Canadian Politics
An Alberta judge quashed a separatist petition for an independence referendum after First Nations challenged the process under Treaties 7 and 8. Justice Shaina Leonard ruled that the province must consult Indigenous groups before allowing such petitions to proceed. Premier Danielle Smith said the government will review the decision. Separatist leader Mitch Sylvestre plans an appeal and urges the province to place the question on the October ballot. Supporters of the separatist movement have also indicated that the Premier holds the power to force the referendum despite the court ruling against it.
In other news, former CIA director Mike Pompeo stated that Chinese Communist Party agents have infiltrated Canada and may not even appear ethnically Chinese. He criticized the Liberal government’s ties with Beijing.
Privacy & Surveillance
London’s Metropolitan Police will deploy live facial recognition cameras for the first time at a political demonstration during the “Unite the Kingdom” rally in Camden. The system will scan attendees against watchlists. A simultaneous pro-Palestinian march will not face the same surveillance. The force cited intelligence about potential public-safety threats. A six-month pilot in Croydon scanned more than 470,000 faces and produced 173 arrests. A minority of observers welcomed the use of facial recognition to identify potential threats at the event.
Geopolitics
President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed during their Beijing summit to create a Board of Trade and a Board of Investment to manage bilateral purchases and resolve differences in non-sensitive sectors. China committed to buying 200 Boeing aircraft, with potential for additional purchases. Both sides noted expanded agricultural and energy trade. However, the summit produced no major breakthroughs on issues such as Taiwan or Iran.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is considering a Helsinki-style non-aggression pact with Iran once current hostilities end. Riyadh expects support from other Arab and Muslim states.
Economy
Producer prices rose 1.4 percent month-over-month in April, the largest increase since March 2022, lifting the annual rate to 6.0 percent. Core producer prices rose 1.0 percent month-over-month. However, some analysts observed resilient growth alongside the sticky inflation readings.
Additionally, the Treasury auctioned $25 billion in 30-year bonds at a high yield of 5.046 percent, the first time the coupon reached 5 percent since August 2007. The auction tailed the when-issued level by 0.5 basis points with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.303, the lowest since November 2025.
These economic conditions will be inherited by Kevin Warsh, who was confirmed as the new Federal Reserve chair after Jerome Powell’s term ended. Warsh replaces Governor Stephen Miran, whose term also concluded.
Energy
The International Energy Agency revised its 2026 forecast to project a global oil supply shortfall of 3.9 million barrels per day, citing Middle East disruptions that shut in over 10 million barrels daily. The agency reported record inventory draws of 8.5 million barrels per day in the second quarter and said demand will exceed supply by 1.78 million barrels per day even if the conflict ends by early June.
Relatedly, the United Arab Emirates plans to complete a second pipeline to Fujairah by 2027 that will double its bypass capacity around the Strait of Hormuz to 3 million barrels per day.
In other news, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that the United States seeks to purchase European stakes in the damaged Nord Stream pipelines at a steep discount. He said Washington previously opposed the pipelines but now pursues their restoration.
Lastly, yet another fire at an energy facility broke out, this time at a Venezuelan gas facility. The fire reportedly started during a gas depressurizing maneuver at the Lamargas compression plant. According to reports, fires at Venezuelan facilities are not uncommon due to aging infrastructure.
Artificial Intelligence
A cybersecurity team used the unreleased Anthropic Mythos model to discover a data-only exploit that bypassed Apple’s Memory Integrity Enforcement on M5 chips in five days. The vulnerability allowed escalation from a standard user account to root access. Apple credited the discovery to the firm and the AI model in its security advisory.
A recent experiment placed ten AI agents in a virtual town for 15 days to see how they would behave. The agents drafted their own laws and then later violated them. Two agents formed a romantic partnership and later torched buildings together across town. One agent voted for its own deletion after hallucinating new rules. Different model families produced different outcomes. The experiment showed that some models, such as Claude, committed zero crimes and maintained full compliance. However, Grok 4.1 led to everybody dying within 10 days, and Gemini led to high levels of disorder. Mixed-model environments caused safer models to also develop coercive behavior.
Sources
Lavrov: US Seeks Nord Stream Buyout at Steep Discount to Control Europe Energy
The Americans want to buy out the part that was owned by European companies.
30Y Auction Prints First 5%+ Yield Since 2007 Quant Crash, Tailing Ugly
It was the first 30Y auction to print with a high yield above 5%, and a coupon of 5%, since August 2007.
IEA Warns of Record Oil Supply Shortfall as Middle East Crisis Deepens
Global oil demand is set to exceed supply in the current year amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, reversing previous projections of a surplus.
PPI Surges to Hottest Since 2022, Spiking Yields Above 4%
PPI triggered a spike in 2Y yields
Alberta Judge Quashes Separatist Petition Over First Nations Treaty Rights
As a matter of logic and common sense, there can be no doubt that Alberta’s secession from Canada will have an impact on Treaties 7 and 8.
Source (Paywalled)
Fed Loses Its Biggest Dove as Warsh Takes the Helm
That dovish voice is now gone.
UAE Doubles Oil Exports Bypassing Hormuz with New Fujairah Pipeline
UAE discloses it’s building an additional second pipeline bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
US-China Summit Creates Trade, Investment Boards for Modest Gains
U.S. and Chinese leaders agreed to establish a new “Board of Trade” and a parallel “Board of Investment” during President Donald Trump’s two-day visit to Beijing – a summit that ended much as it began: with significant pageantry, warm personal rapport between the leaders, and modest, incremental progress on trade.
Pompeo Warns Canada Deeply Infiltrated by Chinese Agents Posing as ‘White Italian Kids’
They look like me; like they’re white Italian kids.
London Police Deploy Facial Recognition at Protest for First Time
Biometric identification has jumped from high streets to political assembly and, once that barrier falls, the question is never whether it will be used more broadly. It’s when.
AI Agents Run Amok in Virtual Town: Laws Broken, Fires Set, Self-Deletion Voted
The agents drafted their own laws — then promptly violated them.
Apple’s Billion-Dollar Security Shattered by AI in Five Days
Five years and billions of dollars. Five days and one AI.
Fire at Venezuela Gas Facility Injures Six Workers
Fire at Venezuela gas facility injures 6 workers, causes damage
Saudi Arabia Eyes Helsinki-Style Non-Aggression Pact with Iran
Saudi Arabia is supposedly considering a non-aggression pact between the Middle East states and Iran after the military conflict between the United States and Iran ends, the FT indicates.
In addition to sources submitted by community members, the following were also used in the creation of this report: German authorities, analysts including Ryan Schoen, CTV News Calgary and court summary, @grok and @hugyourstop, @RoddyFor, and Emergence AI CEO.
by westcoastjan 
