Morning Briefing — June 11, 2026

World News

US launches second night of strikes on Iran, Tehran says ceasefire 'meaningless' — American forces conducted a second consecutive night of strikes against Iranian targets, with Iran's Foreign Ministry condemning the attacks as a violation of international law that effectively voided the April 8 ceasefire. The Pentagon described the strikes as proportionate self-defense after an Apache helicopter was shot down off the coast of Oman. ABC News

Carney heads to G7 in France as US-Iran war escalates — Prime Minister Mark Carney departs for the G7 leaders' summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, his first meeting with Trump since US-Israeli operations against Iran began. Discussions are expected to be overshadowed by the conflict, with Europe pushing a plan to demine the Strait of Hormuz and clashes anticipated over AI and online safety regulation. CBC

Amnesty accuses Israel of 'ethnic cleansing' in occupied West Bank — Amnesty International said Israeli annexation measures in the West Bank have accelerated significantly in both speed and scale, amounting to a campaign aimed at removing Palestinians and facilitating annexation of the territory. CBC

Canada tables Digital Safety Act banning under-16s from social media — Prime Minister Carney's government tabled legislation that would restrict young Canadians' access to social media platforms, impose duties on AI chatbots, and establish a new Digital Safety Commission of Canada. The bill is conditional — platforms that meet new safety standards could let younger users return. CBC

Belfast unrest spreads after Sudanese asylum seeker charged in knife attack — A Sudanese asylum seeker accused of blinding a Belfast man in one eye during a stabbing attack appeared in court as anti-immigrant unrest spread across Northern Ireland. Fox News

House passes $70B ICE funding package, locking in Trump immigration agenda — The House voted 214-212 to approve a Senate-passed bill funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection through fiscal year 2029. Every Republican present supported the measure while Democrats unanimously opposed it. Fox News

Bahrain reports child injured by drone debris in latest Iranian attack — Bahrain's Interior Ministry said an 11-year-old girl sustained minor injuries from falling debris after air defenses intercepted an Iranian attack on the Gulf kingdom. Vehicles caught fire and homes were damaged in Hamad Town and Manama. ABC News

Business

Bank of Canada holds key interest rate at 2.25% for fifth straight decision — The Bank of Canada held its benchmark interest rate steady as Governor Tiff Macklem said the move was meant to balance inflation threats from elevated oil prices against economic sluggishness caused by trade-war uncertainty with the US. The bank warned it will not allow higher energy prices to become persistent inflation. CBC

US inflation tops 4% for first time in three years amid Iran war — Consumer prices surged to their highest level in more than three years following the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran, with a spike in gasoline prices driving the increase. NPR

Oil jumps, US futures fall after second night of strikes on Iran — West Texas Intermediate crude surged as much as 2.7% to $92.45 a barrel after the US military said it had struck multiple targets in Iran for a second consecutive day. Equity futures fell as escalating Middle East tensions continued to roil global markets. Bloomberg

SpaceX prepares blockbuster IPO seeking record $75 billion — SpaceX is reserving a substantial allocation of shares for ordinary investors as it pushes toward what could be the largest US public offering on record. Senator Elizabeth Warren has separately called on the SEC to delay the listing. CBS News

India eyes Canadian crude as supplier diversification accelerates — India is considering Canada as a potential crude oil supplier, High Commissioner Dinesh Patnaik said at the Global Energy Show in Calgary. He noted that newer Indian refineries are designed for heavy crude, making Canadian grades viable. BNN Bloomberg

Morgan Stanley sees AI-related debt issuance more than doubling to $570bn — Morgan Stanley forecasts that global debt tied to AI infrastructure will nearly double this year as hyperscalers turn to credit markets to fund massive data-center expansion. The shift reflects AI moving from a software story to a debt-funded industrial buildout. Reuters

Dow falls more than 900 points as chip sell-off worsens — US stocks slumped, with the Dow shedding over 900 points, as a sell-off in semiconductor shares deepened and Trump threatened additional strikes on Iran. Volatility spiked alongside oil amid the renewed Middle East conflict. CNBC

Technology

OpenAI in talks to lease 10-gigawatt Ohio data-center campus, Nvidia eyed as backer — OpenAI is reportedly negotiating to lease a planned 10-gigawatt data-center campus on federal land in Ohio, with Nvidia potentially providing financial support. The scale of the project underscores how frontier AI labs are tied to securing chips, power and grid access. The Information

Nvidia and Amazon back humanoid robot startup in $1.4 billion round — Nvidia and Amazon are anchoring an up-to-$1.4 billion fundraise for a humanoid robotics company, deepening Big Tech's bets on physical AI as Chinese rivals push toward mass production. CNBC

Super Micro to raise $7 billion to fund AI hardware buildout — Super Micro Computer announced plans for a $7 billion equity offering to fund AI-optimized server purchases, citing unprecedented hyperscaler demand. Shares fell 13% on the dilution concern despite booming order books. Reuters

China ramped up AI-powered cyberattacks to catch up with US, CrowdStrike says — Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike reports that Beijing has sharply escalated AI-enabled offensive cyber operations targeting US firms and government agencies as part of a broader push for AI parity. CNBC

Google brings Gemini to 2026 FIFA World Cup via Argentina partnership — Google announced that its Gemini AI will be integrated into the 2026 FIFA World Cup through a partnership with Argentina's national team, supporting training analysis, performance breakdowns and real-time fan experiences. Wired

Carney government pitches AI strategy as Canadians' trust lags — Prime Minister Carney's Liberals unveiled an AI strategy pledging 250,000 AI-related jobs and billions for training, but analysts say it lacks detail on privacy and safety. Surveys show Canadians rank near the bottom globally in trust toward AI. CBC

SpaceX accelerates plans for orbital AI compute, targeting 2027 demos — SpaceX is moving up plans to test space-based AI computing infrastructure, with demonstration missions now targeted for late 2027. Orbital data centers could ease terrestrial constraints on land, power and cooling. Reuters

Palantir's Karp warns businesses are 'unhappy' with frontier AI labs — Palantir CEO Alex Karp said enterprise customers are growing dissatisfied with frontier AI labs and warned that AI-driven mass layoffs could undermine the creative workforce needed for sustained leadership in the technology. Fortune / CNBC

Renewable Energy

UK tables draft law to cut emissions 87% by 2040 — The Labour government has set a draft seventh carbon budget calling for an 87% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2040. Officials say the £880bn investment required over 25 years would deliver £1,620bn in economic benefits and shield households from fossil-fuel price shocks. Carbon Brief

China's solar additions set to slow sharply in 2026 after record year — After installing 315 GW of new solar capacity in 2025 — more than half the global total — China's 2026 additions are expected to drop to perhaps 120 GW as a new CfD-style pricing system creates uncertainty for developers. Officials are increasingly focused on integrating existing generation into the grid. Carbon Brief

Iran war drives surge in European green tech purchases — The war on Iran has triggered a renewables race in Europe as Strait of Hormuz tensions roil oil and gas prices. SolarPower Europe estimates that solar saved the continent more than €3 billion in March alone and could deliver €67.5 billion in savings by year-end if gas prices stay elevated. Euronews

BloombergNEF: Solar to become world's largest electricity source by 2032 — BNEF's New Energy Outlook 2026 projects solar will overtake all other generation sources globally by 2032, with storage capacity jumping 17-fold to 3.8 TW by 2050. Global energy-transition investment hit a record $2.3 trillion in 2025 but remains well short of net-zero requirements. BloombergNEF

China's CO2 emissions rise 2% in Q1 2026 on 'wasted' wind and solar — New analysis for Carbon Brief shows China's first-quarter CO2 emissions grew 2% as curtailment of wind and solar generation increased, though emissions remain below their March 2024 peak. Carbon Brief

China's solar exports jumped 60% year-on-year in April — China exported nearly 1.2 million tonnes of solar cells in April 2026, a 60% rise year-on-year, as elevated energy prices from the Iran-US conflict drove demand across Europe, Asia and Africa. In the Philippines, analysts say the conflict is rapidly accelerating solar uptake. Reuters / Carbon Brief

Europe's gas reliance could add €120 to household power bills — An IEEFA analysis warns that European households — particularly in Italy, Ireland and the UK — face annual electricity bill increases of up to €120 due to continued dependence on gas-fired power generation amid ongoing fuel-price volatility. Clean Energy Wire / IEEFA

UN climate chief Stiell calls tackling climate crisis 'hardest' challenge ever — The June climate meetings in Bonn opened with UN climate chief Simon Stiell reminding delegates of the increasingly clear imperative to shift away from fossil fuels to clean energy, describing the task as the hardest the international community has ever faced. Climate Home News

Soil Science

FAO and International Fertilizer Association renew partnership on soil health — FAO and the International Fertilizer Association renewed their decade-long Memorandum of Understanding, committing to sustainable agrifood systems, soil health and evidence-based fertilizer management. The agencies note that recent Strait of Hormuz disruptions have exposed vulnerabilities in global fertilizer supply chains. FAO

FAO Food Price Index stable in May as commodities diverge — The FAO Food Price Index averaged 130.8 points in May 2026, broadly stable from April. Wheat prices rose for a fourth consecutive month on smaller expected harvests and higher fuel and fertilizer costs, while vegetable oils saw their first monthly decline of 2026. FAO

Yale researchers say soil carbon evidence too weak for policy and markets — Writing in Nature Climate Change, Yale-led scientists argue that current methods for measuring soil carbon sequestration may not meet the standards required for climate policy or carbon markets. They say small-plot models fail to reflect the messy realities of working farms and call for revived farmer-partnered field trials. Yale School of the Environment

Study finds biodynamic and organic farming improve soil properties and carbon storage — A five-year study comparing conventional, organic and biodynamic farming systems across maize, tomato, faba bean and potato crops found that biodynamic practices reduced bulk density and improved water-holding capacity, while organic and biodynamic systems strengthened soil chemistry including pH, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Scientific Reports (Nature)

FAO Global Emergency Appeal seeks $2.5 billion for 100 million people — FAO's 2026 Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal seeks $2.5 billion to assist over 100 million people across 54 countries. The agency notes that each dollar invested in a farmer's field produces $3 in local food value, yet only 5% of relevant humanitarian funding currently supports food production. FAO

Review: Soil carbon sequestration needs better measurement and carbon-credit standards — A new review covering 2000-2025 data finds that sustainable practices including reduced tillage, cover crops, agroforestry, biochar and wetland restoration can boost soil organic carbon while improving fertility and biodiversity. Authors call for standardized monitoring tools and carbon-credit markets to incentivize farmer adoption. Discover Soil (Springer Nature)

USDA's $700M Regenerative Pilot Program criticized as greenwashing — USDA's new $700 million Regenerative Pilot Program — funded by diverting money from EQIP and CSP — has been called greenwashing by critics who say it diverts resources from organic transition. The NRCS administering the program has lost nearly 25% of its staff since January 2025. Beyond Pesticides

Cover photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash.