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Briefing Notes
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
Iranian threats to Gulf energy fields expose European supply contracts to simultaneous force majeure, sanctions, and war-risk insurance stress.
International
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
When 48,000 aggregate returns cannot be individually verified, the legal gap between political narrative and non-refoulement compliance becomes a live enforcement question.
Banking & Finance
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
Record private credit fundraising compresses deal selectivity: after a $36bn quarter, Ares must deploy at scale, driving direct lending volume regardless of credit quality debates.
Disputes
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
If scraping through anti-bot barriers breaches the DMCA, AI retrieval companies face a data licensing imperative, not just a litigation risk.
Regulation
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
Six hundred data brokers facing simultaneous deletion requests on day one exposes every unprepared firm to enforcement risk at scale.
AI & Law
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 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
Chinese commodity groups expanding via trading-arm partnerships sidestep full acquisition regulatory hurdles while locking in supply.
Capital Markets
US equity funds attract their first weekly net inflow in three weeks as global risk appetite cautiously recovers
Two weeks of equity fund outflows fully reversed by an $11.83bn inflow signals a potential re-opening of the IPO window.