day two hundred forty nine (13. 974)

Nearly two million passengers are stranded after a temporary shutdown of US airspace blamed on outdated air traffic control systems. Happening simultaneously with the national weather service reporting a loss of radar connectivity, the failures follow Microsoft’s dismissal of sixty thousand technicians and IT experts, replacing them AI, which coincides with a huge network outage over its enterprise. Officials, late to respond as chaos and confusion fill airport with the public and pilots not knowing what is going on and fearing a terror attack, decline to link the disruptions and hurl blame at congress for not rehauling aging infrastructure, despite holding the power for the past two years. More super tankers, transmitting through the Strait of Hormuz under the cover of darkness with American naval escort and their transponders switched off to avoid detection, strike sea mines and are set ablaze. Petroleum flows through the Persian Gulf are returning to pre-war levels but at a high and unsustainable cost, particularly with the American military acting as chaperons for each passing ship, and is not translating to lower prices for petrol, diesel or heating oil. Diplomatic efforts again stalled, Trump declares that he does not need to make a deal with Iran. German intelligence services are granted sweeping new powers by the Bundestag to respond to hacking with counter-cyberattacks.