Sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have faced severe mental strain during an extended Middle East deployment, according to complaints from their families. The report, published on August 13, 2026, said the US aircraft carrier, carrying about 5,000 sailors and Marines, has been deployed for more than eight months. Its mission was expected to end under the original plan, but has been extended several times because of ongoing US military operations against Iran. No specific return date has been announced.

Families said prolonged time at sea, sustained workloads and inadequate rest were worsening personnel’s mental and physical condition. Reports have also indicated that several sailors attempted to jump into the sea, prompting renewed concern about mental health conditions on board. Families further alleged food shortages, broken toilets, hygiene-related problems and other mismanagement, saying members had become exhausted and discouraged under prolonged difficult conditions.

Several members of the US Congress have expressed concern and called for scrutiny of living conditions, mental health care and the extended deployment. The US Navy said necessary support and mental health services are available to personnel. Families, however, said sailors need prompt opportunities for rest and a clear decision on the deployment timeline.

Online shopping startup Fia, co-founded by Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, faces allegations of fraud involving “cookie stuffing,” an online advertising and commission scheme. A report published on August 13, 2026 said Fia allegedly used affiliate tracking codes in ways that could direct sales commissions to the company even when users did not buy products directly through it. Launched in 2025, Fia compares product prices across websites and finds discount codes.

According to the allegations, Fia’s browser extension activated affiliate links connected to online stores without users’ knowledge. This could allow Fia to claim commission credit even where another person or company had played the actual role in making a sale. Fia initially described the issue as a technical error, but questions later arose over published information and internal communications. Reports also said there is scrutiny over whether Gates and Kianni knew about the matter for months.

Fia said it removed the disputed feature on July 7. The company said it is reviewing transactions in which commissions were incorrectly attributed to it and is seeking to return money to relevant brands and partners. It also said it plans to hire a compliance officer to prevent similar incidents. The report said no formal criminal charge or sentence against Phoebe Gates has been identified.

The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation have sued US President Donald Trump, seeking to stop a plan that would let paying customers see his social media posts before publication. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday local time and is set to be heard in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The plaintiffs argue that the service would restrict public access to important information of public interest. They describe the plan as corrupt, alleging that the president could financially benefit his private company by providing market-moving government information to people willing and able to pay. They also say the arrangement would undermine equal access to information for news organizations.

The complaint says Trump’s company offers Truth API subscriptions costing $60,000 to $100,000 per month, with advance access to important government announcements. The plaintiffs contend the system is unconstitutional and violates the First and Fifth Amendments. Truth API launched on August 1 and had attracted more than 10 customers by August 10, according to the lawsuit. The subscription service is run by Trump Media & Technology Group.

Two people were killed after a military helicopter crashed in a field south of the village of Salado in central Texas, the United States. Police responded after receiving reports of wreckage and found two people dead at the scene. The report was published on August 13, 2026.

The US Army identified the aircraft as an AH-64 Apache attack helicopter assigned to the nearby Fort Hood military base, described as one of the Army’s largest bases. The Army says the Apache is a twin-engine, four-blade multipurpose attack helicopter capable of armed reconnaissance, frontline combat, mobile strikes and vertical tactical operations.

Bell County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Cliff Coleman said officers found a major fire at the crash site that was rapidly getting out of control. The US Army said an investigation was underway and emergency recovery efforts were continuing. Brigadier General Ethan Diven, acting commanding general of the First Cavalry Division, said the immediate priorities were securing the site and supporting initial recovery operations.

Karoline Leavitt will step down as White House press secretary at the end of this month to spend more time with her family and two young children, according to US President Donald Trump. Leavitt, 28, took the role last year and became the youngest person in US history to serve as White House press secretary.

In a social media post, Trump described Leavitt as one of his most trusted aides. He said she would remain one of his principal advisers after leaving the press secretary post and would continue to play an influential role within the Republican Party. Leavitt gave birth to a daughter in May, her second child with husband Nicholas Riccio; the couple also has a two-year-old son.

Leavitt returned to work last month after maternity leave and said she found it difficult to balance the time, energy and focus required by the press secretary role with giving her children the time they need. She called the decision difficult but necessary. Trump has not announced who will replace her.

U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar won the Democratic primary in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District on Tuesday, securing her party’s nomination for the U.S. House election. Preliminary results showed Omar receiving more than 80 percent of the vote in the contest, according to the report published on August 12, 2026.

Omar has represented the district since 2018 and has previously been elected to Congress from the seat four times. The district is described as a Democratic stronghold. Her Democratic primary opponents were Julie T. Lee, Abena McKenzie, Latonia Reeves and Nat Schluter. The report said she did not face a major strong challenger in this year’s primary.

Known as a critic of President Donald Trump’s strict immigration policies, Omar won the previous general election by nearly 50 percentage points and defeated a Democratic primary opponent by 13 points in 2024. In the Republican primary for the district, John Nagel was projected to win with 52.1 percent of the vote. Omar’s victory moves her closer to another election to the House from Minnesota’s 5th District.

Current and former Palestinian students and workers have sued Columbia University in a New York court, alleging discrimination against members of the Palestinian community since late 2023. The lawsuit says the university failed to protect Palestinian students and employees from harassment and imposed biased and unfair disciplinary measures against them.

The plaintiffs say students and workers who spoke for Palestinian rights or protested Israeli attacks in Gaza were subjected to particular surveillance and discipline. Columbia has previously denied discrimination allegations and condemned all forms of hatred, but did not immediately comment on the new lawsuit. Pro-Palestinian demonstrations spread across US universities, including Columbia, after the Gaza war began in October 2023.

Protesters had called for an end to US support for Israel and for universities to divest from Israel-linked companies. Columbia suspended more than 65 students after a pro-Palestinian protest last May that shut down its main library. The Trump administration halted federal funding over allegations that Columbia had not adequately addressed antisemitism during the protests. The university later reached a settlement involving more than $200 million to resolve the investigation and restore most federal funding.

US President Donald Trump signed a directive recommending fewer childhood vaccines and separate administration of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines. Published on August 11, 2026, the report says the guidance would reduce the recommended number of vaccines from the American Academy of Pediatrics’ current 18 to 11. It is not mandatory, because states, rather than the federal government, determine vaccines required for school attendance.

The proposed core vaccines cover measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Haemophilus influenzae type b, pneumococcal disease, human papillomavirus and varicella. Trump suggested that combined MMR vaccination could be deadly, but when asked for evidence said he had heard some people say so. The CDC says most MMR recipients have no serious problems and that vaccination is much safer than contracting the three diseases.

The CDC says there is no published scientific evidence that splitting combined MMR shots provides benefits. AAP President Dr Andrew Racine called the order dangerous amid the highest US measles transmission in 35 years. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy called it wrong and urged parents to consult pediatricians. Multiple studies, including a 2019 Danish study of 657,461 children, found no link between MMR vaccination and autism.

Meta is set to face a major federal lawsuit brought by four US states over allegations that Instagram and Facebook were made addictive for children. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Wednesday in a federal court in Oakland, near San Francisco, as part of ongoing litigation against social media companies in the United States. The report was published on August 10, 2026.

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey allege that Meta intentionally made its platforms addictive for minors. They are seeking broad restrictions on how Instagram and Facebook are operated for underage users, along with fines of up to $1.4 trillion. The requested amount is close to Meta's entire market value, which exceeded $1.5 trillion on Friday.

Hearings for both sides are expected to begin on August 18. The trial is expected to last about six weeks, with a verdict possibly coming in early October. Meta founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg is considered a potentially important witness for the prosecution. He testified in a separate case in Los Angeles six months ago.

Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Murphy said President Donald Trump has lost the ongoing war with Iran, arguing that the conflict is weakening Washington while strengthening Tehran. In an NBC News interview cited in a report published on August 10, 2026, Murphy said he would support even a “bad deal” if it ended the war and reopened the Strait of Hormuz.

Murphy said the cost of reopening the strategic waterway is increasing as talks remain stalled. He argued that the longer the war continues, the weaker the United States will become, the stronger Iran will become, and the greater the hardship for ordinary Americans as prices continue to rise.

The senator said he would oppose additional funding to continue the war. However, he said he would support funding to replenish U.S. military stocks of weapons and ammunition after the conflict ends. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said direct talks with the United States are taking place, but stated that the Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened until Washington meets Tehran’s demands.

Former US President Joe Biden’s cancer has spread to more parts of his body, his son Hunter Biden said in an interview aired Friday night on the BBC’s Newsnight programme. According to an AFP report, Hunter Biden said the cancer had spread to his father’s bones and other areas despite ongoing treatment.

Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer in May 2025, four months after leaving the presidency. The cancer had also spread to his bones. He then began treatment including radiation therapy and hormone therapy. Last month, while announcing his forthcoming memoir, Biden said his treatment was going very well.

Hunter Biden said the illness was very painful and was weakening his father in many ways. He said Joe Biden was still going out and continuing his work, while retaining deep love and faith in the country. Hunter became emotional while discussing his father’s health, saying it was very difficult and painful to see him in that condition.

A firefighting helicopter crashed while working to contain a severe wildfire in Utah, killing the pilot and one crew member. The crash occurred at about 10 a.m. local time on Friday near the Three Creeks Reservoir area, southwest of Richfield.

The National Interagency Fire Center confirmed the deaths of the two crew members on Saturday. Rescue personnel could not reach the crash site for more than 24 hours because of the remote mountainous terrain and intense fire conditions. Their bodies were later recovered.

Authorities ordered local residents to move to safety because of the wildfire and imposed travel restrictions on several roads. Firefighting operations were temporarily suspended after the crash but later resumed. More than 111,000 acres have already burned in the wildfire.

The Pentagon has directed the US defense industry to rapidly increase weapons production and deliveries after shortages emerged in US stockpiles during the ongoing war with Iran. The information was reported by The Washington Post, citing a memorandum from the US Department of Defense.

In a letter sent last Wednesday to senior officials at defense companies, US Deputy Defense Secretary Steve Feinberg called for significantly faster and more aggressive delivery schedules for critical military capabilities. Companies were given 21 days to submit plans for expanding production.

Feinberg said development processes that take years are no longer acceptable and that program timelines must be dramatically shortened while production capacity is increased. Reports had already raised concerns about declining ammunition stocks, particularly supplies of Patriot interceptors used in missile defense systems. President Donald Trump had previously said the military has vast quantities of ammunition and that large amounts are being produced and sent to the United States as needed.

The US Senate passed a Russia sanctions bill by an 86-11 vote that, if enacted, would allow President Donald Trump to impose tariffs of up to 100 percent on the five largest buyers of Russian oil or natural gas. Published on August 8, 2026, the report identifies India, China, Azerbaijan, Hungary and Slovakia as the current top five importers.

The bill is named in honor of the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, described as a strong supporter of Ukraine who had pressed for further sanctions on Russia over the nearly four-year war. His sister, Darlene Graham, who succeeded him in the Senate, said the measure would strike Russian President Vladimir Putin “in the right place.”

The legislation proposes tougher sanctions on Putin, senior Russian political and military officials, financial institutions and energy projects. It would also cover oil tankers, under old and new flags, that Moscow uses to evade existing US restrictions on Russian oil and energy revenues. Countries importing less than 15 percent of their needed natural gas from Russia and actively reducing those imports could receive relief. The House is scheduled to consider the bill on August 31.

In Washington, United States, Todd Montgomery is releasing specially bred male Asian tiger mosquitoes in residential yards instead of using medicine or sprays to control mosquitoes. The males do not bite and carry a natural bacterium called Wolbachia. When they mate with female mosquitoes that lack the bacterium, the females' eggs do not hatch, aiming to stop the birth of new mosquitoes.

The report describes this as the first such initiative for residents of a US residential area. About 600,000 Asian tiger mosquitoes are planned for release across the area by the end of summer. So far, 25 families have taken the service, with 1,500 mosquitoes released at each home every week for up to 16 weeks.

Montgomery's company introduced the service primarily to reduce pesticide use. Many residents are interested because of environmental and family health considerations. Similar mosquito-control methods are used in countries including Singapore, and one study found such an initiative reduced dengue risk by more than 70 percent. Experts said results depend on local environmental conditions, and mosquitoes may arrive from other areas with the wind, meaning some homes could take longer to see the desired outcome.