Friday, November 13, 2026
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5 PM CT update·Friday, November 13, 2026

FAA lifts nationwide ground stop after air traffic communications outage; departures resume

Also in this update: Evening Brief: FAA grounds every U.S. flight after an air traffic communications outage; Supreme Court takes Trump's border asylum case; Trump to meet Xi and Putin; Starship flies, booster catch aborted. Plus Gulf states tell the UN Iran has fired 7,000+ missiles and drones, Bessent and Lutnick clash over a Chinese chip firm, and drones over a U.S. base in Britain.

5 PM CT video brief · 2:01Presenter voice and image generated with AI tools.
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I'm Nora Vale with your 5 PM World Brief for Friday, November 13. FAA halts all U.S. departures after air traffic communications outage. Supreme Court takes Trump's border asylum case. Trump to meet Xi and Putin in Shenzhen next Thursday. Gulf states: Iran fired 7,000+ missiles and drones at them. Starship reaches orbit; booster catch aborted. In national weather, from the National Weather Service: Heavy rainfall and mountain snow continues along the West Coast; spreads into the Great Basin and Southern Plains this weekend. Cooler than average weather continues for the Midwest, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic. Our opinion. Fix the air traffic system taxpayers paid for, secure the border, verify any arms deal, and keep the pressure on Iran. That's your 5 PM World Brief. Every story and source at WorldBriefNow.com.

In this update

  1. FAA lifts nationwide ground stop after air traffic communications outage; departures resume
  2. Analysis: Microsoft says its global outage was 'not related to cyber.' Five questions before its report comes out
  3. FAA halts departures at every U.S. airport after a communications outage hits air traffic control centers; DHS says no sign yet of an attack
  4. Supreme Court agrees to decide whether Trump can suspend asylum at the southern border
  5. Trump to hold first-ever three-way summit with Xi and Putin next Thursday in Shenzhen, focused on nuclear arms control, Post reports
  6. Update: Bessent reportedly confronted Lutnick in the Situation Room over delays in blacklisting Megaspeed, the chip firm tied to the Huang spy scandal
  7. Update: Gulf states tell the UN Security Council Iran has fired more than 7,000 missiles and drones at them; Iran says two more tankers hit mines in Hormuz
  8. SpaceX launches Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas; booster catch aborted and Super Heavy splashes down in the Gulf, while the ship reaches orbit
  9. U.S. troops respond to "unauthorized drone activity" at RAF Lakenheath in Britain; Air Force says no one was harmed

Published · Updated 5:16 PM CT
9 stories · 59 linked sources

World4 stories

Analysis | Tech5 PM CT

Analysis: Microsoft says its global outage was 'not related to cyber.' Five questions before its report comes out

A Microsoft outage that began around midday Eastern time on Thursday, Nov. 12, knocked out Outlook, Teams, Copilot and other Microsoft 365 services for users in dozens of countries. On Friday, Microsoft said it "was a technical issue not related to cyber or AI / agents," introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade, and promised a full post-incident report. Microsoft says it has found no evidence of malicious activity, and federal officials say nothing indicates a link to Friday's FAA ground stop. This analysis sets out what was said and when, and the questions an open review could answer.

Sources
Iran / Gulf5 PM CT

Update: Gulf states tell the UN Security Council Iran has fired more than 7,000 missiles and drones at them; Iran says two more tankers hit mines in Hormuz

Gulf states told the UN Security Council on Friday that Iran has launched more than 7,000 missiles and drones at their territories since the war began in February, and Bahrain's UN ambassador said about 1,600 vessels have been disrupted in the Strait of Hormuz with more than 23,000 seafarers stranded, Iran International reported. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said two tankers exploded after hitting mines while crossing without authorization, while the U.S. military said it shot down two Iranian attack drones headed for Bahrain with no injuries or damage, denying Iran's claim it destroyed a U.S. radar there, Reuters reported via Al Jazeera. Reuters said it was Iran's first claimed attack on U.S. military assets in a Gulf country since early September.

Sources
SpaceX / Starship5 PM CT

SpaceX launches Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas; booster catch aborted and Super Heavy splashes down in the Gulf, while the ship reaches orbit

SpaceX launched Starship Flight 15 from Starbase, Texas, at 4:47 p.m. CT Friday, its first attempt to catch both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage at the launch site, CNBC reported; an FAA spokesperson told CNBC the launch license was not affected by the nationwide ground stop. Space.com reported that Booster 22 aborted its planned tower catch and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, with SpaceX's Dan Huot saying, "We'll dig in to what caused that abort," while Ship 42 reached orbit carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites. The ship's own return and catch attempt at Starbase is planned for Saturday afternoon after a flight of about 22.5 hours.

Sources
National security5 PM CT

U.S. troops respond to "unauthorized drone activity" at RAF Lakenheath in Britain; Air Force says no one was harmed

American troops at Royal Air Force base Lakenheath in the United Kingdom responded to "unauthorized drone activity" on Friday, the Washington Examiner reported. A U.S. Air Force spokesperson confirmed the incident and said it caused no harm to personnel, aircraft or civilians, but did not say where the drones came from or what they were doing, according to the Examiner.

Sources

White House / President4 stories

Developing5 PM CT

FAA lifts nationwide ground stop after air traffic communications outage; departures resume

UPDATE: The FAA lifted the nationwide ground stop at 8:16 p.m. ET Friday, according to FAA Command Center advisory 005. The stop had been ordered at 3:53 p.m. ET “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety,” according to FAA Command Center advisory 111. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the cause was a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House there was no indication yet of an attack.

Sources
Air travel5 PM CT

FAA halts departures at every U.S. airport after a communications outage hits air traffic control centers; DHS says no sign yet of an attack

The Federal Aviation Administration ordered a nationwide ground stop Friday afternoon "due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety," holding all departing flights while planes already in the air were allowed to land, according to the FAA advisory and the Washington Examiner. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said a communications issue was affecting all 22 Air Route Traffic Control Centers, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said investigators were looking into a possible telecommunications problem and were "not ruling out anything," the Washington Examiner and New York Post reported. AP said it is the first nationwide ground stop since January 2023, and the Post reported a source saying a software upgrade may be to blame.

Sources
Nuclear arms5 PM CT

Trump to hold first-ever three-way summit with Xi and Putin next Thursday in Shenzhen, focused on nuclear arms control, Post reports

President Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin next Thursday on the sidelines of the APEC conference in Shenzhen, China, the first-ever trilateral meeting of the three countries' leaders, the New York Post reported. A White House official told the Post the talks will focus largely on a nuclear arms control pact and could also touch on the war with Iran and North Korea. Trump said Sunday the leaders would "talk a lot of things, including denuclearization," according to the Post.

Sources
China / Export controls5 PM CT

Update: Bessent reportedly confronted Lutnick in the Situation Room over delays in blacklisting Megaspeed, the chip firm tied to the Huang spy scandal

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over why Singapore-based Megaspeed International had not been put on the Commerce Department's Entity List despite President Trump approving action in May, August and last Thursday, Fox News reported, citing Axios. Megaspeed executive Alice Huang is the suspected Chinese spy with whom former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admitted an affair; Trump reportedly told the group "Let's get it done." A Commerce spokeswoman told Fox the two departments "have a great working relationship" and said Lutnick will appear before the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing scheduled for Dec. 10.

Sources

Supreme Court1 story

Border / Immigration5 PM CT

Supreme Court agrees to decide whether Trump can suspend asylum at the southern border

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Mullin v. Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, the challenge to President Trump's Jan. 20, 2025, proclamation declaring "an invasion is ongoing at the southern border" and the DHS guidance that barred migrants from applying for asylum, SCOTUSblog and the Washington Examiner reported. A federal judge threw out the guidance and a divided D.C. Circuit panel largely agreed, but that ruling stays on hold during the appeal, so the restrictions remain in place; the justices will also review how broad the lower court's order could be, while declining the government's class-action question. The Court also took up Robinhood Markets v. Sodha, a securities-disclosure case, with arguments in both likely next spring, SCOTUSblog said.

Sources

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