The Midnight File — The Desk’s Report
The Nation’s Departures Stop for More Than Four Hours and Resume at 2015, Mr. Huang’s 2000 Deadline Passes With No Confirmation in the File, and Friday Closes With the Radar Denied, the War Terminated by Letter and Alaska Still Uncalled
The last entry of the day, filed before the log turns: an afternoon when no departing aircraft could leave an American airport, and an evening when they could again; a congressional deadline that passed in silence; a radar claimed and denied; a war terminated in a letter and continued in a speech; and two counts that spent Friday on paperwork and produced no new total by midnight.
The Midnight in Brief: What Friday Settled, What It Left Open
Friday settled its newest file in four hours and left its oldest files exactly where the evening edition put them: the nationwide ground stop that began in the afternoon ended at 2015 with departures resumed and no cause established beyond overloaded equipment in an old system; Mr. Huang’s 2000 deadline passed with no written confirmation and no subpoena reported in any account the desk read; the Bahrain radar stands denied by Central Command and claimed by the Guards, with Manama silent; the war stands terminated in the President’s letter to Congress and continued in his Florida speech the same evening; and Alaska and Mississippi produced no new statewide total on their paperwork day. The stop stands in the resumption account filed below: instability at 1536, the order just before 1600, the lift at 2015. Secretary Duffy’s explanation stands in the same account and in the aviation account filed below: switches and routers overloaded with data, in an incredibly old system. Secretary Mullin’s caution stands beside it: no indication of a cyberattack, and nothing ruled out. The Huang deadline stands in the deadline account filed below, at 2000 for a December 1 interview, and midnight records its passing, not its answer. The letter stands in the Forbes account filed below, and the speech in the Florida account filed below. Alaska stands at 125,157 to 119,357 in the official summary filed below, uncalled. Saturday holds the recovery of the airlines’ schedules, and nothing else in this file has a Saturday date.
The Ground Stop: No Departures in the Afternoon, Departures Again at 2015, and No Cause Established
The day’s largest settled fact did not exist when the midday edition collected and was still running when the evening edition collected. At 1536 Eastern the air traffic system experienced instability in radar and communications in its centers and terminal facilities across the country, Secretary Duffy said at a White House briefing after the lift, in the resumption account above and the aviation account above. Just before 1600 the Federal Aviation Administration issued a nationwide ground stop for all airports, in its words due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety, citing a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers, in the lifting account filed below and in the agency account filed below. Aircraft already in the air were allowed to land; aircraft on the ground could not take off; inbound international flights were managed case by case, in the lifting account. Some international departures on both coasts were approved during the afternoon, in the same account. The advisory as printed carried an end of 2330, in the grounding account filed below and in the corporate account filed below, which timed the order at 1554.
The lift came at 2015, more than four hours after the order, and the accounts of the lift do not agree on the hour to the quarter. The resumption account and the lifting account both give 2015; the agency account gives shortly before 2030 for the cancellation of the stop. Departures resumed; normal operations did not, in every account: planes and crews are out of position, recovery depends on crew availability, some aircraft will move Saturday morning instead, and it will take some time to unwind the afternoon, in the aviation account above. Delta issued a waiver for Friday and Saturday and United a waiver for rescheduling, in the resumption account. On cause, the file holds two official sentences and no finding: the switches and routers got overloaded with data and gave inconsistent data, and fixes reduced the overloading, in Secretary Duffy’s account; and newer technology overwhelming the older system, in Secretary Mullin’s preliminary account, which the aviation account notes did not establish whether an upgrade contributed. On attack, Secretary Mullin said there is no indication of a cyberattack, that it appears mechanically driven, and that officials are still looking and do not rule anything out, in the resumption account and the lifting account. The National Weather Service reported nationwide internet and communications issues the same day, with no immediate indication of a connection, in the lifting account. Settled: the stop, its hours, and its lift. Open: its cause, and Saturday’s schedules.
The counts of what the stop cost stand apart by thousands, and the desk prints them as counts of different things at different hours. Reuters, in the lifting account, reports more than 1,000 flights canceled and nearly 10,000 delayed. FlightAware, in the resumption account, shows nearly 5,000 flights canceled on Friday and nearly 800 cancellations already listed for Saturday. The agency account, at 2042, reports more than 750 delayed and more than 573 canceled. Cirium, in a briefing at 1905 supplied to the aviation account, counts 4,103 flights as canceled or no-fly out of 26,284 scheduled departures—a combined measure its own briefing cautions may include earlier cancellations—and 827 diverted-flight records for the day, of which 670 returned to their origin. About 11,000 flights and more than 1.5 million passengers were scheduled to depart after 1600, in the same briefing; how many were ultimately disrupted is not established in any account. Two historical sentences also stand apart and stand in the Cocked Hat: the second nationwide ground stop since September 11, 2001, in the agency, grounding and resumption accounts, against not the first since September 11, because of January 11, 2023, in the aviation account.
Bahrain at Midnight: The Denial Stands, the Warning Stands, and Manama Has Not Spoken
Nothing entered the Bahrain file between the evening edition and midnight, and the desk records the standstill at its full size, because the file is the day’s war file in miniature. The Guards’ claim stands: their Aerospace Force targeted and destroyed an American early-warning radar on the island of Bahrain, at Jabal ad Dukhan in one account, in retaliation for an air attack on a telecommunications tower at Sirik, in the CNN account filed below and in the drones account filed below. Central Command’s denial stands: two one-way attack drones launched toward Bahrain, both shot down, no injuries, no damage, and the radar claim false, in the agency account filed below. The Guards’ warning stands: the Aerospace Force on full alert to respond without limits in the strait, and Commander-in-Chief Vahidi’s warning that the slightest aggression would draw devastating and painful strikes, in the warning account filed below. No imagery, no coordinates accepted by the other side, no intercept footage and no Bahraini statement stands in any account the desk read by midnight; the drones account notes Manama had not confirmed any attack on a radar installation as of Friday evening. The tanker claim of the morning stands unverified, and the strait’s traffic stands at roughly 65 percent below pre-conflict levels in the British agency’s weekly report through November 10, in the warning account. Settled, on both governments’ accounts: two drones were launched toward Bahrain. Open: everything they hit or did not hit, and who struck Sirik.
The War at Midnight: Terminated by Letter at the Deadline, Continued by Speech in the Evening
The President’s two Friday sentences stand side by side in the midnight file, and the desk does not reconcile them. In the letter to Speaker Johnson on the 60-day War Powers deadline day, the hostilities that began on February 28 have terminated, there has been no exchange of fire since the ceasefire of April 7, and approval from Congress was never needed, in the Forbes account at the top of this report. In Florida hours later, at The Villages, the President claimed victory, repeated that virtually all of Iran’s military assets have been eliminated, and said the United States will not leave early and have the problem arise in three more years, because Iran is not coming through with the kind of peace deal the United States has to have, in the Florida account at the top of this report. The same account carries his Friday position on the statute itself: he did not intend to seek congressional approval, and the War Powers Act was, in his word, totally unconstitutional. The blockade, which neither the letter nor the speech ends, continues to prohibit ships from reaching or leaving Iranian ports, in the resolution account filed below.
Congress’s Friday stands as the evening edition printed it, and midnight adds nothing to it. The chamber left Washington without acting; the Senate’s sixth rejection of a war powers resolution, 47 to 50 on Thursday, stands as its last word; Senator Murkowski’s authorization, described by its author as restraint, stands in preparation, with a further measure promised when the Senate reconvenes if the deadline passed without a credible plan, in the deadline account filed below. Against the letter, the same account states the other reading in one sentence: without action from Congress, the administration now has 30 days to wind down military actions absent authorization. The letter’s own side carries its own split on the ceasefire date: April 7 in the President’s letter and Secretary Hegseth’s testimony as the Forbes account carries it, April 8 in the Secretary’s testimony as the resolution account carries it. Settled: the letter was sent on deadline day, the speech was given the same evening, and Congress did not vote. Open: which reading of the clock governs the next 30 days, and what terminated means for a blockade still in place.
Nvidia at Midnight: The 2000 Deadline Passed, the After-Hours Price Fell, and November 17 Is the Next Date
At midnight the Nvidia file’s clock has run out, and the desk files the deadline as passed, not as answered. Three House chairs—Mr. Mast, Mr. Moolenaar and Mr. Crawford—required Mr. Huang’s written confirmation by 2000 Eastern on Friday of a closed-door, transcribed interview on December 1, or a subpoena from the Foreign Affairs Committee, in the deadline account at the top of this report and in the wire account filed below. No written confirmation, and no issued subpoena, stands in any account the desk read by midnight. The agreement in principle stands where Thursday left it: Mr. Huang has agreed to answer lawmakers’ questions, Chairman Mast said, in the testimony account filed below, which adds that Mr. Huang and the company have not commented on the December 1 date. The rest of the calendar stands: Mr. Teter for December 2 on the same terms, Under Secretary Kessler at a December 3 hearing at 1000, Senator Scott’s track asking Mr. Huang on December 3 and Secretary Lutnick—who has agreed to appear—on December 10, in the summons account filed below. Inside the company nothing moved in the evening hours: Mr. Huang resigned, Ms. Kress is interim chief executive, the Justice Department has reached no conclusion on Ms. Alice Huang, and Beijing’s denial stands. No finding has been made by the board, by any committee or by any court on any allegation in this file.
The stock’s evening was a continuation of its day, at a lower price. Nvidia closed at $162.85, down $3.34 or 2.0 percent, on volume of 360.7 million shares, in the market data page filed below and in the downgrade account filed below, which carries HSBC’s move of the day: a downgrade to hold and a price target cut from $375 to $170, on the uncertainty until a permanent succession plan is laid out. The after-hours price at 2000 Eastern stood at $161.041, down 1.11 percent from the close, in the market data page—against $161.9299 at 1655 in the evening edition’s print of the same page, two prints of one evening, both filed. For the week the shares stand down about 12 percent, and below $4 trillion in one closing account and at $4.19 trillion in the market data page, in the corporate account at the top of this report and the market data page; the difference stands in the Cocked Hat. The company’s November 17 report, its first under Ms. Kress, is the next dated fact in the file.
Prices, Markets and Oil at Midnight: The Prints Stand as the Evening Printed Them
Midnight adds no new figure to Friday’s economic file, and files its three facts once, as they stand. Producer prices rose 0.3 percent in October against 0.4 percent expected, September revised to 1.4 percent, and the year at 6.5 percent, the largest 12-month rise since November 2022, in the Bureau’s release filed below. The closes stand: the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.10 percent at 52,347.55, the S&P 500 down 0.40 percent at 7,561.67, the Nasdaq Composite down 0.91 percent at 25,136.27, in the closing account filed below. The selling was in the chips: the Philadelphia semiconductor index down 6 percent in the wire’s intraday account, in the wire account filed below, and Advanced Micro Devices down 8.75 percent at $534.06 at the close, in the closing account. Oil stands with the agency’s surplus above it: the International Energy Agency’s November report puts supply above demand for the first time since the war began, inventories up 52 million barrels in October, in the report filed below; Brent stood at $95.77 and West Texas Intermediate at $88.57 in the late print timed 1746 GMT, both down about 2 percent for the week, in the wire account filed below. Settled: the print, the closes and the surplus, on their sources. Open: the Federal Reserve’s December path, which Friday’s annual figure argued over and did not settle.
Dublin at Midnight: No Name, No Number, No Date, for a Second Night
Friday produced no new sentence in the talks file in any account the desk read, and the desk files the silence as the day’s entry in that file. The shape stands as Thursday made it: the envoys’ claim that Europe will join the next round and that the prisoner exchange is agreed and will be the largest of the war, in the envoys account filed below; Moscow’s readout confirming no European seat, in the talks account filed below; and the wire’s summary that the exact figure is still to be announced and that Europe is to appoint a single person, in the Australian agency account filed below. President Zelenskyy’s figure of the day before—1,000 to 1,200 a side—stands as the only number in the file, unattributed to any agreement. Ms. Kallas’s treaty reading, Chancellor Merz’s E3 and five, and President Macron’s format-to-be-determined stand as the three answers to who fills the chair. The Coalition of the Willing in Berlin next week is the next occasion named in the file, and the Presidents’ meeting at APEC in Shenzhen on November 18 and 19 is the next dated meeting of any kind. Settled for a second night: the expansion is announced in Washington and Kyiv. Open for a second night: the name, the number, the date, the place, the land and the ceasefire.
The Count at Midnight: Alaska’s Batch Unreported, Mississippi’s Counties on Their Deadline Day
Alaska’s Friday batch, expected in the evening accounts, had not been reported in any account the desk read by midnight, and the race stands on Thursday’s figures into Saturday. The official total stands at Ms. Peltola 125,157 to Senator Dan S. Sullivan’s 119,357, a lead of 5,800, in the official summary above, with Mr. Heikes at 5,490 and Mr. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. at 4,199. The day’s secondary tallies put the counted share at about 88 percent in the wire-derived accounts and at about 91.3 percent of ballots counted in the national account filed below, which gives the same leaders at 49.2 percent to 47.0 percent and more than 256,000 ballots counted as of Friday; both shares stand in the Cocked Hat. The widening account filed below adds the arithmetic the day repeated: the lead puts Ms. Peltola ahead of both Sullivans combined by 1,601, and less than a point from the 50 percent that wins outright. Friday was the deadline for most mailed ballots to arrive; overseas ballots may arrive through November 18, the ranked-choice tabulation runs November 18, and certification is targeted for November 25. The race remains uncalled and remains the only uncalled Senate contest.
Mississippi’s Friday was its counties’ certification deadline, and no statewide certified total stands in any account the desk read by midnight. Statewide certification is scheduled for December 3, candidates have 20 days to file a contest, and the state has no recount law, in the timeline account filed below. The unofficial tallies stand where the evening edition left them, in the Cocked Hat: 479,197 votes for Mr. Colom in the results record filed below, against the call-time figure of 4,669 votes of margin out of 962,237 counted in the timeline account. The President’s praise for the winner stands as the race’s considered response: Mr. Colom campaigned on the line outside the President’s October rally, and the President gives him credit for it—“I don’t know the gentleman, but I give him credit”—in the praise account filed below. Senator Hyde-Smith’s concession of Wednesday stands. The Democratic caucus stands at 55, and Alaska decides 55 or 56.
Spain at Midnight: The First Full Campaign Day Closed, the Debate on Monday
Spain’s file closed its first full campaign day with the Prime Minister’s two frontóns as its last new sentences, and midnight adds only the standing of the polls. In Arnedo Mr. Sánchez set 75 percent turnout and 176 seats as his campaign’s figures, took up Mr. Feijóo’s photographs with Marcial Dorado and his acknowledgment that he does not know English, and named Mr. Carlos Cuerpo as his bet for the Vice Presidency against the warning that Mr. Abascal would take that office in a government of Mr. Feijóo and Mr. Abascal, in the Arnedo account filed below and in the 176 account filed below; the second stop was the Labrit frontón in Pamplona, in the 176 account. Mr. Feijóo’s launch stands at a sports centre in Badalona under the slogan El cambio necesario, in the campaign account filed below. The poll arithmetic stands divided in kind: the mean of the latest study from each of 15 institutes as of November 13 gives the Popular Party 31.4 percent, the Socialists 26.8, Vox 19.1, Frente Amplio 6.3 and ERC 2.4, in the Arnedo account, and all 15 private polls gave the two parties of the right a combined majority averaging 50.6 percent, in the campaign account; against both stands the state survey’s 33.3 percent for the Socialists. The two men debate on Monday, November 16; the campaign runs to November 27 and Spain votes on November 29.
The Cocked Hat
Where the midnight’s bearings do not meet, the desk prints the triangle. On the ground stop’s lift: 2015 in the resumption and lifting accounts, against shortly before 2030 in the agency account. On its cost: more than 1,000 canceled and nearly 10,000 delayed in Reuters; nearly 5,000 canceled in FlightAware; more than 573 canceled and 750 delayed at 2042 in the agency account; and 4,103 canceled or no-fly at 1905 in Cirium’s combined measure, which cautions it may include earlier cancellations. On its history: the second nationwide stop since September 11, 2001, in three accounts, against not the first since September 11, because January 2023 paused departures too, in the aviation account—and first since January 2023 in the agency account, which is the same fact in the other direction. On Bahrain: a radar destroyed, in the Guards’ statement, against two drones intercepted with no injuries and no damage, in Central Command’s, with no evidence produced that the other side accepts and no word from Manama. On the war: terminated with the April 7 ceasefire, in the President’s letter, against will not leave early, in his Florida speech the same evening, and a 30-day wind-down now running in the deadline account’s reading of the statute; and the ceasefire dated April 7 by the President and April 8 in one account of the Secretary’s testimony. On Mr. Huang’s deadline: passed at 2000, with an agreement to testify in principle in the testimony account and no comment on the December 1 date in the same account, and neither a confirmation nor a subpoena in any account. On Nvidia’s value: below $4 trillion at the close in the corporate account, against $4.19 trillion in the market data page. On Alaska’s counted share: about 88 percent in the wire-derived accounts, against about 91.3 percent in the national account, on the same 125,157 to 119,357 total. On Mississippi: Mr. Colom at 479,197 votes in the results record, against a call-time margin of 4,669 out of 962,237 in the timeline account, on a day given to county certification with no statewide total reported. On Spain: the Socialists at 26.8 percent in the fifteen-institute average, at 33.3 percent in the state survey. Against the triangle, the midnight’s single-valued facts are these: the ground stop was issued just before 1600 on Friday and lifted in the evening, departures resumed, and no cause was established beyond the officials’ preliminary accounts; Mr. Huang’s 2000 deadline passed with nothing reported; Central Command denied the radar claim and reported two drones intercepted without damage, and the Guards warned of an unlimited response; the President’s letter was sent, his Florida speech was given, and Congress did not act; producer prices rose 0.3 percent in October and 6.5 percent on the year; the Dow closed up 0.10 percent, the S&P 500 down 0.40 percent and the Nasdaq down 0.91 percent, with Nvidia at $162.85 and $161.041 after hours; Brent stood at $95.77 in the late print; Alaska stands at 125,157 to 119,357, uncalled, with its Friday batch unreported at midnight; Mississippi’s counties spent Friday certifying, with December 3 the state’s date; Spain’s campaign completed its first full day; and Europe’s chair, the prisoner number and the next talks date remain open for a second night. The log turns. Saturday holds the airlines’ recovery, and the Overnight Watch collects at 0400.