‘We have to increase taxes on the wealthy’: Steve Bannon
A massive, embattled copper mine in Panama turns to Trump for rescue
Semafor Recommends
- Vampire horror remake Nosferatu — which draws on Bram Stoker’s classic, Dracula — is “a cryptic, beautiful and unsettling experience,” one critic wrote.
- The Striker and the Clock: On Being in the Game, by Georgia Cloepfil, an autobiography of a “journeywoman career across six countries,” is “an incredible feat of formally adventurous storytelling,” says Literary Hub.
- RaMell Ross’ film adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel Nickel Boys, is “faithful” to the original text “but draws additional power from its decidedly unusual filmmaking choices,” according to Kirkus Reviews.
- The anthology series Zeit Verbrechen, based on stories covered by a Die Zeit true crime podcast, is “ambivalent and opaque,” a Der Speigel reviewer wrote.
- Ædnan, by Linnea Axelsson and translated by Saskia Vogel, follows three generations of the Indigenous Sami people of Norway as they try to preserve a way of life challenged by modernity, was named one of Paris Review’s best books of 2024.
Democrats warn of ‘President Elon’ – and Republicans welcome him
An anti-billionaire message gets its first, early test.
Republicans’ troubles are only just beginning
Even if Donald Trump’s party can avoid a serious government shutdown, its week of struggle foreshadows a difficult 2025.
Kyrsten Sinema: The exit interview
The retiring Arizona Independent talked to Semafor about her reputation as an ‘enigma’ and her Senate legacy after a productive, if polarizing, six years.
After helping to elect Trump, Musk turns his gaze to Europe
The world’s richest person has voiced his support for far-right parties across Europe.
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New Congress members own more than $3.8 million in tech stocks
At a critical time for tech regulation, elected leaders collectively own portfolios worth millions in the industries they will oversee.
Thailand hosts regional leaders in latest push to end Myanmar conflict
Myanmar’s neighbors and the ASEAN bloc met to discuss peace talks and the possibility of elections in 2025.
Immigration is increasingly unpopular, even as labor forces depend on it
International migration can relieve some of the demographic pressures of declining birthrates in countries with aging populations.
politics
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Nathan Howard/Reuters
Brian Snyder/File Photo/Reuters
Trump allies blame Johnson after spending bill drama
Donald Trump is privately frustrated after the bill passed without his debt ceiling demand.
Congress steers away from a damaging shutdown
The government will open as usual Monday morning, but not without costs to Republican unity.
The third annual Americana Awards
Americana’s Dave Weigel selects the best and worst of DC IN 2024.
‘We have to increase taxes on the wealthy’: Steve Bannon
Steve Bannon talks about populism, the Trump agenda, and which Republicans need to lose.
Democrats warn of ‘President Elon’ – and Republicans welcome him
An anti-billionaire message gets its first, early test.
Republicans’ troubles are only just beginning
Even if Donald Trump’s party can avoid a serious government shutdown, its week of struggle foreshadows a difficult 2025.
US lawmakers want private sector to provide internet to people in authoritarian states
A bipartisan letter name-checks companies like Boeing and SpaceX, arguing that providing satellite internet in troubled regions would help advance human rights.
GOP lawmakers urge Trump to replace all US attorneys
The move would ensure Biden-era prosecutors don’t automatically rise in the ranks to fill the slots of outgoing US attorneys while new ones are considered.
More Americans want quick end to Ukraine war, new Gallup survey finds
Half of US adults now back Washington trying to end the conflict as quickly as possible, even if it means Ukraine ceding territory to Russia.
Kyrsten Sinema: The exit interview
The retiring Arizona Independent talked to Semafor about her reputation as an ‘enigma’ and her Senate legacy after a productive, if polarizing, six years.
JD Vance, Trump’s Capitol Hill ‘diplomat’
The 40-year-old junior senator from Ohio emerged this week as a leading congressional emissary for the president-elect.
business
Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/Reuters
US bond yields surge to decade high after Fed rate cut
It wasn’t just stock investors who reacted to Wednesday’s interest rate cut as bond yields jumped the highest in one day since 2013.
Elliott-backed life insurer draws takeover interest in Wall Street’s hottest corner
A deal for $23 billion Prosperity would continue a gold rush for Americans’ nest eggs.
Amazon strike caps year marked by US labor unions
The strike, which involves thousands of workers at Amazon facilities throughout the country, is considered the Teamster union’s biggest action against the tech giant yet.
Semafor launches ‘The CEO Signal,’ the world’s most exclusive membership for global business leaders
Led by veteran former Financial Times editor Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, The CEO Signal will debut as a multiplatform initiative from Semafor Business in January 2025.
Fed trims interest rates in third straight cut this year
Central bank officials also reined in their projections for 2025.
technology
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Carlos Barria/Reuters
YouTube launching new tools to help celebrities manage AI copycats
The tools will allow celebrities to manage videos that use technology to recreate their appearance, and request its removal.
Google unveils its first Gemini 2.0 ‘reasoning’ AI model
The model, called Flash Thinking, uses techniques pioneered by OpenAI’s o1 model, breaking prompts into steps and “thinking over” the answers.
New Congress members own more than $3.8 million in tech stocks
At a critical time for tech regulation, elected leaders collectively own portfolios worth millions in the industries they will oversee.
Mobile pioneers say they’ll make ‘agentic AI’ a reality with new platform
The founders of /dev/agents want to upend the smartphone world again, this time through AI personal assistants for everyone.
TikTok is taking its fight to the US Supreme Court
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is pulling every lever he has to overturn the US ban on his social media platform.
Databricks co-founder offers $1 million prize to solve AI coding problems
Andy Konwinski is offering the hefty prize to anyone who can get an open source AI model to score up to 90% on a benchmark that tests coding ability.
net zero
Tarina Rodriguez/Reuters
China Daily/File Photo/Reuters 
Issei Kato/Reuters
A massive, embattled copper mine in Panama turns to Trump for rescue
Economic competition between the US and China is playing out in Latin America’s mineral mines.
Unburned US coal piles up as global demand soars
The country’s annual burn rate is falling every year as it prioritizes the green energy transition, leaving millions of tonnes of coal sitting at power plants.
Experts question Biden’s parting energy shot at Trump
A long-awaited federal study on gas exports has divided opinions.
gulf
A view of solar panels in Germany. Wikimedia Commons.
Oman accelerates solar ambitions, with plans to double capacity by 2030
Oman is ramping up renewable energy efforts to reduce domestic hydrocarbon consumption and fuel its green hydrogen ambitions.
Dubai-based logistics firm DP World starts work on $1.2B Senegal port
The UAE company committed $2 billion over the next five years to strengthen its presence in Africa.
Qatar crushes reckless driving — literally
The country’s Ministry of Interior posted a video on X showing a vehicle that had violated traffic rules being fed into a car crusher machine.
Private credit funds and banks are fueling the Gulf fintech boom
The trend is a welcome shift, as global funds actively invest in local growth opportunities instead of just raising capital from regional sovereign funds.
China wins $202M excavation contract in Riyadh as Saudi construction booms
A real estate consultancy projects Saudi Arabia’s construction market will become the world’s largest by 2028 as the kingdom diversifies away from oil.
africa
Jonny Hogg/File Photo/Reuters
Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images
DR Congo lodges criminal complaint against Apple
DR Congo has filed a criminal complaint against Apple in France and Belgium over the tech giant’s alleged use of conflict minerals in its supply chain.
Kenya to review visa-free policy
Kenya’s government will review its visa-free policy after the country plummeted in an index that measures accessibility to visitors.
Nigeria’s Tinubu unveils “ambitious” budget
Nigeria’s President Bola Tinubu presented a 47.9 trillion naira ($30 billion) budget for 2025.
Ethiopia to allow foreign banks to operate
Ethiopian lawmakers have passed long-planned legislation to allow foreign banks to operate in the country.
Nigerians struggle with the ongoing impact of inflation, devaluation
Nigerians are struggling with runaway inflation driven by the double whammy of a significant rise in fuel costs and the devaluation of the naira.
Ghana Supreme Court paves way for severe anti-LGBT bill
If it passes, the law would be among the most punitive of its kind on the African continent toward LGBT people.
media
Mixed Signals: What digital media’s most notorious scandal says about the business
On Monday, Carlos Watson, the founder of Ozy Media, was sentenced to nearly 10 years —116 months — in prison for fraud.
Kamala Harris’ digital chief on Democrats ‘losing hold of culture’
Deputy campaign manager Rob Flaherty discusses Harris’ 2024 media strategy.
Cloudy skies at Bluesky
More and more journalists have joined the platform — including Jesse Singal, who some users want to ban.
Axios braces for future Trump legal action
News organizations are trying to prep for the incoming Trump administration.
More YouTube viewers are watching on their TVs
Viewers watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices, the company told Semafor.
security
Thailand’s Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa. Chalinee Thirasupa/Reuters
Firas Makdesi/Reuters
Kim Soo-hyeon/Reuters
Thailand hosts regional leaders in latest push to end Myanmar conflict
Myanmar’s neighbors and the ASEAN bloc met to discuss peace talks and the possibility of elections in 2025.
What Syria’s new leaders can learn from the Arab Spring
Past efforts in Arab countries to overthrow the ruling government hold crucial lessons for the Syrians who have now achieved the same, analysts said.
South Korea faces power vacuum amid deepening political crisis
Analysts fear a weakened government could affect South Korea’s trade and security, weeks before US President-elect Donald Trump’s return to office.
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