NEED TO KNOW
IR US-Iran trade strikes: The US significantly escalated its military campaign against Iran, carrying out consecutive nights of airstrikes targeting coastal air defenses, missile launch sites, and transport infrastructure across southern Iran. On Tuesday, President Trump officially re-established a US naval blockade on Iranian ports and warned that the US would expand strikes to systematically destroy Iranian power plants and bridges if diplomatic negotiations remain stalled. He also proposed levying a 20% "reimbursement fee" on cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz to offset the costs of US naval security operations, however he walked back the proposal, stating he would instead replace the fee with trade and investment deals from regional partners. Iran retaliated by attacking commercial tankers (including UAE-associated vessels, with at least one fatality), launching missiles at US-allied sites in Bahrain, Qatar, and Oman, Kuwait and Jordan, where 2 US service members were killed and one is missing in action.
RU Escalations continue: Ukrainian forces launched long-range drone strikes hitting two major logistics warehouses in the Moscow and Tambov regions of Russia, which President Zelensky stated were being used to supply sanctioned electronic components for military drones. Seven night shift workers were killed and 25 others wounded. In a retaliatory escalation early on Sunday, Russia launched a massive ballistic missile attack targeting Kiev and Kharkiv, killing four people and wounding at least 36. Zelensky said in the past week Russia had "used about 1,450 strike drones, more than 1,640 guided bombs and 99 missiles of various types against Ukraine”.
UKR Ukraine to buy Chinese drone components with EU funds: The EU has granted Ukraine an exceptional regulatory carve-out allowing it to spend a portion of a €6 billion defense loan tranche to purchase critical drone components from China. While EU funding rules normally mandate procurement from within the single market, an exemption was approved because European manufacturers cannot produce these components quickly enough or in the massive volumes required for the battlefield. This decision highlights Europe's ongoing domestic defense production gaps and underscores China's complex role as a vital component supplier to both sides of the conflict.
UK Leadership change: Keir Starmer resigned as UK Prime Minister and Labour leader on June 22, less than two years after Labour's 2024 landslide victory. Andy Burnham, the former Mayor of Greater Manchester, will become the 7th UK PM in a decade after meeting with King Charles III tomorrow. In his acceptance speech, as the new Labour leader promised to restore hope to the British people, end internal party divisions, and deliver a bold rebalancing of power from Westminster to the regions with greater public control over essential services like water and energy. He will also scrap plans for a government-issued digital ID for all British adults, redirecting the money to other priorities, such as the cost of living crisis.
CHI Kimi K3 closes gap with US AI models: Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI, backed by domestic tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, has launched Kimi K3, a massive 2.8-trillion-parameter model that the company says can rival top American competitors. After its release at the end of this month, it will be the world's first open-source model in the three-trillion-parameter class that can be freely downloaded and customised by outside developers. Independent evaluations from Artificial Analysis and Arena.ai showed Kimi K3 performing on a par with OpenAI's GPT and Anthropic's Claude, and even surpassing them on some benchmarks, proving that China can still achieve major performance leaps despite strict US hardware constraints.
SP Border fence with Gibraltar removed: On Wednesday, Spain and Gibraltar celebrated the removal of a border checkpoint after a historic treaty between the EU and the UK, following years of post-Brexit wrangling. This will allow freedom of movement and align the British Overseas Territory of 38,000 people with the EU's Schengen area and customs union, ending long daily queues for the thousands of Spanish workers who commute there. Gibraltarians, who overwhelmingly voted to remain in the EU, view it as a positive resolution after years of Brexit uncertainty, though it introduces new EU regulatory compliance and taxes.
CH Services free trade deal with the UK: The UK and Switzerland announced a landmark services-focused free trade agreement on July 13, expected to unlock an estimated £5.2 billion ($6.96 billion) in additional annual UK exports. The deal, described by the UK government as its most significant services trade agreement ever, covers key sectors like financial services, life sciences, and pharmaceuticals. It also includes travel easements, such as access to Swiss e-gates, visa-free travel for up to 90 days a year to Switzerland for UK services professionals, and the scrapping of data roaming charges.
US Trump Media to sell traders high-speed access to Trump posts: Trump Media & Technology Group is launching Truth API, a paid real-time data feed offering large trading firms millisecond access to high-profile Truth Social posts, including those from President Trump. The service which will reportedly cost up to $100,000 a month, aims to generate recurring revenue from the loss-making platform and targets high-frequency and algorithmic traders since Trump's statements on topics like tariffs frequently trigger immediate market moves.
GOOD TO KNOW
Data center public pushback
Rising community opposition to data centers is intensifying across the US, fueled by concerns over massive electricity demand, water consumption for cooling, noise, and environmental strain amid the AI boom. On July 14, New York became the first state to impose a one-year ban on new "hyperscale" data centers using 50 megawatts or more of power, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul via executive order, to assess impacts on the grid, water supplies, and local communities while developing stricter standards. Hochul stated: “These hyperscale AI data centers consume enormous amounts of power, truly threatening to outpace our grid’s capacity. They drive up costs for local ratepayers, and I refuse to let those costs get passed down to New Yorkers.” Indeed, New Yorkers have already seen their bills explode, with the state’s average residential electricity price climbing nearly 68% since 2019.
This reflects a broader “Not In My Backyard” backlash: Polls now show 71% of Americans oppose nearby facilities, leading to blocked or delayed projects worth tens of billions. Similar pushback has prompted moratorium proposals in multiple states, local zoning fights, and eminent domain disputes for power lines, with residents in places like Virginia, Texas, and Pennsylvania resisting what they see as disproportionate burdens for private tech gains. Ben Green, assistant professor in the University of Michigan School of Information and Public Policy, also recently highlighted the problem with the claim that data centers will be bring jobs to local communities: “In practice, this is not what happens. The construction of data centers requires work because these are large construction projects, but that lasts a year or two; sometimes that labor is local and unionized, and sometimes that labor is trade professionals who come in from other states. Once the data center is up and running, it requires very few people, often just 20 to 50 staff members, because it’s not an office for software developers, product managers, or marketing experts. It is a warehouse of servers.”
NICE TO KNOW
SA De Beers halts operations in flagship mine: De Beers is pausing production at its Venetia mine, South Africa's largest diamond mine, for two years to cut costs amid a severe and protracted market downturn. The mine employs about 3,500 people and accounts for about 10% of the company’s production and 40% of South Africa’s annual diamond production. The decision comes as Anglo American seeks to sell De Beers to refocus on copper, as demand is growing due to the AI boom. Diamond prices have plummeted roughly 50% from their 2022 peak due to weakening global demand and intense competition from cheaper, lab-grown alternatives.
US Teleprompter operator under investigation for Kalshi bets : White House teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez was placed on unpaid administrative leave following allegations that he earned around $100,000 placing insider bets on the specific language of President Trump's speeches. The activity was flagged by prediction market platform Kalshi, which froze his account and referred the matter to federal regulators at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. ABC reported that, since the US President is known to deviate from his written speeches, “investigators uncovered times when Perez would back out of certain bets mid-speech when Trump skipped over a portion of the speech that included a word he had previously bet would be mentioned”.
EU Ban on disposal of unsold clothes goes into effect: Starting today, the EU is officially prohibiting large companies from destroying unsold clothes, accessories, and footwear, a rule that will extend to medium-sized businesses by 2030. Implemented under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, which was passed in 2024 but established a two-year transition period, the ban forces retailers to prioritize discounting, donating, or recycling surplus stock rather than discarding usable goods. Exceptions are permitted only under strict conditions, such as for counterfeit, damaged, or unsafe items. According to the European Commission, between 4% and 9% of unsold textiles in Europe are destroyed every year without ever being worn, generating around 5.6 million tons of CO2 emissions.
US Meta faces lawsuit for using AI to fire employees with medical conditions: 26 current and former Meta employees filed a lawsuit in California accusing the company of using AI-powered tools to disproportionately target workers with disabilities or those who took medical leave during recent mass layoffs. The suit claims Meta relied on metrics like productivity scores, AI token usage, keystroke tracking, email monitoring, and other surveillance data via systems such as "Metamate" to rank and select employees for termination, violating anti-discrimination and medical leave laws. Meta denies the allegations, stating that workforce decisions were made by people, not AI. The action comes after the company laid off 10% of its global workforce in May, or nearly 8,000 people, and increased its AI investments.
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