The Stateside Beat — Saturday, August 15, 2026 (Weekend Edition)

At least 47 people have died and several buildings were damaged after the powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake, followed by dozens of aftershocks.

Trump said the strait would become part of the US after Iran is defeated, telling Americans to accept higher gas prices amid soaring costs.

The administration argued the $400 million White House ballroom project is a security necessity and asked the Supreme Court to allow construction.

The US will allow approved private companies to hack foreign cybercriminal groups under government supervision, targeting ransomware and fraud networks.

Firefighters gained the upper hand in a fire that blazed for days in the Hürtgen Forest, forcing more than 2,000 residents from their homes.

The decision gives new powers and federal credibility to a venture in which the president and his family retain a substantial financial interest.

Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg is the latest Big Tech name to pen a letter thousands of words long about AI.

Anthropic PBC is telling prospective investors its Q2 revenue jumped at least 14-fold versus the same period a year ago.

The Dow Jones index falls Friday on soft retail sales and consumer sentiment, while AI chip gear maker Applied Materials dives.

Cooluli is recalling about 250,000 minifridges after reports of fires, overheating and more than $80,000 in property damage.

With Android 17 QPR2 Beta 3's surprise Friday drop, Google is introducing expanded Dynamic Color theming options on Pixel.

iPhone 18 Pro will be unveiled soon, and rumors indicate the Pro Max model will have unique advantages this year in a key area or two.

For the first time ever a Call of Duty beta will include access to a singleplayer campaign mission.

The MacBook Neo and MacBook Air are the easy answers, but there are also good and cheaper Windows and Chromebook alternatives.

The RTX 5070 Ti graphics card is powerful enough to run the latest games smoothly at 4K.