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Trump earned $1.4 billion from crypto in 2025
The US president’s earnings while in office have led to accusations of brazen corruption at the top of American politics.
LA is running $1.7 billion short for its ‘car-free’ Olympics
California lawmakers fear Washington won’t move transportation money in time.
LA is running $1.7 billion short for its ‘car-free’ Olympics
California lawmakers fear Washington won’t move transportation money in time.
View / The AI age is missing its phone company
View / Trump and Xi’s urban dreams confront reality
The World at a Glance
Updated 7:02am EDT
1
The US ended its export ban on two Anthropic AI models, highlighting continued uncertainty around regulation of the industry.
2Donald Trump earned $1.4 billion from cryptocurrencies last year after loosening regulations on the industry, drawing accusations of corruption.
3US stock indexes closed out their best quarter since 2020, as strong corporate fundamentals outweighed lingering geopolitical risk.
4US officials arrived in Qatar for talks on the Iran war, but will meet with mediators, not Iranian negotiators.
5An Indonesian court sentenced a tech tycoon to 10 years in prison in a closely watched graft case.
6Extreme weather — and mitigation against it — will shape the future of competition between the US and China, two scholars wrote.
Bennet loses bid for Colorado governor as progressives keep momentum
Progressive Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., became the third incumbent to lose this year to a challenger to her left.
Ebola outbreak could cost Africa $3.6 billion
The UN’s worst-case scenario involved the outbreak spreading beyond DR Congo and Uganda.
US students face new loan rules
The overhaul, which originated from Republicans’ tax law, will affect millions of borrowers.
UAE oil exports hit a high amid Iran war
The country took advantage of its exit from OPEC and skirted Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz.
US urges patience as Machado plots her return
The Venezuelan opposition leader’s efforts to return to her country have prompted angst within the Trump administration in recent days.
Republicans back Trump’s USMCA punt
President Donald Trump has been vocally critical of the agreement he struck in his first term.
US stocks wrap up best quarter since 2020
Chip stocks in particular soared thanks to a global memory shortage stemming from the AI boom.
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Politics
US students face new loan rules
The overhaul, which originated from Republicans’ tax law, will affect millions of borrowers.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
US urges patience as Machado plots her return
The Venezuelan opposition leader’s efforts to return to her country have prompted angst within the Trump administration in recent days.
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
Republicans back Trump’s USMCA punt
President Donald Trump has been vocally critical of the agreement he struck in his first term.
Rebecca Cook/Reuters
LA is running $1.7 billion short for its ‘car-free’ Olympics
California lawmakers fear Washington won’t move transportation money in time.
Bennet loses bid for Colorado governor as progressives keep momentum
Progressive Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., became the third incumbent to lose this year to a challenger to her left.
Supreme Court rejects Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order
The decision, which was expected, is nevertheless a blow to a key administration priority.
Supreme Court strikes down caps on coordinated campaign donations
The ruling represents a victory for Republicans.
Few Ukrainians approve of US leadership, poll finds
Just 7% of Ukrainians said they approve of US leadership, according to a Gallup poll taken in April.
Trump’s Board of Peace charts path forward
Questions continue to swirl about the organization’s work in Gaza.
Supreme Court punts on future Fed firings
The high court ruled that the president can dismiss members of most independent agencies without cause, but that the US central bank is different.
Supreme Court says Trump can’t fire Fed governor — for now
In a separate ruling, the justices made it easier for the president to fire officials at other independent agencies.
Business
US stocks wrap up best quarter since 2020
Chip stocks in particular soared thanks to a global memory shortage stemming from the AI boom.
Brendan McDermid/File Photo/Reuters
Susquehanna seeks $70M for insider trading
Susquehanna Investment Group sued 100 unnamed defendants who it says placed suspicious trades before Beijing last month targeted three online brokers popular with mainland Chinese investors trading foreign stocks.
Honeywell ditches conglomerate model
The sector-spanning corporate empire is “outdated,” Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier told Semafor.
The AI age is missing its phone company
In a world drowning in content, the value is increasingly in the pipes that deliver it to eyeballs.
Silicon Valley’s go-to fixer on AI’s unfixable problem
Bradley Tusk says consumers won’t rally behind the technology.
Technology
Australia toughens social media ban
The country doubled the maximum penalty imposed on social media companies that fail to comply with the ban on under-16 users, as evidence grew that children are circumventing restrictions.
Hollie Adams/Reuters
Indonesian tech tycoon sentenced
An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a tech tycoon to 10 years in prison in a closely watched graft case.
Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters
AI investment increasingly shapes global economy
Memory chip demand has already pushed consumer electronics prices up, and RAM prices are expected to increase 40-50% in the coming quarter.
SpaceX, US government discuss stock donation for Trump Accounts
The Trump administration has weighed whether to take stakes in other AI firms.
AI spending boom could end in global bust, report says
The AI spending spree risks an extended “investment bust” that could imperil the global economy, a report warned Sunday.
US releases powerful Anthropic model Mythos to some US companies
The move comes the same day as a new OpenAI model sees a limited release.
Energy
China faces major emissions dilemma in steel sector
Steelmakers must decide whether to stick to traditional methods to reline their blast furnaces, or switch to new low-emissions technologies.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
As Hormuz opens, oil markets are awash in supply
The sudden gut in crude markets has pushed prices to their lowest level since the US-Iran war began.
Essam Al-Sudani/File Photo/Reuters
Iran says no high-level US talks planned
Iran contradicted the US’ assertion that the countries plan to hold high-level talks in Qatar on Tuesday to shore up their shaky ceasefire.
Stringer/Reuters
Gulf
UAE oil exports hit a high amid Iran war
The country took advantage of its exit from OPEC and skirted Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz.
A crude tanker carrying UAE oil after passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters.
Kuwaiti telecom Zain Group lands Syria mobile license
The group plans to invest more than $1.5 billion over the next decade to upgrade and operate a mobile network in Syria.
Qatar reviews workers’ rights
Qatar overhauled its labor laws, adding provisions that allow for part-time and freelance work to be regulated, and others that make it harder to launch strikes.
US advisory firm A&M looks to win rivals’ market share in Gulf
The consultancy sees Gulf revenue surging despite the headwinds of war and a spending slowdown.
Abu Dhabi buys into Argentina LNG
XRG, ADNOC’s international investment arm, will take a stake in three upstream blocks in Argentina that will supply gas to the country’s first LNG export terminal.
China
How climate affects US-China competition
Extreme weather — and mitigation against it — will shape the future of competition between the US and China, two experts wrote in Foreign Affairs.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
European tech leaders more worried about US than China
“The sharp edge of the tech discussion here is actually aimed at the US,” Jacob Kirkegaard, at the Brussels think tank Bruegel, told Semafor.
Merz visits China in February. Andres Martinez Casares/Pool via Reuters
Chinese AC makers profit on Europe’s heatwaves
On Alibaba’s international retail site, a Midea AC model that debuted this month is completely sold out in Germany.
Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters
Africa
Rising fuel costs boost African EV sales
In most African markets, Chinese EVs cost the same as their internal combustion engine alternatives, according to research firm BMI.
Monicah Mwangi/Reuters
Nairobi, Kigali sign fuel import agreements
Landlocked Rwanda relies almost entirely on overland transit of fuel from ports in Kenya and Tanzania.
Laban Walloga/Reuters
World Bank lends $750 million to Kenya
The financing will help Kenya fund a $37 billion budget, a third of which is allocated to servicing the country’s nearly $100 billion debt.
Senegal lawmakers move to limit presidential powers
The move signifies a deepening political turmoil as the nation grapples with a debt crisis.
Ebola outbreak could cost Africa $3.6 billion
The UN’s worst-case scenario involved the outbreak spreading beyond DR Congo and Uganda.
South African anti-migrant protesters vow weekly demos
Protesters want President Cyril Ramaphosa to make good on his promises to deport undocumented migrants.
Security
South Africa braces for wave of anti-migrant violence
Thousands of migrants are fleeing South Africa as the country braces for violence after an anti-immigrant group set a Tuesday deadline for all undocumented migrants to leave.
Ihsaan Haffejee/Reuters
Putin acknowledges ‘difficult period’ as Ukraine ramps up attacks
Kyiv struck a Russian defense plant and set fire to a major oil refinery as part of its efforts to weaken Moscow’s wartime economy.
Stringer/Reuters
Russia’s fuel crisis worsens
Fuel prices at Russia’s airports have spiked 17% in June.
Stringer/Reuters
Media
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.
REUTERS/Cheney Orr
OpenAI’s $100 billion ad bet
The tech giant rolled out new tools for creatives.
The Atlantic beefs up its video podcasts
One of America’s oldest magazines is investing in video after seeing notable growth in its audience.
David Droga on AI and the end of ‘mediocre’ human-made ads
As he sees it, the advertising industry is in the throes of a profound technological shift.
Conservatives make the case for right-wing ads at Cannes Lions
The Daily Wire and others are offering an overtly partisan alternative to advertising gatherings that often stay far away from politics.
CEO Signal
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
Former IEA chief says world faces a ‘third oil shock’ despite US-Iran deal
Nobuo Tanaka says the Hormuz crisis has accelerated a seismic shift in the global energy order, but business leaders can learn from it.
Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
How a marathon-running CEO set the pace for Cigna
David Cordani says the insurer had to “actively listen” to rebuild trust with its customers.
Courtesy of Cigna/Graph Massara/Semafor
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