Morning Briefing — July 28, 2026

World News

Zelenskyy meets new UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on aircraft carrier — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham aboard a British aircraft carrier at HM Naval Base in Portsmouth. Burnham, who took office a week ago and is hosting his first foreign leader, pledged to honour every UK commitment to Ukraine. The two discussed joint drone production and Ukraine's need for interceptors against Russian ballistic missiles. WORLD Radio

US pauses Iran bombing amid munitions shortfall as peace talks reopen — The United States has paused bombing Iran for a third straight night after senior Trump administration officials warned about dwindling munitions stockpiles. Mediators reportedly see progress toward restarting US-Iran peace talks, though Houthi rebels struck Saudi oil sites on the Red Sea coast in a parallel escalation. Democracy Now

Wildfires displace more than 360,000 across France and Spain — Devastating climate-change-driven wildfires have forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate across France and Spain, with a new heat wave this week pushing temperatures above 95°F in southwestern France and 100°F in Spain. Roughly a dozen nations have dispatched planes and crews to assist firefighting efforts. CNN

Manhunt after second shooting at U.S. Consulate in Toronto this year — Gunfire struck the U.S. Consulate in downtown Toronto for the second time in 2026, prompting a high-speed chase that police called off when the suspect vehicle exceeded 140 km/h on the Don Valley Parkway. A patrol officer stationed at the building after the March attack heard the gunfire around 4:45 a.m. and reported a white Honda Accord fleeing the scene. CBC

ICC removes chief prosecutor Karim Khan following misconduct allegations — The International Criminal Court voted to remove chief prosecutor Karim Khan after sexual misconduct allegations. The decision came amid a busy day of international headlines that also included Berlin police killing a suspect in a Pride festival attack and Israeli settlers torching mosques in the occupied West Bank. Democracy Now

Indian Education Minister resigns after week of mass protests — Indian Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned following a week of mass protests across the country. The resignation came alongside other global flashpoints including Israeli operations killing two Hamas security officials in Gaza. Democracy Now

Terror attack in Nigeria kills 30 — A terror attack in Nigeria has killed at least 30 people, part of a run of security incidents making global headlines Tuesday morning. The attack came as international coverage focused on the Zelenskyy-Burnham meeting in the UK and the ongoing wildfire crisis in Europe. WORLD Radio

Business

Chipmaker rout drags global stocks lower — Stocks fell as a deepening rout in chipmakers eclipsed gains supported by lower oil prices and falling bond yields. Nasdaq 100 futures slid 0.9% after Monday's semiconductor slump extended into Asia, with SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics tumbling more than 10% in Seoul as the region's benchmark headed toward correction. Bloomberg

IMF sees global inflation rising to 4.7% in 2026, stalling disinflation — The IMF's July update projects global headline inflation rising to 4.7% in 2026 from 4.1% in 2025, a sharp break in the disinflation trend that reinforces the higher-for-longer rate narrative. Spot gold dropped 1.05% to $4,049.87 and the US 10-year yield edged down to 4.634% as haven demand cools. Rio Times

Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino steps down after failed rebrand — Cracker Barrel CEO Julie Masino is stepping down next month, nearly a year after a costly failed rebrand of the restaurant and retail chain that critics panned as corporate and homogenized before the company reversed course. She will be replaced by David Deno, a former top executive of Bloomin' Brands, which owns Outback Steakhouse. WORLD Radio

TD Economics report cools expectations for West Coast oil pipeline benefits — A new report from TD Economics finds that a new oil pipeline to the West Coast would lift Canada and Alberta's GDP, but perhaps not to the degree that the provincial and federal governments are forecasting. The analysis lands as Ottawa weighs major energy infrastructure decisions. CBC

Expand Energy to buy Twin Eagle Holdings for US$1.25 billion — Expand Energy said it would buy privately held natural gas marketer Twin Eagle Holdings from Five Point Infrastructure for US$1.25 billion to expand its marketing business across North America. The deal is part of continued consolidation in the North American natural gas sector. BNN Bloomberg

US Trade Representative says new tariffs will have limited economic impact — U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said new tariffs on 60 trading partners will likely not have significant economic impact because the rates of 10% or 12.5% are similar to global tariff actions already in place. The comment aims to calm markets over Washington's escalating trade posture. BNN Bloomberg

Cracker Barrel completes sale-leaseback deal and divests Maple Street — Cracker Barrel completed a sale-leaseback transaction with an institutional real estate investor for 26 company-owned stores, generating approximately $77 million in net proceeds to be used for debt reduction. The company also divested its Maple Street Biscuit Company arm and raised its fiscal 2026 profitability outlook. PR Newswire

Technology

Nvidia weighs $250 billion financing guarantee for OpenAI Ohio data center — Nvidia is reportedly considering a $250 billion financing guarantee tied to OpenAI's planned Ohio data center, while also investing in Ilya Sutskever's Safe Superintelligence and joining a new alliance focused on AI security. The moves cement the chipmaker's role as the financial backbone of the current AI buildout. Tech Startups

Anthropic releases Claude Opus 5 as Chinese open-weight models gain ground — Anthropic released Claude Opus 5 this week even as Chinese open-weight AI models continue to gain traction among U.S. developers. Big Tech faces mounting pressure to prove that record AI spending is translating into sustainable returns. Tech Startups

OpenAI nearly doubles federal lobbying spend to record $2.22 million — OpenAI nearly doubled its federal lobbying expenditures to a record $2.22 million during the first half of 2026, according to a Financial Times analysis. Leading AI companies are spending record sums to shape policy on model safety, copyright, export restrictions, data centers, energy supplies and government procurement. Financial Times (via Tech Startups)

78% of AI-using organizations expect communications risk to rise — Arctera's State of AI Governance 2026 report finds that 78% of organizations using AI expect communications risk to increase, while fewer than one in five can prove that their governance frameworks are effective. The findings highlight a widening gap between AI adoption and mature oversight. Solutions Review

Fields Medalist Jacob Tsimerman to join OpenAI safety division — Jacob Tsimerman received the 2026 Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians and announced during the same day's press activities that he would begin working at OpenAI's safety division in August. Observers called it one of the clearest signals yet that frontier AI is becoming a research collaborator rather than merely a productivity tool. Champaign Magazine

AI-powered framework promises new insight into dark energy — A new AI-powered framework could transform how astronomers measure the expansion of the Universe by analyzing images of Type Ia supernovae and modeling their host environments in unprecedented detail. Researchers say the technique will let them estimate cosmic distances with much greater precision. ScienceDaily

SpaceX pushes ahead with plans for AI data centers in space — The race to build data centers in space is gaining momentum as AI drives unprecedented demand for computing power. SpaceX's proposal is part of a broader trend of hyperscalers looking beyond Earth to avoid grid, water and land constraints on massive AI clusters. ScienceDaily

Renewable Energy

Global solar PV additions top 600 GW for first time in 2025 — Solar PV capacity additions in 2025 rose by about 12%, surpassing 600 GW for the first time and bringing cumulative capacity to around 2,800 GW—making solar the technology with the largest installed capacity globally. Wind capacity additions jumped nearly 40% to a record 160 GW, and thirty countries installed over 1 GW of solar PV in a single year. IEA

China's solar and wind capacity overtakes coal for first time — China's total power capacity reached 3,890 GW in 2025, with solar rising 35% to 1,200 GW and wind up 23% to 640 GW, while thermal capacity grew 6% to just over 1,500 GW—marking the first time wind and solar capacity has outranked coal in China's power mix. Clean energy industries drove more than 90% of investment growth and over half of GDP growth last year. Carbon Brief

Analyst: Iran war strengthens the case for renewables, not coal — Despite the ongoing Iran crisis, analysts told Carbon Brief the world will not see a significant return to coal in 2026, with any short-term uptick in coal use merely masking a longer-term structural decline. A second gas shock in less than five years is instead strengthening the case for renewables as the more secure long-term path. Carbon Brief

Waaree Renewable wins 800 MWac solar EPC projects in India — Waaree Renewable Technologies has won 800 MWac of solar EPC projects in India, adding to a busy Indian renewables pipeline. Separately, SJVN issued bids for a 265 MW/530 MWh battery energy storage project at Panipat Thermal Power Station. Saur Energy

Lazard: onshore wind and utility-scale solar again cheapest energy sources — Even as renewables lose federal incentives and face other hurdles in the U.S., Lazard's latest levelized cost of energy analysis finds that onshore wind and large-scale solar again have the lowest LCOE. The finding underscores that clean power remains cost-competitive despite policy headwinds. Canary Media

China's clean-tech 'new three' exports jump 70% year-on-year — China's exports of the 'new three' clean-energy technologies—solar cells and panels, EVs and lithium-ion batteries—surged 70% year-on-year in March 2026 to $21.6 billion, according to analysis for Carbon Brief. Exports were also up 37% from February, driven partly by the Iran war pushing countries toward non-fossil energy supplies. Carbon Brief

UK grid adequate for winter 2026-27 thanks to new storage and renewables — New battery storage and renewable generation capacity are expected to help maintain adequate electricity margins in the UK during winter 2026-27, according to the National Energy System Operator's early outlook. The outlook reflects the growing role of storage in balancing an increasingly renewables-heavy grid. reNEWS

Wind and solar to supply 19% of U.S. electricity in 2026 — In its latest Short Term Energy Outlook, the U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts wind energy to provide about 11% of U.S. electricity generation in 2026 and utility-scale solar about 8%. Small-scale distributed solar could add roughly another 2% to the totals. Environment America

Soil Science

FAO warns better land, soil and water management critical to feed 10 billion — The Food and Agriculture Organization warns in a new flagship report that feeding a projected 10 billion people by 2050 will require smarter, not simply more, production—closing yield gaps, diversifying into resilient crop varieties, and adopting locally-tailored soil and water practices. Integrated systems such as agroforestry, rotational grazing and rice-fish farming are highlighted as pathways to sustainable intensification. FAO

FAO opens first Global Conference on Smart Farming in Rome — The FAO opened its first Global Conference on Smart Farming at its Rome headquarters, bringing together ministers, researchers and farmers' organizations to accelerate data-driven agriculture. Director-General Qu Dongyu argued the methods behind the past fifty years of productivity gains are reaching their limits, pointing to digital connectivity, remote sensing and soil data systems as the next tools. WINS Solutions

Colorado State study finds soil organic carbon doesn't boost drought yields — New research from Colorado State University finds that soil organic carbon does not improve crop yields during extreme drought, contradicting the common belief that soil organic carbon benefits yields most under drought conditions. The finding could reshape how regenerative agriculture is evaluated in dryland systems. Agroforestry Partners

Michigan launches NextGen Crop Insurance pilot rewarding regenerative practices — Michigan has launched a NextGen Crop Insurance pilot giving farmers greater flexibility in coverage when they adopt regenerative practices that improve soil health. The Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development developed the pilot together with partners. Agroforestry Partners

Missouri conservation program prevents 924,000 tons of soil erosion — Missouri's Soil and Water Conservation Program provided nearly $45 million in cost-share assistance to agricultural landowners in fiscal year 2026. The funding helped prevent more than 924,000 tons of soil erosion while improving water quality across the state. Agroforestry Partners

Andhra Pradesh community farming program wins 2026 Food Planet Prize — Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) has won the 2026 Food Planet Prize for leading one of the world's largest agroecological transitions. The program has helped hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers move away from synthetic inputs toward soil-regenerating natural farming. Agroforestry Partners

FAO Committee on Agriculture approves Global Plan of Action for Sustainable Livestock — The FAO's Committee on Agriculture has approved a Global Plan of Action for Sustainable Livestock Transformation. The plan sets out a framework for reducing livestock's environmental footprint while safeguarding pastoralists' livelihoods worldwide. Agroforestry Partners

Cover crop choices shape potassium cycling for next season, UK body says — The UK's Potash Development Association says cover crops form an important part of the annual tillage cycle and play a key role in soil potassium cycling. The association outlined how cover crop species selection affects potassium availability for the cash crops that follow. Agroforestry Partners

Cover photo by Çağlar Oskay on Unsplash.