Category: Semafor

Saudi Arabia renewed an invitation for Iraq’s prime minister to visit Riyadh, as the two countries try to move past a recent exchange of fire. A planned trip by the Iraqi premier was cancelled at short notice last month, after Iran-backed militias in Iraq launched drones at Saudi energy facilities; ...

Abu Dhabi’s Orbitworks sold capacity on its planned Altair satellite constellation to French space agency CNES, securing a useful endorsement for the UAE’s most significant commercial space venture to date. The first of Orbitworks’ AI-enabled, Earth observation satellites was flown to Los Angeles this month onboard an Emirates plane, ahead ...

Come for the funny videos, stay for the insight into the future of automation. While it’s only in its second year, China’s World Humanoid Robot Games are quickly becoming one of my favorite global tech events. Sure, the clips of robots running into walls are incredible content, but the Olympics-style ...

At a reported $8 billion, Stripe is planning to pay a hefty price for OpenRouter. The aggregator and distributor of AI models raised money just a few months ago at a $1.3 billion valuation. With a deal, OpenRouter’s business could be destined for commoditization, and that’s actually kind of the ...

As the midterms get closer, the White House is confronting another topic instead: internal drama. From speculation about press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s replacement, to coverage of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s wife getting unusually involved at the Pentagon, to further talk about President Donald Trump’s executive assistant, Natalie Harp, this week ...

The News Liberia’s agreement to accept up to 1,200 deportees from the US remains shrouded in mystery a day after the first 20 arrivals landed in Monrovia, leaving many wondering what Liberia is getting in return. The Liberian government has insisted the deal is “not a transaction with a quid ...

The News A fight over drag has broken out in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where Democratic Mayor Paige Cognetti is running for Congress against Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan. It began with a photo of the mayor and a drag queen at the city’s 2025 Pride flag raising. It escalated with the congressman’s ...

The News Nigeria is betting on a grant program to spur the discovery of new commercial mining and processing opportunities as part of a broader strategy to secure a larger share of African mining investment, a government official told Semafor. The Solid Minerals Development Fund, a government agency, will issue ...

The News South Africa’s Absa Group is seeking partnerships with fintechs in a strategy aimed at reaching new customers by embedding its services in apps they already use, a senior executive told Semafor. The strategy marks a pivot under group CEO Kenny Fihla. He hired Sitoyo Lopokoiyit, the former M-Pesa ...

A new Bloomberg analysis quantified the US’ narrowing lead over China in the AI race, showing how Chinese companies are deploying advanced models at a faster pace. The top American AI systems still exceed the capabilities of their Chinese counterparts, according to benchmark testing, but Chinese labs are increasingly winning ...