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Israel, Iran ramp up war rhetoric, as prospect of open conflict looms
The US-Israel war with Iran has been dormant for months, beyond sporadic flare-ups.
Israel, Iran ramp up war rhetoric, as prospect of open conflict looms
The US-Israel war with Iran has been dormant for months, beyond sporadic flare-ups.
View / Human complacency creates the AI age’s biggest problems
View / Meta’s new class of nonvoting stock lets Zuckerberg fund AI without losing control
The World at a Glance
Updated 6:42pm EDT
1
The US warned that Iran was planning attacks against American officials abroad, heightening the risk of a return to all-out war.
2Corporate America’s massive AI investments have delivered “zero financial payoff” outside the Magnificent 7, a new analysis found, intensifying fears over AI spending.
3The US will remove tariffs on certain Canadian products as the White House looks to bolster its candidates ahead of Nov. 3.
4A narrow runoff election in Brazil will determine the direction of Latin America’s largest economy.
5Western luxury brands have lost roughly $280 billion in value this year as Chinese consumers spend more on domestic products but less overall.
6Barcelona has released more than half a million male mosquitoes carrying a parasite that causes effective sterility to counter mosquito-borne diseases.
Democratic pro-AI regulation PAC spends against Senate Republicans
Tomorrow Together is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas.
Manchin, Ocasio-Cortez deliver Maine Senate closing arguments
Susan Collins is running to be the “soul of the Senate.” Troy Jackson isn’t.
Brazil deadlocked ahead of Sunday vote
Whoever comes out on top will have to navigate a tricky balance between maintaining strong ties to China and the US.
Israel’s leading parties in a dead heat ahead of high-stakes election
The outcome of party negotiations could have “profound” implications for Palestinians and Israel’s relations with neighboring states.
France braces ahead of planned weekend protests
Demonstrations last week erupted into violence, including mass looting and cars being set alight, resulting in more than 2,000 arrests.
Africa at risk of continent-wide Ebola crisis, health chief warns
African governments are preparing a broader response as Ebola spreads across three regions.
South Africa aims to lock in gains with proposed fiscal law
The proposal goes some way to tying the hands of future governments but there are questions over whether it really will guarantee prudence.
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Politics
Brazil votes in narrow presidential runoff
Brazil’s incumbent left-wing president faced off against his favored right-wing challenger Sunday in a narrow runoff election that will determine the direction of Latin America’s largest economy.
Agustin Marcarian/Reuters
US to remove some Canadian tariffs ahead of elections
The US announced plans to remove tariffs on certain Canadian products after an embattled Republican senator in Maine lobbied for the move as the White House looks to bolster its candidates ahead of Nov. 3.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters
Dems make a Kansas play as GOP eyes a California seat
Democrat Don Coover is down by three points against incumbent Republican Rep. Derek Schmidt, within the 3.9% margin of error, according to Democratic polling conducted in mid-October and shared with Semafor.
Matt Mills McKnight/Reuters
Betting operators and prediction markets spent record amounts on campaign donations and lobbying
Sports-betting and casino companies want to win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away.
El-Sayed’s new ad pitch: Republicans love me
The Michigan progressive, locked in a close Senate race, is spotlighting the praise he’s gotten from conservative pundits.
Manchin, Ocasio-Cortez deliver Maine Senate closing arguments
Susan Collins is running to be the “soul of the Senate.” Troy Jackson isn’t.
Democratic pro-AI regulation PAC spends against Senate Republicans
Tomorrow Together is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas.
US monitors new Ebola cases
The virus, now in Kenya and Nigeria, continues to spread well beyond the initial site of the outbreak.
Trump’s Iran sanctions run into limits
Experts and former officials say the penalties thus far are having a limited effect on the Islamic Republic’s willingness to negotiate.
Manchin suggests Collins should become independent
The former West Virginia senator is running a project to elect more members of Congress outside the major parties.
SpaceX-Tesla merger could face antitrust scrutiny
One former Justice Department official told Semafor that the risks for the merger are real.
Business
Weil’s troubles mount with key partner’s pending departure
The white-shoe firm is reeling from other partner defections and a failed merger talks.
Andrew Kelly/Reuters
Betting operators and prediction markets spent record amounts on campaign donations and lobbying
Sports-betting and casino companies want to win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away.
US Treasurys gained in investors’ flight to safety
Markets have grown worried that Big Tech firms will not make sufficient money to cover their ballooning investments and are running into supply-chain bottlenecks.
SpaceX-Tesla merger could face antitrust scrutiny
One former Justice Department official told Semafor that the risks for the merger are real.
Brian Chesky’s new blueprint for Airbnb — and Silicon Valley
The designer-turned-founder sees an opportunity in addressing AI-fueled isolation.
Technology
Barcelona fights mosquito-borne illness with parasites
In the largest European experiment to counter mosquito-borne diseases, Barcelona has released more than half a million male mosquitoes carrying a parasite that causes effective sterility.
Rodolfo Buhrer/Reuters
Hunting for AI gains outside Magnificent 7
Corporate America’s massive AI investments have delivered “zero financial payoff” outside the Magnificent 7, a new Apollo analysis found, intensifying investors’ fears over big AI spending ahead of critical Big Tech earnings this week.
Daniel Cole/Reuters
Warhound raises $200 million to engineer military dogs
The company is a collab between defense tech firm Anduril and Colossal Biosciences, the biotech startup looking to bring back the woolly mammoth.
The race to tell humans from AI agents
E-commerce may get comfortable with agent transactions before other industries.
Human complacency creates the AI age’s biggest problems
The bugs OpenAI models discovered this week have existed for more than a decade, and PHP, the programming language that contained them, is 30 years old.
US Treasurys gained in investors’ flight to safety
Markets have grown worried that Big Tech firms will not make sufficient money to cover their ballooning investments and are running into supply-chain bottlenecks.
Energy
Brazil’s energy course may hold after election, but Amazon at risk
Lula’s administration has celebrated new oil discovery and exploration efforts, marking a difference from some regional leftist allies.
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Climate talks are failing
The latest dire UN projection stressed that the ambitions to limit global warming adopted a decade ago in Paris are all but out of reach.
Adriano Machado/Reuters
Trump and an oil shock aren’t enough for Texan drillers
“‘Drill, baby, drill’ is basically drill as much as you can to commit economic suicide,” one of the Permian Basin’s top CEOs said.
Kevin Zweerink/Semafor
Gulf
New threats could push US and Iran toward war
The US director of national intelligence warned that Iran was in the “advanced stages” of planning attacks against American officials abroad, prompting personnel evacuations and heightening the risk of a return to all-out war.
US Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. Nathan Howard/Reuters
Women’s soccer goes from bans to stadiums in Saudi
While the paydays are still well short of those in the men’s league, clubs are luring foreign players with tax-free salaries and expat perks.
Gulf faces economic contraction nearly as acute as COVID shock
Oman is the outlier, having implemented economic reforms before the war and remaining relatively unscathed by the conflict.
Saudi crown prince grapples with the limits of his power
War, rising debt, and retrenched ambitions are testing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision to reshape his kingdom, and the region.
War dents Gulf’s protein boom
Riyadh-based Nadec’s net profit plunged because of higher feed prices and shipping costs.
China
Western luxury falters in China
Western luxury brands have lost roughly $280 billion in value this year as Chinese consumers spend more on domestic products but less overall.
Tyrone Siu/Reuters
China medtech exports surge, challenging global incumbents
Chinese medical equipment makers are increasingly challenging US, European, and Japanese competitors in hospitals around the world, extending Beijing’s technological prowess to yet another industry.
Thomas Peter/Reuters
China’s AI leader DeepSeek raises $15B
The Hangzhou-based firm twice increased its financing target ahead of the latest funding round, which analysts said set the stage for an imminent public listing.
Dado Ruvic/Reuters
Africa
Africa’s job market fails to provide decent work for youth, think tank says
The continent’s youth could be a huge asset but what they need is secure, well-paid work, according to the African Center for Economic Transformation.
Desire Danga Essigue/Reuters
Dangote plans $1.5B Kenya pipeline investment
Dangote’s company bought a 25% stake in the Kenya Pipeline Company, a strategic move that underscores expansion prospects.
Sodiq Adelakun/Reuters
Namibia trims growth forecast
The announcement highlights the challenges facing an economy still grappling with weaker demand for the country’s minerals.
South Africa aims to lock in gains with proposed fiscal law
The proposal goes some way to tying the hands of future governments but there are questions over whether it really will guarantee prudence.
Africa at risk of continent-wide Ebola crisis, health chief warns
African governments are preparing a broader response as Ebola spreads across three regions.
US monitors new Ebola cases
The virus, now in Kenya and Nigeria, continues to spread well beyond the initial site of the outbreak.
Security
New threats could push US and Iran toward war
The US director of national intelligence warned that Iran was in the “advanced stages” of planning attacks against American officials abroad, prompting personnel evacuations and heightening the risk of a return to all-out war.
US Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton. Nathan Howard/Reuters
France braces ahead of planned weekend protests
Demonstrations last week erupted into violence, including mass looting and cars being set alight, resulting in more than 2,000 arrests.
Abdul Saboor/Reuters
Macron bans non-union protests amid France unrest
French cities have been shaken in recent weeks by vandalism and looting sparked by cost-of-living demonstrations, amid a broader crisis besieging the country’s lame-duck centrist government that has spiked French bond yields.
Stephane Mahe/Reuters
Media
Times journalist’s children allegedly became billionaire memoirist’s focus
Days after a New York Times investigation raised questions about Amy Griffin’s memoir The Tell, reporter Katherine Rosman received a worrying call.
Rest of World faces prospect of shutting down
The six-year-old digital publication has seen the social and web search traffic on which it depends evaporate.
White House expects press briefing ‘soon’ as hiring search continues
The White House’s press secretary vacancy won’t necessarily keep the briefing room closed.
Four years of Semafor
Semafor is starting to emerge clearly as the thing we hoped it would become.
How CBS News’ Middle East war spread to the Upper Midwest
Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss has personally advocated for CBS News journalists to pursue numerous story angles related to Abdul El-Sayed’s supposed sympathy towards the Muslim Brotherhood.
CEO Signal
Brian Chesky’s new blueprint for Airbnb — and Silicon Valley
The designer-turned-founder sees an opportunity in addressing AI-fueled isolation.
The $22B startup co-founder working to make chatbots talk back
ElevenLabs’ Mati Staniszewski is betting that “voice AI” will soon become the norm.
Why Suntory’s CEO is still investing in a sobered-up spirits market
Nobuhiro Torii sees a chance to build the family company’s brands as listed rivals cut back.
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