Category: Semafor

by Colm Tóibín. Deep in the Pyrenees mountains, a young man, Miquel, struggles in the wake of his mother’s death in a snowstorm — a tragic event that was at the center of Tóibín’s 2006 novella, . One year after her passing, Miquel wrestles with grief, desire, and the weight ...

US economic data may still be humming along, but consumer companies like Nespresso say they’ve had to try harder to convince shoppers to pony up hundreds of dollars for coffee makers. “We really know about our consumers that they’re facing pressure and impact on their wallets as gas prices rise,” ...

Google has once again avoided being broken up, despite a formal finding that it has operated an illegal monopoly. A federal judge agreed with prosecutors that Google had rigged the way its customers buy online ads but stopped short of forcing the company to sell the business. It followed a ...

Liz’s view The NBA just showed corporate wrist-slappers how it’s done. The SEC, CFTC, OSHA, EPA, etc. should take some notes. The penalty handed to the Los Angeles Clippers is the best I’ve seen as a reporter covering companies that sometimes behave badly. The Clippers will forfeit their next five ...

Tech firms are scrambling to reduce the threat of AI-driven bioterrorism, the Financial Times reported. AI models are increasingly powerful bioscience tools, already speeding up drug discovery. But as with cybersecurity, those capabilities are dual-use: Information used to make a vaccine can also “create a bioweapon,” one Google DeepMind researcher ...

Wael’s view Saudi Arabia’s deepest crude discount since the pandemic points to deeper divisions within the world’s most important oil group, and potentially to Riyadh’s mounting anxiety about losing market share. Saudi Aramco has priced its flagship Arab Light crude for Asian buyers at its widest discount since June 2020: ...

The Scoop Saudi Arabia’s leading AI firm HUMAIN will launch a large venture capital fund — potentially even bigger than a planned $10 billion vehicle — this year, the company’s chief executive told Semafor, as it looks to position the kingdom at the forefront of the technology. Buoyed by its ...

US President Donald Trump imposed up to 100% tariffs on drones, targeting Chinese-made models in particular over national security concerns. China’s DJI alone accounts for more than 70% of the global market, and US law enforcement uses its devices to track wildfires and find missing persons. But drones are also ...

Ukraine’s former defense minister is launching a military tech company backed by Palantir CEO Alex Karp, a decision that risks alienating Kyiv’s European backers. Since US President Donald Trump scuttled aid to Ukraine, European countries have emerged as the country’s main supporters, including with a €90 billion ($104 billion) package ...

Uber announced Wednesday that it will axe 10% of its global corporate workforce in its biggest cuts since the pandemic, as the ride-sharing firm contends with the threat from robotaxis. The bid to become “simpler and faster” will generate more savings to plough into Uber’s autonomous driving push, CEO Dara ...