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Sunday, 2 August 2026

Compiled with AI from public news sources. Folio is editorial commentary for commercial-awareness practice, not legal advice. Verify any detail against the linked sources before relying on it professionally.

All M&A Capital Markets Banking & Finance Energy & Tech Regulation Disputes International AI & Law

Top Story/Energy & Tech

Iran threatens strikes on other nations' energy infrastructure if the US launches fresh attacks, raising acute supply-chain risk for European energy markets

Iran has threatened to strike other nations' energy fields if the United States launches fresh attacks against Iranian facilities, with Iranian armed forces warning they will target US military bases across the region and the sources of any strikes, regardless of location. The warning, confirmed across multiple sources including Reuters and Tasnim News, represents a significant escalation in Middle East tensions as of 2 August 2026. The US State Department has issued an emergency security alert advising US citizens in the Middle East to consider leaving the region while commercial flights remain available, with diplomatic missions in ten countries, including Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, and the UAE, raising their alert levels. Saudi Arabia has intervened diplomatically, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in an urgent call with US President Donald Trump urging abandonment of plans for strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure. Riyadh's concern centres on the risk that Iranian counterstrikes could target Gulf oil fields, with the potential to cause severe disruption to global oil supply chains. For European energy markets and UK-headquartered energy companies operating in the region, the escalation raises immediate concerns around force majeure clauses in oil and gas supply agreements, sanctions compliance as the situation evolves, and insurance coverage for assets and operations in the affected zone. No specific UK deals or named advisers are identified in the current sources.

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Also Today

Spain's Supreme Court judgment and mass returns at Ceuta raise acute questions of EU asylum law, Schengen border obligations, and non-refoulement under international refugee law

Ares Management posts a record $36 billion fundraising quarter, with $23.7 billion of it going to credit, as the asset class enters what analysts call a new era of selectivity

A US federal judge allows Reddit's core DMCA claims against Perplexity AI and SerpApi to proceed, in a significant test of AI scraping liability under copyright law

California's DROP platform becomes binding on data brokers from 1 August 2026, forcing over 600 registered brokers to work through queued deletion requests and raising compliance urgency across US and European firms

EU AI Act Transparency Duties Bite from 2 August 2026 While High-Risk Rules Slip to 2027, Exposing UK Solicitors and Global Firms to €35 Million Non-Compliance Fines

The EU AI Act, the world's first comprehensive AI regulation, reaches its next applicability milestone on 2 August 2026, when the Article 50 transparency duties start to apply,…

“The EU AI Act is live, solicitors' own AI tools are now a compliance risk, not just a client issue.”

M&A

CMOC's trading division is entering the iron ore market through a deal with a Brazilian partner

CMOC Group Ltd, the Chinese copper mining giant, is expanding beyond its core metals business through a new iron ore market entry. Its Geneva-based trading arm IXM SA has agreed…

“Chinese commodity groups expanding via trading-arm partnerships sidestep full acquisition regulatory hurdle…”

Capital Markets

US equity funds attract their first weekly net inflow in three weeks as global risk appetite cautiously recovers

US equity funds recorded their first net weekly inflow in three weeks in the week to 29 July 2026, drawing a net $11.83 billion and snapping a two-week run of outflows, accordin…

“Two weeks of equity fund outflows fully reversed by an $11.83bn inflow signals a potential re-opening of th…”

Bigger Picture

Sector Watch

AI Data Liability Hardening

Two separate developments this week mark a tipping point in AI data liability. A Manhattan federal judge allowing Reddit's DMCA scraping claims against Perplexity AI to proceed signals that US courts are willing to treat technical circumvention as actionable copyright infringement, not merely a contract breach. Simultaneously, Partners Group's analysis of the private credit market highlights that AI-driven disruption to software borrowers is increasing default dispersion, with implications for how credit agreements are drafted and monitored. Together, these developments are pushing AI law from a speculative practice area to an active litigation and transactional discipline. UK firms with technology, IP, and finance practices should expect increasing client demand for AI governance frameworks and data licensing strategies over the remainder of 2026.

One to Follow

The Ceuta migrant crisis litigation track: whether Spain's mass return operation complied with non-refoulement, the prohibition on collective expulsion, and EU asylum access obligations, with potential proceedings before the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the EU

Spanish Supreme Court Judgment 814/2026 has already reshaped domestic return procedures, and the question of whether the 48,300 returns conducted in under 24 hours met individual assessment requirements is exactly the kind of unresolved compliance question that generates international public law litigation. Public international law, EU law, and human rights practices at London firms advising governments and NGOs will track this closely as the evidentiary record develops.

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