Latest Headlines for Thursday, August 13th.

Here are the top stories for Thursday, August 13th.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, at 28 the youngest person to hold the job in U.S. history, is departing her role at the end of the month. President Trump said Leavitt will step down to spend more time with her young children and family. Find out More

Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains minimal despite President Trump’s insistence that the U.S. controls the waterway, as the International Energy Agency warns global oil stockpiles are falling quickly. A top adviser to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the country could “prolong” the war until Trump leaves office, while Pakistan’s foreign ministry called a short-lived U.S.-Iran memorandum “the template of peace” that may still be relevant. Find out More

Aid from regional partners began arriving in Colombia as rescue crews raced to find survivors of the magnitude-7.4 earthquake that struck the country’s west, with the death toll climbing past 265 and nearly 500 people still reported missing. The disaster has strained the young government of President Abelardo de la Espriella as it scrambles to coordinate relief while civilian volunteers push to reach the hardest-hit communities. Read More

President Trump’s approval rating has slipped again this week, continuing a downward trend as the ongoing Iran war and mounting affordability concerns weigh on voters ahead of November’s midterms. The dip follows a pattern of erosion tied largely to the drawn-out conflict and rising cost-of-living pressures nationwide. Source

The Justice Department unveiled criminal charges against 11 people accused of running an “extensive marriage fraud scheme” involving more than 1,000 sham marriages between Chinese nationals and U.S. citizens dating back to 2016. Attorney General Todd Blanche called it one of the largest marriage fraud prosecutions in U.S. history at a press conference announcing the indictment. Source

Former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin defeated 14-term Rep. John Larson in the Democratic primary for Connecticut’s 1st Congressional District, making Larson the seventh House Democrat ousted in a primary this year. Bronin, who built his campaign around a call for generational change, outraised the 78-year-old incumbent and drew support from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Source

Verizon customers across the country reported widespread service problems Wednesday, with more than 2,400 outage reports logged by the tracking site Downdetector by early afternoon. A Verizon spokesperson said multiple fiber cuts caused the service interruption for wireless customers in the Albuquerque, New Mexico, area. Source

More than 20,000 people in the western U.S. and southwest Canada have fled their homes as wildfires fueled by hot, dry weather continue to burn across the region. Firefighters in Washington state have spent more than a week battling blazes near Spokane, where cleanup continues near containment lines even as new fires emerge elsewhere. See Details

Alabama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee will carry out the death penalty against inmates. This is the first time since 2010 that three states are executing prisoners on the same day. Read More

U.S. stock futures were little changed early Thursday as traders awaited fresh inflation data a day after an in-line reading on the consumer price index. Asian markets ended mixed overnight, with South Korea’s Kospi entering a bull market while mainland China’s CSI 300 slipped. Find out More

Inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, rose 0.1% from June to July, with the annual rate dropping slightly to 3.4%, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Average hourly earnings slipped compared with a year earlier, meaning inflation has now outpaced wage growth for four straight months. Read More

The global diesel market is growing more precarious as the war in Ukraine and the Iran crisis squeeze supply from multiple directions at once. Diesel price swings ripple through economies at home and abroad, driving up shipping costs and construction expenses. See Details

	Symbol	Last Close	% Change
Dow Jones	DJIA	$44,922.27	1.04%
S&P 500	SPX	$6,466.58	0.32%
Nasdaq Composite	IXIC	$21,713.14	0.14%
Alphabet Inc.	GOOG	$342.37	-0.18%
Tesla, Inc.	TSLA	$327.51	-1.59%
Apple Inc.	AAPL	$302.25	-0.87%

Pakistan’s defense minister said the U.S. and Iran are close to “some sort of an arrangement” that could lead to a peace deal, even as President Trump maintains the U.S. controls the Strait of Hormuz and insists Iran’s economy is suffering under the ongoing war. The comments offered a note of optimism after months of stalled negotiations between Washington and Tehran. Read More

A total solar eclipse crossed the Northern Hemisphere Wednesday, with the path of totality sweeping across Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain in Europe’s first encounter with totality since 1999. Crowds gathered across the continent, including in London and Berlin, to view the rare event, which coincided with the annual Perseid meteor shower. Source

Russia may be providing China with submarine-quieting technology that could erode the U.S. Navy’s undersea advantage in a potential conflict over Taiwan, a retired admiral has warned. Retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery said the two countries are increasingly trading military technology, with China also helping sustain Russia’s war effort. Find out More

Ariana Grande was spotted for the first time since announcing plans to step back from public life, seen smiling on her way to a New York airport while wearing merchandise from her latest album. Her team said the planned break comes after ongoing public scrutiny over her appearance, adding that she remains happy and healthy. Find out More

Domestic box office revenue is running about 15% ahead of last year’s pace, with five movies approaching or crossing $1 billion globally, making 2026 the strongest post-pandemic year for theaters to date. Exhibitors say a long stretch of surprise hits has given studios confidence to back more unconventional films going forward. Find out More

Newsweek has an exclusive first look at a deleted scene from “Toy Story 5,” which arrives on digital platforms August 18 ahead of a disc release the following month. The scene offers fans an early glimpse before the film’s full home release. Read More

The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold to businessmen Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for a record $12.5 billion, ending Mark Walter’s brief ownership tenure after he bought the team from the Buss family for roughly $10 billion last year. Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, will have to sell his minority stake in the Miami Heat to clear the way for the purchase. Find out More

The Philadelphia 76ers announced that LeBron James’ debut with the franchise will come against the defending NBA champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on the league’s opening night of the 2026-27 season. The October 20 matchup is one of three games slated for the NBA’s marquee opening slate. Source

NASCAR revealed green-flag times for this weekend’s Truck Series and Cup Series races at Richmond Raceway, with the Truck Series set to kick off Friday night on FOX Sports 1. The sport returns to the Virginia short track for what is expected to be a competitive weekend of racing. See Details

A recreation of a two-year-old “brainrot” dance meme by YouTuber MrBeast has become the most-reposted TikTok in the platform’s history, racking up more than 266 million views and 33 million likes in under 10 days. MrBeast later posted behind-the-scenes footage after viewers questioned whether the dance video was AI-generated. Find out More