Category: Semafor

Ukraine has built and tested a low-cost alternative to US Patriot missiles, potentially reducing a shortfall in anti-air interceptor weapons. Patriots cost more than $4 million each and take around two years to build; the Iran war has depleted US stockpiles so far that they will take at least three ...

The number of direct conflicts between states reached its highest level since World War II. The Uppsala Conflict Data Program recorded 65 active conflicts in 2025, of which the number of interstate conflicts doubled to eight — the highest since data collection began in 1946. It also documented a stark ...

The upcoming SpaceX IPO is raising concerns among some investors that the offering will simply be too large for the market to absorb in a healthy way. The market debut on Friday, set to be the largest in history, is more than four times oversubscribed, Bloomberg reported. Stocks fell last ...

Ordinary Chinese investors are turning to digital assets to skirt Beijing’s rules and bet on big US IPOs like SpaceX and OpenAI. The workaround involves cryptocurrency that purportedly has exposure to the underlying stocks, the Financial Times reported, despite Beijing’s ban on converting cash into crypto. There are concerns, though, ...

Yinka’s view When South Africa’s Bafana Bafana kick off against co-host Mexico on Thursday, they will do so as part of the largest African contingent ever to grace a men’s football World Cup. The 10 African countries playing across the US, Canada, and Mexico are part of a development story ...

US inflation hit a three-year high of 4.2% in May, as the Iran war drove up energy prices. Core inflation, removing energy and food prices, inched up to 2.9%. “The frustration for many Americans is that so many of the basics are up in price right now,” an economist told ...

Building data centers in space could be cost-effective by the early 2030s, analysis suggested. Right now, launch costs drive up orbital compute to roughly four times the price of terrestrial, SemiAnalysis wrote. But the cost difference could fall to 30% within five years, and if demand zooms upward, chip supply ...

Roughly 20% to 30% of operating expenses will come from spending on agents versus humans in the next three to four years, according to a new report summarizing the views of C-suite leaders from consultancy Bain & Company. Businesses looking to get a leg up on competitors say they are ...

Roughly 20% to 30% of operating expenses will come from spending on agents versus humans in the next three to four years, according to a new report summarizing the views of C-suite leaders from consultancy Bain & Company. Businesses looking to get a leg up on competitors say they are ...

David’s view As Tom Steyer became the least successful self-funding candidate in modern US political history this week, his initial years in Democratic politics felt like a fever dream. Steyer, who liked to say that he became a hedge fund billionaire “by accident,” joined Democratic politics at the start of ...