General Wire — 16 August 2026

Business

Sourced from Bloomberg’s Green Daily and The Economic Times.

The Oklahoma town of Inola voted unanimously to impose a moratorium on a $4 billion aluminium smelter that President Trump had personally urged the council to approve. The joint venture between the UAE’s Emirates Global Aluminium and Chicago’s Century Aluminum would be the first new US plant in nearly fifty years to process aluminium from raw material rather than recycled stock. Opponents cite toxic-emissions risk to the surrounding “Hay Capital of the World” farmland and pressure on local power prices. — Bloomberg

N. Chandrasekaran’s decision not to seek another term as Tata Sons chairman has put India Inc’s succession discipline under scrutiny. The Sir Dorabji Tata Trust has begun forming a selection committee, while governance specialists note that regulatory disclosure requirements don’t guarantee boards have real contingency plans beyond a designated successor. — The Economic Times

Reliance Industries is partnering with Rolls-Royce to develop an indigenous combat engine for India’s Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft programme, a rare defence-sector move for the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate. The pairing will compete against Safran, already shortlisted by India for next-generation fighter-engine development. — The Economic Times

Economics

Sourced from Bloomberg’s Weekend newsletter.

Japan’s return to inflation after decades of trying to escape deflation is creating clear winners and losers. Rising prices are feeding stronger wages, corporate profits and equity markets, but pensioners and lower-paid rural households are struggling to keep pace, exposing the uneven way an economic revival built on inflation actually lands. — Bloomberg

Finance

Sourced from The Economic Times.

Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital says its 2022 early-stage fund has grown sevenfold, from $516 million to more than $3.7 billion net of fees, on bets including OpenAI, SpaceX and Anduril. About 90% of the fund sits in its top 15 positions — a concentration strategy Kushner is now using to pitch a minority stake sale across Thrive’s venture, services and holding entities to existing and new investors. — The Economic Times

Politics

Sourced from The Economist’s daily newsletter.

A drone loaded with plastic explosives nearly downed a transport plane at a Leipzig airport this month, and Germany has yet to formally attribute the attempted attack to Russia. The Economist argues the near-miss is a warning that European states remain under-prepared for the kind of hybrid warfare — short of open conflict but designed to disrupt — that Russia has increasingly deployed. — The Economist

Tech / AI

Sourced from The Economic Times’ ET AI.

Anthropic is projecting 2028 revenue of roughly $190 billion to $200 billion as it prepares for what could be one of the largest IPOs on record, according to people familiar with the company’s financials — a figure not previously reported and about four times the $47 billion run-rate the company had publicised as recently as May. Wall Street is pricing the offering on that multi-year-out forecast rather than current revenue. — The Economic Times