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Voters ready for Trump-Harris debate

US Vice President Kamala Harris and ex-President Donald Trump will today meet in their only confirmed debate, a faceoff that could transform a tight race. Both contenders have spent weeks preparing, and millions are expected to tune in. Trump will likely look to “overwhelm the Democrat with negative attacks,” while Harris has a history of putting a “relentless focus on Trump’s record,” Semafor’s Principals newsletter noted. Some voters have already had enough of the election, though, and are “avoiding it at all costs,” The Wall Street Journal reported: “They are canceling subscriptions, deleting apps, silencing notifications and unfollowing rabble-rousers,” to avoid the stress and anger caused by polarized politics.

Apple unveils AI iPhone

Apple unveiled its first mobile device capable of handling artificial intelligence. The company is banking on the iPhone 16 helping it catch up to rivals Samsung and Google in the race to roll out AI on phones, and its announcement came hours before Chinese giant Huawei announced a trifold device that will also boast AI features. Apple’s sheer scale could help it make up any lost ground: Its 2023 revenue was roughly equivalent to the entire economy of Denmark, and its digital services sales alone topped the income of Netflix, Airbnb, X, Spotify, and Zoom — combined. The company is not without challenges, though: A European court today ruled that Apple must pay $14 billion in back taxes.

Ukraine mounts huge Russia attack

Ukraine mounted its biggest aerial assault on Moscow yet, killing at least one person and forcing the Russian capital’s airports to cancel flights. The offensive came amid intensifying signs of domestic frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his invasion of Ukraine: The CIA director said this weekend that a recent push by Kyiv to take control of territory in western Russia had “raised questions… across the Russian elite about where is this all headed,” while separate reports suggested support for Putin among the broader populace may be softening. An artificial intelligence-driven study indicated growing anger online over the war, while a survey by a Russian state-owned pollster showed Putin’s approval rating fell by a record amount last month.

US-China green shoots

US and Chinese commanders in Asia held their first video call, a sign of thawing military tensions. US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed last year to resume military-to-military communication to avoid accidental conflict. Washington said the exchange was “constructive” but urged Beijing to reduce “dangerous, coercive and potentially escalatory” behavior in the South China Sea. The two countries showed hints of improved relations elsewhere: Their representatives attended a summit in Seoul establishing guidelines for the military use of AI, and negotiations to renew a scientific cooperation pact have resumed, with sources telling Nature that an agreement should be reached soon.

Gulf ambitions on display

The Gulf’s growing geopolitical ambitions are on display in a string of high-profile meetings this week. China’s premier is visiting both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, while Russia’s foreign minister held talks with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on the sidelines of a regional summit. Though they are allies, Beijing and Moscow have differing priorities in their relations with the Gulf, with the former prioritizing deepening economic ties, and the latter keen to promote military ones, a Wilson Center expert noted. Beyond diplomacy, Riyadh is also hosting a huge global artificial intelligence conference, underlining the region’s desire to play a major role in the technology’s development.

Europe climate darling struggles

The Swedish battery maker Northvolt said it would lay off staff and get rid of some facilities, hit by sluggish demand for electric vehicles in Europe. The announcement marks a fall from grace for a startup darling that had been one of the region’s great hopes in climate tech — an industry largely dominated by the US and China. The cuts appeared to confirm fears outlined in a report published this week by a former European Central Bank chief warning that the continent risks an “agonizing decline” and social unrest unless it invests and bolsters economic growth: “We are now living in an age in which a high-tech race has left Europe behind,” a recent edition of EuroIntelligence warned.

Brazil suffers record drought

Brazil is grappling with its worst drought since measurements began, causing the water level of the Amazon River to drop to a record low. The drought — which has affected 60% of the country, an area roughly half the size of the US — has in turn sparked wildfires, drastically reducing air quality in cities including São Paulo. Climate change and El Niño, a warm-weather pattern, have led to the dry seasons starting earlier in much of South America, while also shortening rainy seasons. “The apocalypse has arrived,” the resident of a city mired in toxic air wrote on X.

Mark Ein, Venture Capitalist, Entrepreneur, and Limited Partner, Washington Commanders, and Lori Kalani, Chief Responsible Gaming Officer, DraftKings will join Semafor’s editors in Washington, DC on Sep. 19 for a discussion on the growth and trajectory of the US gaming industry.

Deadly flooding in Chad

Weeks of severe flooding in Chad have killed more than 300 people and affected upwards of 1.5 million, the United Nations said. Chad and other nations of the Sahel — a semi-arid region that straddles the Sahara Desert — are among the world’s most vulnerable to climate change and the erratic weather it causes. They are also among the poorest and least able to adapt. In recent years, the country has also been hit by devastating droughts and locust plagues, destroying the livelihood of a broad share of the population. Meanwhile growing political unrest has displaced millions across the Sahel, which has become one of the world’s most inhospitable and unstable regions.

Ocean garbage patch could be cleared

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch could be cleared in a decade, an environmental nonprofit said. An estimated 79,000 tons of garbage, carried by ocean currents, are floating at a point between California and Hawaii. The Ocean Cleanup, which deploys ships with huge U-shaped floating barriers to scoop up trash, has removed about 0.5% of the sprawl in its three years of operation. It said that at current rates of extraction it could complete the job by 2034 at a cost of $7.5 billion — but that a more aggressive approach could reduce both cost and time. Putting the cost into context, the group noted that the US spends $10 billion annually on Halloween decorations.

Space missions move forward

Two groundbreaking space missions took steps towards completion. SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn, which will take humans further from Earth than any rocket since the Apollo program and be the first private mission to conduct a spacewalk, blasted off this morning. And NASA’s Europa Clipper should set off for Jupiter’s moons on schedule, aiming to see if Europa’s ice-covered ocean could harbor life: Engineers were concerned that its electronics lacked adequate radiation shielding, which would have meant a significant overhaul. Visits to distant worlds rely on particular alignments of planets, so the mission has just a 21-day launch window: Otherwise, it would be over a year before it could try again.

• Polls open in Jordan’s parliamentary elections.
• The EU’s foreign policy chief meets Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.
• Ahir Shah: Ends, an award-winning comedy show, airs on Netflix.

The number of electric-vehicle charging stations in the US. The figure has doubled since 2021, and the federal government pledged $500 million to build more. Progress is slower than President Joe Biden’s target of 500,000 new chargers by 2030 requires, but zero-carbon technology is on the rise: The US Energy Information Administration said that more than 20 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity and battery storage were added to the country’s grid in the first half of this year, enough to power at least 15 million homes at full output. New battery capacity outstripped new natural gas capacity tenfold, Ars Technica noted.

Claudine, starring James Earl Jones. The baritone-voice actor died Monday aged 93, and while some people will remember him for voiceover work in sci-fi flicks, the film critic David Rooney in The Hollywood Reporter would rather look back to this 1974 comedy-drama, “a lovely film, bittersweet and funny, with two incandescent lead performances” from Jones and Diahann Carroll, which “bucked the Blaxploitation trend of the time to consider the hopes and dreams of ordinary Black Americans, struggling with poverty, the indignities of welfare and systemic inequality.” Watch the trailer on YouTube.

• No breathing room between Harris and Trump ahead of the presidential debate.
• A mysterious influencer network pushed sexual smears of Harris.
• China’s deflation risk rises as Beijing struggles to spark consumer confidence.