Semafor

Malawi launched a nationwide crackdown on fuel hoarders and black market sellers as the nation struggles with shortages that have left truckers queuing for up to a week and bus fares doubling on some routes.

DR Congo’s former President Joseph Kabila has formed a new rebel movement incorporating Rwanda-backed forces, openly taking charge of the insurgency despite US sanctions against him.

The IMF raised its 2026 growth forecast for sub-Saharan Africa to 4.5%, cementing its position as one of the world’s fastest growing regions.

Tokenmaxxing may have been the shortest-lived corporate try-hard hustle in history, but many of Wall Street’s year-end bonuses still hinge on AI use.

The Scoop Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is preparing to inform organizers of the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup that it plans to drop five new stadiums it proposed to build to host the tournament, according to people familiar with the matter.

AI agents, meet double agents.

A little-noticed deal this week for senior-care clinics is the first shot fired in a Wall Street turf battle.

Spain’s king said his country’s control of exclaves in Africa was “non-negotiable,” after the cities became flashpoints in territorial disputes with Morocco and Europe’s anti-immigration debate.

India cracked down further on anti-government protests that have grown substantially in recent months, escalating from attacking the authorities over education to frustration with what critics see as broader threats to the country’s democracy.

Iran-backed Houthi fighters reportedly hit the headquarters of Saudi Arabia’s national oil company in overnight strikes, stoking a conflict that risks spiralling into a wider war.

The threat of a worker’s strike — which has since been averted — at Chile’s La Escondida, the world’s biggest copper mine, sent prices for the metal near record levels, underscoring the Latin American country’s growing role in the industry.

The CEO of ASML, the world’s only provider of the machines that make cutting-edge chips, said AI demand would outstrip supply for years to come, easing investors’ worries of a spending bubble.

Chinese exports jumped 36% year-on-year in September, a bumper figure that is likely to vex the country’s trade partners, who have demanded Beijing address imbalances and alleged domestic overproduction.

The News Kenyan investors hoping to participate in the Dangote refinery initial public offering now have access through a financial instrument being used for cross-border African investment for the first time on Nairobi’s bourse.

Wael’s view In June 2008, I sat in a Jeddah Hilton conference room packed with ministers from more than 100 countries waiting for King Abdullah to arrive.

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s deal to deliver Russian diesel to global markets may be sending shockwaves through the GOP — but don’t expect it to do the same to prices.

Europe made a “historic” blunder by caving to the Trump administration on tariffs during Trump’s second term, the former Canadian trade minister who helped negotiate the US-Mexico-Canada deal during the first Trump administration told Semafor.

All eyes are on the first meeting of the White House’s AI task force this week as groups and members of Congress try to influence the newly formed body.

President Donald Trump is downplaying the idea of cutting off intelligence-sharing with Ukraine, telling reporters yesterday that the US is still sharing intelligence and that “we help them” — while emphasizing that his goal is to see an end to Russia’s y…

Senate Democrats’ top super PAC is pouring nearly $7 million more into two major races, according to details shared first with Semafor.

AI may soon be able to self-replicate across internet-connected personal devices in homes, Anthropic warned, raising the possibility of so-called “botnets” that would be difficult to stamp out.

The IMF warned that “zombie companies” — whose earnings haven’t covered interest payments for at least three years — now comprise more than a fifth of Asia’s outstanding corporate debt, potentially posing a systemic risk.

Bumble agreed to a $1.3 billion acquisition Tuesday that would take the dating app private, after years of falling revenue amid a shift in online dating habits.

Iran and Russia are escalating their hybrid warfare campaigns against the UK, the head of MI5 warned Tuesday.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said he plans to unveil $2 billion in new European investments next week, as the continent’s economic prospects get a boost from AI.

Ukraine’s leader said he received no advance warnings from Western partners before a Russian missile strike on Tuesday, days after Washington threatened to stop intelligence sharing in a bid to force Kyiv to abide by an energy ceasefire.

The Scoop Lenders are feeling maxed out on data-center debt.

President Donald Trump is ramping up his midterm travel this week, hitting five states as he looks to boost GOP base turnout ahead of a likely tough election night for Republicans.

The battle for Congress is shifting deeper into red territory as both parties deem some races essentially over.

Oil prices ticked down on Tuesday as Saudi oil executives sought to reassure the market following a major attack on the capital’s airport.

Tim’s view The contradictory tangle of energy policy actions taken by US President Donald Trump toward Russia over the weekend risks repeating mistakes that he and his allies often slammed his predecessor for.

It took 58 years for a pioneering Jeddah schoolhouse show to reach Frieze Masters in London.

The News Inflation tied to the AI boom is “jumping out of its lane” and starting to push up prices in unrelated corners of the economy, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said.

The Houthis firing missiles at Riyadh are not just Iranian proxies — they’re heirs to a 1,000-year-old Zaydi imamate that ruled northern Yemen on and off until the modern state was established in 1962.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia accounted for almost 90% of the $2.98 billion that regional startups raised in the first nine months of the year, according to venture capital tracker MAGNiTT.

The IMF cut its 2026 growth forecasts across the Gulf and now expects the Middle East and North Africa to be the only region in the world to shrink this year.

Powerful hurricanes killed several people and left thousands without power in the US and Mexico, as experts warned that this year’s supercharged El Niño risked making storms longer and more destructive.

Key watchdogs indicated they would step up regulation of AI, though the technology’s superpowers — the US and China — showed little indication of increasing their own scrutiny.

US home sales plunged to a 12-year low after mortgage rates topped 7%, driven by soaring global borrowing costs.

Tech stocks fell on concerns that a historic surge in AI-related shares may be turning, as investors questioned the financing of the huge buildout underway.

The global economy will grow more this year than previously expected, the International Monetary Fund said, with booming investment in AI outweighing a fast-growing debt pile — for now.

Andy’s view The Australian sinologist Geremie R.

More Americans believe that the Democratic Party is better positioned than the GOP to ensure the US remains prosperous and to protect the nation against terror attacks, according to new Gallup polling that underscores Democrats’ advantage on image ahead of

The newly minted Super Intelligence Task Force is telling AI companies to report and immediately remediate any instances of rogue behavior involving their products, a rare effort by the Trump administration to exert more power over the firms developing the

Kimberly Guilfoyle’s future as US ambassador to Greece is in question following misconduct allegations, multiple sources tell Semafor.

Ben’s view On May 13, 2022, then-White House Middle East envoy Brett McGurk asked his boss how he liked his job.

The News New controversies concerning the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement and foreign lobbying aren’t steering Democrats away from their focus on affordability in the final three weeks before the midterms.

Drivers in three key swing states are about to see even more billboards blaming President Donald Trump for rising prices, according to details shared first with Semafor.

More than 5% of equipment and materials supplied to US chipmakers originate in China, which also possesses some 90% of the rare earths required to manufacture semiconductors, a new report showed.

Meta released its latest Muse model on Monday, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company had reached the “frontier” of AI capabilities.