Flagship

Israel echoes Trump ceasefire threat

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would end the ceasefire in Gaza and resume “intense fighting” if Hamas doesn’t return all remaining hostages by Saturday. His remarks echoed US President Donald Trump’s comments that Israel should “let all hell break out” if the hostages aren’t returned, following Hamas’ decision to suspend their release. Trump’s proposal to control Gaza has upended talks on the enclave’s future, and at a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah II Tuesday, the president insisted, “We’re going to take it… We’re going to cherish it.” Abdullah reiterated his opposition to Palestinians’ forced displacement, but proposed accepting 2,000 sick Gazan children, which “may succeed in lowering tensions between the two allies while buying more time,” Politico wrote.

India vulnerable to reciprocal tariffs

Asia’s large emerging economies are among the most at risk from US President Donald Trump’s threat of sweeping reciprocal tariffs, analysts said. His plan, in which Washington would match duties imposed by other countries on American imports, could especially hurt India and Thailand because they have relatively higher tariff rates on US goods, Bloomberg reported. Trump’s global trade salvo has already caused big dips in the Indian stock market, spurring an exodus of foreign investors. Details of the new tariffs are expected as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets Trump in Washington on Wednesday; Modi is reportedly preparing tariffs cuts to assuage White House concerns and reduce reciprocal duties.

China tries to stabilize foreign investment

China is trying to stave off an exodus of outside investors wary of growing trade tensions with the US. Beijing on Monday pledged new incentives for foreign companies, removed some restrictions on overseas investment, and expanded the number of industries that encourage outside funding. Foreign investment has dropped in China in recent years, with firms reporting an increasingly challenging business environment, and Donald Trump’s tariffs add a new layer of volatility. But even as China looks to stabilize foreign direct investment to prop up a flagging economy, it is “racing to make itself less reliant on the outside world’s products and technology,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

US doesn’t sign AI safety agreement

The US and UK refused to sign an international statement calling for “inclusive and sustainable” artificial intelligence development. More than 60 governments including China and the European Union signed the declaration Tuesday at an AI summit in Paris. The snubs came as US Vice President JD Vance railed against what he called “excessive regulation” of AI by the EU, underscoring the contrast between the bloc’s strict rules around the technology, and Washington’s increasingly hands-off approach. But Europe now “appears to be having second thoughts” over its tough laws, The New York Times’ Kevin Roose wrote: Leaders announced private AI investments at the summit, where AI doomers “have been sidelined in favor of a sunnier, more optimistic vision” of the tech.

Musk’s influence could derail Trumpism

Elon Musk’s political influence could derail Donald Trump’s agenda, a conservative journalist argued. UnHerd’s US editor Sohrab Ahmari — once described as the “pugilistic voice of the Trumpist new right” — wrote that Trump won on promises to help working-class voters, but Musk’s plan to cut $2 trillion in spending could impact Social Security payments many of those voters rely on. Even though Trumpists are keen to wield the “avenging dagger” after years of perceived “political and cultural turmoil,” Musk’s slash-and-burn approach could “entail enormous pain for the working and lower middle classes.” Still, Trump appears to be fully backing Musk’s efforts so far, including plans to “significantly” reduce the federal workforce, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scooped Tuesday.

China deploys ‘silver trains’

China wants older people to travel more and spend more. The country is launching a network of “silver trains” for elderly tourists, offering medical and old-age services: State TV showed passengers dancing and playing mahjong, the Financial Times reported. Beijing is looking to boost its “silver economy” in the face of an aging population that threatens its long-term growth goals. China’s population fell for the third straight year in 2024, leading local officials to organize blind dating events and mass weddings. The government outlined a plan last year to gradually raise its low retirement age; Beijing now aims to have a network of silver trains covering the entire country by 2027.

India cracks down on finfluencers

Indian authorities are cracking down on so-called “finfluencers” accused of running get-rich-quick scams. One prominent YouTuber, who doled out financial advice and called herself the “She-Wolf of the Stock Market,” allegedly made millions by offering courses that claimed students would easily see their cash multiply, while encouraging people to quit their jobs with “sweeping claims of 300% returns,” The Economic Times reported. Authorities said the operation equated to an unregistered investment advisory service. Countries globally are grappling with fraudulent schemes from finfluencers: The UK last year charged former reality TV stars with promoting a foreign exchange scheme, and South Korea arrested 215 people, including a popular YouTuber, for deceiving thousands via a crypto scam.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr will take the stage at Semafor’s Trust in News Summit, hosted at the Gallup Great Hall in Washington, D.C., on February 27— set to be the premier media event of the year. This exclusive gathering will bring together the most influential voices in journalism to tackle one of the industry’s most urgent challenges: rebuilding public trust.

With insights from Gallup’s leading trust in news data, the powerhouse lineup includes Fox News’ Bret Baier, NBCUniversal News Group’s Cesar Conde, Mehdi Hasan, The New York Times’ Joe Kahn, Megyn Kelly, NPR’s Katherine Maher, and CNN’s Mark Thompson, alongside Semafor editors and reporters. This is an invitation-only gathering in Washington that will be livestreamed.

Feb. 27, 2025 | Washington DC | Register for livestream

DeepMind solves like math gold medalists

Google DeepMind’s math-problem-solving artificial intelligence model now operates at the level of gold medalists at the International Mathematical Olympiad. The IMO’s geometry questions involve proving statements in formal mathematical language, a challenge for AIs. Last year, AlphaGeometry surprised observers by reaching silver-medal level, and its successor has surpassed it. Finding proofs in high-level math is a creative process, although the Euclidean geometry problems are relatively simpler conceptually: A mathematician told Nature that the AI was still some way away from solving research-level problems. DeepMind hopes that math-capable AIs will lead to true reasoning and problem solving, perhaps easing the path to more general-purpose models, TechCrunch reported.

Webb telescope to track asteroid

NASA will employ the James Webb space telescope to track an incoming asteroid that has a small chance of hitting the Earth in 2032. After Asteroid 2024 YR4 was spotted in December, astronomers predicted a 1.3% probability of impact. But new observations suggest there is now about a one in 48 chance. While the asteroid — perhaps 300 feet wide — is not big enough to cause a global catastrophe, it could be capable of destroying a city. But it is small, distant, and dark, making it hard to precisely pinpoint its trajectory. Webb, the most powerful space telescope ever, will focus on 2024 YR4 in an attempt to either confirm or rule out the threat.

Scrabble champ wins in other languages

The undisputed No. 1 English-language Scrabble player also dominates in languages he can’t speak a word of. Nigel Richards has won world championships in Spanish and French, thanks to an encyclopedic memory and expert pattern-decoding skills. “He memorizes words as soon as he reads them once,” one competitive Scrabble peer told The Wall Street Journal. The New Zealand-born Scrabbler lives a recursive life in Malaysia, and doesn’t drink, smoke, or keep up much with current affairs. His success underlines a central Scrabble paradox, the Journal noted: “It’s useful to know as many words as possible, but not what they mean.” Richards won the 2024 Spanish championship with “saburrosa,” which refers to residue on the tongue.

Feb. 12:

• SoftBank, a Japanese company that has invested heavily in AI, releases earnings figures.
• Zambia and Namibia announce their interest rate decisions.
• Biologists around the world celebrate Darwin Day, the birthday of the evolutionary theorist.

The price of a new sports drink that India’s richest man just launched. Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani hopes that Spinner — with a price equivalent to 12 cents — will compete with significantly more expensive sports drinks brands like the 50-rupee Gatorade sold by PepsiCo. The low price point is a signature move from Ambani, who has captured large shares of India’s telecom and mutual fund sectors by undercutting the market with freebies and minimal costs, allowing him to win over the country’s emerging consumer class, The Economic Times reported.

A Japanese primetime drama exploring the world of billionaires reflects the country’s shifting attitudes toward wealth. Private Banker, which began airing in January, centers on a financier and self-described “butler of money” dealing with ultra-rich clients, their succession fights, and scandals. It’s rare for Japanese shows to spotlight the wealthy in a country where “it’s long been considered morally wrong for people to show off their wealth,” a private banker in Tokyo told Bloomberg. But banks are increasingly boosting private wealth management services to serve Japan’s 2.8 million millionaires. “I hope people who are interested in money but haven’t had the chance to study it will be thrilled to learn there is a world like this,” the show’s producer said.

In his first weeks in office, Donald Trump has flooded the zone with executive orders, impromptu press conferences, and boundaries-testing moves to slash government — a strategy that Steve Bannon articulated during Trump’s first term.

Bannon spoke to Semafor’s Ben Smith about why he thinks the strategy — which he’s calling Trump’s “Days of Thunder” — is working brilliantly this time around. “The media is a complete total meltdown,” he said.