Leavitt Steps Down as White House Press Secretary

Cooling Inflation and AI Earnings Lift Stocks Near Records

ICE Plans Electric-Shock Gloves as Force Scrutiny Grows

Lake Mead's Record Low Raises Stakes in River Talks

Attacks Squeeze Oil Shipping at Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb

Leavitt Steps Down as White House Press Secretary

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt will leave her post at the end of August, President Donald Trump announced Wednesday on Truth Social. Leavitt, 28, called the move a bittersweet decision and said the demands of the job kept her from being the mother she wanted to be to her two young children. She returned to the briefing room less than a month ago after maternity leave following the May 1 birth of her second child. The youngest person to serve as White House press secretary, Leavitt has held the position since Trump's second term began in January 2025 and will remain one of his top outside advisers as Republicans approach the November midterm elections. No successor has been named, leaving unsettled who will become the administration's primary on-the-record voice or conduct daily briefings during the transition.

NPR / CBS News / PBS NewsHour / The Hill

Cooling Inflation and AI Earnings Lift Stocks Near Records

The consumer price index rose 0.1% in July and 3.4% over the previous 12 months, matching economists' forecasts, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Wednesday. Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, ran at an annual rate of 2.5%, its lowest reading since February 2026. The S&P 500 gained 0.26% to close at 7,748.50 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.54% to 26,588.49, both just short of records, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.04% to 53,770.27. CoreWeave and Super Micro Computer each rose about 19% after reporting results that beat expectations, helping lead the market higher. The easing core reading reduced pressure for another Federal Reserve rate increase, but rising oil prices tied to the Strait of Hormuz standoff could affect inflation, interest rates and household borrowing costs in later months.

CDA Press / Detroit News / CNBC

ICE Plans Electric-Shock Gloves as Force Scrutiny Grows

The Department of Homeland Security plans to spend between $10 million and $20 million by the end of March 2027 on gloves that deliver electric shocks for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to reports published Wednesday. The CT-G5 G.L.O.V.E., short for Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter, is a wearable stun device that delivers a shock through direct contact and is already used by some jails and police departments. The planned purchase would supply officers in Enforcement and Removal Operations, which carries out arrests and deportations, and Homeland Security Investigations. Civil liberties advocates objected to the plan, citing recent fatal and violent encounters involving immigration agents, while ICE has also expanded arrests to locations including airport check-in counters and gates. The purchase would broaden the physical-force options available to a civil immigration agency at a time of heightened scrutiny over its enforcement tactics.

Axios / Al Jazeera / NOTUS

Lake Mead's Record Low Raises Stakes in River Talks

Colorado River water officials meeting Wednesday in Las Vegas warned that litigation could follow if the seven basin states fail to agree on how to manage the shrinking river after 2026. The central dispute is how to divide shortages: Lower Basin states Arizona, California and Nevada want reductions shared with Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, while the Upper Basin states say their use already falls with snowpack and runoff and they should not be bound to fixed cuts. Century-old water-right priorities add another divide because California holds senior claims while much of Arizona's supply is junior, and the states also disagree over how to account for water lost to evaporation and delivery. Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager John Entsminger called for shared sacrifice and said Nevada would protect its residents if negotiations collapse. The warning followed Lake Mead's decline to about 1,040 feet above sea level, its lowest level since Hoover Dam created the reservoir in the 1930s and about 27% of capacity; the Bureau of Reclamation has said a decline to 1,035 feet would force some turbines offline and reduce electricity output by about 70%. With negotiators still far apart ahead of a mid-November deadline, water and power supplies for more than 20 million people could ultimately be shaped by federal action or litigation rather than a state agreement.

Las Vegas Review-Journal / KTNV / News 3 Las Vegas / Bureau of Reclamation / Washington Post

Attacks Squeeze Oil Shipping at Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb

Yemen's internationally recognized government said Iran-backed Houthi forces struck the Tanzanian-flagged, Egyptian-owned cargo ship Tihamah with ballistic missiles Tuesday in the Bab al-Mandeb, killing four crew members and setting the vessel on fire. A second strike during the rescue operation killed two members of forces allied with the Yemeni government, according to Yemeni authorities, while the Houthis described the ship as a Saudi military vessel, a claim the government disputes and that has not been independently verified; Iran supplies the Houthis with weapons and advice, and the group is widely described as an Iranian proxy. The first reported deaths from an attack on Red Sea shipping in more than a year came amid Iran's direct confrontation with the United States at the Strait of Hormuz, a different chokepoint about 1,300 miles east of Bab al-Mandeb: U.S. Central Command said a Navy helicopter fired two Hellfire missiles into the engine room of the Panama-flagged Vela Nova, disabling the ship after it ignored warnings to turn away from an Iranian port under a U.S. blockade.

The Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb are maritime chokepoints, narrow passages that funnel ships through confined waters: Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, while Bab al-Mandeb links the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea and Suez Canal. About 20 million barrels of oil per day, roughly one-fifth of global petroleum consumption, moved through Hormuz in 2024, and few routes can replace it; Bab al-Mandeb carried 8.7 million barrels per day in 2023 before Red Sea attacks reduced that flow to about 4 million during the first eight months of 2024, but ships can bypass it by sailing around Africa. Kpler recorded eight vessels crossing Hormuz on Tuesday, compared with about 130 a day before the conflict, showing how fighting at either chokepoint can delay supplies and raise freight, insurance and energy costs as falling inventories leave less protection against further disruptions.

Al Jazeera / UPI / The National / CNBC / IranWire / Army Recognition / Epoch Times / NewsNation / AP / CRS / EIA / Marine Regions / Mapcarta

AUGUST 13, 1961: BERLIN IS DIVIDED BY EAST GERMAN REGIME

East German soldiers sealed the border through Berlin overnight with barbed wire and concrete, abruptly cutting off movement between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western sectors. The new Berlin Wall became a defining symbol of the Cold War, embodying the Soviet bloc’s determination to stop its own citizens from fleeing to the West.

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Sources

1. NPR / CBS News / PBS NewsHour / The Hill
2. CDA Press / Detroit News / CNBC
3. Axios / Al Jazeera / NOTUS
4. Las Vegas Review-Journal / KTNV / News 3 Las Vegas / Bureau of Reclamation / Washington Post
5. Al Jazeera: Houthi attack / UPI: Houthi attack / The National / CNBC / IranWire / Army Recognition / Epoch Times / UPI: oil inventories / NewsNation / Al Jazeera: Hormuz traffic / Al Jazeera: Hormuz talks / AP / Congressional Research Service / EIA: Hormuz / EIA: Red Sea flows / Marine Regions: Bab al-Mandeb / Mapcarta: Strait of Hormuz