Stripe finalised a deal to acquire OpenRouter for more than $7 billion on August 16-17, a 5.4x jump over the AI gateway startup’s May 2026 Series B valuation of $1.3 billion.
Posted inMarkets
Reddit Joins the S&P 500 Monday as Index Funds Scramble to Buy 16.7 Million Shares
S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on August 13 that Reddit will enter the index before markets open on August 18, making it the second pure-play social media stock in the S&P 500 after Meta.
Posted inEconomy
Australia Holds Rates at 4.35% as Bullock Warns Middle East Risk Could Force Further Hikes
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate unchanged at 4.35% in a unanimous August 11 decision, but governor Michele Bullock explicitly left the door open to further increases.
Posted inGeopolitics
Russia Probes NATO Defenses Daily With Drones, Germany’s Military Chief Warns
Germany’s top general has warned that Russia is conducting daily hybrid attacks across NATO, citing an explosive-rigged drone at Leipzig Airport and surveillance flights over Patriot missile sites.
Posted inWorld
Car Bomb Kills Haftar’s Intelligence Chief as Drones Strike Libya’s Largest Refinery
The assassination of Fawzi al-Mansouri in Benghazi and simultaneous drone attacks on the Zawiya refinery have plunged Libya into fresh crisis, imperilling a US-brokered plan to reunify the country.
Posted inTech
US Treasury Threatens Sanctions Over Chinese AI Model Distillation Attacks
Treasury Secretary Bessent warned Chinese AI firms that large-scale distillation attacks on US models could now trigger sanctions and Entity List designations.
Posted inMarkets
Anthropic Eyes $2 Trillion October IPO That Would Eclipse SpaceX as Largest Ever
Six Anthropic investors told the FT the AI lab is targeting $2 trillion in its October IPO, which would be the largest public offering in history.
Posted inEconomy
Canada Warns New Tariffs Will Halt Trade Talks as August 19 Deadline Arrives
Canada’s chief negotiator warned Washington that the August 19 tariff deadline risks derailing all bilateral trade talks and forcing Ottawa to retaliate.
Posted inGeopolitics
Russia Tops 198 Ballistic Missiles a Month as Strikes on Kyiv Escalate
Russia produced 198 ballistic missiles in July—its highest monthly total of the war—and launched 56 in the first week of August, intensifying attacks on Kyiv.
Posted inWorld
Putin Makes First Visit to Kuril Islands as Japan Calls Trip Unacceptable
Putin’s first-ever visit to Russia’s Kuril Islands on August 13 triggered Japan’s sharpest diplomatic protest in years, reigniting an 80-year territorial standoff.