Category: Semafor

Australia doubled the maximum penalty imposed on social media companies that fail to comply with the ban on under-16 users, as evidence grew that children are circumventing restrictions. Canberra introduced its first-in-the-world legislation in December, blocking all children from all major platforms. Since then, dozens of other countries have begun ...

US stock indexes on Tuesday closed out their best quarter since 2020, as strong corporate fundamentals outweighed lingering geopolitical risk. “The lesson of the first half of 2026 is that earnings matter more than just about anything, except for maybe interest rates,” an investor said. Chip stocks in particular soared ...

US officials arrived in Qatar for talks on the Iran war, but will meet with mediators, not Iranian negotiators. The lack of direct talks further complicates efforts to find a lasting end to the conflict and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is determined to assert control over the ...

An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a tech tycoon to 10 years in prison in a closely watched graft case. Nadiem Makarim, co-founder of ride-hailing and payments platform Gojek, was convicted on charges that he engaged in a quid pro quo when he purchased more than a million Google Chromebooks ...

The European heatwave is benefiting Chinese air-conditioning makers and e-commerce platforms. On Alibaba’s international retail site, a Midea AC model that debuted this month is completely sold out in Germany, Italy saw a 100% month-on-month jump in sales of cooling appliances and sun-protection apparel, and a French politician ordered Chinese-made ...

The quest to build “sovereign” technology systems is increasingly animating European politics — not because of China, but the US. “The sharp edge of the tech discussion here is actually aimed at the US,” Jacob Kirkegaard, at the Brussels think tank Bruegel, said, remarks echoed by several executives and analysts ...

Liz’s view “Content is king,” Sumner Redstone said as technological shifts upended the media industry in the 1980s. That was the principle ho-hum distributors followed as they joined up with the creative engines of their industries, hoping to capture their glitz, IP, and stock-price multiples. Now, the pendulum is swinging ...

Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier, whose aerospace and defense spinoff began trading on its own Monday, offered another eulogy for the conglomerate model. The sector-spanning corporate empire is “outdated,” Currier told Semafor, reflecting on a past generation of investors that were less sophisticated, had fewer tools like ETFs and prediction ...

China’s crackdown on offshore securities trading hit one of the biggest US trading firms to the tune of $70 million — and shows that (alleged) insider trading hasn’t moved to prediction markets. Susquehanna Investment Group sued 100 unnamed defendants who it says placed suspicious trades before Beijing last month targeted ...

Confusion reigned over whether the US and Iran will hold talks in Doha. Washington said they would meet; Tehran said its representatives would only see Qatari mediators. Iran insists vessels pass through its waters in the Strait of Hormuz as it seeks to maintain the control over the strait it ...