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Trump takes his $400 million White House ballroom fight to the Supreme Court while a sharp drop in retail sales raises new questions about the American consumer. Elsewhere, NATO downs a drone over Latvia, OpenAI hits a business milestone, and Afghanistan approaches a grim five-year anniversary.

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The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to clear the way for a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the White House grounds. Price tag: $400 million. The president has pitched the project as part of his broader effort to remake Washington, and lower courts had paused it amid challenges over historic preservation and executive authority.

The ballroom would be one of the biggest additions to the executive mansion in a century — dwarfing the East Room it's meant to supplement. A ruling from the justices will set the pace for whether ground can be broken this year.

American shoppers pulled back sharply in July. Retail sales notched their steepest monthly decline in more than a year as households keep absorbing the drag of persistent inflation, with discretionary categories taking the hardest hits and grocery spending roughly flat.

The pullback complicates the soft-landing story the White House has been selling all summer. It also lands the same week the Fed is weighing whether stubborn prices or a slowing consumer deserves the louder response.

American shoppers pulled back sharply in July, as retail sales fell 0.6% against economist expectations of a 0.1% gain. Excluding autos, sales still slipped 0.3% against a forecast 0.2% rise, pointing to broad softness rather than one weak category.

Confidence among consumers sank alongside spending, with the University of Michigan index sliding to 51.0 in August from 55.2 in July. Only 8% of Americans now expect their income to outpace inflation, down sharply from 18% in December 2024.

In a decision issued Friday, France's Constitutional Council struck down the country's under-15 social media ban. Macron, whose government had planned a staged rollout from September, immediately asked officials to prepare a fresh draft.

Counting resumed on Friday after a tense pause, with Zambia's electoral commission tallying votes from Thursday's presidential and parliamentary elections. Violence at some polling stations resulted in the theft of marked ballot papers, according to the commission, which has not named a winner.

NATO fighters shot down a drone over Latvia on Friday, with Riga blaming Russian electromagnetic warfare as Finland briefly closed nearby sea and airspace zones. The Baltic states have been on edge for months as incursions and GPS jamming keep climbing.

Thousands of veteran U.S. Forest Service staff have been pushed out under Trump administration workforce cuts, leaving remaining crews to face what fire managers are calling an extraordinary season. Blazes across the West are outpacing suppression capacity.

Federal Medicaid dollars can no longer be used to pay for gender-affirming care for minors, a policy shift pediatricians warn will cut off treatment for low-income transgender youth. State-run programs are scrambling to figure out whether they can backfill costs.

Prediction platforms are drawing fresh federal attention, with the CFTC reviewing mention markets where traders bet on specific words. Kalshi was alerted several weeks ago and pulled its sports-related mention contracts around the same time, people familiar said.

Wall Street closed a quiet session on Friday, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.2% to 7,785.76 for a third straight weekly gain. Nasdaq fell 0.3% to 26,729.16 and the Dow shed 107.58 points to 53,732.41, while the Russell 2000 rose again.

A regulatory filing landed Friday showing Berkshire lifted its Alphabet stake 83% last quarter, to shares worth $37.9 billion. Only Apple and American Express are now larger US-listed positions for the Greg Abel-led conglomerate, which also added housing bets.

One of value investing's quietest names went shopping, as Seth Klarman's Baupost bought into Bill Ackman's newly listed Pershing Square. Baupost built a far larger stake in CME Group, valued near $137 million at quarter-end, according to a regulatory filing.

Researchers examined 11,500 neighbourhoods across more than 100 US cities and found no link to violent crime from undocumented migration. Property crime and assaults actually fell where those populations grew, though robberies rose, according to work published in the Journal of Urban Affairs.

Finance chief Sarah Friar told investors on Friday that enterprise revenue now beats consumer at OpenAI for the first time. "We entered the year at 60-40, but enterprise has accelerated much faster than expected," Friar said, capping a turbulent week.

The Italian carmaker went further than ever on Friday, launching the Revuelto SV hybrid as its fastest, most powerful production car. Named for a line that began 55 years ago with the Miura SV, the car is pitched as more race-oriented.

Fenway Sports Group has agreed to sell about a third of Liverpool to a consortium including Jeff Bezos. British-Indian businessman Amit Bhatia leads the group, which also includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, and he becomes vice-chairman pending approval.

Sources told ESPN on Friday that Cleveland is trading Dennis Schroder and cash to the Hornets for guard Tre Mann. Charlotte gains an established veteran point guard with ties to team president Jeff Peterson, while Cleveland picks up roster flexibility.

Commissioner Rob Manfred announced in San Francisco that Oracle Park will host the 2028 Midsummer Classic. Giants fans last hosted the game at their waterfront ballpark in 2007, two decades before the event now returns.

Festival organiser Emily Eavis moved quickly to dismiss the Madonna rumours, saying the Queen of Pop is definitely not booked for 2027. Eavis confirmed the 2027 headliners are already signed without naming any of them, which should keep the guessing going for months.

Phoebe Bridgers' new album Lost Weekend blends humor and pathos into what critics are calling the strongest work of her career. The record leans into fuller arrangements without losing the intimacy that built her audience.

Basketball's newest Hall of Fame class puts Parker, Delle Donne and Holdsclaw at its centre this year. Parker and Delle Donne both collected multiple MVP awards, and Holdsclaw's selection recognises one of college basketball's most dominant scorers.

What it is: Saturday marks five years since the Taliban retook Kabul, and Afghan women describe lives they no longer recognise at all. Restrictions have accumulated steadily since 2021, touching schooling, work, travel, healthcare, public punishment and marriage law. Roughly 22 million women and girls now live under rules that have tightened almost every year since. Afghanistan stands alone as the only country on earth officially barring girls from secondary and higher education.

The detail: Speaking from Kabul and the countryside, women told the BBC that survival has crowded out any thought of the future. Girls over 12 are barred from classrooms, travel without a male chaperone is restricted, and one law implies approval for child marriage. Many of those interviewed withheld their real names because they fear reprisals for speaking at all. "Survival has become the priority," said Ela in Kabul, describing neighbours who set aside education and hope entirely.

Why it matters: Five years is long enough for a generation of girls to move from primary school into adulthood unschooled. Barred from secondary classrooms since 2021, those students cannot simply resume where they stopped if rules ever loosen. Afghanistan's foreign minister told BBC Afghan that women are "not totally restricted on all walks of life". Women interviewed across the country described a wide gap between that official claim and their actual daily experience.

What to watch: August 15 carries its own weight, and the anniversary has become a recurring source of private grief. "Every year when this date comes I feel as if an old wound opens again," Shakiba said. Foreign governments still weigh recognition and aid money against the education ban, with no resolution anywhere close. Whether outside pressure ever moves the schooling rules remains the clearest test of everything else the Taliban promises.

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—The Five Minute Daily Team