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Intelligence for the New World Economy
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Apple sues Open AI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets
The legal salvo could complicate OpenAI’s plans as it gears up for a potentially blockbuster IPO.
Apple sues Open AI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets
The legal salvo could complicate OpenAI’s plans as it gears up for a potentially blockbuster IPO.
View / Apple’s OpenAI lawsuit highlights broader tensions
View / Africa braces for impact of potential return to Iran war
Semafor Recommends
A Table for Fortune, a 3,000-page novel by William T. Vollmann, is “heroic, fascinating, and important.”
Caroline Knowles’ Uneasy Streets “peels back, layer by layer, the truth about Chinese investment” in the UK.
Paul Preston’s biography of Spain’s Juan Carlos I, Downfall of a King, recounts his “sleazy activities in almost as much detail as his political ones.”
Ken Bensinger’s Red Card is a “gripping white-collar crime thriller” delving into FIFA corruption.
The Infinity Machine, Sebastian Mallaby’s biography of Demis Hassabis, is a “portrait of one of the single-minded personalities plunging the world into an uncertain future.”
Top Democrats slam Trump over crypto ahead of vote
“The disclosures heighten concerns about the president pushing Congress to pass crypto legislation in favor of the very industry he’s cashing in on,” the senators wrote.
US lacks scores of ambassadors in Africa
Some 41 African countries currently lack a confirmed envoy, including Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, and Sudan.
Gay Wyoming Republican sues members of his own party for ‘pedophile’ slur
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,” said Reid Rasner, who’s running for Wyoming’s sole House seat.
US, Iran trade more strikes as ceasefire crumbles
The US cannot easily walk away from the conflict, but any likely deal is unpalatable.
Markets reassess post-truce optimism with US-Iran conflict raging
Investors are bracing for prolonged instability in the Middle East.
Corporate earnings to reveal uneven war impact
The results could boost Trump’s case that the oil industry is profiteering off the fighting.
China mulls curbing foreign access to its AI models
Such a move could raise costs for many US businesses that have become dependent on cheap Chinese AI.
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Politics
Debatable: AI’s impact on the economy
Will the technology eliminate US jobs, or create more of them? Washington isn’t sure.
Kylie Cooper/Reuters
US lacks scores of ambassadors in Africa
Some 41 African countries currently lack a confirmed envoy, including Nigeria, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya, and Sudan.
Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters
Gay Wyoming Republican sues members of his own party for ‘pedophile’ slur
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my entire life,” said Reid Rasner, who’s running for Wyoming’s sole House seat.
Screenshot/YouTube/Reid Rasner for Wyoming
Top Democrats slam Trump over crypto ahead of vote
“The disclosures heighten concerns about the president pushing Congress to pass crypto legislation in favor of the very industry he’s cashing in on,” the senators wrote.
Maine Senate race debacle muddies Democrats’ future
The end of Platner’s disastrous bid for a must-win US Senate seat has blunted Democrats’ efforts to oppose President Trump’s agenda.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Business
Why Edward Jones thinks AI can defuse a demographic time bomb
Managing partner Penny Pennington wants to capture financial advisers’ insights before they retire.
Russia-China effort targets Starlink
Russia and China are seeking the capability to disable and eventually destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network, an investigation found, as the allies deepen their clandestine military cooperation.
Corporate earnings to reveal uneven war impact
The results could boost Trump’s case that the oil industry is profiteering off the fighting.
Markets reassess post-truce optimism
Investors and energy companies are reassessing their post-truce optimism and brace for prolonged instability in the Middle East.
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.
Technology
Apple’s OpenAI lawsuit highlights broader tensions
The case is a gigantic reminder that Apple is under major pressure from AI.
Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo/Reuters
Apple sues Open AI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets
The legal salvo could complicate OpenAI’s plans as it gears up for a potentially blockbuster IPO.
Abdul Saboor/File Photo/Reuters
A new plan emerges for AI apocalypse avoidance
The AI Futures Project is advocating for the US and China to cooperate on a temporary pause of frontier AI research so the industry can build some scaffolding around safe development.
Wearable-makers vie to control data
By controlling the data, companies can also keep users locked into their systems and away from their competitors, a tech analyst told Semafor.
Meta unveils two AI models
Muse Image and Muse Spark 1.1 are the latest releases in the tech firm’s race to catch up to competitors and assert itself as a top player in the AI race.
Musk acts fast, but can it last?
Cursor and SpaceXAI announced that they collaboratively released a new model, Grok 4.5, designed to work within Cursor.
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
Corporate earnings to reveal uneven war impact
The results could boost Trump’s case that the oil industry is profiteering off the fighting.
Kim Soo-hyeon/File Photo/Reuters
Markets reassess post-truce optimism
Investors and energy companies are reassessing their post-truce optimism and brace for prolonged instability in the Middle East.
US, Iran trade more strikes as ceasefire crumbles
The US cannot easily walk away from the conflict, but any likely deal is unpalatable.
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.
China
China mulls curbing foreign access to its AI models
Such a move could raise costs for many US businesses that have become dependent on cheap Chinese AI.
Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
Russia-China effort targets Starlink
Russia and China are seeking the capability to disable and eventually destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite network, an investigation found, as the allies deepen their clandestine military cooperation.
Jeenah Moon/Reuters
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
Africa
Africa braces for more Iran war fallout as Dangote steps up
The IMF said the biggest casualties from another disruption to the Strait of Hormuz will likely be smaller, oil-importing economies in sub-Saharan Africa.
Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
Catnip lotion found to be effective mosquito repellent in Uganda study
Researchers found that 6% catnip oil lotion was just as good at repelling mosquitoes as the main ingredient in widely used brands.
James Akena/Reuters
Ebola health workers say they are yet to be paid
The protests by health workers puts efforts to contain the virus’ spread further at risk.
Nigeria investigates Big Tech over use of local news content
The probe, announced this week, is the second major inquiry in three years against global tech firms undertaken by Nigeria.
Nigeria rejects IMF’s findings of extra-budgetary spending
Abuja blamed poor interpretation of its financial reporting method for the misunderstanding.
Businesses brace for prolonged unrest in South Africa
Boardroom sentiment has soured in an economy already grappling with the world’s highest unemployment rate, collapsing municipal services, and intensifying political agitation.
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
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
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
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