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Intelligence for the New World Economy
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The World at a Glance
Updated 7:35am EST
1
Donald Trump will host a Greenland meeting at Davos, calling US seizure of the Danish territory ‘imperative.’
2Chinese tourism to Japan has plummeted, according to new data, following a recent spat over Taiwan.
3Australia voted to tighten gun laws following a mass shooting last month, while the US looks set to loosen regulations.
4Chevron remains wary of investing in Venezuela despite US pressure, citing stability concerns and flagging oil prices.
5Donald Trump asked Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin to sit on his “Board of Peace” for Gaza.
6Europe is debating how forcefully to respond to Donald Trump’s threats to seize Greenland and impose tariffs on those that stand in his way.
CEOs at Davos brace for Trump
The US president plans to convene a group of corporate executives Wednesday evening after his anticipated speech at the World Economic Forum, though the agenda is unclear.
Denis Balibouse/ReutersUkraine’s Davos anxiety
US President Donald Trump’s text-message threat to Norway’s prime minister set an ominous tone for the fate of multilateralism.
Denis Balibouse/ReutersPaystack eyes growth beyond payments with restructuring
The Nigerian payments processor, acquired by fintech giant Stripe five years ago, launches a new parent holding company to offer banking and consumer finance.
Shola Akinlade, co-Founder and CEO of Paystack. Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Semafor.Lululemon’s founder seeks Advent’s ouster in proxy fight
Chip Wilson is trying to remake the board of the embattled retailer while it looks for a new CEO to turn around its stagnating US business.
Hollie Adams/Reuters AD
Davos’ badge kerfuffle
From fraudulent credentials to clerical mixups, Davos’ coveted badges are turning the ultimate status symbol into a logistical punchline.
Tim McDonnell/SemaforInsularity threatens Davos dialogue goal
CEOs who have avoided conflict are being urged to unify polarized employees.
Jose Luis Gonzalez/ReutersHow China beat conventional Western economics
A car made by a vacuum-cleaner company offers a case study in China’s industrial dominance.
Caroline Brehman/AFP via Getty Images
Politics
Flavio Brancaleone/Reuters
Sergio Flores/Reuters
Aaron Schwartz/Reuters
Australian tightens its gun laws as US seeks to loosen
The Australian parliament voted in favor of tougher gun control laws after the Bondi Beach shooting in December that killed 15.
Flavio Brancaleone/ReutersTalarico makes rounds with Democrats as Senate primaries near
The Texas state lawmaker is piquing Senate Democrats’ interest.
Sergio Flores/ReutersOil firms grapple with uncertainty over Venezuela licenses
Oil firms who want to invest in the country are waiting on the Treasury Department.
Aaron Schwartz/ReutersTrump escalates tensions over Greenland, plans Davos meeting
The US president is set to rub elbows with many of the officials who oppose his efforts.
Trump’s row over Greenland escalates, risking US-Europe ties
The stunning row has consequences far beyond the largely uninhabited landmass, potentially “tearing NATO apart,” The Economist said.
Debatable: Venezuela elections
As opposition leader María Corina Machado meets the US president, Washington is divided on when Venezuela should hold elections.
Trump swerves on health care subsidies
The president’s new health care plan doesn’t mention the enhanced Obamacare subsidies that lapsed at the end of 2025.
Forget abolishing ICE — the real Democratic divide is shutting down ICE
While the rest of government funding is a bipartisan affair, the operation in Minnesota is making even party centrists wary of more DHS money.
US talks with Denmark, Greenland end in stalemate
US President Donald Trump doubled down on his desire for the Arctic island in recent days, saying “one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.”
Trump says ‘killing’ in Iran has stopped
The US president warned, however, that Washington was still weighing military action against the country.
Planning for America’s 250th birthday draws watchdog scrutiny
A watchdog group wants to know more about the dueling groups planning the semiquincentennial.
Business
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and BofA’s Brian Moynihan. Firebird Films/Semafor.
Little evidence of US slowdown, says BofA’s Moynihan
One year into the Trump administration, a lot of the confusion is “actually settled in that people can predict a business plan and then go on,” Brian Moynihan told Semafor.
Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and BofA’s Brian Moynihan. Firebird Films/Semafor.China could fill AI power vacuum, Google’s Porat warns
If China goes into countries where the US is absent, Beijing will be able to execute a timeworn playbook.
Chinese tourism to Japan plummets following Taiwan spat
Beijing urged its citizens not to travel to Japan after its prime minister said her country may support Taiwan militarily.
Populists take Davos. Will they get bored?
There will still be some denunciations of globalism. But who are we kidding?
Lululemon’s founder seeks Advent’s ouster in proxy fight
Chip Wilson is trying to remake the board of the embattled retailer while it looks for a new CEO to turn around its stagnating US business.
Technology
Courtesy of ControlUp
Eva Manez/Reuters
Jerusalem VC looks to ‘go bigger’ in Dubai, post-Gaza
JVP sees AI as crucial to spurring economic cooperation with the UAE.
Courtesy of ControlUpNew AI seeks to make water safer
Researchers have developed a machine learning model that helps identify possibly toxic byproducts from water disinfection.
Eva Manez/ReutersBehind Perplexity’s bid for Chrome
It turns out that Perplexity’s $34.5 billion unsolicited bid for Google Chrome last year was not a publicity stunt. The company explains why.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth jabs Anthropic over safety policies
Hegseth’s remark about AI models was specifically in reference to Anthropic, sources say.
Musk’s Starlink increasingly vital to protests
The satellite broadband network has allowed citizens to bypass government-imposed internet blackouts.
New York judge flips the AI malpractice debate
A New York district judge warns that AI could become so good that not using the technology would be an improper practice in some industries.
Energy
Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters
Audrey Richardson/File Photo/Reuters
Amazon data center. Noah Berger for AWS/Reuters.
EIA reveals illegal logging operation in Brazil
The operation covered 5,000 hectares of pristine forest in Indigenous Territory in Brazil’s Pará state, the capital of COP30 host Belém.
Ueslei Marcelino/ReutersUS data center load set to double by 2028, report finds
By 2028, Texas alone is projected to exceed 40GW of capacity, nearly 30% of the US total, according to Bloom Energy.
Audrey Richardson/File Photo/ReutersData center developers pull back from real estate
David Steinbach, chief investment officer of one of the top global real estate investment firms, spoke to Semafor.
Amazon data center. Noah Berger for AWS/Reuters.Gulf
Courtesy of the Ministry of Economy and Planning
Gulf states are more than ATMs at Davos
The World Economic Forum helps oil-rich countries frame themselves as both a destination and a source of capital.
Courtesy of the Ministry of Economy and Planning Buy US stocks and gold, Standard Chartered CIO says
US stocks and gold are on a historic run, and the top investment pick for 2026 is to buy more, Manpreet Singh Gil said at a briefing in Dubai.
Islamic bank Mal raises $230M in Gulf’s largest seed round
The bank is being led by Abdallah Abu-Sheikh, a UAE-based businessman who previously founded Botim, an internet calling app.
Abu Dhabi’s ALTÉRRA and Spain’s BBVA launch climate fund
The proposed $1.2 billion fund will back climate-aligned infrastructure, private credit, and private equity.
The NBA courts Gulf funds for new European league
Sovereign wealth funds have long had designs on the NBA but can’t own more than 20% of a basketball franchise in the US.
AfricaShola Akinlade, co-Founder and CEO of Paystack. Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Semafor. 
A species of darkling beetle found in the US. Robert Alexander/Getty Images.
Paystack eyes growth beyond payments with restructuring
The Nigerian payments processor, acquired by fintech giant Stripe five years ago, launches a new parent holding company to offer banking and consumer finance.
Shola Akinlade, co-Founder and CEO of Paystack. Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Semafor.Scientists discover Namib Desert beetle cools down when running
The Onymacris plana, a darkling beetle, is the first known land animal that gets cooler as it exercises, scientists said.
A species of darkling beetle found in the US. Robert Alexander/Getty Images.Jobs creation must be top of African leaders’ agenda
Africa will experience the fastest labor-force growth of any region in the decades ahead.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term
The elections were widely criticized by the UN and rights groups for severe repression of the opposition.
Mali’s gold output fell 23% on Barrick Mining suspension
The result underscores the challenges faced by African governments trying to secure a greater share of mineral wealth.
Absa executive calls for more banking partnerships to meet infrastructure goals
The era of individual banks single-handedly underwriting large projects is effectively over, said Charles Russon.
Security
Issei Kato/File Photo/Reuters
Majid Asgaripour/WANA via Reuters
Stringer/Reuters
Chinese tourism to Japan plummets following Taiwan spat
Beijing urged its citizens not to travel to Japan after its prime minister said her country may support Taiwan militarily.
Issei Kato/File Photo/ReutersThreat of US strike on Iran appears to wane
Officials reportedly advised US President Donald Trump that an attack would be unlikely to topple the government.
Majid Asgaripour/WANA via ReutersDefense stocks surge on rising calls for militarization
Donald Trump’s calls for a more than 50% increase to his country’s military budget have lifted the valuations of domestic arms firms.
Stringer/ReutersMedia
Matt Damon, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, and Ben Affleck. Jeenah Moon/Reuters
Streaming giants push filmmakers to adapt to ‘double screening’
Viewers are increasingly watching films and TV while also looking at their smartphones.
Matt Damon, Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos, and Ben Affleck. Jeenah Moon/ReutersDie Welt editor departed amid internal inquiry
The editor of Germany’s Die Welt had been the subject of internal scrutiny in recent days by the newspaper’s parent company.
Undersecretary Sarah Rogers on free speech, Europe’s tech crackdown, and the internet she misses
The State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy joins Mixed Signals for a wide-ranging conversation about free speech, tech regulation, and why she’s been rattling the patience of some European governments.
Politico announces layoffs, new product
The publication will cut about 3% of its 750-strong global staff.
Blackstone invests $100M in elite marketing tech firm
Applecart has a leading place in an emerging but discreet cohort of companies and organizations aimed at reaching key figures in industry and government.
CEO Signal
Courtesy of Ferrovial/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
Courtesy of Southwest/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
Courtesy of WPP/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
How US traffic jams are driving Spain’s Ferrovial
CEO Ignacio Madridejos says a triple listing has drawn new investors to a European infrastructure powerhouse.
Courtesy of Ferrovial/Joey Pfeifer/SemaforHow Bob Jordan charted a new course for Southwest Airlines
The budget carrier’s CEO says communications and simulations helped it overhaul its business without killing its culture and business model.
Courtesy of Southwest/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor‘AI is going to automate the ordinary’: Cindy Rose’s plan for ad giant WPP
The admaker has fallen behind its peers, but the Microsoft veteran sees opportunity in disruption.
Courtesy of WPP/Joey Pfeifer/SemaforAD