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Intelligence for the New World Economy
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Gulf
US, Iran trade more strikes as ceasefire crumbles
The US cannot easily walk away from the conflict, but any likely deal is unpalatable.
Senators want to restore manufacturing program cut by Trump
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jon Husted, R-Ohio, Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Andy Kim, D-N.J., are backing the bill.
Senators want to restore manufacturing program cut by Trump
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jon Husted, R-Ohio, Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Andy Kim, D-N.J., are backing the bill.
View / The mistrust of AI labs bubbles over
View / Why Platner’s implosion won’t singe the Sanders wing
The World at a Glance
Updated 6:40pm EDT
1
The US and Iran exchanged strikes for a second day, marking the most serious rupture yet in the countries’ crumbling ceasefire.
2Argentina began construction of a new nuclear reactor, part of a global revival of nuclear energy projects.
3Russia banned exports of diesel as the country’s fuel crisis worsened after Ukrainian strikes on its energy infrastructure.
4The first LNG shipment out of Mexico to Asia is en route, further proof of how the US-Iran war is reshaping global energy markets.
5The global economy will grow at a slower rate this year, the IMF said, in part due to high energy prices resulting from the Iran conflict.
6UN investigators said that RSF attacks in Sudan amounted to a genocide, and warned of further mass atrocities being conducted in El Obeid.
Americans’ support for immigration falls from record high, poll finds
Seventy-three percent of US adults say immigration is a good thing, according to June Gallup polling, down from 79% who said so last year.
Vance in wait-and-see mode as Iran ceasefire crumbles
The vice president is focusing on domestic priorities while President Donald Trump and the military take point on the conflict.
Saudi-UAE border trade slows amid tensions
Importers and truckers report long lead times for getting goods across the border into the kingdom.
US launches new strikes on Iran
President Donald Trump warned earlier Wednesday that a US attack was imminent.
A defiant Platner exits Maine Senate race
The Maine Democrat denied new allegations of sexual assault but conceding that he couldn’t keep running after his party abandoned him.
US to help Ukraine build Patriot interceptors
The move stops short of the immediate transfer of Patriots to Ukraine that Kyiv would have preferred, but nevertheless is welcome news to European officials.
Rubio makes it official: Trump will remove Syrian terrorism designation
The secretary of state formalized the president’s plans in a notification to Congress, ending a 47-year blacklist.
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Politics
Trump’s Supreme Court mulligan ‘exceedingly unlikely,’ experts say
The president faces long odds in trying to get the court to reconsider his defeat on birthright citizenship and E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million civil judgment against him.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Senators want to restore manufacturing program cut by Trump
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., Jon Husted, R-Ohio, Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, and Andy Kim, D-N.J., are backing the bill.
Kent Nishimura/Reuters
Americans’ support for immigration falls from record high, poll finds
Seventy-three percent of US adults say immigration is a good thing, according to June Gallup polling, down from 79% who said so last year.
Anna Connors/Pool via Reuters
Vance in wait-and-see mode as Iran ceasefire crumbles
The vice president is focusing on domestic priorities while President Donald Trump and the military take point on the conflict.
A defiant Platner exits Maine Senate race
The Maine Democrat denied new allegations of sexual assault but conceding that he couldn’t keep running after his party abandoned him.
Trump keeps shifting tone on NATO
The US president offered both sticks and carrots to NATO, threatening to cut off trade with Spain before offering rare praise for the alliance.
US to help Ukraine build Patriot interceptors
The move stops short of the immediate transfer of Patriots to Ukraine that Kyiv would have preferred, but nevertheless is welcome news to European officials.
US launches new strikes on Iran
President Donald Trump warned earlier Wednesday that a US attack was imminent.
Why Platner’s implosion won’t singe the Sanders wing
The founding myth of the Sanders camp is that it sits outside the Democratic Party. But the reality is that he and his faithful are now inside.
Rubio makes it official: Trump will remove Syrian terrorism designation
The secretary of state formalized the president’s plans in a notification to Congress, ending a 47-year blacklist.
Centrist Democrats back more candidates
Democrats including Marlene Galán-Woods in Arizona are picking up support from the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund.
Business
Prediction markets hit a federal snag
An SDNY judge’s ruling against Kalshi gives powerful ammunition to the 16 other states that have filed similar claims against prediction markets.
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Blue Origin plays catch-up
Jeff Bezos’ space startup is seeking to raise $10 billion at a $130 billion valuation.
Starbucks starts vibe coding enterprise stack
The CTO of Starbucks said the company is developing in-house AI tools to replace software it relies on Microsoft and IBM for.
Big Tech spending soars
Huge capital expenditures are collapsing big tech companies’ free cash flow.
The mistrust of AI labs bubbles over
The edgy mistrust between companies and the frontier labs they are deeply in bed with is bubbling over into a fury channeled by Palantir’s Alex Karp in a chaotic appearance on CNBC last week.
Technology
Starbucks starts vibe coding enterprise stack
The CTO of Starbucks said the company is developing in-house AI tools to replace software it relies on Microsoft and IBM for.
Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol. Brendan McDermid/Reuters.
AI makes mistakes, too
A Codex glitch sent my agent into a loop where it kept reviewing a bunch of data over and over again, racking up tokens — an entirely avoidable problem.
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
China pitches the world on open-source AI
Beijing is leaning on its geopolitical allies to advance its vision of open-source AI, as it looks to shape how the technology is governed worldwide and pitch itself as the developing world’s AI partner of choice.
DeepSeek takes control of its hardware: report
DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip for inference, Reuters reported.
Trump’s ‘sober’ approach to quantum
Government officials pushed the importance of domestic supply chain security at a quantum event Tuesday.
UN Secretary-General seeks ban on AI weapons
António Guterres said the decision to take life “must remain forever human.”
Energy
Permitting major obstacle to energy infrastructure buildout
The issue is “most acute” in the US, JP Morgan says, but can also be seen in lengthening construction timelines in Australia, Canada, Germany, and the UK.
Carlos Barria/File Photo/Reuters
Russia bans diesel exports as fuel crisis deepens
Ukrainian strikes on refineries have led to the worst fuel shortages since the fall of the Soviet Union.
An attack on an oil refinery outside Moscow. Social Media/via Reuters.
Saudi Arabia slashes main crude oil price for Asian customers
Despite the discount, Asian buyers said Saudi supplies were still more expensive than those from other regional producers.
Ali Jarekji/Reuters
Gulf
US, Iran trade more strikes as ceasefire crumbles
The US cannot easily walk away from the conflict, but any likely deal is unpalatable.
U.S. Central Command/Handout via Reuters
UAE attracts record FDI in 2025
FDI into West Asia, a region tracked by the UN that includes the Gulf, rose 20% last year to nearly $111 billion, with the UAE attracting record numbers.
Saudi-UAE border trade slows amid tensions
Importers and truckers report long lead times for getting goods across the border into the kingdom.
Microsoft deepens AI ties with UAE to automate government work
Abu Dhabi is pushing to meet its own deadline to automate at least half of the public sector’s work using AI agents.
Saudi debt forecast to rise sharply
The kingdom’s debt levels could reach 60% of GDP by 2030, which could push up borrowing costs and put pressure to tighten spending, one consultancy forecast.
China
US, China space ventures raise capital
Commercial space ventures in the US and China are tapping broader pools of capital as the superpowers vie for dominance in a fierce space race.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Chinese cities rank higher on ‘liveability’ index
Four of the five fastest-rising cities in the index were in China, led by Fuzhou — a 9-million-person city in the country’s southeast.
Stringer/Reuters
‘FOBO’ is driving China’s AI anxiety
For the first time in living memory, the arrival of a new technology has inspired apprehension, rather than unrestrained enthusiasm in China.
Tingshu Wang/Reuters
Africa
Senegal’s president to set up new political party
The move follows weeks of political turbulence between Senegalese officials over how to handle the country’s debt crisis.
Senegal’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. Mike Segar/Reuters.
South Africa’s Treasury freezes Johannesburg budget
The decision is part of a crackdown on allegedly wasteful spending just months before local government elections.
Shafiek Tassiem/Reuters
Nigeria opens $250M lithium processing plant
The plant, built by Chinese companies Jiuling and Canmax, will process 3 million metric tons of lithium ore per year.
South Africa mulls tax cuts to boost industrial growth
The move comes after the country lost its top spot as Africa’s most industrialized economy.
Ghana gold dispute draws in president’s brother
A legal row involving a company run by a brother of the Ghanaian president threatens to dent investor confidence in the country’s mining sector.
East African animators break onto global stage
The Addis-Ababa-based studio behind ‘Sunday Morning’ took home two awards.
Security
Trump’s renewed attacks ‘blindside’ NATO
A raft of new defense investments by NATO members haven’t proved enough to appease the US leader.
Stoyan Nenov/Reuters
Zelenskyy says Trump has changed mind on war
The US president “wants to be where there’s success,” Zelenskyy told the Financial Times.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Fearing Russian aggression, Eastern Europe prepares
Along Europe’s eastern flank, countries are stockpiling, fortifying, and preparing to go it alone in the face of Russian aggression.
Kuba Stezycki/Reuters
Media
NYT tries to catch up to video-addicted audiences
New York Times Executive Editor Joe Kahn said the paper is pouring resources into visual content, prompting comparisons to the media’s “pivot to video” in the 2010s.
Joe Kahn with Semafor’s Ben Smith in 2025. Eleanor Kaufman/Semafor.
The Daily Wire sells Jeremy’s Razors to media company’s former CEO
The sale represents the further uncoupling of Jeremy Boreing and the conservative media company he co-founded with Ben Shapiro.
‘The View’ throttles back political candidate bookings following FCC inquiry
Since February, the ABC daytime talk show has cut its bookings of candidates for office.
Daily Wire, under pressure, seeks strategic investors, targets IPO
The Daily Wire is in talks to take on at least $100 million in investment, with an eye on an initial public offering in a few years’ time.
OpenAI’s $100 billion ad bet
The tech giant rolled out new tools for creatives.
CEO Signal
How Allianz’s CEO prepares for the risk of ‘huge havoc’
Oliver Bäte says Europe can no longer afford all the options its citizens expect.
Courtesy of Allianz/Graph Massara/Semafor
The MSCI boss helping Elon Musk get closer to Mars
Henry Fernandez says the index provider has grown by playing soccer, not singles tennis.
Courtesy of MSCI/Graph Massara/Semafor
How Antonio Neri turned HPE into an unlikely AI stock
The veteran dealmaker says he’s ‘building the best networking business on the planet’.
Courtesy of HPE/Graph Massara/Semafor
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