Flagship

Gansu, China, hit by deadly quake

At least 118 people were killed and hundreds injured by a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in Gansu province, northwest China. The quake hit the mountainous region around midnight local time. Gansu is a poor and rural region: A rescue director said low-quality clay buildings contributed to the widespread damage, while TV footage showed collapsed structures and cracked ground. Much of China is seismically active, sitting on the conjunction of three tectonic plates, and quakes are common, although this is the deadliest since 2010. Chinese leader Xi Jinping ordered thousands of rescue crews to the area: Local temperatures are well below freezing and officials say there is limited time to find and rescue survivors.

Naval task force for Red Sea

The U.S. outlined the creation of a 10-nation task force to protect ships traveling through the Red Sea amid an increasing number of drone and missile attacks from Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen. The announcement, made during a trip by the U.S. defense secretary to Israel, came after the oil and gas giant BP and several shipping companies said they were avoiding the waterway. The Red Sea is crucial for vessels accessing the Suez Canal, the shortest shipping route between Europe and Asia, through which about 15% of global shipping passes. Insurers have increased premiums for ships going through the Red Sea, Reuters reported, and many vessels have opted to sail around Africa, adding at least a week of travel time.

Japan steelmaker to buy US Steel

Japan’s Nippon Steel will buy U.S. Steel for more than $14 billion. U.S. Steel was once the most valuable company in the world, employing 340,000 people and producing 36 million tons of steel annually in the mid-20th century. But in recent decades, overseas steelmakers, especially in China and India, boosted capacity and undercut its prices. It is now 0.5% the value of Apple, and its equipment is outdated. But steel is still politically important, a symbol of U.S. manufacturing and represented by a powerful union. Senators from both main parties have threatened to block the deal. Nippon Steel will keep the company’s name and a headquarters in Pittsburgh to soften the blow, CNN reported.

Adobe calls off Figma deal

Adobe called off its $20 billion acquisition of the product-design firm Figma, blaming regulatory backlash in the U.K. and European Union. The decision points to growing antitrust cases against the tech sector: U.K. authorities are probing Microsoft’s investment into OpenAI, and American officials are increasingly challenging Big Tech over monopolistic behavior, with Google being hit with multiple legal decisions over its Play app store. Perhaps none has a greater impact on the industry than the EU, which because of its market size and regulatory heft has huge influence. Killing the Adobe deal, however, “may be bad for competition” in the long run, The Information wrote, by effectively barring a major off-ramp for startups, thus disincentivizing investment.

Farfetch finds white knight

Farfetch — a once cutting-edge luxury e-commerce platform that in recent months has neared bankruptcy — will be acquired by Coupang, a South Korean giant dubbed the country’s answer to Amazon. The purchase comes amid a broader reckoning for many of the dominant forces of online luxury: Matchesfashion, valued at $1 billion in 2017, will reportedly be sold for as little as $63 million. Yet Farfetch had particular issues, with analysts complaining that it unnecessarily complicated its business model, and too often veered away from its core strengths. The deal offers it time to recover, Business of Fashion noted, while giving Coupang a route both into the U.S. market, and into the luxury goods industry.

Uganda LGBTQ+ law in court

Uganda’s high court began hearing a challenge to a draconian anti-LGBTQ+ bill passed this year. The Anti-Homosexuality Act has resulted in hundreds of human rights abuses and arrests targeting the country’s LGBTQ+ population, and can in theory lead to the death penalty. It has also taken a huge toll on Uganda’s economy: On January 1, the country is due to be removed from a tariff-free trade agreement with the U.S., while the World Bank said it would not start any new projects in Uganda. Tourists, who contribute close to 8% of GDP, have also shunned the country. A travel agent in Kampala said that two-thirds of his clients had canceled plans: “They ghosted me,” he told The New York Times.

Nicaragua expels Red Cross

Nicaragua expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross, the latest move in a widening crackdown on dissent. President Daniel Ortega’s government has violently quashed any form of resistance — including sentencing a Catholic bishop to 26 years in prison and threatening the winner of the Miss Universe beauty pageant — since protests in 2018 endangered his regime. The U.N. said this week that Nicaragua is “straying further from the path of human rights,” aggravating already dire economic conditions and forcing close to 10% of the country’s population to flee, a Nicaraguan NGO said.

Diamond industry restarts sales

Diamond sales resumed after a price crash last year led to much of the industry halting transactions. During the pandemic, the diamond industry did well as shoppers spent spare cash on luxuries. But demand fell as societies opened up again, leaving traders with excess stock and leading to a slump. China’s economic uncertainty also hit demand. The industry decided to cut supply to bring prices back up — Russia’s Alrosa halted sales for two months, De Beers reduced output, and India, center of the cutting industry, banned imports. Prices have since gone back up somewhat, but sales of rough diamonds are still low for this time of year.

AI diagnoses autism via retinal scans

An artificial-intelligence tool diagnosed autism in 100% of tests from retinal photographs. The study took 958 children, half of whom had a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, and took scans of their retinas. It trained the AI using 85% of the images, and then used it to classify the other 15%. The AI correctly categorized all of them as either ASD or neurotypical. Some of the children were as young as four, suggesting that — if the study’s findings are replicated — retinal scans could provide a useful biomarker for early diagnosis, helping direct specialist support to children who need it.

Amazon agrees Warhammer deal

Amazon agreed to bring the Warhammer universe to TV and cinema. Warhammer 40,000, or “40K”, is a quietly huge intellectual property, with millions of players. But there has never been a successful screen adaptation, perhaps because 40K, set in a far-future galaxy of constant war, is too unrelentingly grim for a shiny, Marvel-esque take. Amazon and Warhammer-maker Games Workshop have, though, recruited Henry Cavill — the Superman actor and one of the game’s many celebrity fans — as executive producer. GW shares jumped on the news, although the company “risks long-lasting reputational damage” if the adaptation sucks, one analyst told The Wall Street Journal.

January 14-19, 2024 | Switzerland

Semafor will be on the ground at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, covering what’s happening on the main stages and lifting the curtain on what’s happening behind them.

Sign up to receive our pop-up newsletter: Semafor Davos (and if you’re flying to Zurich let us know so we can invite you to one of Semafor’s private convenings).

• Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visits China for meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
• Construction unions in Peru are set to protest against poor working conditions.
• Trevor Noah: Where Was I, a new comedy special from the ex-Daily Show host, is released on Netflix.

The proportion of U.S. nationals who now have passports, compared to just 5% in 1990, according to the State Department. The overall number of passports in circulation, 160 million, has doubled since 2007, with 24 million issued in the year to September, a record. Europeans often cite the low number of Americans with passports as proof that they are poorly traveled and thus, by implication, insufficiently worldly, but that insult is increasingly outdated. It is also an unfair comparison: Though three-quarters of Britons have passports, for example, U.S. nationals have access to a far larger land mass for tourism and work, and only about half of French citizens hold passports, although they can travel through the European Union without one.

Game Changers, a coffee-table book about gaming history, was selected as one of the year’s best video-game books. Chris Plante, Polygon’s editor-in-chief, described it as a solid introductory read “for folks who got into gaming as adults.” It features 300 of the world’s most influential video games, covering classics like Grand Theft Auto and Madden, but also some that surprised him including OXO, a game released in the U.K. in 1952 that simulates tic-tac-toe. “This is the perfect beginner’s guide for people who know it’s never too late to start a new hobby,” Plante said.

• Tim Scott emerges as a 2024 kingmaker as Republican candidates court his endorsement, Semafor’s Shelby Talcott scooped.
• U.S. prosecutors are targeting Hamas’ financial network. Dozens of lawyers and FBI agents are working on the case as the U.S. government seeks to press the Palestinian group on all fronts.
• Houthi rebels’ attacks in the Red Sea are putting the world economy in danger.