Semafor

semafor.comTrump administration pushes for Venezuela electionsWhile the specific timeline remains unclear, the administration is pushing for it to happen while Donald Trump is still US president.

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The Trump administration is working with Venezuela to set up a path toward elections, following a blueprint that would see a new Supreme Court, or TSJ, put into place by the end of the year. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comLula victory in Brazil means more Trump tensionsFlávio Bolsonaro’s loss is a setback for President Donald Trump’s bid to elevate like-minded leaders across the globe.

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Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's victory in Brazil means more Trump tensions. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

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A US-Canada trade deal isn't quite as 'close' as US officials portrayed. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comUS-Canada trade deal not as ‘close’ as portrayedNational Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett had said Sunday that negotiators were “very close” to reaching an agreement.

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Canada is also characterizing it differently: “Canada remains in constructive dialogue with our US counterparts on a range of priorities,” a spokesperson for Canadian Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc told Semafor. Read more from Eleanor Mueller: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Elon Musk is back at the center of everything, says Liz Hoffman. Read her full view: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comView: Elon Musk is back at the center of everythingThe billionaire has recently been materializing at the center of events both strange and consequential.

Liz writes: If Nvidia’s Jensen Huang is the business world’s Bugs Bunny, playing every position on the baseball field by himself, Elon Musk is its Forrest Gump, materializing at the center of events both strange and consequential. Read more: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

🟡 NEW: DoorDash is in exclusive talks to acquire Instacart www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comExclusive: DoorDash in exclusive talks to acquire InstacartA combination would create a delivery giant.

A deal is far from certain and the talks could fall apart, people familiar with the matter cautioned. It could not be determined what price was under discussion or how a deal would be structured. Read more from Rohan Goswami and Liz Hoffman: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

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AI fears are adding a 200-basis-point premium to SpaceX’s debt, argues Liz Hoffman. Read more of her full view: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comView: AI fears add a 200-basis-point premium to SpaceX’s debtWhen SpaceX issued its first corporate bonds, it paid 6.65% for the most expensive piece. The most expensive slice of the $40 billion of private credit borrowing it’s finalized in recent days will…

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Liz writes: How does Wall Street quantify fear? Political boogeymen get names (Red Menace, death panels); financial ones get numbers. The VIX captures the market’s twitchiness, while credit-default spreads calculate the odds of a company going bust. Read more: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comMeta announces $95B offering to fund AIAbout $60 billion will come in the form of new, nonvoting shares that the company created last week.

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Meta is issuing new stock for the first time since 2013, announcing a $95 billion offering to fund its AI buildout. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

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Anthropic’s IPO filing reveals $81 billion in net losses in the first half of the year, more than $400 billion in future obligations, and the risks posed by founder control and the Trump administration. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comFounder control, Trump risk, giant losses: Anthropic’s IPO filingThe frontier lab’s filing reveals $417 billion in future compute and infrastructure leases.

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Investors got a look for the first time at just how much money Anthropic is losing and how deeply entwined the frontier lab is with other players in the AI ecosystem. Read more from Liz Hoffman, Ashley Gold, and Rohan Goswami: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

🟡 SCOOP: Times journalist’s children allegedly became billionaire memoirist’s focus www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comExclusive: Times journalist’s children allegedly became billionaire memoirist’s focusDays after a New York Times investigation raised questions about Amy Griffin’s memoir The Tell, reporter Katherine Rosman received a worrying call.

The Times story from September of 2025 titled "The Billionaire, the Psychedelics and the Best-Selling Memoir" turned Amy Griffin's success into a parable about class and America’s new ultrarich. Read more from Ben Smith: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Read more of Ben's view in the full article: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comTrump administration weighs ultra-processed food definitionA heated debate over how to define what qualifies as ultra-processed food contributed to the resignation of Trump administration health adviser Calley Means.

A heated debate over how to define what qualifies as an ultra-processed food contributed to the resignation of Trump administration health adviser Calley Means ahead of the midterm elections. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

The globally-minded tech news startup Rest of World is scrambling to find a new home — or faces the prospect of shutting down. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comRest of World faces prospect of shutting downThe six-year-old digital publication has seen the social and web search traffic on which it depends evaporate.

The six-year-old digital publication has seen the social and web search traffic on which it depends evaporate. This sharp decline has prompted the organization’s founder and primary financial backer, Sophie Schmidt, to explore other options for its future. Read more from Max Tani:

Read more of Max's view: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comExclusive: Paxton, Talarico accuse each other of being outsidersBoth Texas Senate candidates also acknowledged the impact of high prices on voters at their events over the weekend.

James Talarico and Ken Paxton are both attacking one another as outsiders more beholden to California than Texas in the closing days of their competitive Senate race. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comExclusive: Democrats see Trump ‘rescue mission’ in MississippiBoth parties remain skeptical that Democrats can win Mississippi’s Senate race, but there are signs it’s competitive.

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Democrats are trying to temper soaring expectations in the battle for the Senate, but they can’t help savoring Trump’s campaign stop in deep-red Mississippi, which some are calling “a full-out rescue mission.” www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

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Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek is running a radically centrist campaign, calling for border security, criticizing his party for obstructing farm and data center legislation, and saying he has “no interest” in talking about impeachment. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comJosh Turek is running a radically centrist campaignThe Iowa Senate nominee, if he wins, could start reconstituting a red-state Democratic bloc that’s lost ground.

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He even embraces a term that Democrats rarely use these days. “Politically, the term moderate can be pejorative. And I say that I’m proudly a moderate,” Turek told Semafor Read more from Burgess Everett: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged this week before raising them again in December. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comFederal Reserve expected to tap brakes on rate hikesThe decision would represent a win for the Trump administration, whose allies have urged the central bank against hiking just days before midterms.

The decision would represent a win for the Trump administration, whose allies have urged the central bank against hiking just days before the midterms. Read more from Eleanor Mueller: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Donald Trump’s wartime alliance with Benjamin Netanyahu is exposing a divide within his party that will outlast his presidency — over what “America First” really means for the US-Israel relationship. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comRepublicans race to avoid a civil war over IsraelMaking peace between the GOP’s hawkish establishment and its restive right wing will pose an early challenge for Vice President JD Vance.

Making peace between the GOP’s pro-Israel establishment and its restive right wing will pose an early challenge for JD Vance for a possible 2028 run. But any Republican looking for the nomination will have to sidestep the same sort of internal clashes over Israel that have bedeviled Democrats.

Betting operators and prediction markets have spent record amounts on campaign donations and lobbying, hoping it will help win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comBetting operators and prediction markets spent record amounts on campaign donations and lobbyingSports-betting and casino companies want to win back millions of bettors and gambling dollars that prediction markets have lured away.

Prediction market companies are fighting against several state attorneys general, who argue that the sites operate as illegal online gambling operations and should be shut down, limited to non-sports betting or regulated on a state-by-state basis instead of by the federal agency.

semafor.comExclusive: El-Sayed’s new ad pitch: Republicans love meThe Michigan progressive, locked in a close Senate race, is spotlighting the praise he’s gotten from conservative pundits.

🟡 NEW: Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign is launching a new TV ad with a unique approach: spotlighting conservative pundits’ praise for the progressive — and criticism of GOP nominee Mike Rogers. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

🟡 NEW: House Democrats are making a play for a red seat in Kansas, but Republicans are competitive in a California seat — and both are releasing polling to back it up. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comExclusive: Dems make a Kansas play as GOP eyes a California seatDemocrat Don Coover is down by three points against incumbent Republican Rep. Derek Schmidt, within the 3.9% margin of error, according to Democratic polling conducted in mid-October and shared with…

Democrat Don Coover is down by three points against incumbent Republican Rep. Derek Schmidt, within the 3.9% margin of error, according to Democratic polling conducted in mid-October and shared with Semafor. Read more from Nicholas Wu: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comWarhound raises $200 million to engineer military dogsThe company is a collab between defense tech firm Anduril and Colossal Biosciences, the biotech startup looking to bring back the woolly mammoth.

Warhound, a new defense technology company, has launched with $200 million in seed funding from investors including Sequoia Capital to create dogs genetically engineered for military use. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Joe Manchin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are making dueling closing arguments in Maine’s Senate race, campaigning for opposing candidates in the final stretch before Election Day. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Read more of David's view in the full story: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Human complacency creates the AI age’s biggest problems, argues Reed Albergotti. Read his full view: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comView: Human complacency creates the AI age’s biggest problemsThe bugs OpenAI models discovered this week have existed for more than a decade, and PHP, the programming language that contained them, is 30 years old.

Reed writes: The world finally suffered the kind of catastrophic security disaster that experts have been warning about. AI didn’t create this problem. Human complacency did. Read more: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Gulf economies as a whole are expected to shrink 4.8% this year, almost matching the COVID-19 shock, with non-oil output receding in four countries. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comGulf faces economic contraction nearly as acute as COVID shockOman is the outlier, having implemented economic reforms before the war and remaining relatively unscathed by the conflict.

“This conflict has disrupted energy production, shipping, tourism, trade, and confidence,” Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, told reporters in Dubai. Read more from Mohammed Sergie: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is grappling with the limits of his power, argues Matthew Martin. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comView: Saudi crown prince grapples with the limits of his powerWar, rising debt, and retrenched ambitions are testing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vision to reshape his kingdom, and the region.

Matthew writes: Just four years ago, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was at the peak of his powers. Those days seem a long time ago. Read more: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

🟡 NEW: Tomorrow Together, a pro-AI regulation PAC, is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comExclusive: Democratic pro-AI regulation PAC spends against Senate RepublicansTomorrow Together is moving into Senate races with $2.5 million in ads against Republican Sens. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roger Marshall in Kansas.

The group, founded by Biden White House alum Rob Flaherty and former Bernie Sanders spokesman Karthik Ganapathy, is “focused on building political support for AI regulation and ensuring voters trust Democrats on AI issues,” Ganapathy told Semafor. Read more from Ashley Gold:

Read more from Ashley's view in the full article: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

🟡 NEW: Africa is at risk of a continent-wide Ebola crisis, health chief warns www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

semafor.comAfrica at risk of continent-wide Ebola crisis, health chief warnsAfrican governments are preparing a broader response as Ebola spreads across three regions.

“We could see every region of Africa affected, and that is beginning to happen,” Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said in an exclusive interview. Read more from Ruben Nyanguila: www.semafor.com/article/10/2...

As Ebola spreads well beyond the initial site of the outbreak in Africa, The US is offering new support to Kenya and Nigeria. www.semafor.com/article/10/2...