Native

• Donald Trump is shifting U.S. trade strategy to restrict the development and use of non-American alternatives to U.S. financial, technological, and defense networks. • The U.S. is pressuring allies to adopt American systems by tying market access, security guarantees, and technology use to commercial and political agreements. • This move comes as Europe and Asia plan to develop their own independent digital currency, space, and air-defense projects over the next five years.

• Microsoft is investing billions of dollars into Mistral, a European AI company, to expand its compute base and integrate its models into the Azure platform. • The deal aims to provide European enterprises and regulated industries with a frontier AI alternative that reduces reliance on US-controlled infrastructure. • This strategic move addresses growing concerns among European ministries and boardrooms regarding data sovereignty and the control of sensitive information.

Minister urges public to report cases of three or more sick or dead birds in a group after brown skua seabird tests positive for H5N1 on Wellington beachThe deadly H5N1 bird flu has been confirmed in New Zealand for the first time, sparking alarm that some of the country’s most beloved and vulnerable native birds could be wiped out if it spreads.A single ocean-going seabird, a brown skua, returned a confirmed positive test on Wednesday, after it was found on Petone beach in Wellington on 10 July, said Andrew Hoggard, the biosecurity minister. Continue reading...

• AGI has raised $70 million to acquire traditional insurance firms and transform them into AI-native operations. • In separate funding news, Emergent has reached "unicorn" status after securing $130 million in investment. • Sophos has launched Fusion, an AI-native defense system designed to unify various security tools for better protection.

• A Brookfield survey reveals that 83% of high-net-worth (HNW) women in Asia now hold alternative assets, surpassing the 73% of HNW men. • The study focused on 275 investors from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, each possessing at least US$2.5 million in household investable assets. • These results indicate that wealthy women in the region currently hold stronger investment convictions regarding alternative asset classes than their male counterparts.

• The European Parliament has initiated a formal procedure to ban the "Europe of Sovereign Nations," the EU-level party associated with Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). • If the process is successful, the group will be stripped of its official status as a European political party, resulting in the immediate loss of EU funding. • The move reflects growing tensions within the EU as officials seek to curb the influence of far-right movements, though some MEPs from other right-wing groups have opposed the decision.

• Institutional investors are increasingly diversifying their portfolios by targeting energy assets across growth economies in Asia. • This shift is driven by the massive power demand required to support cloud migration and the rapid expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure. • By moving into these emerging markets, asset owners aim to mitigate concentration risks associated with mature, saturated markets.