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China will accelerate the construction of a new energy system to support the development of artificial intelligence with green electricity, the National Energy Administration said at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference on July 17. The country's computing facility electricity consumption reached 170 TWh in 2025, up 30% year on year, and is expected to account for 6% of total electricity consumption by 2030. By the end of June, China's cumulative installed power capacity exceeded 4,000 GW, with renewable energy accounting for more than 2,400 GW.

Eurozone annual inflation eased to 2.8% in June from 3.2% in May, matching the preliminary estimate, while EU inflation fell to 2.9% from 3.3%, Eurostat confirmed in its final report on July 17. Services prices contributed 1.51 percentage points to the annual rate, while energy added 0.77 percentage points, with core inflation excluding energy and unprocessed food at 2.1%. Romania recorded the highest annual rate at 9.2%, while Sweden posted the lowest at 1.0%.

US industrial production rose 0.1% in June from May and increased 1.1% from a year earlier, the Federal Reserve Board said on July 17. Manufacturing was unchanged month on month but gained 1.1% year on year, while utilities climbed 0.4% monthly and 3% annually, and mining output rose 0.4% from May and 2.4% from a year ago. Capacity utilization held steady at 76.1%, 3.3 percentage points below its long-run average.

Shanxi's emergency management and other five provincial departments have jointly issued detailed rules for rewarding whistleblowers who report major mine safety hazards and violations, effective July 17, offering rewards calculated at 15% of the administrative penalty imposed, with a minimum of 3,000 yuan and a maximum of 500,000 yuan, the Shanxi Emergency Management Department said. For concealed or falsely reported accidents, rewards are based on the severity and number of unreported deaths, also capped at 500,000 yuan. The rules apply across the province and follow the principles of "legal reporting, territorial management, and graded responsibility", with whistleblowers required to claim their reward within 60 days.