About Semafor
In this new interconnected world, journalism needs to deliver common facts to divergent audiences. Our biggest stories, and greatest crises, are now global: from climate change to pandemics, rising inequality to supply chain disruption, political instability to the influence of social media. Yet global trust in the media is at an all-time low. A new moment requires new thinking.
Enter Semafor. The world’s first news platform designed to meet the moment we are in. Providing audiences with an unparalleled level of journalistic transparency through innovative new forms, cutting through the noise of the news cycle with smart, distilled views and exploring competing perspectives across borders for a curious, new global audience.
Join us and make sense of a complex world with a news source you can trust.
A tale of two jets: The old media grapples with its new limits
Trump’s victory isn’t a result of a failure by news outlets to sufficiently hold him accountable. The real answer is one that is a lot more uncomfortable to grapple with: The national news media is more limited in its reach and influence than ever in the modern era.
For the third presidential contest in a row, the legacy news media — represented by newspapers, television networks, magazines, and cable news networks — spent months publishing and airing neutral to overwhelmingly negative news coverage of the former president. And for the second of those three instances, a majority of American voters largely ignored the implicit and explicit warnings of that coverage — if they saw it at all — and voted Trump into office.
at a Glance
Kuwait limits foreign property ownership
Kuwait is tightening property ownership rules for non-Gulf Arabs while expanding rights for Gulf Cooperation Council citizens, as it grapples with the region’s least affordable housing market.
The new regulations impose strict conditions on non-GCC buyers: They must live in Kuwait for 10 years before purchasing a house, have a clean criminal record, and obtain approval from the Kuwaiti Council of Ministers. Heirs inheriting property must sell within a year unless granted an exemption.
Former Kuwaitis, non-Arabs, and stateless individuals — known as “Bidoon” in Kuwait — can’t buy property, in contrast to other Gulf countries, which have been luring foreign investors to their real estate markets.
Israeli finance minister says ‘time has come to apply sovereignty’ to West Bank
Israel’s finance minister said Monday that his department is preparing to “apply sovereignty” over the West Bank.
Speaking at a meeting of his far-right Religious Zionism party, Bezalel Smotrich said that “now the time has come to apply sovereignty over” the territory, and hailed Donald Trump’s reelection to the US presidency as creating “an important opportunity.” Smotrich suggested a move to annex the territory could come as soon as next year.
Smotrich, who is also responsible for Israel’s Civil Administration which oversees the country’s presence in the West Bank, said he had directed the Defense Ministry to prepare the infrastructure needed to make the move, The Jerusalem Post reported.
COP29 opens with low expectations for major agreements
The COP29 climate conference opened in Azerbaijan on Monday, aiming to establish a new climate financing target that involves thrashing out how much developed nations should pay developing ones to adapt to climate change.
The annual summit faces multiple challenges this year: Many G7 leaders have dropped out of attending, including US President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while several reports have surfaced that appear to show COP29’s chief executive touting the potential for fossil fuel deals during the talks.
On Monday the UN warned 2024 will be the hottest year on record.
Bitcoin soars over $80K for the first time as crypto hopes surge
The price of one Bitcoin hit more than $82,000 Monday after reaching a record $80,000 for the first time Sunday, a rise fueled by the election of Donald Trump and more than a dozen new pro-cryptocurrency US lawmakers.
The industry poured $170 million into campaigning, and traders are riding a wave of hope that Washington will “treat it differently from Wall Street,” The Wall Street Journal wrote.
While campaigning, Trump promised to create a “strategic Bitcoin stockpile” and push for regulatory changes that would make the US a global leader in the space, though questions remain about the practical challenges of such an approach, Bloomberg noted.
Japanese PM survives leadership vote at critical moment for a major US ally
Japan’s prime minister survived a leadership vote on Monday, even after his ruling coalition lost its majority last month in a snap election.
Splinters among the main opposition parties cleared the way for Shigeru Ishiba to remain as prime minister at a pivotal time for the US’ closest Asian ally, with Ishiba vowing to strengthen the country’s military and its US ties.
The return of Donald Trump — whom Ishiba is expected to meet later this month — could spark friction between Washington and Tokyo over trade, but the country’s market may be well positioned to ride those waves, the Financial Times’ Leo Lewis argued.
Japanese exporter and defense industry stocks rose after Trump won, and Ishiba’s government will likely be too weak to make any big policy shifts that might shake markets.
China’s Singles Day shopping festival underscores broader spending trends
With China’s annual Singles Day shopping festival, geared around Nov. 11, already several weeks in, analysts are watching to see if the promotional event betrays a little more about how consumers feel about the direction of the country’s economy.
So far, the festival, which began earlier than usual on Oct. 14, has seen modest growth, with marketing analysts predicting a 15% increase in sales this year compared to 2023.
The event seems “much calmer” this year, analysts told CNBC, with consumers choosing practical purchases, instead of a return to a pre-pandemic buying frenzy. Much of the growth in sales seems confined to more experiential brands, electronic appliances, and niche purchases like toys and collectibles.
The overall sentiment seems to reflect the broader economic picture: New data released Saturday shows the consumer price index, a key measure of inflation, barely rose in October and was down from September’s 0.4% increase, thanks to declining food prices, according to the country’s Statistics Bureau, with production prices also showing a deflationary trend.
Qatar halts Israel-Hamas ceasefire mediation efforts
Israel and Hamas are effectively left without a mediator in talks to broker a ceasefire in Gaza after Qatar halted its mediation efforts. The Gulf nation also reportedly asked Hamas’ political leaders to leave the country, after the latest round of talks made no progress.
The move comes at a particularly uncertain moment for the region: US President-elect Donald Trump has said he wants the war to end before his inauguration in January, but how that would happen is unclear. Most experts agree it’s highly unlikely that fighting in Gaza would come to a complete stop in the near future, a possibility that may now be more remote with Qatar’s decision.
For Qatar, distancing from Hamas could help the country’s diplomatic standing with the incoming Trump administration, a Haaretz columnist wrote: “Qatar’s relations with the first Trump government fluctuated. Doha must now prepare for the second.”
No comments:
Post a Comment