Events Email Briefings
rotating globe
Privacy© 2026 Semafor Inc.
  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
Events Email Briefings

Intelligence for the New World Economy

  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
Semafor Logo
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
rotating globe
Intelligence for the New World Economy
Semafor World Economy
Prashant Rao

Prashant Rao

Global Managing Editor

Email Prashant@prashantrao

Prashant Rao is Global Managing Editor at Semafor, where he is responsible for all global coverage — spanning the Gulf, Africa, and China — as well as energy coverage. Prior to joining Semafor, he was International Editor at The Atlantic, Deputy Europe Business Editor at The New York Times, and Iraq Bureau Chief at AFP.

Dangote refinery secures $2.5 billion in expansion funding

Nigeria’s Dangote refinery, which currently handles about 650,000 barrels of oil per day, aims to more than double its capacity.
A Dangote crude oil tank is seen inside the Dangote Industries oil refinery
Sodiq Adelakun/File Photo/Reuters

Oil tops $100 per barrel again as Middle East war looks set to drag on

Hefty stockpiles among major consumers, alongside reductions in demand, have so far kept oil prices from careering out of control.
A refinery
Remo Casilli/File Photo/Reuters

EU stuck between US tariffs and tense trade relations with China

A senior European parliamentarian described the US levies as “crazy.”
China’s and France’s foreign ministers at a news conference.
China’s and France’s foreign ministers at a news conference. Aurelien Morissard/Pool via Reuters.

China tensions set to dominate ASEAN meeting

Major powers criticized China for what the US called “dangerous and aggressive” naval maneuvers in the South China Sea, setting the tone for a meeting of ASEAN officials.
A chart showing Chinese defense spending.

Police clash with demonstrators as Indian education protests intensify

India is home to globally competitive universities but the vast majority of its students languish in a bureaucratic, rigid, resource-starved system.
Security force personnel wield batons against demonstrators at a protest site during a planned march by supporters of India’s Cockroach Janta Party.
Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Lindsey Graham, Republican senator and Trump ally, dies

The lawmaker’s office said he died following a ‘brief and sudden illness.’
Lindsey Graham
Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo/Reuters

Asian powers consolidate regional alliances beyond US, China

Countries including Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan have all begun upgrading domestic military manufacturing capacity.

Global oil, fuel markets ill-prepared for continued Iran war

Crude stockpiles across much of the West are near historically low levels, having been drawn down over the course of the war.

US, Iran continue negotiations despite recent strikes

The two sides remain far apart on the negotiating table: Iran wants to control traffic through the Strait of Hormuz; Washington wants Tehran to give up its missile and proxy efforts.

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.

Court clears French far-right leader Marine Le Pen to run for president

Le Pen would likely be confined to her home with an ankle monitor.

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.

Moscow and Kyiv escalate air campaigns

Russia and Ukraine both launched strikes, vying for the upper hand ahead of a key NATO summit this week.

Europe wary of US ahead of NATO summit

The transatlantic defense summit this week looks set to confirm the growing rift between Washington and Brussels.

Regional powers protest as China tests long-range missile

Beijing insisted the test was not directed at any particular country, but the move drew rebukes from Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

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.

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.

China’s factory output in June beats forecasts

The results cement concerns about China’s two-track economy, with domestic demand still in the doldrums.