Flagship

Harris calls Trump a ‘fascist’

US Vice President Kamala Harris called Donald Trump, her Republican rival for the presidency, a “fascist” after he reportedly invoked Adolf Hitler in multiple conversations. Trump’s former chief of staff told The New York Times that the ex-president “commented more than once that, ‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too,’” while The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief reported, citing anonymous sources, that Trump said, “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” Trump’s campaign denied that he made either comment. Still, Democrats ramped up their attacks, with Harris saying Trump wanted “unchecked power.” Their efforts were supported by a prominent historian. Asked whether his definition of fascism also described Trumpism, Robert Paxton — who long resisted using the label — replied: “It does.”

Sergio Ermotti, Group CEO, UBS; Vincent Van Peteghem, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Belgium; Ali Zaidi, White House Climate Advisor; Lael Brainard, Director, White House National Economic Council; and Amos Hochstein, Senior Advisor to the President for Energy and Investments, White House, will join the Fall Edition of Semafor’s World Economy Summit.

Hosted in the Gallup Great Hall and spanning four sessions beginning today, Semafor will feature on-the-record interviews on the state of global finance, the future of technology, digital payment infrastructure, and sustainability.

Tune in live for real-time coverage.

Ultrarich impact on US politics

A series of reports pointed to the outsized role rich Americans play in their country’s politics, less than two weeks ahead of presidential elections. The US Justice Department warned Elon Musk, who backs Donald Trump, that his $1 million lottery for voters in battleground states may be illegal, while Bill Gates broke a longstanding policy of staying out of politics by donating $50 million to a nonprofit that supports Kamala Harris. Though both parties have huge war chests — Harris has raised more than $1 billion — “Republicans are confidently selling a case that doesn’t always work with voters: People who’ve gotten rich in the private sector are more qualified to fix the government than almost anybody else,” Semafor’s David Weigel wrote.

Russia’s BRICS balance

Russia trumpeted a successful summit of the BRICS group of mostly emerging economies, but its efforts were undermined by snubs from two Central Asian states. Moscow showcased the talks — which it said were attended by representatives of 36 countries — as evidence that a Western push to isolate it over the Ukraine invasion had failed. But Kazakhstan recently said it does not want to join, while a senior Uzbek official said it would not join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union trade bloc, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Their policies point to the challenge facing countries on Russia’s periphery, who are wary of angering Moscow but fear the repercussions of helping it bypass Western sanctions, a Jamestown Foundation analyst noted.

Germany eyes closer India ties

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives in India today to bolster economic cooperation in a bid to reduce Berlin’s reliance on China. Since the turn of the century, China’s exports to Germany have grown more than tenfold, becoming the latter’s biggest source of imports. However Berlin, stung by the economic fallout of its reliance on Russian gas imports and struggling to boost anemic economic growth, is trying to reduce its dependency on a single country. Some believe India’s close ties to Russia could complicate a strategic partnership with Germany, NDTV reported, but Berlin is hopeful: “India is the litmus test, so to speak. If de-risking China is to work, India is the key to it,” an official at the German Chamber of Commerce told Reuters.

Argentina gets World Bank funding

The World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank agreed to provide Argentina with $8.8 billion in financing, becoming the latest financial institutions to back President Javier Milei’s economic agenda. The move highlights Milei’s rapid pivot from radical to pragmatist: Since becoming president last year, the self-described “anarcho-capitalist” has implemented a largely conventional, if aggressive, austerity program that has led to Argentina’s first primary budget surplus in 16 years and helped bring inflation down. However subsidy cuts — on which a large share of the country’s economy relies — have pushed millions into poverty. But Milei remains undeterred: “We’re setting the bases for strong economic growth,” he said.

Boeing workers reject pay deal

Boeing’s striking workers rejected a pay deal and the company reported a $6 billion loss. The bad news comes on top of a string of disasters, including the recent explosion of one of its satellites. The crisis at Boeing, as well as at fellow US manufacturing giant Intel, represents a national emergency, The Wall Street Journal’s chief economics commentator argued. Their combined market value has halved in five years, and both could go bankrupt. But Intel is the only US company capable of competing with TSMC, and Boeing is the only US manufacturer of large airliners. For the sake of national security, the WSJ said, the two must be bailed out of their own messes.

Nigeria drops Binance charges

Nigeria dropped corruption charges against an executive of the cryptocurrency firm Binance, allowing him to leave the country. Authorities had accused Binance of manipulating exchange rates, part of a national clampdown on crypto as the country’s economic difficulties led Nigerians to try to access overseas currency. Crypto might be largely seen as a glorified Ponzi scheme in the West, but in developing nations it offers a way for citizens to get their money past currency controls: Chinese people have illicitly moved a quarter of a trillion dollars out of the country in the year to June, The Wall Street Journal reported, much of it via crypto as investors try to evade the country’s cratering economy.

Sharp investors know where to find real insights — and they’re in this newsletter. With so many financial newsletters competing for attention, it’s hard to find one that cuts through the noise. That’s where The Daily Upside comes in. Created by a team of Wall Street insiders and bankers, this fresh, insightful newsletter delivers in-depth perspectives that go beyond the usual headlines. Subscribe for free today.

China cracks down on jokes

Beijing launched a crackdown on the wordplay that is one of the few remaining ways Chinese citizens can safely discuss sensitive topics. China’s internet is censored, but users circumvent restrictions with homophones, “paratrooper” (sǎn bīng) instead of “idiot” (shǎ bī), for instance, or in-jokes, such as saying Winnie-the-Pooh to mean Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The Guardian reported that a government campaign is targeting these “irregular and uncivilized” puns: A Communist Party newspaper said they caused “erosion” of socialist values. Memes crop up quickly, so the editorial called for “ambiguous” new words to be banned too: “A wave of bad jokes will have disappeared, and a new wave of bad jokes may be on the way,” it wrote.

Auto braking systems improving

Automatic emergency braking systems are improving. The American Automobile Association tested newer vehicles fitted with AEB systems, which use cameras and other sensors to detect imminent crashes and apply brakes: They found that older, 2018-era models successfully braked before a collision in 51% of cases, while 2024 models did so 100% of the time. The tests were only on relatively low-speed forward collisions, but the improvements are “commendable and promising in improving driver safety,” an AAA executive said. Around 90% of US vehicles have AEB and regulators intend to require more robust versions by 2029. The imminent arrival of full self-driving cars is gaining a lot of attention, but in-car technology is saving lives on US roads already.

Zimbabwe sets cricket record

Zimbabwe set a world record for the highest score in men’s T20 cricket, posting 344 runs for four wickets in their match against The Gambia. Zimbabwe won the World Cup qualifying match by 290 runs. Cricket’s popularity is growing in Africa, driven partly by the rise of shorter formats like the 120-ball, roughly three-hour T20. The sport was introduced by British colonial administrators in the 19th century and some countries, notably Zimbabwe and South Africa, have been major players for some time, but cricket has spread: Now, in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, around 200,000 schoolchildren play it, and cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics has driven further takeup.

• Samoa hosts the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
• Cyclone Dana is expected to make landfall in India’s eastern state of Odisha.
• The Venice Sustainable Fashion Forum begins.

The increase in the annual number of objects launched into space between 2010 and 2023, according to UN data. Satellite launches were rare — just 120 reached orbit in 2010 — until the rise of SpaceX and especially its satellite-internet subsidiary Starlink, which currently operates more than 6,000 active smallsats. China wants to challenge Starlink’s dominance: In August it launched 18 of its own Thousand Sails satellites, and a further 18 last week. It plans to have 1,296 in orbit by 2027 and 12,000 by the 2030s.

Blitz. Steve McQueen’s latest film, which stars Saoirse Ronan, follows Londoners through the Nazis’ aerial bombardment of the city during World War II. “Highlighting the best and worst of humanity with a detailed sweep,” Blitz “feels like a gloriously old-fashioned epic shot through a modern lens,” Total Film wrote in its review. Watch the trailer on YouTube.