J.D. Capelouto

3 days ago | semafor.com | J.D. Capelouto

An explosion at Iran’s largest shipping port on Sunday killed at least 40 people and injured hundreds. Tehran has released few details about what caused the blast, but denied that the port was used to store military materials, amid speculation from some experts and officials that the mishandling of a missile fuel chemical could be to blame. China reportedly shipped rocket propellant ingredients to Iran earlier this year, as Tehran looked to replenish its weapons stock.

3 days ago | semafor.com | J.D. Capelouto

US President Donald Trump is increasingly unpopular as the 100th day of his second term approaches. New CNN polling found that Trump’s 41% approval rating is the lowest of any president at this point in their tenure since at least Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. Trump appears especially vulnerable on the economy, as voter sentiment sours following his “Liberation Day” tariffs: More Americans are starting to feel the effects in their workplaces and investments, Reuters wrote.

3 days ago | semafor.com | J.D. Capelouto

Canada heads to the polls Monday to vote in a snap election that has defied all expectations. Before US President Donald Trump’s reelection, Canada’s election was predicted to be “a volcanic vent for the public’s exhausted fury” with the Liberal Party and former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, The Globe and Mail wrote, but Trump and his repeated taunts targeting Ottawa — along with Mark Carney’s emergence as the new Liberal leader — have turned the race on its head.

3 days ago | semafor.com | J.D. Capelouto

US President Donald Trump threatened new sanctions against Russia after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral. After speaking one-on-one with Zelenskyy for 15 minutes inside St Peter’s Basilica, Trump questioned whether Russian President Vladimir Putin was “just tapping me along,” and criticized him for recent strikes on Ukraine.

5 days ago | semafor.com | Nancy Vu |J.D. Capelouto

A White House health adviser on Friday slammed pediatricians’ recommendation of weight loss drugs to treat obesity among children. Calley Means, a central figure in US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” movement, said drugs like Ozempic shouldn’t be the “first line of defense for 12-year-olds” in treating obesity before dietary interventions — and shouldn’t be funded by government programs.