fines — Canada's telecom regulator has ordered Bell, Rogers and Telus to explain the rationale behind contentious wireless fees and show why they shouldn't face penalties for apparent federal violations. The move opens a new regulatory front against the country's dominant carriers. CBC

Europe hunts alternatives to Visa and Mastercard as payment sovereignty concerns grow — European policymakers and industry are stepping up efforts to loosen the US grip on the region's payments infrastructure, driven by fears over economic sovereignty. The push is reviving interest in domestic and pan-European card schemes as an alternative to the dominant American networks. Bloomberg

CalPERS launches $600 billion 'total portfolio' experiment — CalPERS investment chief Stephen Gilmore is rolling out a total-portfolio approach at the biggest US public pension fund, aiming to break down silos between asset classes. It is one of the largest experiments to date in a strategy that has caught on with sovereign and pension investors. Bloomberg

AI boom mints 19 new billionaires as productivity anxieties rise in Silicon Valley — Bloomberg reports the relentless AI boom has created 19 new billionaires, even as workers in tech report growing anxiety and fear of falling behind. The wealth surge sits uneasily alongside signs that AI is reshaping the labour market in Silicon Valley itself. Bloomberg

Tech and finance shed 28,000 jobs a month as AI reshapes labour market — New data cited by Bloomberg shows the tech and finance sectors are losing roughly 28,000 jobs every month, a sign of AI's growing impact on white-collar employment. The trend is fuelling debate about whether the productivity gains from AI are worth the labour disruption. Bloomberg

Technology

Employers who laid off workers citing AI are already reversing course — Ford is rehiring hundreds of experienced human engineers to fix quality issues automated systems couldn't handle, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia and IBM are also refocusing on human capital after AI-linked layoffs. IBM plans to triple US entry-level hiring in 2026 after its HR AI could handle only 94% of routine requests but stumbled on ethical dilemmas. CNBC

OCBC to lift annual tech spending above $771M as new CEO doubles down on AI — Singapore's OCBC plans to raise annual technology spending to more than $771 million, one of the first strategic moves from new group CEO Tan Teck Long, who took over in January 2026. The bank is leaning harder into AI and digital banking as it competes in Asia's crowded lending market. Bloomberg

Alphabet stock pops 4% on Dow debut but AI questions loom — Alphabet climbed roughly 4% on its Dow Jones Industrial Average debut, but analysts flagged unresolved questions about the search giant's AI strategy and competitive position. The move highlights how AI narratives are now the primary driver of mega-cap tech valuations. CNBC

OpenAI limits new AI models to 'trusted partners' at US government request — OpenAI is restricting release of its newest models to a Trump-administration-approved group of partners during an initial testing period, a step reported by CNBC and CBC. The move underscores the growing role of national-security review in frontier AI deployment. CBC

Wayve files for share sale on London Stock Exchange's new private market — UK self-driving startup Wayve has filed to sell shares via the London Stock Exchange's new private market, one of the first high-profile listings on the venue. The offering is seen as a test of London's appeal for AI and autonomy companies. Bloomberg

Thomson Reuters: firms risk $143B and 24% of talent by lagging on AI — A Thomson Reuters survey of 1,816 professionals across law, tax, audit and compliance finds up to $143 billion in US client revenue at risk as clients expect AI-driven value, and companies could lose 24% of talent within two years if they fail to deliver. One-third of professionals are already using unsanctioned AI tools, creating hidden compliance risks. Reuters

Apple and Microsoft hike prices as AI crunches global memory chip supply — Apple and Microsoft have raised prices on consumer devices as booming AI demand strains global memory-chip supply chains. Analysts warn the memory crunch could persist through 2026 and 2027, with Apple reportedly looking to China for relief from the price shock. CBC

Renewable Energy

Clean power was the world's largest source of new energy in 2025 — six charts — Carbon Brief highlights new data showing clean power added more to global energy supplies than any other source in 2025, with wind and solar alone meeting 99% of the growth in electricity demand. Fossil-fuel generation fell 0.2%, the first structural decline driven by clean-power growth rather than an economic shock. Carbon Brief

Renewables overtake coal as world's largest source of electricity — Analysis from thinktank Ember, covered by Carbon Brief, shows renewables surpassed coal as the world's largest power source in 2025 for the first time since 1919, with solar generation up 30% year-on-year. Fossil generation fell in both China and India due to rapid clean-power deployment, offsetting small increases elsewhere. Carbon Brief

China's 15th five-year plan sets wind and solar as power system 'mainstay' — Beijing's new five-year plan for a 'new-type energy system' targets non-fossil sources at 50% of power generation and 'new energy' at 30% by 2030, up from about 22% today. Wind and solar are explicitly designated as the mainstay of China's future power mix. Carbon Brief

UN chief calls on AI firms to 'come clean' on data-centre climate impact — In a London Climate Action Week speech, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged every major AI company to publicly disclose the carbon, water and land footprint of data centres and to power them with renewables by 2030. He noted AI data centres already consume more electricity than most nations, and by 2030 could use enough water to meet the basic needs of sub-Saharan Africa's 1.3 billion residents for a year. UN News

UK electric-vehicle sales overtake petrol cars for the first time — Carbon Brief analysis finds UK sales of battery-electric vehicles have overtaken petrol cars for the first time, marking a milestone for the country's road-transport transition. The shift comes despite ongoing federal policy uncertainty affecting EV markets in other jurisdictions. Carbon Brief

More Americans install home batteries as federal solar credit disappears — Home solar installations dropped after the elimination of the federal residential solar tax credit, but state incentives are propping up demand for home battery storage systems. The shift underscores how state-level policy is increasingly shaping the US residential clean-energy market. Bloomberg

'Mayday to Ottawa': $400M carbon capture facility at risk over Alberta carbon tax changes — A $400-million carbon capture project in Alberta could be cancelled after changes to the province's carbon pricing regime undermined the business case, developers warn. The setback highlights the fragility of Canada's industrial decarbonization pipeline. CBC

BloombergNEF: battery storage costs hit record lows even as solar and wind get pricier — BNEF's 2026 Levelized Cost of Electricity report finds battery storage project costs plummeted to new lows in 2025, while benchmark solar, onshore-wind and offshore-wind costs all rose due to supply-chain constraints and Chinese market reforms. In the US, wind has reclaimed the title of cheapest new-build power source, overtaking gas for the first time since 2023. BloombergNEF

Soil Science

US regenerative agriculture can improve human health, HHS/ASPE review finds — A new ASPE report concludes regenerative agriculture can enhance food quality and reduce harmful exposures through improved soil biology, biodiversity and ecosystem health, with downstream benefits for farmers and public health. Authors call for more research on the full range of health benefits and note profitability gains from lower input costs and greater land resilience. ASPE (HHS)

Multi-agent AI systems show promise for accelerating soil science — New work led by the University of Sydney and published via Frontiers in Science tested multi-agent AI systems on soil-science tasks including perceptual processing, strategic planning and scientific reasoning. Authors say the tools could help land managers detect nutrient loss, water stress, compaction and erosion earlier, supporting climate-resilient agriculture — but stress the need for high-quality data and human oversight. Frontiers / Phys.org

FAO: State of Food and Agriculture 2025 warns cropland degradation is widening yield gaps — FAO's flagship report examines how human-induced land degradation reduces yields for producers of all scales, with new findings on the contribution of cropland degradation to the global yield gap. The report links soil degradation to broader land-use patterns and highlights how farm size shapes options for sustainable land management. FAO

Editorial: soil health is decisive for nutrition and human health — A Frontiers in Nutrition editorial argues that soil health underpins the sustainability of food systems and directly shapes crop productivity, food quality and human health outcomes. It synthesises research on soil microbes, soil management practices and their downstream effect on nutrient density in food. Frontiers in Nutrition

Biochar emerges as promising remediation for microplastic-contaminated soils — A review in the Soil Science Society of America Journal finds biochar is a promising, cost-effective and environmentally sustainable strategy for remediating microplastic contamination in soils, with effectiveness depending on biochar properties and site conditions. Authors flag knowledge gaps around microscopic interactions and field-scale application as priorities for future research. Soil Science Society of America Journal (Wiley)

USDA launches $700M Regenerative Pilot Program for whole-farm soil health — USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service is directing $700 million to a new Regenerative Pilot Program that lets producers plan and implement whole-farm regenerative practices through a single application in FY2026. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins framed the program as critical for protecting topsoil and long-term farmland productivity. Farm Progress

FAO confirms 615 modular grain-storage units delivered to Ukrainian frontline farmers — As Ukraine prepares for the 2026 growing season, FAO says it has completed delivery of 615 modular storage units to small- and medium-scale farmers across seven frontline oblasts, expanding safe grain storage where infrastructure has been damaged. The initiative was funded by Canada and Japan and implemented with Ukraine's Ministry of Economy, Environment and Agriculture. FAO

Miraterra–Trace Genomics merger fuses DNA and Raman soil analytics — Soil analytics firm Miraterra has acquired Trace Genomics, combining DNA-based soil-microbiome analysis with Miraterra's rapid Raman spectroscopy to offer a unified biological, chemical and structural picture of soil health. The deal is being positioned as a significant step for data-driven regenerative farming in the US. Regenerative Agriculture Summit

Cover photo by Myznik Egor on Unsplash.