Flagship

Speaker faces US House vote

Mike Johnson faces a tight vote today to remain speaker of the US House of Representatives. Republicans won control of both houses of Congress as well as the presidency in last year’s election, but remain divided: Johnson is unpopular with hardliners for his willingness to cooperate with Democrats, notably over a deal to maintain government funding. Johnson can only afford one defection, despite President-elect Donald Trump endorsing him. House Republicans are optimistic they will elect a speaker today, though not likely on the first ballot, Semafor’s Kadia Goba reported. The 2023 speaker vote went to several rounds: A repeat would be a bad sign for Trump’s ability to pass his agenda.

Clegg out at Meta as Zuck turns to Trump

Meta’s global policy chief, the former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, is stepping aside for a Republican, weeks before Donald Trump’s accession to the US presidency. Clegg, who led the UK’s left-leaning Liberal Democrats when in politics, joined Facebook’s lobbying team in 2018. His leaving, first reported by Semafor, signals a shift for Meta: US companies “are embracing the president-elect, courting his inner circle, and backing away from progressive stances.” Trump has been critical of Meta, but CEO Mark Zuckerberg dined with him in November and congratulated him on his win. Clegg is replaced by his deputy, Joel Kaplan, Meta’s most prominent Republican and — unlike Clegg — a strident voice inside the company against restrictions on political speech.

Net neutrality ruling sets precedent

A US federal court struck down President Joe Biden’s effort to restore “net neutrality” rules. Until 2018, internet providers were forbidden from prioritizing some websites or apps over others. The first Trump administration successfully challenged the policy, spurring fears of a two-tier internet. Little ultimately changed, but Biden moved to restore the rule anyway. The appeals ruling may not make much difference short-term, but sets an important legal precedent: The judges said courts no longer need to give “deference” to regulators but can make their own decisions. The decision will let courts shape policy “from tech to the environment to health care,” WIRED reported, potentially reducing the power of bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency or Federal Communications Commission.

Biden to block Japan steel deal

Outgoing US President Joe Biden will today reportedly block the proposed takeover of US Steel by a Japanese rival. His decision — according to The New York Times, Washington Post, and Bloomberg — comes after months of hardening rhetoric against the deal from both the sitting president and his successor, Donald Trump, as well as criticism of the takeover from a major steelworkers union. Despite the growing chorus of opposition to the sale in the US, Biden’s announcement will likely worsen ties with Tokyo, a key ally, and undermine Washington’s argument that it treats partners and rivals differently when it comes to trade and takeovers: “The damage to America’s friendship rhetoric will remain severe,” the Financial Times’ Tokyo bureau chief warned.

Limits to US China consensus

New research undermined the notion that the US foreign-policy community suffers from groupthink when it comes to China. A survey of nearly 500 American analysts showed “a substantial amount of variation in policy beliefs,” with the researchers behind the study arguing that a consensus applies to the framing of Beijing as a rival, but not to the prescriptions to dealing with that rivalry. Their survey did not, however, include elected officials, who are notably harsher toward China: US President-elect Donald Trump, for example, played a major role in hardening Washington’s outlook. “There’s only one viable political position in the US right now on China,” one of the researchers said on the Sinica Podcast, “which is to be tough.”

Africa’s uneasy 2025

​​African countries face a range of challenges and opportunities in 2025, with the US, China, and Gulf nations all vying for greater regional influence. A renewed focus on a ceasefire in Sudan, US President-elect Donald Trump’s potential recognition of Somaliland, and surging climate finance could all reshape the continent in the coming 12 months, experts told Semafor. Although countries across the continent face key tests, the stakes are perhaps highest in South Africa: The region’s biggest economy could face a standoff with the US, which may make an example of Pretoria “for its pro-China, pro-Russia, and anti-Israel positions,” one analyst said.

Renewed Gaza talks

Israeli negotiators set off for Doha in a potentially final effort to secure a truce in Gaza before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Trump has said there will be “all hell to pay” if Palestinian militants do not release the hostages still in Gaza before he returns to the White House, but major hurdles remain to a ceasefire. The Palestinian territory has remained under huge pressure even as regional attention has shifted to Israel’s operation in Lebanon, where a fragile truce holds, and the ousting of Syria’s dictator: Dozens have been killed in Gaza in the past 24 hours in Israeli air strikes, while the UN’s Palestinian aid agency faces the threat of closure by Israel this month.

How can dating apps stay relevant in this age of screen fatigue, and are there lessons for digital media? In the first Mixed Signals episode of 2025, Ben and Nayeema are taking a swipe at understanding the marketing behind dating apps. They talk with Tinder CMO Melissa Hobley to discuss digital exhaustion, the reality of rebranding, and reaching a politically attuned Gen Z audience. Plus, a debrief with Semafor Media Editor and new Mixed Signals co-host, Max Tani.

El Salvador crime plummets

El Salvador recorded only 114 homicides in 2024, a record low, prompting the president to call it “the safest country in the Western Hemisphere.” The new figures — lower per capita than the US, despite a major drop there too — mark a remarkable turnaround for the country that once had the world’s highest murder rate. However critics say El Salvador’s progress has come at a steep cost: Around 80,000 people, more than 1% of the country’s total population, have been jailed without due process, while at least 354 have died in government custody. Now President Nayib Bukele is facing pressure to boost the economy. “While hopes are high, so are concerns,” DW reported.

EV sales up around the world

BYD sold more electric vehicles than any other company in the fourth quarter of 2024, once again outpacing its rival Tesla. Other Chinese EV makers also saw significant growth. Recent wobbles in the EV market have not changed the overall direction of travel: India saw 27% sales growth in 2024, falling just shy of 2 million units sold, according to government data, while in Norway almost 90% of all cars sold last year were electric. An industry spokesperson told Reuters that “Norway will be the first country in the world to pretty much erase petrol and diesel engine cars from the new car market.”

Australia’s croc dilemma

Crocodiles in Australia’s Northern Territory, once hunted to near-extinction, have rebounded so successfully after a hunting ban that authorities are considering a cull. The sparsely populated state is home to 100,000 saltwater crocodiles, up from just 3,000 in 1971. And while most crocodiles are timid, “the saltie is territorial and aggressive,” the BBC reported. The Australian conservation program is one of several that have become almost too successful: In Nepal, a tripling of tiger numbers is causing problems for locals, resurgent European wolves may soon lose protected status, and last year Botswana’s president threatened to send 20,000 elephants to Germany in response to Berlin’s suggestion of a hunting ban, so Germans can understand the problems they cause.

• French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou and his newly appointed ministers attend their first cabinet meeting with President Emmanuel Macron after the government was formed last month.
• The quarter-finals of the Brisbane International tennis tournament take place.
• London Zoo conducts an annual stocktake to count the numbers of animals in its care.

Hours of negative power prices in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK in 2024 — compared to just 121 two years prior. The figures compiled by Bloomberg point to the rapid expansion of renewable energy in Europe. Though they have been widely celebrated even as gas and heating prices surge during a winter cold snap, negative power prices also point to the brutal economics for developers of wind and solar power. The silver lining, though, is that the huge price fluctuations are driving installations of battery storage, allowing renewables operators to store power at moments of low or negative prices and deploy it during periods of reduced wind or during darkness.

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen. The novel follows the lives of two star-crossed residents of Shanghai from their childhood in the 1930s through to the early 2000s, tracking them from China to the US over time. “Intertwining the macro and micro,” Chen “makes readers care deeply about the impact of history on her characters’ very private lives,” Kirkus wrote in its starred review of the book. Preorder Homeseeking from your local bookstore.

Electricity demand will become the biggest challenge for the global energy transition in 2025 as political support for clean energy wavers, Semafor’s Tim McDonnell reported. “The Trump administration is not going to present tailwinds for us. But I’m of the view that the headwinds might be less significant than some folks bluster about,” a renewables investment firm director told McDonnell.