Flagship

Kirk shooting suspect formally charged

The suspect in the assassination of prominent conservative US activist Charlie Kirk was charged with aggravated murder among other counts Tuesday, as Utah prosecutors vowed to seek the death penalty in the case. Officials said the suspect, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, allegedly admitted to the shooting in a text to his roommate, saying he had “had enough” of Kirk’s “hatred.” Robinson’s family told investigators that he had become more political over the years and more supportive of LGBTQ rights, according to prosecutors. The assassination is “an American tragedy,” the Utah County attorney said: The country is increasingly on edge over partisan divisions, with a new Reuters poll showing nearly two-thirds of Americans believe harsh political rhetoric is encouraging violence.

US retail spending rises

US retail sales rose in August for a third straight month, the latest sign of consumer resilience despite other gloomy economic signals. The Federal Reserve is closely watching spending trends as policymakers debate a path for interest rate cuts — with the first trim expected Wednesday — but signs of a weakening labor market loom over the economy. Americans are still spending, but “the big question is how long this can continue if layoffs pick up,” one economist said. Ahead of what The Wall Street Journal called the “strangest Fed meeting in years” — with the independent agency facing unprecedented pressure from President Donald Trump — investors are also awaiting the Fed’s rate-cut forecast for the rest of 2025.

China eyes leverage over US tech

China is looking to assert more leverage in technology deals with the US, analysts said. As Beijing and Washington near a deal to keep TikTok operational in the US, China said the app will still use Chinese parent company ByteDance’s algorithm. The move could revive US national security concerns, while Beijing wants to be seen as “exporting Chinese technology to the US,” a ByteDance investor said. China is also using new antitrust allegations against American chip giant Nvidia to secure another technology deal with the US, The Wall Street Journal wrote. China is sending a message that it “has power over the most valuable American company,” and is using that as a bargaining tool in trade and tariff negotiations with Washington.

Tesla chair defends Musk pay package

Tesla’s board chair defended CEO Elon Musk’s massive pay package, saying it’s the cost of keeping the tech billionaire focused on electric vehicles rather than his other businesses and politics. The pay plan could be worth up to $1 trillion if Tesla hits certain profit and production milestones. “They are very ambitious plans, but they’re not unrealistic,” Robyn Denholm told Semafor. The massive number has appalled many, including the pope, but the package’s guardrails ensure that Musk gets rich “only if his shareholders get far richer,” Semafor’s Liz Hoffman argued. More broadly, she wrote, it reflects a “seismic shift” of power from institutions to outsized individuals like Musk: “It’s an expensive leash he’s on, but better than letting go.”

Earnings report reform would shift power

US President Donald Trump’s recent push to eliminate public companies’ quarterly reports would shift power from investors to C-suites, analysts said, and has drawn an unusually broad range of support. The idea of reporting revenue every six months instead of three has long been floated as a fix for short-term market pressures; figures across the ideological spectrum have backed it, and it even has the support of corporate lawyers who use the filings to keep clients close. Dropping regulatory burdens could make IPOs more appealing, but shareholder advocates worry it reduces transparency. One company’s chief financial officer told Semafor that fewer reports mean he would get a less-frequent window into what his competitors are up to.

ChatGPT to launch teen edition

OpenAI on Tuesday announced a version of ChatGPT for teens, as tech companies face growing pressure to protect minors who use chatbots. If ChatGPT detects an under-18 user, it will automatically direct them to an age-appropriate variant of the bot that blocks inappropriate content and can contact law enforcement in some cases. US regulators are probing AI companies over child safety, and a lawsuit filed against Character AI Tuesday became the third high-profile case accusing a chatbot of contributing to a teen’s suicide. The scrutiny over AI companionship “stems from a basic contradiction,” MIT Technology Review wrote: “Companies have built chatbots to act like caring humans, but they’ve postponed developing the standards and accountability we demand of real caregivers.”

Americans widely use GLP-1 drugs

Nearly 12% of US adults, including one in five women between 50 and 64, have taken GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy. A further 14% of Americans said they were interested in taking them, a survey for the RAND Corporation found. It puts the weight loss drugs among the most widely used medications in the US. But another study in Denmark found that half of adults without diabetes discontinued using semaglutide within a year, likely because they are expensive or the side effects are unpleasant. “This level of drop off is concerning because these medications aren’t meant to be a temporary quick fix,” a researcher said, as many patients gained back the weight they lost.

Sangbu Kim, Vice President for Digital, World Bank, will join the stage at The Next 3 Billion — the premier US summit focused on connecting the unconnected. Semafor editors will sit down with global executives and thought leaders to highlight the economic, social, and global impact of bringing the next 3 billion people online.

Robert Redford dies

American actor and director Robert Redford, who starred in films such as The Sting and All the President’s Men, died on Tuesday aged 89. Redford particularly “knew how to make a thriller,” NPR wrote, from his role as a bookish CIA researcher in 1975’s Three Days of the Condor to the “preposterously pleasurable light” Sneakers in 1992. He was also considered a style icon — “an intellectual Marlboro Man tuned to maximum Americana,” a New York Times fashion correspondent wrote — and a staunch environmentalist. “The world around us is in a sea change,” he said in 2002, accepting an honorary Oscar. “And I think the glory of art is that it can not only survive change, it can lead it.”

Power of autocracies is overstated

Russia, China, and North Korea have made a show of autocratic unity recently, but the power of dictatorial states is overstated, analysts argued. “Autocracies have systematic weaknesses,” one expert wrote in Foreign Policy, notably that their dictators are often surrounded by yes-men, their military lacks autonomy and initiative, and their effort must be spent on domestic repression as well as international competition. The three nations’ unity is shaky anyway, another said in Foreign Affairs: They are not natural allies united by shared values, but by common enemies and grievances, and are unlikely to subordinate their needs for those of others. The West and particularly the US still have considerable power, both hard and soft, a Reuters commentator wrote.