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View / AI is evolving past hardware
View / Platner asks for the Biden treatment from skeptical Democrats
The World at a Glance
Updated 7:20pm EDT
1
Ukrainian drones hit a Russian oil terminal and naval base in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.
2US President Donald Trump will attend the NATO leaders’ summit in Turkey in July.
3Washington’s willingness to weaponize its technological dominance is pushing world powers to advance their efforts toward digital independence.
4Iranian drones struck a passenger terminal at Kuwait’s main airport, further testing the fragile ceasefire between Tehran and Washington.
5The AI boom is creating considerable wealth, raising the question of who should share in it.
6Some politicians and business leaders are claiming that China is driving the American backlash to data centers.
Economic fears over US-Iran conflict mount
The OECD warned of slowing growth internationally, with prospects worsening considerably if the Iran conflict persists.
Kim Kyung-Hoon/ReutersCollege sports bill’s momentum masks its hurdles
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have concerns.
Evan Vucci/ReutersTrump makes new play for tariffs
The Trump administration is floating tariffs of up to 12.5% on some 60 countries and the EU.
Evan Vucci/ReutersSanders follows Trump toward government stakes in private firms
The Vermont independent is proposing a bill that would give the federal government a stake in leading AI companies.
Kylie Cooper/Reuters Sam Altman goes to the Hill as OpenAI preps policy framework
Altman plans to meet with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, and others.
Trump with AI leaders in 2025. Carlos Barria/Reuters.Vulnerable members spend big on official comms
Franking, or the official communications sent out by Capitol Hill offices, is becoming a flashpoint in contested House elections.
“Breakfast Reception in honor of Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi” by Maryland GovPics, CC BY 4.0, cropped from originalKuwait shuts airport after Iranian hit
Iranian drones and missiles killed one person and injured more than 60 others, and caused “significant damage” to the facilities at Terminal 1.
Aftermath of Iranian strikes at Kuwait International Airport. Social media via Reuters.
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Politics
Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersEvan Vucci/Reuters Evan Vucci/Reuters
AI lobbying intensifies around unlikely deal
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman hit Capitol Hill for high-profile bipartisan meetings amid House movement, but legislation’s odds remain long.
Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersTrump makes new play for tariffs
The Trump administration is floating tariffs of up to 12.5% on some 60 countries and the EU.
Evan Vucci/ReutersCollege sports bill’s momentum masks its hurdles
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have concerns.
Evan Vucci/ReutersPlatner asks for the Biden treatment from skeptical Democrats
Both Jill Biden and Graham Platner have highly scrutinized marriages (and families) that have made them political celebrities, and both argue that the public interest in their past missteps is a waste of time.
Sanders follows Trump toward government stakes in private firms
The Vermont independent is proposing a bill that would give the federal government a stake in leading AI companies.
Vulnerable members spend big on official comms
Franking, or the official communications sent out by Capitol Hill offices, is becoming a flashpoint in contested House elections.
Pressure builds for crypto ethics compromise
“There are a lot of people on Capitol Hill who recognize that it’s a gating function.”
Pulte’s new job complicates FISA renewal
Democrats were already worried about how the Trump administration wields the powerful surveillance tools.
Trump shipbuilding plan mimics fired Navy secretary’s work
John Phelan was ostensibly ousted from his job due to insufficient progress on the issue, but his replacement submitted a nearly identical proposal.
Blanche announces end of Trump’s $1.8 billion ‘anti-weaponization’ fund
The news could now unlock relatively quick action on Senate Republicans’ party-line immigration enforcement bill.
Roger Stone helped Trump choose an unorthodox new intel adviser
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte has no experience in the field but influential allies in his corner.
Business
Norlys Perez/File Photo/Reuters
Cuba suffering wartime-scale economic crisis
The economy was already struggling before the loss of cheap Venezuelan oil and Washington’s energy embargo.
Norlys Perez/File Photo/ReutersYouTubers make the jump to movies
Insiders expect more funding to flow toward internet-native filmmakers.
US job openings pick back up
The growth further dents the case for an interest rate cut.
US stocks increasingly rest on AI pillar
Companies have yet to show real returns on their AI investments.
Anthropic resists sharing financial info with lenders, sources say
Some of the lenders being pitched to buy a slice of the $4.6 billion notes that don’t have a backstop from Broadcom say they haven’t received a detailed look at the AI company’s numbers.
Technology
Jim Vondruska/Reuters
Ryan Murphy/Reuters
China has a growing role in US tech discourse
The AI race among global superpower is heating up.
Jim Vondruska/ReutersUS senator proposes AI wealth fund
Lawmakers are wary of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ plan.
Ryan Murphy/ReutersEU, India push for tech sovereignty
Beijing and Washington have been tightening their grips on tech and infrastructure.
AI is evolving past hardware
Eventually, every hardware product will be something that AI-created software controls.
AI token costs are exceeding some employees’ salaries
Some JPMorgan employees are “spending more on tokens than their salary,” Zachery Anderson, chief data and analytics officer at JPMorgan’s Payments division, told Semafor.
Tech companies bet on PC comeback
A few big companies are betting that data privacy concerns in the AI era will only grow, creating an opening for computing products that rely less on the cloud.
EnergyNorlys Perez/File Photo/Reuters 
Eli Hartman/File Photo/Reuters
Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Cuba suffering wartime-scale economic crisis
The economy was already struggling before the loss of cheap Venezuelan oil and Washington’s energy embargo.
Norlys Perez/File Photo/ReutersWhy isn’t oil more expensive?
Oil prices are now hovering around $95 per barrel, 30% above pre-war levels.
Eli Hartman/File Photo/ReutersTrump administration rolls back climate disclosure rules
The move could leave big companies with a more onerous task ahead in reporting their carbon footprints to shareholders.
Benoit Tessier/ReutersGulf
Kuwait News Agency/Handout via Reuters
Iranian strikes on Kuwait airport test truce
Iran’s foreign minister said “no tangible progress” has been made in peace talks.
Kuwait News Agency/Handout via ReutersOman pours money into food security with $4.2B agriculture development
Food security is a perennial issue for Gulf countries, where the harsh climate and limited water resources make growing crops difficult and expensive.
Bahrain bets on French luxury deals
Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund is partnering with France’s TRAIL to back an investment fund focused on arts, music, luxury, and sports deals.
Abu Dhabi doubles down on French AI with fresh deals
A joint venture of MGX, state-owned investment bank Bpifrance, chipmaker Nvidia, and France’s AI champion Mistral announced a Campus AI expansion and total investment close to $9 billion.
Kuwait shuts airport after Iranian hit
Iranian drones and missiles killed one person and injured more than 60 others, and caused “significant damage” to the facilities at Terminal 1.
China
Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via Reuters
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Go Nakamura/Reuters
Japan capitalizes on China backlash, courts Pacific island nations
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said her government would help smaller states strengthen their “autonomy and resilience,” part of an anti-China push by Japan.
Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via ReutersGig economy spurs revival in Chinese worker’s literature
A raft of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction is emerging about, and by, working-class laborers.
Maxim Shemetov/ReutersBeijing targets cooling consumer spending
Beijing is pushing new efforts to battle the lagging consumption weighing on China’s economy.
Go Nakamura/ReutersAfrica
Miners in South Africa. Oupa Nkosi/Reuters
The 2026 Basketball Africa League champions RSSB Tigers. BAL/Getty Images.
Africa’s leverage with China is growing
Beijing’s dependence on critical minerals is creating bargaining power for African governments — but debt pressures threaten to squander it.
Miners in South Africa. Oupa Nkosi/ReutersRwanda wins Basketball Africa League Championship
Basketball, which for years has languished in football’s shadow, has gained a foothold on the continent since the NBA-backed BAL was founded in 2019.
The 2026 Basketball Africa League champions RSSB Tigers. BAL/Getty Images.Nigeria’s pension pot balloons 31%
The jump came after assets invested in domestic equities more than doubled in value, adding nearly $3 billion to the pool.
South Africa picks Ramaphosa critic for inquiry chair
The inquiry will assess whether President Ramaphosa should face impeachment, following a scandal over money at his game farm.
Barrick Mining weighs London share listing for Africa assets
The move comes as the gold mining giant seeks to move its operations from what it sees as risky regions.
US slashes visa processing hubs across Africa
The cutbacks will require citizens of countries without a hub to travel to an approved site to apply.
Security
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Støre and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February. Alina Smutko/Reuters
Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/Reuters
Israeli Military/Handout via Reuters
Norway, citing ‘crazy world’, reconsiders EU membership
Norway is reconsidering joining the EU, the country’s foreign minister told the Financial Times.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Støre and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February. Alina Smutko/ReutersSheinbaum decries US ‘interference’ in Mexico’s politics
Mexico’s president delivered her harshest rebuke yet of US “interference,” following Washington’s indictment of 10 Mexican officials for alleged cartel ties.
Quetzalli Nicte-Ha/ReutersIsrael seizes Crusader castle in Lebanon
Israeli forces seized a 12th-century Crusader castle in southern Lebanon, as Israel intensifies its farthest incursion into the country in 26 years, despite a nominal ceasefire.
Israeli Military/Handout via ReutersMedia
Katie Jones/Variety/Penske Media via Getty Images
New York Public Radio’s new boss reorganizes the network
In her first four months on the job, Christy Tanner has swiftly eliminated many of NYPR’s seniormost figures.
Katie Jones/Variety/Penske Media via Getty ImagesBret Baier on golfing with Trump, his 2028 predictions, and making the case for civility
Fox News’ Special Report host Bret Baier joins Mixed Signals to talk about what it’s like to sit at the center of American political media.
The ‘completely new’ ‘60 Minutes’
Nick Bilton’s hire signals that Paramount CEO David Ellison and editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ overhaul of CBS News will be radical and total.
Paramount appears to sway DOJ staff on Warner Bros. takeover
US antitrust regulators appear to approve Paramount’s $110 billion studio deal after a two-hour meeting at the Justice Department Tuesday, people familiar with the matter said.
Thousands of journalists’ data exposed to dark web
More than half of the exposures contained personal information such as names, phone numbers, dates of birth, and addresses, per a new study from Proton.
CEO Signal
Courtesy of Cisco/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
Courtesy of Match Group/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
Courtesy of Becton Dickinson/Joey Pfeifer/Semafor
How Cisco’s Chuck Robbins gets his team to ‘disagree and commit’
The longstanding CEO says a bad decision that you reverse is better than a delay.
Courtesy of Cisco/Joey Pfeifer/SemaforWhy an anxious AI romantic now drives Match Group’s dating apps
CEO Spencer Rascoff uses digital “personas” to help the Tinder owner understand its users.
Courtesy of Match Group/Joey Pfeifer/SemaforHow syringe-maker BD is infusing AI into its medical devices
CEO Tom Polen is turning his 65,000 employees into lean manufacturing “problem-finders.”
Courtesy of Becton Dickinson/Joey Pfeifer/SemaforAD