Category: Semafor

The News NORWAY, Maine – Susan Collins and Joe Manchin arrived right on time – Maine’s Republican senator and West Virginia’s last Democratic senator, in matching red fleece, making a cheerful Wednesday stop a New Balance factory. Collins celebrated how she’d helped the “best shoemakers in the world” ink a ...

Silicon Valley has decided to build a better dog. Warhound, a new defense technology company, has launched with $200 million in seed funding from investors including Sequoia Capital to create dogs genetically engineered for military use. The company is a collab between Anduril and Colossal Biosciences, the biotech startup looking ...

The Scoop Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign is launching a new TV ad with a unique approach: spotlighting conservative pundits’ praise for the progressive — and criticism of GOP nominee Mike Rogers. The new ad will get a six-figure buy, according to details shared first with Semafor. It ...

The News Casino operators and sports betting companies have spent record amounts on campaign donations and on lobbying in Washington thus far this year, hoping it will help win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away. Sportsbook operators, including FanDuel and DraftKings, have funneled ...

Israeli authorities locked down the city of Hebron after a gun attack just days ahead of a tight vote in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is battling for reelection. The leading parties in next week’s election were in a dead heat, a new poll showed, though both are short of ...

The News South Africa has proposed a new fiscal law in an attempt to shield its public finances from future populist governments as the treasury’s current projections show debt is set to decline for the first time in nearly two decades. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana framed it as protecting “hard-won ...

Matthew’s view Just four years ago, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was at the peak of his powers. He was feted by the Chinese president and snubbed the US president, all while sitting atop a gusher of oil wealth that allowed him to pour money into trying to turn ...

Israel and Iran ramped up their rhetoric against one another, raising the prospect of a return to open conflict in the Middle East. The US-Israel war with Iran has been dormant for months, beyond sporadic flareups, with Washington and Tehran concentrating on controlling shipping traffic. Israel’s prime minister, who faces ...

French authorities readied a heavy security presence ahead of planned weekend protests, aiming to head off instability that has called into question the country’s long-term economic prospects. Demonstrations last week erupted into violence, including mass looting and cars being set alight, resulting in more than 2,000 arrests. The unrest has ...

Partisan actors are gaming AI platforms to regurgitate misleading information ahead of critical elections in Brazil, Israel, and the US. Cybersecurity firms identified thousands of AI-generated websites purporting to be local US news sites, but “the sites are not written for voters,” one firm noted: “They are written for the ...