Category: Semafor

South Africa’s central bank is investigating a fintech firm co-founded and chaired by a senior official in the coalition government’s second-largest party over alleged exchange control violations involving a $220 million offshore transfer. The inquiry into Kastelo, the company founded by the Democratic Alliance’s head of finance Mark Burke, threatens ...

The Scoop L3Harris CEO Chris Kubasik was ousted by his board after an independent probe found he engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an employee, according to two people briefed on the probe. The probe was conducted by the $54 billion defense contractor’s outside law firm, and wrapped up in ...

Qatar’s first electric vehicle factory aims to start production in 2028, following a deal between the local JTA International Investment Holding and British startup Watt Electric Vehicle Company. The agreement will see passenger cars and delivery vans tailored to hot climates made in Qatar, Autocar reported, with an initial run ...

Zambia’s President Hakainde Hichilema took a commanding lead in the general election, putting him on course to secure a second term at the helm of Africa’s second-biggest copper producer. With more than half of the constituencies having reported following last week’s polls, official results showed Hichilema securing roughly 58% of ...

Senegal raised fuel prices by 7% in order to contain the cost of subsidies, underscoring Africa’s vulnerability to foreign energy shocks like the one sparked by the Iran war. The government has spent nearly all of its full-year allocation for fuel subsidies already, after oil prices surpassed the $85 benchmark ...

Capitol Hill progressives are homing in on the “Block the Bombs Act” as they prepare for a potential overhaul of Israel policy under a Democratic majority. The legislation would block certain weapons transfers to Israel and is cosponsored by more than a third of House Democrats. Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. ...

The News Juleanna Glover, a longtime adviser to CEOs navigating Washington, DC, and onetime adviser to Elon Musk, spent the summer of 2020 texting Musk’s phone number to everyone she knew in Joe Biden’s campaign. The Tesla CEO had started to grouse on X about the Democratic nominee, and she ...

OpenAI is announcing the winners of its call for grant proposals to study the economic and societal impact of artificial intelligence, and to develop solutions to address disruptions. According to details shared first with Semafor, recipients include US-based organizations across the political spectrum, like the American Enterprise Institute, the Progressive ...

The News A Ghanaian energy company has raised more than half a billion dollars to fund ongoing natural gas-based power projects and pursue new opportunities in West Africa. Genser Energy secured a €456 million ($527 million) credit package arranged by three of South Africa’s top banks First Rand Bank, Absa ...

Chinese AI startup Zhipu said its new GLM-5.3 model outperformed Anthropic’s Mythos 5 in a key cybersecurity benchmark and closed the gap on coding capabilities, marking the latest Chinese open-weight model to claim parity with the Western AI frontier. Following its last release in June, Zhipu, also known as Z.ai, ...