外媒每日新闻 Evening Edition

President Donald Trump delivered a speech at Mount Rushmore on the evening of July 3 to kick off America's 250th anniversary weekend, declaring the United States "the strongest nation on Earth" and emphasizing national identity and culture. The celebration, however, was overshadowed by a brutal heat wave across the central and eastern U.S., with temperatures exceeding 100°F (38°C), forcing Washington D.C. and other cities to cancel or postpone dozens of parades, concerts, and fireworks displays. Meanwhile, Trump's planned July 4 address at the National Mall — expected to last 45 minutes — has thrown the capital's Independence Day fireworks schedule into chaos, with the "Freedom 250" organization's attempt to break a Guinness World Record by launching 850,000 fireworks in 40 minutes now facing uncertain timing. The U.S. Secret Service indicated the schedule remains "very fluid," with some officials privately suggesting fireworks could be pushed to July 5. [1] [2]^[1]

OPEC production surged by 2.34 million barrels per day to 18.75 million bpd in June, with the increase coming primarily from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, according to a media survey. The dramatic production recovery follows the normalization of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S.-Iran nuclear framework agreement reached in June. The resumption of full transit capacity, combined with weakening global oil demand, has pushed the market back into oversupply territory. Brent crude futures settled around $72 per barrel on Friday, erasing most wartime premiums. The four-week consecutive decline marks the longest losing streak in nearly two years. Some markets have already shown signs of supply exceeding demand, raising questions about whether OPEC+ will need to implement new production cuts to stabilize prices in the second half of 2026. [11] [12]^[6]

China's National Development and Reform Commission announced a fuel price reduction of 950 yuan per tonne for gasoline and 915 yuan per tonne for diesel, effective from July 3, marking the largest single adjustment this year and the third consecutive cut. For drivers, filling a 50-litre tank with 92-octane gasoline now costs 37.5 yuan less. The cuts come as international crude prices weakened significantly following the U.S.-Iran nuclear framework agreement and the normalization of Strait of Hormuz traffic. Analysts noted that the convergence of easing geopolitical risk premium and softening global demand has created ideal conditions for the price decline. In a separate move, three Chinese government departments announced that from 2027, preferential vehicle purchase tax policies for new energy vehicles will be phased out, signaling a shift from subsidy-driven growth to market-driven competition in the world's largest auto market. [17] [18]^[9]

Microsoft announced the creation of Microsoft Frontier Company, a fully independent entity backed by a $2.5 billion investment and staffed by 6,000 industry and engineering experts. The new unit will deploy specialists directly to client sites to design, implement, and continuously optimize AI systems integrated into enterprise operations such as ERP and CRM platforms. The move represents a strategic pivot for Microsoft, which acknowledged that its early strategy of tying Copilot exclusively to OpenAI models was a mistake. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella warned that enterprises merely acting as "consumers" of general-purpose models face a "value going to zero" risk, arguing that true competitive advantage lies in embedding models within proprietary data and reinforcement learning environments. The company pledged that client data and intellectual property will not be used for model training. Meanwhile, OpenAI reportedly discussed providing approximately 5% equity to the U.S. government, while Anthropic denied similar negotiations — signaling that regulators may transition from observers to direct stakeholders in frontier AI development. [21] [22]^[11]