Category: Semafor

The News As his Iran war causes economic shock and his Hill clashes with his party continue, President Donald Trump is throwing himself a massive 80th birthday celebration. Trump is set to mark the moment with a $60 million-plus UFC match on the South Lawn. Its massive scale speaks to ...

Saudi Arabia’s Growth Catalyst raised $96 million to back companies in the kingdom, making it one of the first private sector investors to close a fundraising round since the onset of the Iran war. The firm is aiming to more than double the size of the fund over the next ...

The United Arab Emirates has become the main destination for conflict minerals from the Central African Republic, placing Dubai at the center of a lucrative trade in gold and diamonds tied to armed groups and foreign smuggling networks, according to a new investigation. Almost all of CAR’s officially declared gold ...

Amazon has applied for approval to build its first African satellite ground station in Kenya, putting it in competition with SpaceX as governments across the continent tighten their control over fast-growing satellite internet services. For global operators, Africa’s youthful population and patchy broadband networks offer a mix of scale and ...

Alexis’s view The Ebola outbreak unfolding in Central Africa is the 17th to hit the country since the virus was discovered in 1976 — but it’s the first since the artificial intelligence boom, and the technology is already showing its potential value. The biggest challenge posed by the latest outbreak ...

The News DR Congo’s sports minister said US Ebola travel restrictions are going “too far” after they kept him waiting in Europe under a 21-day entry rule and forced changes to his country’s first World Cup plans in 52 years. “All our players play in European competitions. They have not ...

Switzerland will vote this weekend in a referendum on whether to cap its population at 10 million. The Alpine country’s population has increased 23% to 9.1 million since 2002, when it agreed to ease travel restrictions with the EU. If successful, it will be the world’s first explicit population cap. ...

Hosts Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in a promising opening game of the men’s soccer World Cup. The tournament has been beset with fears over seat pricing and turnout, but the Azteca stadium was full and in carnival mode, with beer and paper sombreros raining from the stands. Concerns about ...

The Scoop OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was expected to visit Abu Dhabi this weekend but called it off, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, as the ChatGPT maker, which has deep ties to the UAE, prepares for its public market debut. Uncertainty pervaded the potential visit, ...

The News Elon Musk is set to become the world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX goes public today in the biggest IPO in history. Musk’s confidants and colleagues will get a lot richer, too. The company sold $75 billion worth of shares at $135 a piece, valuing it at $1.77 trillion ...