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Intelligence for the New World Economy
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Darline Graham eyeing a run for a full Senate term
Three people familiar with internal party deliberations told Semafor she indicated as much to the White House on Thursday.
The World at a Glance
Updated 12:03pm EDT
1
Chinese leader Xi Jinping cast himself as the leader of a new AI world order, vowing to challenge US dominance through open-source models.
2President Trump alleged sweeping vulnerabilities in the US election system, without providing evidence of a material impact on election results.
3The EU ordered Google to open its Android AI system, arguing that the preloading of Gemini was anticompetitive.
4The US-Iran conflict has become a testbed for the future of warfare, from missile defenses to cyber operations and autonomous drones.
5Eli Lilly will buy a psychedelic drug developer for up to $3.8 billion, a sign of rising interest in using the chemicals as psychiatric treatments.
6Russian strikes on a key port are hurting Ukraine’s grain exports, pushing wheat prices. to two-year highs
Xi Jinping casts himself as leader of new AI world order
The Chinese leader vowed to challenge US dominance of the sector through the release of open-source models.
Why the CEO of an elite law firm sees AI driving more deals
Miguel Zaldivar says Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s smaller rivals will struggle to compete.
EU orders Google to open Android AI system to rivals
The European Commission said preloading Gemini onto Android devices reduced the attractiveness of rival models for the 60% of EU adults who use Android.
View / AI teaches a bitter biology lesson
The most successful AI breakthroughs involved humans getting out of the way and allowing increasingly powerful computers to take over.
Kimi K3 threatens AI business models
There’s a pattern: US frontier labs come out with state-of-the-art AI models. Chinese firms then allegedly “distill” them to train new open-source models.
Trump’s election security speech squeezes Republicans
There’s no sign that the play to get his voter ID bill passed will work, as it lacks a path to 50 Senate votes from his party.
Africa’s mineral export bans are only the opening bid
As the world races to reduce its dependence on China, African governments have rare leverage. The challenge is turning that bargaining power into lasting industry.
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Politics
Darline Graham eyeing a run for a full Senate term
Three people familiar with internal party deliberations told Semafor she indicated as much to the White House on Thursday.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Debatable: Permanent daylight saving time
A bill catching momentum in Congress has revived a debate about the health and safety consequences of “locking the clock.”
Al Drago/Reuters
Lindsey Graham left a mark on foreign aid
Graham’s death robbed foreign aid advocates of one of their most effective Republican champions in Washington.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Republican senator goes after Canada for wildfire smoke
Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to see Canada punished for the smoke “atrocity.”
Trump’s election security speech squeezes Republicans
There’s no sign that the play to get his voter ID bill passed will work, as it lacks a path to 50 Senate votes from his party.
Trump alleges ‘shocking’ election vulnerabilities
The US president stated that US voting systems are vulnerable but provided no evidence of an impact on election results.
Trump preparing to touch on Venezuelan elections in speech
Two people familiar with the situation shared details with Semafor ahead of a primetime address that is still subject to change.
Migrants in US think highly of where they live, poll finds
Migrants living in the US are more likely than those in any other country to describe the community they live in as a good place for immigrants, Gallup found.
Rubio hosts ‘far-left terrorism’ summit
The US is hosting some sixty-five delegations from around the world.
Democrats lean further away from Israel
Nearly half of the Democratic House caucus voted to support an amendment blocking aid to Israel.
Democrats call truce in Maine amid proxy war over party’s direction
Lawmakers seem to have realized that their forays into Vacationland did not help their effort to defeat GOP Sen. Susan Collins.
Business
Why the CEO of an elite law firm sees AI driving more deals
Miguel Zaldivar says Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s smaller rivals will struggle to compete.
Courtesy of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader/Graph Massara/Semafor
UK explores wage transparency in job ads
The UK is exploring measures that would require employers to publish salary information for all job adverts, part of a global trend toward wage transparency.
FDA approves cholesterol pill from Merck
US drug regulators signed off on a new pill designed to lower cholesterol levels far beyond what traditional statins can achieve.
Spain welcomes Chinese EVs
Spain is deepening its embrace of the Chinese car industry even as other European powers call for protectionist measures to shield local automakers.
Markets sink on global selloff in chip stocks
Record earnings from TSMC, the world’s largest chipmaker, failed to quell doubts about the sustainability of AI spending.
Technology
Kimi K3 threatens AI business models
There’s now an established pattern: American frontier labs come out with state-of-the-art AI models. Chinese firms then allegedly “distill” those models and use them to train new open-source models.
Go Nakamura/Reuters
AI agents are hitting the pageant stage
Samantha Smitte, 37, who worked at IBM for a decade, spent about $150 on AI agents to train for the Miss New York USA pageant next week, she told Semafor.
Samantha Smitte.
US-Iran conflict is becoming a testbed for the future of warfare
The US this week said it had carried out its first offensive combat mission using unmanned surface vessels.
AI companies move to protect teens
“The principle here is to avoid the mistakes that were made before us,” Lauren Jonas, OpenAI’s head of youth well-being, told Semafor.
AI teaches a bitter biology lesson
Human knowledge is getting in the way of scientific progress.
Robot-data startup raises largest seed round ever in Germany
Munich-based Microagi raised $55 million in a seed funding round, with the goal of scaling humanoid robot deployments.
Energy
US DOE pushes for greater propane exports to Africa
As the administration pulls back on humanitarian aid, Energy Secretary Chris Wright is boosting a more transactional approach to fighting energy poverty.
Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
Iran threatens Red Sea gateway as US launches more strikes
Tehran told the Houthis in Yemen to shut down a key oil route through the Red Sea if the US targets Iranian power infrastructure, a report said.
Reuters
Depleted stockpiles stoke global oil supply anxiety
Energy markets had some slack to absorb the first shock, but renewed fighting jeopardizes oil shipments.
Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
Gulf
Gulf states are rearming rapidly as Iran war reignites
The US recently approved a $2 billion Saudi order for weapons guidance systems, launchers, warheads, and other equipment.
Amr Alfiky/Reuters
US-Iran conflict is becoming a testbed for the future of warfare
The US this week said it had carried out its first offensive combat mission using unmanned surface vessels.
Iran threatens Red Sea gateway as US launches more strikes
Tehran told the Houthis in Yemen to shut down a key oil route through the Red Sea if the US targets Iranian power infrastructure, a report said.
Ultra-rich pull back from Dubai real estate
Home sales above 10 million dirhams fell 54% in the second quarter compared to the first, according to real-estate brokerage Savills.
UAE developer Alabbar to invest $20B in Syria developments
The proposed projects, part of a wave of Gulf capital being poured into Syria’s reconstruction, align with a broader effort to keep the country out of Iran’s orbit.
China
Spain welcomes Chinese EVs
Spain is deepening its embrace of the Chinese car industry even as other European powers call for protectionist measures to shield local automakers.
Maxim Shemetov/File Photo/Reuters
Chinese chip giant’s growing ambitions
Chinese chip giant CXMT is poised to go public in Asia’s largest market debut of the year, as it benefits from intense demand for memory.
Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/Reuters
US grapples with rise of Chinese open-source AI
Palantir’s chief technology officer said the Chinese technology poses an economic threat to the US.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Africa
Africa’s mineral export bans are only the opening bid
As the world races to reduce its dependence on China, African governments have rare leverage. The challenge is turning that bargaining power into lasting industry.
Zohra Bensemra/Reuters
South African rooibos tea seeds head to space
The journey is part of an experiment to see how the plant grows beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Ghana opens 5G licensing round
The move aims to make the telecommunications sector more competitive.
Amazon Leo satellite internet enters South African market
The partnership enables the technology giant to sidestep ownership rules that have stalled the expansion of Starlink.
Nigeria launches $500 million agriculture fund
The fund is focused on the Niger Delta region, where farmlands and waterways have suffered from decades of environmental pollution.
Nigeria faces a US aid freeze despite improving White House ties
The US House approved tougher conditions on assistance over anti-Christian violence, even as Trump’s top Africa diplomat praised his first visit to Abuja.
Security
EU defense push meets reality
Europe remains reliant on China and the US for critical military components even as it projects confidence in shouldering its own defense.
Charles Platiau/Reuters
Ukraine locks in on Crimea strategy
In targeting Crimea, Ukraine is trying to demonstrate Russian President Vladimir Putin’s failure to defend the peninsula.
Stringer/Reuters
Europe steps up commitments to Kyiv
Ukraine and its European allies on Monday announced a coalition to develop an anti-ballistic missile system to protect against Russian attacks.
Stringer/Reuters
Media
Baltimore Sun owner threatens to sue Moore over Epstein comments
The Maryland governor tried to tie Sinclair chairman David Smith to the disgraced financier.
Annabelle Gordon/Reuters
Paramount weighs leaving California over Warner Bros. rift
David Ellison is wary of decamping, but his battle with state regulators is intensifying.
Mamdani squares off with ‘The View’
The New York City mayor’s allies were frustrated by a host’s comments about fellow democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier.
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.
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.
CEO Signal
Why the CEO of an elite law firm sees AI driving more deals
Miguel Zaldivar says Hogan Lovells Cadwalader’s smaller rivals will struggle to compete.
Courtesy of Hogan Lovells Cadwalader/Graph Massara/Semafor
Why Edward Jones thinks AI can defuse a demographic time bomb
Managing partner Penny Pennington wants to capture financial advisers’ insights before they retire.
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
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