Flagship

China wants end to US sanctions

Beijing called for the US to lift all sanctions on Chinese goods. The commerce ministry’s demand came ahead of a White House announcement of hikes on levies on electric vehicles and other goods. US and other tariffs are hurting the Chinese economy — JPMorgan downgraded Chinese stocks in the face of geopolitical tensions ahead of November’s US election. Sanctions on sales of high-end chips — the Netherlands announced new curbs on Friday — to China have hurt Chinese tech businesses, although some companies are finding a way around them: Cloud providers rent Nvidia servers to Chinese companies for just $6 an hour, cheaper than the equivalent service in the US. The price is “an indication of plentiful supply of Nvidia chips” and the circumvention of sanctions, the Financial Times reported.

War hits Russia’s Arctic ambitions

Western sanctions are hitting Russia’s flagship Arctic gas project. Ship-tracking data showed that the three ships which have shipped gas from the new Arctic LNG 2 development all took their cargo to Russia, suggesting Moscow has been unable to find overseas buyers, analysts told the Financial Times. The war in Ukraine is also having other impacts on Russia’s plans: Moscow’s new budget cut scientific research spending by 25%, as government money is increasingly sucked up by the conflict. Russia’s scientific community is already struggling with sanctions of its own, as well as a brain drain as its most talented members flee, Science reported.

Trump judge to make sentencing decision

The judge in Donald Trump’s criminal case will today decide whether to postpone the former US president’s sentencing until after the US election. Justice Juan Merchan oversaw the trial that found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal. Trump’s legal team asked him to delay the sentencing from the planned Sept. 18 to after the election: His decision “could influence not only the election, but American politics for years to come,” The New York Times reported. Merchan has already delayed sentencing once. Meanwhile, Trump revealed his economic plans, including a proposal to cut the corporate tax rate to 15% for companies which make goods in the US.

VPN demand soars in Brazil

Demand for VPNs, which allow internet users to skirt local restrictions, has surged in Brazil since a Supreme Court Justice banned the social media site X for spreading misinformation. Despite the threat of a possible $9,000 fine for using X, Brazilian social media users have flocked to VPNs, with one reporting a 1,840% rise in sign-ups since the ban. X owner Elon Musk has accused the judge of destroying free speech. Brazil’s 144 million social media users have also turned to alternate sites, with the owner of Bluesky warning of potential crashes over the explosion in demand from the country. “We’ve never seen traffic like this,” the company’s founder wrote. “Hang with us!”

US pledges more aid for Haiti

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed greater US support for Haiti as it fights to wrest control of its territory from powerful gangs. During a visit to Port-au-Prince, Blinken announced a new humanitarian aid package for the island nation, where hundreds of thousands are facing hunger after gangs brought commerce to a standstill. The US-backed deployment of Kenyan police officers has largely failed to make a significant impact against the gangs, which control around 80% of the capital. Now many in Haiti fear a promised further deployment of security forces will never materialize.

S. Africa seeks to ‘learn from China’

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said China wasn’t pushing Africa into a debt trap after Beijing announced a new lending package for the continent. China pledged as much as $51 billion — the vast majority of it as loans — to African countries during a Sino-African summit seen as key for advancing Beijing’s interests in the continent amid growing Western competition. However some worry that adding to the continent’s bulging debt burden could be fiscally calamitous for some countries. Ramaphosa, meanwhile, sees China not only as a source of funding, but also as a development model. “They already have done exactly what we are seeking to do. So there are lessons for us to learn from China,” he said.

DeepMind AI can design proteins

Google DeepMind demonstrated an artificial intelligence model that can design proteins from scratch. Proteins are the workhorses of biology, long chain-like organic molecules that form into complex 3D shapes. DeepMind’s earlier AlphaFold could determine those shapes by looking at the sequence of specific “links” in the chain, allowing scientists to understand how proteins interact and perform their functions, but AlphaProteo will allow them to build entirely new proteins, which DeepMind says will speed drug discovery and biological understanding: It has already designed several proteins that bind with molecules found in cancers and viruses, which could lead to new drugs.

Are we in a supply-side sports crisis? If you feel surrounded by sports on all sides, losing the battle to keep up with new leagues (hello, pro pickleball?), athlete-influencers’ post-game podcasts, and who’s getting paid what, you’re not alone. This week on Mixed Signals from Semafor Media, Ben and Nayeema dive into the sports boom — whether it’s driven by culture or commerce, and if it’s a bubble. To help figure it out, they are joined by John Skipper, former president of ESPN and current founder and CEO of Meadowlark Media. Plus, Semafor’s business and finance editor, Liz Hoffman, joins for a blindspot from Silicon Valley: The rise of “founder mode.”

Catch up with the latest episode of Mixed Signals.

Waymo releases robotaxi safety data

The self-driving car company Waymo unveiled a safety data site in an attempt to demonstrate that its robotaxis are safer than human drivers. The Alphabet subsidiary’s vehicles now have 22 million fully autonomous miles under their belts in four US cities. It claims that, compared to human drivers, its taxis are 84% less likely to have deployed their airbags, 73% less likely to have been in an injury-causing crash, and 48% less likely to have been in a crash reported to police. “Self-driving cars have an image problem,” The Verge reported, and Waymo is betting that the way to convince a still somewhat skeptical public is with “data — and lots of it.”

Hot baths hamper Japan geothermal

​​Japan’s hopes of becoming a geothermal powerhouse are being held back by the country’s hallowed onsen industry. According to experts, Japan could produce as much as 10% of its power from geothermal sources, up from the current 0.3%. However most owners of onsen — traditional visiting houses prized for their warm baths — have opposed the development of geothermal energy production, fearing it could damage their source of spring water and devastate their businesses. “It’s really important to preserve the Japanese culture of onsen and the identity that is so important to Japan,” the 22nd-generation owner of an onsen told The Washington Post. “But we also need to start promoting clean energy as Japan, so we need to think about creating a new identity.”

Soccer minnows’ first competitive win

San Marino’s national soccer team won its first competitive match. The tiny country in the Italian Alps, with just 33,000 inhabitants — smaller than the village of Addison, Illinois — is the lowest-ranked team in FIFA. Since its first match in 1990, a 0-4 defeat at home to Switzerland, it has played 210 times, losing 198. Its 1-0 win against fellow minnows Liechtenstein is only its second ever win of any kind: Its first, in a friendly, also came against Liechtenstein, 20 years and 140 matches ago. The team has had some memorable moments, though, notably scoring what was at the time the fastest-ever international goal, 8.3 seconds into a 1993 match against England that San Marino went on to lose 7-1.

• US President Joe Biden discusses his “Investing in America” policies in Michigan.
• The US Open tennis finals take place over the weekend.
• British actor Idris Elba turns 52.

Rep. Sean Casten (D-Illinois) and Chris Womack, President and CEO, Southern Company will join Semafor’s editors on Sept. 17 in Washington, DC to examine the importance of reliable energy infrastructure to economic development, and the ways the public and private sectors are working together to protect energy security.

Request your invitation to attend.

​​The share of their assets that US households have allocated in stocks, the highest since data began in 1952. Despite recent wobbles, US stock markets have been on an impressive bull run, with the S&P 500 index achieving more than three dozen record highs so far this year. Today’s jobs reports could in turn have a significant impact on public equities, although many are hopeful that the stock rally will continue for the foreseeable future.

Pitchfork recommends This Is How Tomorrow Moves, the third album by Filipino-English singer Bea Kristi, aka beabadoobee. It is “a more subdued, acoustic version of [the] eager sleepover soundtracks” from her earlier albums, but that’s “to its credit: This Is How Tomorrow Moves’ folk-pop experiments tend to be more impressive than its sweetness.” Listen to This is How Tomorrow Moves on Spotify.

• Ex-Obama economic adviser on the one number the world is waiting for.
• In Congress? Don’t count on a promotion if your presidential candidate wins.
• Blaze fires contributor linked to alleged Russian operation.