Category: Semafor

Ukraine said it had struck 11 Russian vessels on the Sea of Azov, choking off a waterway that has become vital for Moscow. Russia ships vast amounts of oil, steel, and grain through the Kerch Strait to the Black Sea, but traffic has slowed to a trickle in recent days ...

China’s economy expanded 4.3% year-on-year in Q2, the lowest rate since the end of 2022, as the Iran war, lackluster domestic demand, and a lingering real estate slump weighed on growth. Though the country’s exports have been churning along at an extraordinary pace — China shipped a record $412 billion ...

The Scene Soccer fans in Saudi Arabia have been unable to legally watch World Cup matches, after restrictions were placed on the Qatar-owned platform that holds the exclusive regional broadcasting rights. It’s unclear why the kingdom — which is preparing to host the 2034 World Cup — has blocked access. ...

DeepSeek could reportedly file for an IPO as soon as this year, joining its rivals in capitalizing on investor enthusiasm for low-cost Chinese tech. The AI powerhouse is also considering raising new funds, weeks after completing its first financing round that valued the company at $52 billion. Other Chinese AI ...

New York’s data center moratorium, announced Tuesday, signals growing mainstream political pushback to unchecked AI growth in the US. The move puts a one-year suspension on construction of large-scale facilities in the state and is the first of its kind in the US, which is seeing a rapid AI infrastructure ...

The Chinese Communist Party purged another top official Tuesday, as Xi Jinping intensifies his anti-corruption drive. Ma Xingrui is the third Politburo member expelled since 2025 from the party’s top echelon, whose members previously enjoyed some impunity but now “drop like bowling pins,” a China-focused academic told The New York ...

US President Donald Trump backed off a plan to charge a 20% toll in the Strait of Hormuz, a day after a White House official told Semafor that Trump was “very serious” about the fee. Analysts were skeptical about the proposal, as it would double the cost of moving oil ...

The five largest US banks reported blockbuster earnings on Tuesday, owing to geopolitical uncertainty and technological upheaval that caused a trading frenzy. SpaceX’s historic IPO last month contributed to their collective $49 billion in profits, which shattered records. Market volatility often benefits trading divisions on Wall Street, but unlike in ...

Tariff refunds are squeezing the federal budget. The US paid out $26 billion more in refunds than it collected in June after a February Supreme Court decision struck down most of the Trump administration’s levies, contributing to a widening $120 billion monthly deficit. The White House justified tariffs partly as ...

It might be tempting to dismiss IBM’s early profit warning — its first since the early 2000s — as a misstep by a tech company stuck in an earlier era, rather than an indictment of the software sector or a broader economic warning bell. But CEO Arvind Krishna’s comments paint ...