USA aviation authority imposes nationwide take-off ban
November 13, 2026, 11:34 p.m.|
The reasons are security reasons. It is the second time this measure has been taken since September 11, 2001. US Secretary of Homeland Security Mullin does not see a threat to national security.
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Important updates
9:20 p.m
Aviation authorities impose nationwide flight ban
6:38 a.m
Senate committee summons trade minister and ex-Nvidia boss
04:39
US Department: Almost half a million deportations in one year
12:48 a.m
Hegseth honors the soldier who reprimanded the minister's group
12:18 a.m
Trump reiterates interest in transfer of power in Cuba
Aviation authorities impose nationwide flight ban
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered a nationwide stop to takeoffs at airports. The reason was communication problems in the flight control system, said Transport Minister Sean Duffy on the online platform X. FAA technicians were working on it. New information will be communicated immediately.
It is only the second nationwide stop of air traffic in the USA since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The FAA last resorted to this radical measure in January 2023. At that time, the trigger was the failure of the system through which messages are transmitted to pilots. In this case, the stop was lifted after a few hours.
Last year, Congress approved $12.5 billion to overhaul the FAA's aging communications system. Just on Friday, the FAA and the White House asked Congress for $30.1 billion to address other problems.
The specific cause of the current problems initially remained unclear. Several flight control centers reported communication problems, media reports said. At the same time, the news channel CNN reported, citing information from security authorities, that initial findings indicate that the trigger was not a cyber attack. However, US Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin said he did not want to rule out any cause for the failure, including a cyber attack. However, there is currently no reason to believe that there is a threat to national security behind the communications failure that paralyzed all US flights.
However, according to Mullin, there is no connection to the massive global failure at Microsoft. “I see no reason at all to connect these two incidents,” he told reporters at the White House.
It is unclear how long the stop will last
The stop was called shortly before 4 p.m. local time. At that time, more than 30,000 arrivals and departures were scheduled for the rest of the day, reports the New York Times, citing the flight tracker app Flighty. At many airports, passengers are sometimes taken off planes that are already on the runway. Others are sent home. How long the stop will last is still unclear.
After midterms: Democrats are fighting for the position of majority leader in the Senate
After the Democrats' resounding victory in the congressional elections, a vote for the post of majority leader in the Senate is looming. Senator Chris Van Hollen announced that he would run against current Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Van Hollen sees it as a dispute over direction. Voters not only rejected President Donald Trump's policies, but also wanted a tougher stance against an economic system that was "rigged in favor of the very wealthy and against working people." To do this you have to reject the status quo.
Schumer, who was the Democratic majority leader in the Senate from 2021 to 2025, then emphasized that he still had enough support to take the leadership post again in January.
The Democrats went into last week's election with 47 of the 100 Senate seats. After victories in some regions that traditionally sympathize with Trump's Republicans, they now have a majority of 55 seats - and their candidate Mary Peltola is leading the race for another seat in Alaska.
In the House of Representatives, the Democrats also won a clear majority with 255 of the total 435 seats. Some of the party's politicians, like Van Hollen, point out that the voters had called for more radical policies with their clear vote.
Senate committee summons trade minister and ex-Nvidia boss
Following new questions about possible deliveries of Nvidia chips to China, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and former CEO Jensen Huang have been summoned before a Senate committee. Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, a Republican, asked them to appear for a public hearing in December. Scott cited national security concerns. Lutnick has already agreed, as a spokesman for the ministry told the TV station NBC.
Huang resigned as Nvidia boss on Thursday. There had previously been media reports about his close relationship with a woman from China who, according to US security authorities, may have been recruited by Chinese intelligence. Huang admitted over the weekend that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The decisive factor for his departure after more than 30 years at the top of the company was probably the revelation of another affair with a top Nvidia manager who reported to him.
At the same time, the scandal threw a new spotlight on possible deliveries of Nvidia chips to China in order to circumvent US bans. The Chinese woman with whom Huang had an affair worked for a time for the Megaspeed company. This Singapore-based company was suspected by US authorities of secretly shipping AI chips purchased from Nvidia to China. According to US media reports, Nvidia supplied Megaspeed with technology worth around four billion dollars. Trade Minister Lutnick will now have to ask himself why this was possible.
The US government wants to slow down Chinese progress in artificial intelligence by banning the sale of high-performance chips from Nvidia. Huang, on the other hand, was in favor of chip sales and argued that this would tie China to US technology - instead of encouraging the development of competing systems that could compete with Nvidia on the global market.
Media: Three executions in one day in the USA
Despite the failed execution of Christa Pike and the renewed discussion about the death penalty in the USA, individual states are continuing their executions. Two people sentenced to death were executed in Indiana and Florida on Thursday, the respective prison authorities announced. According to the media, the death penalty was carried out on a 54-year-old in Alabama - that would be three executions in one day in the USA.
Pike, who was convicted of murder, was scheduled to be executed in the US state of Tennessee at the end of September. She survived. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, there is no comparable case known in recent history in the United States in which the execution drugs were administered and the condemned person lived on. Her case reignited the debate over executions in the United States, but the 50 states continue to handle them differently
“Three executions in one day are rare in this day and age of capital punishment,” USA Today wrote, pointing out that such a triple execution had already taken place in August. Previously, the last triple execution in the United States took place 16 years ago, the newspaper said. The three people now executed were all men who had been sentenced to death for killing other people. They were all given a lethal injection.
Barbara Klimke
US Department: Almost half a million deportations in one year
The US government says it deported almost half a million people within a year. In the fiscal year that ended at the end of September, more than 483,000 people were taken out of the country, the Department of Homeland Security said. Never before has the responsible migration authority, ICE, deported more people in one year.
President Donald Trump significantly tightened the USA's deportation policy after taking office. The actions of the migration authority ICE have been particularly criticized. There were serious incidents during large-scale ICE operations; two people were killed at the beginning of the year. Human rights organizations complain that migrants are also deported to third countries that are not their country of birth or homeland. In addition, many people are denied the opportunity to challenge their deportation decision in court.
The department's data shows a significant increase in deportations since Trump took office. While there were well over 400,000 deportations in the two years that fell entirely or mostly during his term in office, last year there were 271,000 under his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
You can read more about deportation practices here:
Barbara Klimke
Hegseth honors the soldier who reprimanded the minister's group
After the call to order against a group led by Defense Minister Pete Hegseth, he honored the guard in charge. The infantryman had reprimanded Hegseth and his group at the Monument to the Unknown Soldier near Washington for laughing loudly - on Veterans Day of all days. Hegseth now awarded the soldier the Joint Service Commendation Medal for his performance of duty that day.
When Hegseth and his wife and companions visited Arlington National Cemetery on Veterans Day, the group was noticed because loud laughter rang out from among them. A guard reprimanded them, as can be seen and heard on CNN recordings: “All visitors must ensure an atmosphere of calm and respect at all times,” the soldier shouted before turning away again.
The Defense Minister now posted pictures of the award on the X platform. "We love soldiers. We love standards. Well done, specialist," he wrote. Specialist is a rank in the US military.
Barbara Klimke
Trump reiterates interest in transfer of power in Cuba
US President Donald Trump has signaled that he wants to force a change of power in Cuba in the two remaining years of his term in office and could also be prepared to use military force to achieve this. “I want Cuba checked off before I go,” Trump said in a radio interview. When asked by moderator Hugh Hewitt whether he would accept a week-long military campaign for this, the US President replied: “I would definitely consider it.”
“I want Cuba checked off before I go.”
US President Donald Trump
Trump had already brought up US military intervention in Cuba several times. In October, he said that American warships could head to the Caribbean island on the way back from their mission in the Iran War and stop off its coast, and the rulers in Cuba would then surrender.
The government of the socialist island state condemned the threats of military action and other US measures such as the oil blockade at the UN general debate in September.
Report: US Commerce Secretary Lutnick under pressure after Nvidia spying scandal
According to insiders, the US government is discussing a replacement for Trade Minister Howard Lutnick following the alleged espionage scandal involving former Nvidia boss Jensen Huang. Corresponding discussions are being held in the White House, two people familiar with the process told the Reuters news agency. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the minister's future. However, a government official said in response to the criticism that US President Donald Trump had “full confidence in the minister and his ability to carry out the office”.
An increasing number of parliamentarians are accusing the minister of not adequately controlling the export of AI chips to China. They also criticize the government's refusal to put dozens of Chinese companies on an important trade blacklist. The criticism of Lutnick began before Huang's resignation, but recent developments have brought it into greater focus.
Barbara Klimke
Loud laughter - soldier reprimands group around Hegseth
A group of visitors led by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was called to order at Arlington National Cemetery for inappropriate behavior - on Veterans Day of all days. After taking a photo together, Hegseth and his wife and companions walked up the steps of the Monument to the Unknown Soldier when loud laughter was heard. A guard loudly reprimanded the group, as can be seen in footage from CNN. “All visitors must ensure an atmosphere of calm and respect at all times,” shouted the soldier dressed in parade uniform before turning away again. Hegseth and his companions looked around briefly before moving on.
On Veterans Day, Hegseth, President Donald Trump and other government members attended a memorial service at the national cemetery. The Monument to the Unknown Soldier was created in 1921 to honor those who died in the First World War; it serves as the central memorial of the US armed forces.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (r.) and his wife at the Veterans Day memorial service in Arlington. Reuters
Democrat Scott Colom wins the Senate seat in the southern state of Mississippi
Historic victory for the Democrats in Mississippi: Democrat Scott Colom wins against Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith and takes her place in the US Senate, as the AP news agency reported more than a week after the vote based on vote counts and exit polls. Colom is the first African-American senator from Mississippi since the Reconstruction era in the 1860s and 1870s.
In the deeply Republican southern state, there was long uncertainty about the outcome of the election. The reason: The deadline for submitting postal votes and so-called “affidavit ballots”, i.e. provisionally cast ballots from people who initially could not be found in the electoral register or who showed up at the polling station without being able to identify themselves, only ended this Tuesday. Independent candidate Ty Pinkins came a distant third.
