Morning Briefing — July 30, 2026

World News

Rescuers race to find survivors after deadly Kumamoto earthquake — Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping mall and collapsed houses in southern Japan's Kumamoto region, where a magnitude 7.1 earthquake killed at least 18 people, including a foreigner, and injured at least 62 more. Sweltering weather added urgency to the rescue efforts, and bullet train services remained suspended. NPR

US and Saudi forces strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq — US Central Command said American and Saudi forces struck Iran-aligned militia sites in Iraq after the groups fired more than 30 drones at US troops and Saudi oil facilities over three days. The militias reported losing about 20 fighters in the strikes. WORLD Radio

Wildfires displace over 300,000 across France and Spain — Climate-driven wildfires across southwestern Europe have forced more than 300,000 people to evacuate, with French crews still fighting flames around Bordeaux and Spanish firefighters trying to contain flare-ups in the Madrid region. Temperatures are expected to climb again with no rain in the forecast. CNN

Wildfires flare again in south-west France as new 40C heatwave looms — New blazes reignited in south-west France as authorities braced for another 40C heatwave, extending an already destructive Mediterranean fire season. European authorities have warned that extreme wildfire danger could persist through August. BBC

UN names veteran humanitarian to lead Ebola response in central Africa — Veteran UN humanitarian official Julien Harneis was appointed to coordinate the United Nations' response to the growing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The move comes as the UN also begins the process of selecting its next secretary-general. NPR

WFP warns Ebola outbreak is deepening hunger crisis in eastern Congo — The World Food Programme's acting executive director Carl Skau said the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record is compounding a catastrophic food crisis in eastern Congo, where more than 5 million people already face emergency-level food insecurity. He described the situation in Ituri province as a 'crisis on top of a crisis'. Associated Press / Washington Times

WHO says DRC Ebola outbreak is now third-largest on record — WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the DRC outbreak has reached 2,273 cases and 796 deaths, spreading faster in its first month than any previous outbreak. He noted the 2018-2019 DRC outbreak took more than 10 months to hit 2,000 confirmed cases. UN News

Five Kenyan soldiers killed in clash with Al-Shabaab in Mandera — Five Kenyan soldiers were killed in a shootout with Al-Shabaab gunmen in Mandera County near the Somali border. The clash adds to a string of cross-border incidents linked to the long-running Somali civil war. Garowe Online / Wikipedia Current Events

Business

Dow tumbles 1,100 points as bond market signals Fed is behind on inflation — The Dow closed 1,153 points lower for its worst day since April 2025 after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and long-dated Treasury yields hit a near two-decade high. The S&P 500 fell 1.52% and the Nasdaq slid 1.74% as investors worried the central bank was falling behind on inflation. CNBC

US 30-year yields surge to highest since 2007 after Fed holds rates — Longer-maturity Treasury yields extended their climb and dragged Asian bonds lower as uncertainty over the Federal Reserve's policy path pushed 30-year yields to their highest level in almost two decades. The Fed left interest rates unchanged for a seventh consecutive month. Bloomberg

Stocks slump on AI spending fears and Middle East jitters before Fed decision — Equities ended sharply lower as concerns about inflation drove bond yields higher after the Fed left rates steady and Brent crude topped $90 on resurgent oil prices. The Nasdaq 100 entered a technical correction, extending a slide from its record high to 11%. Bloomberg

Microsoft beats estimates on Azure strength and Anthropic gain — Microsoft posted net income of $35.77 billion, or $4.81 per share, up sharply from a year earlier, aided by a $3.2 billion gain on its Anthropic stake and strong Azure growth. Capital spending plans for 2026 remain unchanged but will rise in the new fiscal year, with executive Amy Hood signalling continued positive cash flow. CNBC

Meta earnings drop 14% as AI expenses balloon 55% — Meta reported a 55% surge in expenses to $42 billion, outpacing 28% revenue growth and dragging net income down 14% to $15.8 billion, well below analyst forecasts. Shares fell 6.2% after hours, while Microsoft rose 2.4% on its own results despite disclosing a 70% jump in capital spending to $41 billion. Axios

Amazon Prime Video to broadcast NHL Wednesday night games in Canada — Amazon's Prime Video will exclusively stream Wednesday night national NHL regular-season games in Canada in both English and French starting next season. The deal is part of a 12-year sub-licensing agreement with Rogers Communications. CBC News

Carney signals he won't use Canadian energy as tariff bargaining chip — Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated he does not want to use Canadian energy exports as leverage in Canada's ongoing trade war with the United States, though he stopped short of ruling it out. The remarks came amid growing debate over Ottawa's tools for responding to US tariffs. BNN Bloomberg

Expand Energy to buy Twin Eagle Holdings for $1.25 billion — Expand Energy agreed to acquire privately held natural gas marketer Twin Eagle Holdings from Five Point Infrastructure for $1.25 billion. The deal is intended to expand Expand Energy's gas marketing business across North America. BNN Bloomberg / Reuters

Technology

1,100 frontier AI workers ask Washington to help slow AI development — An open letter signed by more than 1,100 employees at OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Meta asked the US government to help build the technical and governance infrastructure for an international 'pacing mechanism' that could enable a verifiable slowdown of advanced AI if needed. Signatories include Anthropic cofounders Jack Clark and Jared Kaplan, and OpenAI chief scientist Jakub Pachocki. Build Fast with AI

Washington launches $300M program for faster AI chip interconnects — The US government is investing $300 million to speed up AI chip-to-chip connections while tightening restrictions on Chinese humanoid robots on national security grounds. The initiative highlights how the next stage of the AI race will hinge on efficient interconnects as much as raw processor speed. Reuters / Tech Startups

Nvidia-backed ChipAgents raises $60M to automate semiconductor design — ChipAgents, backed by Nvidia, raised $60 million to expand its AI tools for automating chip design workflows. The round underscores investor appetite for startups applying generative AI to hardware engineering bottlenecks. Tech Startups

Meta in talks to lease $10B of AI compute capacity to Anthropic — Meta is in preliminary negotiations for Anthropic to lease its data center computing capacity in a deal potentially worth up to $10 billion over two years. Meta has raised its full-year capex outlook to between $125 billion and $145 billion to fund AI infrastructure buildout. Barchart

Kumamoto quake jolts hardware supply chains — The magnitude 7.1 earthquake in Japan's Kyushu region rippled through global hardware supply chains, hitting factories in a region key to memory, sensors and specialty components. Analysts warned of near-term production disruption for AI infrastructure suppliers. Tech Startups

Amazon pushes deeper into satellite-to-phone connectivity — Amazon expanded its Project Kuiper ambitions with new moves into satellite-to-phone connectivity, joining a race that already includes Starlink and AST SpaceMobile. The company also continued to sign multi-billion-dollar data center and fiber deals to support AI workloads. Tech Startups

OpenAI breach traced to four stolen accounts — OpenAI disclosed that a recent security incident stemmed from just four stolen employee accounts, reigniting concerns about identity-based attacks on frontier AI labs. The revelation lands amid broader backlash against Anthropic over separate corporate governance issues. Build Fast with AI

Renewable Energy

Pacifico Energy signs supply chain deal for 3.2GW Korean offshore wind cluster — Pacifico Energy confirmed a supply chain partnership tied to its 3.2GW Jindo offshore wind cluster in South Korea, one of the largest projects moving forward in Asia. On the same day, Hanwha Ocean began physical construction on its Shinan-ui offshore wind project. MarketScale / reNEWS

Great Britain sets new solar output record — Great Britain notched a record for solar generation output, highlighting the growing role of photovoltaics in the UK's summer power mix. The record came amid a broader wave of European deal-making in offshore wind, storage and solar. MarketScale

Adani Energy wins $886M interstate transmission project for green hydrogen — India's Adani Energy Solutions won an interstate transmission project in Andhra Pradesh worth about INR 85 billion ($886 million) to build a line supporting planned green hydrogen and green ammonia developments in the Visakhapatnam region. The award reinforces India's push into green molecules alongside solar and wind. Renewables Now

Canadian Solar subsidiary opens Indiana solar cell factory — CS PowerTech, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, officially opened the first phase of its solar cell manufacturing facility in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The plant is intended to reshore more of the US solar supply chain amid federal incentive phase-outs. Renewables Now

Cypress Creek breaks ground on 2.5GW solar-plus-storage megaproject — Developer Cypress Creek has broken ground on a project that will ultimately deliver 2.5 gigawatts of solar generation and 2.9 gigawatt-hours of battery storage. The project underscores that utility-scale renewables continue to advance despite federal policy uncertainty. Canary Media

Lazard: onshore wind and utility solar remain cheapest new power — Even with federal incentives fading, Lazard's latest levelized cost of energy report finds that onshore wind and large-scale solar remain the lowest-cost sources of new power in the United States. Fixed-mount solar's LCOE range of $30-$80 per MWh continues to beat natural gas combined-cycle across many regions. Canary Media

EU advances Net-Zero Industry Act guidance and Hydrogen Mechanism — The European Commission moved forward with implementation of its July 17 Electrification Action Plan, publishing Net-Zero Industry Act non-price criteria guidance and launching a call for interest under the EU Hydrogen Mechanism. The Commission also issued fresh methane regulation implementation guidance. Origin Brief

REN21 launches first global tracker for renewables-based economies — REN21 published its Renewables-Based Economies (RBE) Tracker, the first global tool measuring how renewables are reshaping economies beyond the power sector. The tracker finds growing gaps in infrastructure, policy and investment that are slowing the wider energy transition, with Denmark held up as a leading example. REN21 / Origin Brief

US power sector emissions now 38% below 2005 levels — According to updated Edison Electric Institute figures, US power sector carbon emissions are 38% below 2005 levels and 43% of electricity now comes from carbon-free sources. Nearly 38 GW of renewable capacity was added in 2025, with member companies planning $1.4 trillion of investment over five years. Edison Electric Institute

Soil Science

37-year experiment finds even 'stable' soil carbon breaks down under warming — The world's longest-running soil warming experiment, at Harvard Forest in Massachusetts, found that after nearly four decades of continuous 5°C warming, even soil carbon once considered stable is being broken down by microbes and released as CO2. Researchers say this newly identified process should be built into climate models to sharpen projections of Earth's carbon cycle. ScienceDaily / Marine Biological Laboratory

Long-term warming projected to cut global soil microbial richness 7-9% — A global meta-analysis of 2,786 paired observations found that long-term warming of at least five years consistently reduces soil microbial diversity and abundance, with declines of 7-9% projected globally under a Paris-aligned SSP1-2.6 scenario. The authors warn the erosion of microbial diversity threatens nutrient cycling, food security and climate stability. ScienceDirect (One Earth)

Nature Reviews: microbial respiration set to rise sharply in warming Arctic — A new review estimates that a 10°C temperature rise could increase soil heterotrophic respiration by roughly 50%, an effect especially pronounced in Arctic soils. The paper synthesises how warming and declining moisture jointly reshape the balance between microbial CO2 release and carbon stabilisation across Earth's ~2,000 PgC soil carbon pool. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment

Vadose Zone Journal spotlights new work on unstable 'fingering flow' in soils — The Soil Science Society of America's July President's Pick highlights new research in Vadose Zone Journal on fingering flow, a form of preferential water movement in which infiltrating water gathers into narrow, fast fingers rather than a uniform wetting front. The instability arises from infiltration physics rather than from pre-existing soil structures. SSSA / Science Societies

Common pesticide sulfoxaflor found to impair bumblebee reproduction — A new study shows that low-dose exposure to the next-generation pesticide sulfoxaflor alters gene activity in bumblebees, particularly in tissues involved in reproduction. The findings raise concerns about impacts on pollinator populations that underpin agricultural yields. ScienceDaily

Soil bacteria found to help plants survive salty soils via lignin boost — Researchers found that beneficial soil bacteria give plants an unexpected survival edge in saline soils, not by blocking salt but by stimulating the production of lignin, a natural compound that strengthens plant tissues. The discovery could inform new approaches to farming on salt-affected land. ScienceDaily

FAO 2026 State of Food Security report warns healthy diets remain out of reach for 2.7 billion — The 2026 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World, jointly prepared by FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO, estimates that 645 million people faced hunger in 2025 and that healthy diets remain unaffordable for about 2.7 billion people. This year's edition explores the structural drivers behind the persistently high cost of a healthy diet. FAO

FAO's first Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal seeks $2.5 billion for farmers in crises — FAO warns that acute food insecurity has nearly tripled since 2016 while humanitarian funding is falling back to 2016 levels, and is asking donors for $2.5 billion for its first Global Emergency and Resilience Appeal. The agency notes that up to 80% of acutely food-insecure people live in rural areas but only 5% of relevant funding supports food production. FAO

Cover photo by Çağlar Oskay on Unsplash.