AP News Summary at 7:45 a.m. EST

Thousands of flights canceled as airlines work to dig out from nationwide ground stop WASHINGTON (AP) — Airlines across the U.S. are working to dig out from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. More than 2,000 flights were canceled Saturday. The more than four-hour ground stop has stranded passengers and forced professional and college sports teams to scramble to find alternate transportation to games. Trump administration officials say new technology being added to the nation’s air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment and caused intermittent communications and radar gaps. A limited number of domestic flights have departed since the stop was lifted but the effects could be felt for days.

The Details

Microsoft says services fully restored after hourslong global outage Microsoft says services are fully restored after a massive, global outage that lasted for hours. The company announced Saturday that it had addressed the underlying issue and restored service to affected customers and regions. Users reported interruptions to Microsoft 365 services like Outlook, Teams and AI assistant Copilot. Downdetector said it received outage reports from over 70 countries. The outage affected governments, courts, healthcare services, businesses and banks. Microsoft apologized Friday, saying the outage was not related to a cyberattack.

Kreiss-Tomkins becomes first Democrat since 1998 elected governor in Alaska JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska voters have elected a Democrat for governor for the first time since 1998. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins, a former state lawmaker, defeated three Republicans. One of those, Bernadette Wilson, was endorsed by President Donald Trump. Kreiss-Tomkins’ victory is part of a national landslide that gave Democrats sweeping wins in state governments across the country. They now control 30 governor’s offices. Kreiss-Tomkins focused on issues including affordability and full funding of public schools. He emphasized his willingness to work across party lines and said Alaska needed a change in direction.

Alaska voters reject ballot measure seeking to repeal open primaries, ranked voting system JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Alaska voters have rejected a ballot measure seeking to repeal the state’s unique system of open primaries and ranked choice voting in general elections. Voters during the Nov. 3 election were asked for the second time in two years whether to repeal the system and certain campaign disclosure rules. They narrowly approved adopting the system in 2020, and it was used for the first time two years later. Supporters of open primaries and ranked voting say it invites competition and gives voters more choices. Opponents, including President Donald Trump, say it’s confusing.

With shifting Iran rhetoric following US elections, Trump leaves Mideast in limbo about path ahead WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has been all over the map as he's articulated his thinking about the Iran war since last week's midterm elections. He's backed away from additional strikes on Iran — but also from additional talks. On Monday, Trump suggested the war was partly to blame for Republican losses and said the conflict "militarily is effectively over."

By Thursday, he dismissed the need for a deal with Iran, redirecting Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic issues. Trump's shifting tone adds uncertainty to the conflict's future. Meanwhile, U.S. officials say the decision on how to proceed rests with Trump, who remains confident in his economic strategy against Iran.