Morning Briefing — August 24, 2026

World News

Russian attack hits Odesa hypermarkets as Ukraine strikes Russian logistics hubs — Russian strikes on Odesa hit two hypermarkets, warehouses and energy facilities on August 24, while Ukrainian drones attacked Ozon logistics hubs in Dagestan and warehouses in Krasnodar overnight. Zelenskyy vowed to make Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles a routine sight over Russia. RBC-Ukraine

Russia's losses in Ukraine reach 1.49 million troops as fighting persists — Ukraine's Ministry of Defense reported an additional 1,490 Russian troop casualties and 1,761 drones destroyed in the past 24 hours as of August 24, with intense fighting continuing across multiple sections of the front line. RBC-Ukraine

Carney says Canada 'at war' with US as retaliatory tariffs set for September 8 — Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters Canada was 'attacked' by Washington after the US imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20bn of Canadian goods. Ottawa's dollar-for-dollar retaliation will hit US steel, dairy, appliances, farm equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics starting September 8. NPR

Netanyahu resists Gaza withdrawal as Kushner pushes Hamas to disarm — US envoy Jared Kushner met Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya in Egypt as tensions grew between Israel and the Trump administration over the phased Gaza peace plan. Hamas is asking the US-backed Board of Peace to compel Israel to honor the ceasefire roadmap while strikes continue. Times of Israel

Putin calls Ukrainian peace proposals 'exotic' as US-Ukraine talks advance — Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters after a United Russia congress that current peace proposals are too 'exotic' for Moscow to accept. Zelenskyy separately said Kyiv and Washington had agreed on key ideas to end the war. Kyiv Independent

Ukraine and Norway sign drone production deal, Finland pledges 90% of joint output — Ukraine officially signed a drone cooperation agreement with Norway on August 24, while Finnish President Alexander Stubb pledged that 90% of drones produced in a Finland-Ukraine joint venture would go to Kyiv's forces. RBC-Ukraine

Iran threatens 'fully offensive' posture as US-Iran diplomacy stalls — A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran will shift to an offensive military stance if diplomatic efforts with the US fail, warning of escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. The stalled talks follow US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. TheStreet

Business

US-Canada trade talks collapse, ushering in 50% tariff wave — The Trump administration imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian goods after negotiations broke down late Friday. Carney called the move a 'miscalculation' and said Canada had been willing to drop its remaining steel, aluminum and auto tariffs in exchange for reciprocal US concessions. CNBC

Canadian businesses brace for impact of new 50% US tariffs — Canadian industry leaders are preparing for the full effects of the new US tariffs, hoping domestic support arrives quickly after the collapse of trade talks. Economists warn costs, prices and unemployment will all rise in Canada. CBC News

Wall Street slides as Treasury yields climb and Walmart tumbles 9% — The Dow lost 703 points to close at 52,759, dragged by a 9% drop in Walmart, while the S&P 500 fell 0.87% to 7,641 and the Nasdaq slid 1%. Rising bond yields fueled fears that higher borrowing costs will undermine the AI-led bull market. CNBC

Nvidia in talks with Korean chip startup Rebellions for potential deal — Bloomberg reported Nvidia is exploring a tie-up with chip startup Rebellions as the semiconductor giant continues an unprecedented spree of equity investments. Nvidia's marketable equity securities have more than doubled year-on-year to $30.2 billion. Bloomberg

Nvidia to back first phase of OpenAI project with up to $105 billion — Nvidia will provide financing of as much as $105 billion for the initial phase of an OpenAI infrastructure project, extending its practice of investing directly in the AI ecosystem companies that also buy its chips. Bloomberg

Trump reshuffled personal stock portfolio in June, sold Meta and bought Berkshire — New disclosures show President Trump sold shares of Meta and other names while adding Berkshire Hathaway in June. CNBC's analysis also warns that the biggest US stocks have delivered outsized gains and investors should now be cautious about overexposure. CNBC

Nvidia Q2 fiscal 2027 earnings loom as centerpiece of chip earnings season — Nvidia will report Q2 FY27 results on August 26, with Wall Street focused on guidance and the ramp of the Vera Rubin platform. Hyperscaler capital spending is expected to nearly double in 2026, making Nvidia's ability to capture that wave critical. Intellectia AI

Technology

OpenAI launches Private Safety Processing to one-up Anthropic on privacy — OpenAI unveiled a new 'Private Safety Processing' service for select enterprise customers designed to detect malicious multi-session use of AI while protecting customer data. The move directly targets rival Anthropic's growing enterprise franchise. TechCrunch

OpenAI closes gap with Anthropic among US business AI users — New data from expense-management firm Ramp shows OpenAI is growing faster than Anthropic among corporate customers in Q3, though Anthropic overtook OpenAI in enterprise market share in May and has held the lead since. TechCrunch

OpenAI introduces Zero Data Retention for frontier models and Teens ChatGPT — OpenAI announced Zero Data Retention options for its frontier models and launched a dedicated ChatGPT for Teens as part of a wave of August product releases, alongside expanded ChatGPT Ads in Europe and a new GPT-5.6 builder's guide. OpenAI

Nvidia's AI moat shifts from chips to capital as competition intensifies — With AMD and hyperscaler custom silicon gaining ground, Nvidia is increasingly leveraging its cash reserves and equity investments across the AI stack. The company's $30.2 billion equity portfolio includes stakes in OpenAI and SpaceX, cementing platform lock-in. CNBC

Nvidia to pay Poolside $6 billion for licensing deal and staff — Bloomberg reported Nvidia will pay coding startup Poolside a $6 billion license fee and absorb key staff, one of several major partnership deals as Nvidia deepens ties across the AI ecosystem in the run-up to its earnings release. Bloomberg

AI data centre boom sparks Canadian community backlash — Canadian communities are raising concerns about the rapid expansion of AI data centres being planned and built across the country, questioning noise, power draw, and land use as the country's compute footprint grows. CBC News

Anthropic Claude Code adds cost estimates and Bedrock support in latest update — Anthropic's Claude Code shipped a series of updates including new cost-estimate features accounting for a 1.1x US-only inference premium, expanded Bedrock and Alpine support, and a Python 1.x upgrade helper for developer workflows. Releasebot

Renewable Energy

China wasted quarter of its clean power in H1 2026 as grids hit limits — China curtailed 360 TWh of wind and solar output between January and June — 49% more than a year earlier and enough to power the UK or Mexico for over a year. GEM and CREA estimate 26% of total output was rejected, well above the 8.6% solar and 9.1% wind figures cited by China's National Energy Administration. Reuters via WSAU

Global renewable curtailment surges in Australia, Japan and India — Australia's National Electricity Market curtailed 2.93 TWh of wind and solar (7% of output) in H1 2026, a 37% jump, while Japan rejected 2.35 TWh, up 34%. India, the world's third-largest solar producer, curtailed 14% of solar output in the quarter through June. China-Global South Project

Carbon Brief: China releases 15th five-year plans covering oil, gas and coal — Beijing published a raft of 15th five-year plans in August covering the coal industry, integrated transport, civil aviation and ecological protection, with aims to peak industrial emissions before 2030, increase forest cover to 25.8%, and build an aviation carbon market. Carbon Brief

US wind and solar output climbs 10% in first half of 2026 — Wind and solar contributed 20% of US electricity generation through June, outpacing both coal and nuclear even as federal incentives roll back. The biggest single contributor was Pattern Energy's 3,650 MW SunZia facility in New Mexico — the largest US renewable project ever built. MarketScale

Windcat Rotterdam completes sea trials as offshore wind vessel fleet advances — The first of six new commissioning service operation vessels being built by Damen for Windcat has completed sea trials in Vietnam. Each 87-metre CSOV can house around 120 crew and will support offshore wind construction and maintenance operations. GreentechLead

EV sales overtake petrol cars in UK for the first time — Carbon Brief analysis shows UK consumers bought 516,490 new electric vehicles in the 12 months to May 2026, edging past 504,010 new petrol cars. Meanwhile China's Hainan Province announced plans to ban sales of new fuel-powered vehicles by 2030. Carbon Brief via Backchannel

Solar's advance into Northern Europe reshapes renewable map — Falling equipment costs and higher wholesale electricity prices are making solar projects viable across northern latitudes that were previously considered too cold or too dark, potentially widening access to solar technology across Europe. Energy Connects

Soil Science

MDPI 'Exploring the Field' spotlights the fight to protect global soils — A new MDPI open-science piece highlights that soil underpins 95% of global food production, hosts more than half of Earth's species, and stores more carbon than all vegetation combined — yet human activity has altered more than 70% of Earth's land, threatening soil health worldwide. MDPI Blog

SSSA highlights new research on biofouling in soil aquifer treatment — The Soil Science Society of America's president's pick for August features Vadose Zone Journal research showing that microbial biofilm clogging in variably saturated soils progresses through three distinct phases and settles at roughly 4.3% of starting hydraulic conductivity. Moderately unsaturated soils promoted more microbial growth than fully saturated ones. Soil Science Society of America

European Journal of Soil Science: past land use should be part of soil health frameworks — A new opinion piece in EJSS argues that historical land use leaves lasting fingerprints on soil properties and ecosystem service capacity, meaning soil health assessments should explicitly incorporate legacy land-use effects rather than treating soil as a blank slate. European Journal of Soil Science (Wiley)

UF/IFAS graduate students present cover crop and citrus research at World Congress of Soil Science — University of Florida graduate students presented findings at the World Congress of Soil Science, including work on cover crops, HLB-affected citrus soils and nutrient management, spotlighting the role of soil health in informed land-use decisions. UF/IFAS

FAO warns fertilizer scarcity from Strait of Hormuz crisis will tighten food supplies — The FAO cautioned that fertilizer shortages driven by disruption in the Strait of Hormuz will cut yields into 2027 and warned the window for preventative action is closing. Its 2026 Global Report on Food Crises documented 147 million people in acute conflict-driven food insecurity in 2025. Security Council Report

Frontiers in Soil Science publishes new research on soil organic matter dynamics — Frontiers in Soil Science released studies in August covering soil organic matter dynamics and carbon sequestration in Mozambique, soil biology under Italian vineyards, and soil pollution remediation, reflecting expanding global attention to soil biogeochemistry. Frontiers in Soil Science

FAO State of Food Security 2026 examines cost of healthy diets — The 2026 State of Food Security and Nutrition report finds 645 million people faced hunger in 2025 and healthy diets remain unaffordable for around 2.7 billion people worldwide. The report explores the structural drivers keeping nutritious food out of reach. FAO

Canadian Journal of Soil Science: hydrogel boosts chickpea yields in Aral Sea sandy soils — A new Canadian Journal of Soil Science communication reports that hydrogel amendments significantly improved chickpea productivity in newly formed arid sandy soils around the Aral Sea, offering a potential tool for reclaiming degraded arid-region cropland. Canadian Journal of Soil Science

Cover photo by Matt Popovich on Unsplash.