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Visit florida ad campaign running nationwide invites people to enjoy vacation freedom.

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A new Visit Florida ad campaign airing in 48 states through June is inviting people to enjoy the kind of vacation freedom available in few other states.

The $7 million ad campaign from Visit Florida will air through June.

A new survey shows 33% of people are letting COVID-19 affect their travel plans, which is the lowest since the pandemic began and 87% plan to vacation in the next six months.

The survey also shows 55% feel safe traveling, 52% feel safe dining and shopping, and 51% support welcoming visitors to their communities.

"I think they are seeing the perfect combination of factors that is influencing their decisions to travel to Florida, so we're incredibly optimistic about the number of people coming to Florida," said Visit Florida CEO Dana Young.

One of the best indicators that tourism is coming back to Central Florida, is the traffic on International Drive. It's not just Florida license plates, but those from Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas.

"Last week was probably our best week ever since COVID-19 hit," said John Stine, who is with the company that owns the Orlando StarFlyer.

Stine said spring break is generating healthy business, keeping workers on the job and expectations for a summer rebound are strong.

"I think once we get back into Memorial Day, you know, summer starts, I think we're going to see more pent up demand more people wanting to come out and do things like what we offer here in Central Florida," Stine said.

The Official Corporate Blog for VISIT FLORIDA

Sunshine Matters

Visit florida’s new ad campaign celebrates the power of stories.

The first television commercial, which will air in Detroit during Sunday’s Grammy Awards show, lands the viewer in the afterglow of an epic Florida family vacation.  In the months ahead – via TV, cinema, radio and print, as well as jumbotrons, subway station takeovers, commuter train wraps and even an interactive online game – ‘Must Be the Sunshine’ will remind people why Florida vacations make great stories.

“Unlike other destinations, we don’t have to invent the narratives,” said Susannah Costello, VISIT FLORIDA Vice President of Brand.  “People are telling great Florida vacation stories all the time.  This campaign capitalizes on that insight.”

The message has inspired some major participants.  Several of Florida’s heavyweights – Disney, Universal, SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, along with the Viva Florida 500 initiative, Florida State Parks and many other key tourism businesses – are all partnering together for the first time in the same TV ad.  Besides Sunday in Detroit, the commercial will play in Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Dallas on such programs as the Today Show , Good Morning America , American Idol and The Big Bang Theory .

The brand launch is the first major product of VISIT FLORIDA’s creative relationship with Miami’s SapientNitro.  Hired in December 2011 for its digital marketing prowess with such brands as Coca-Cola and Nike, Sapient traveled the state to report on visitors’ vacation inspirations and turned that research into advertising that is rich in color and personal experiences.

In the past 18 months, VISIT FLORIDA has hired two longtime editors from nationally recognized Florida newspapers to lead a content bureau.  Now, a statewide network of 70-plus veteran journalists is writing, filming and photographing stories of Florida – more than 500 to date in English and Spanish.  This content pipeline feeds VISITFLORIDA.com and is available for distribution.  Some of the national media republishing VISIT FLORIDA journalism are the Tampa Bay Times , the Philadelphia newspapers and the Huffington Post .

VISIT FLORIDA’s reimagined brand and the soon-to-come redesigned website are all part of a strategic vision that celebrates the experiences of Florida’s nearly 90 million annual visitors.

To see the television ad, as well as other elements of the ‘Must Be the Sunshine’ campaign , please check out our landing page.  And please click here to read a release the Governor’s Press Office sent to media earlier today at the conclusion of the Governor’s Luncheon kicking off the Florida State Fair, where he unveiled the campaign’s first TV spot to a very enthusiastic crowd.

Category: Uncategorized | Tags: Florida vacation experience , Must Be the Sunshine , Susannah Costello , VISIT FLORIDA , VISITFLORIDA.com , Viva Florida 500 | Comment »

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Florida Tourism Produces Original Amazon Prime Series as Marketing Goes Hollywood

Lebawit Lily Girma, Skift

May 17th, 2021 at 8:30 AM EDT

Florida's tourism marketers are going the extra mile to beat the competition this summer: co-producing and launching an original series set in St. Pete-Clearwater and launching on Amazon Prime Video. It's a whole new tourism marketing frontier. Action!

When travel and the world shut down in 2020, digital consumption accelerated at a global level — platforms such as Netflix and Disney+ experienced up to 12 percent in growth in 2020 , and internet usage spiked as much as 70 percent . It’s no surprise that the lines between work and home blurring even further drove viewership and subscriptions even higher.

Coupled with an anticipated boom in backyard summer travel around the corner,  two of Florida’s destination marketing organizations (DMOs) saw an opportunity in this streaming bonanza, taking an innovative tourism marketing approach to reach Americans just as they start booking post-vaccine trips.

Instead of streaming just ads, Visit Florida and Visit St. Pete-Clearwater  scripted and co-produced an original series launched this month and streaming on Amazon Prime Video, as well as on YouTube and GoUSA TV.

“ Life’s Rewards ” is a dramedy set entirely in St. Pete. Eight-episodes at 10-15 minutes each tell the story of Dan Kinney, a privileged Floridian corporate executive whose luck runs out when a major deal falls through while on a business trip to St. Pete.

Fired from his father’s company and his bank accounts frozen, Dan ends up using his millions of hotel points to hole up at the historic Don CeSar Hotel or the “Pink Palace” on St. Pete beach for an extended stay. As he runs out of cash, he builds new friendships with locals he might never have interacted with otherwise.

Visit Florida and St. Pete-Clearwater each funded $275,000 for this project, sourced from the marketing budget and bed taxes respectively. The series was filmed and co-produced by Sarasota-based Odyssey – the Studio at Miles Partnership .

“What makes this stand out, compared to how we as a DMO or a film commission would typically work with a production, is that the story line is on the destination itself,” said Steve Hayes, CEO of Visit St. Pete-Clearwater. “Therefore, when they are talking about going someplace, it’s an actual real place. When they’re talking about the Don CeSar, it is the Don, they didn’t make up another hotel name, or Tarpon Springs, it’s a real city and community.”

There’s no hint in the series that it doubles as a marketing campaign — a couple of episodes in, the quirky storyline develops and turns it into a binge-worthy watch that takes viewers across popular sights and local restaurants in the St. Pete-Clearwater area.

“Why it happened right now, and why we kind of pushed for it right now is the pandemic: people were spending a lot of time in front of their streaming devices,” said Staci Mellman, chief marketing officer at Visit Florida.

“We are solely focused on Florida’s recovery as a tourism destination, our economy is dependent on it, so we’re going to use every single tool in our toolbox.”

It’s a clever, direct blurring of lines between tourism marketing, film entertainment and streaming, showcasing the destination to consumers in their favorite devices at a time when travel is restarting in the U.S., all while creating a new role for DMOs.

Success Metrics for A DMO-Produced Series Is Virgin Territory

Unlike most states during the pandemic, Florida has been reaping the rewards of having beaches and coastlines as well as relaxed Covid restrictions which allowed for an earlier reopening last summer.

“In mid March of this year, our occupancy was equal to or greater than 2019, which was a banner year for us,” Visit St. Pete-Clearwater’s Hayes said. “In March, our tourist development tax revenues exceeded our totals for March 2019. I’m not even comparing 2020. In talking with restaurants to attractions to even lodging, most of them for March and April exceeded 2019 levels.”

Hayes is nevertheless staying cautiously optimistic, in spite of signs that Memorial Day this year will be more robust than 2019.

Rolling out an Amazon Prime series is only likely to boost that pent up demand — and the DMOs are figuring out how to measure that success.

“I think the big measure is going to be number of downloads and people watching, and the other element to it is, if there is enough of this… it ends on a cliffhanger and so does that lead itself to season two?”

Mellman said this was virgin territory and difficult to know what would be a reasonable success metric for this series project. “The Florida Keys did a survey after the first season of Bloodline came out and that had a big impact on them — the impact was about $65 million of incremental visits, and that again was on a streaming platform, that wasn’t in a post-Covid world.”

“I want the visibility, I want people to talk,” Hayes said. “This is our unique way to do that and hopefully that has us out on the cutting edge of a new way to tell our story.”

For now, Visit Florida and Visit St. Pete-Clearwater are celebrating an early win — the”Best Breakthrough Streaming Series” award at the 2021 Sunscreen Film Festival earlier this month.

a DIRECT Role for Tourism in Film Beyond Ancillary Benefits

Ancillary benefits from this project included at least 40 local talent hires, a significant number at time of tourism downturn, in addition to supporting a local production company and 250-275 room nights for the St. Pete-Clearwater area.

But Mellman said the project is just starting and a lot of additional benefits will follow, noting the reality of film induced tourism and people traveling after being inspired by locations on their screens, from Game of Thrones to Sex and the City.

“We as a destination shouldn’t necessarily just experience the accidental positive impact of this film induced tourism, we can actually take a stand and create it for ourselves,” Mellman said. “That is the hope of this project.”

So far, the Don CeSar has launched a “ Life’s Rewards package ” offering $250 recreation credit and a daily $150 food and beverage credit for a minimum two-night luxury stay “in a Dan-approved suite.

A New Horizon: Feature Film Production

As the series’ closing credits roll, Hayes and Mellman’s names appear under the producer list, without a direct mention of their roles at Visit St. Pete-Clearwater or Visit Florida.

Visit St. Pete-Clearwater plans to continue on this new, direct path where tourism marketing blends into film storytelling by co-producing a full feature $1 million “Hallmark” style film with a local production company.

“We’re working directly with the producer,” Hayes said. “It was something we already had in mind and actually we were already starting that process as we were finding out what Visit Florida was doing. We would work with the production company to shop it, and where it could be broadcast, whether it’s on Netflix, Amazon, or actually joined up on TV.” That project is likely to move forward in the Fall.

Mellman hopes Visit Florida has more brave partners like Visit St. Pete-Clearwater in the future who will invest after they see the success of “Life’s Rewards.”

“I can remember when I was over in Tampa and we had a 30-minute infomercial and we thought that was the greatest thing since sliced bread,” Hayes said. “So it’s finding new ways to get our story out to the consumer in a way that they want to see it versus traditional mechanisms.”

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Tags: dmos , tourism marketing , visit florida

Photo credit: Life's Rewards is set at The Don CeSar hotel on St. Pete Beach, and is the first DMO-scripted and produced original series. Courtesy of Visit St. Pete-Clearwater / Visit St. Pete-Clearwater

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The advertising department negotiates all paid and sanctioned co-op media placements for VISIT FLORIDA, as well as directs our digital agency. This ensures all media placements are creative, effective, and designed to meet both short-term and long-term marketing and communications goals. Sanctioned Co-op Programs Sanctioned co-op programs are media placements negotiated by VISIT FLORIDA with publishers to set up Special Florida Advertising Sections at the most advantageous rates for our Partners. VISIT FLORIDA does not pay for these placements, rather the publication works directly with the Partners to establish their buys and advertise their business under the VISIT FLORIDA brand. Dedicated Co-op Programs Many of the media buys our team negotiates and places have co-op portions built into them. VISIT FLORIDA works alongside partners to place the these buys. Dedicated co-op opportunities include TV, radio, out of home, print, social, and digital advertising placements. Browse the advertising programs in the Marketing Planner to see what is currently available

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Visit Florida "Shine"

• Thread starter Thread starter jenjoosh
• Start date Start date Oct 17, 2008
• Tags Tags tourism
• Oct 17, 2008

I just heard a great song in a visit Florida commercial. The song was something about "shine". Any ideas???  

Administrator

Yes, it seems like it was developed for the Visit Florida campaign. You can download the song, ringtones etc. on the official website http://www.visitflorida.com/sunshine_campaign  

doctormemory

Originally posted by frenzo @Oct 17 2008, 03:19 PM Yes, it seems like it was developed for the Visit Florida campaign. You can download the song, ringtones etc. on the official website http://www.visitflorida.com/sunshine_campaign Click to expand...

• Oct 18, 2008
• Thread starter

This site is seriously awesome. Thank you so much!!!  

• Mar 9, 2010

"Share A Little Sunshine" - visit Florida commercial I have been trying to find out who recorded this song and how I can get a copy of it full length - [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMY1TcblyHg[/ame] I visited the VisitFlorida.com site and also the ShareALittleSunshine.org site I found a ring-tone for download but that's it. I wrote to the SALS people but all they did was point me to YouTube again. Anyone have any ideas how I can at least find out who recorded it?  

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Saharan dust wave moves over South Florida; heat advisory to continue Sunday

Dry air layer to affect people vulnerable to respiratory illnesses.

Peta Sheerwood , Meteorologist

Brandon Orr , Meteorologist

Andrea Torres , Digital Journalist

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – A wave of Saharan dust from northern Africa was moving over South Florida Saturday and heading northwest. A heat advisory was to remain in effect on Sunday.

The advantages: The plume from the Saharan Desert disrupts storm development in the Atlantic and its haze enhances the oranges and copper tones in the sky during sunrises and sunsets.

The disadvantages: It impacts the air quality and local heat index. The dust particles in the air also threatened to produce a dirty film with rain and affect the filters of air conditioners.

Saturday was the 20th day Miami-Dade County was under a heat advisory . The high humidity was certain to send the heat index up to 108 degrees in some areas Saturday afternoon.

The chance of showers increases on Sunday when a tropical wave approaches South Florida. The dust is likely to keep the tropics calm even through some of August.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the dry Saharan air layer affects people with underlying lung conditions and chronic cardiopulmonary diseases.

The dust outbreaks subside after mid-August. The hurricane season ends in mid-October. For more details about the Local 10 News Weather Authority meteorologists’ forecast, visit this page .

Related reports

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About the Authors

Peta sheerwood.

Growing up in South Florida, Peta Sherwood was intrigued by the ever-changing weather, including sea breeze storms and the development of tropical systems.

Brandon Orr

Brandon Orr joined the Local 10 News team in 2018.

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Saharan dust helps keep hurricanes at bay, but has other less-appealing effects, high heat, saharan dust to impact south florida, saharan dust rains down on the atlantic.

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Episodes of "The Bachelorette" season 21 with Jenn Tran stream on Hulu every Tuesday (the reality TV dating competition airs on Monday nights).

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The Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC and stream on Peacock and NBC Olympics platforms on Friday, July 26.  

• Date: July 26
• Venue: The Seine River and Trocadero
• TV channels: NBC
• Streaming: Peacock, NBCOlympics.com, NBC.com, NBC app, NBC Olympics app 

Visit NBCOlympics.com/FAQ for more information on watching the Paris Olympics, including links to download the NBC, NBC Olympics and Peacock apps. 

What time is the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics?

A preview of the Opening Ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympics will air on NBC at 12 p.m. ET on Friday, July 26. Live coverage of the Opening Ceremony begins at 1:30 p.m. ET, and with an enhanced encore in primetime at 7:30 p.m. ET/MT/PT that same day. The Ceremony is expected to last over three hours.

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The complete Opening and Closing Ceremonies schedule , including TV listings, is also available on the NBC Olympics schedule page .

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You can watch every event at the 2024 Paris Olympics LIVE by subscribing to Peacock. After subscribing and logging in, either go to PeacockTV.com/Olympics in your web browser or download the Peacock app to your phone, tablet, or connected TV device and navigate to the Olympics section.

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Who is performing at the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony?

On top of the 10,500 athletes who will participate in the parade, 3,000 dancers, artists and athletes will be featured between the Opening and Closing Ceremonies for the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, each with a specially-designed costume made by Daphne Burki. 

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Videos Show Suspect Lying Motionless on Nearby Rooftop After Shooting

An audio analysis by The New York Times and an another expert suggested that eight shots had been fired by the gunman.

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By Christiaan Triebert Alexander Cardia Devon Lum Aric Toler and Riley Mellen

• July 13, 2024

Two videos posted on social media that were verified by The New York Times appeared to show the person suspected of shooting at former President Donald J. Trump lying motionless on the roof of a small building roughly 400 feet north of the stage Mr. Trump was speaking from.

The location of the body matches the likely firing position. An audio analysis of the gunfire determined it came from approximately the same distance as the body’s location, and the visible injury to the right ear of Mr. Trump, who was facing northwest, was also consistent with gunfire from that direction.

A spokesman for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, said the suspected gunman “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside the rally venue.” The suspect had been killed, the Secret Service said.

The audio analysis of the gunshots conducted by The Times and Robert C. Maher, a gunfire acoustics expert at Montana State University in Bozeman, indicates that two bursts of shots were fired. Both the first round of three and the second of five shots were fired approximately 330 to 390 feet from the C-SPAN microphone Mr. Trump was speaking into. That location was consistent with the location of the suspect’s body. There was no significant difference between the sound of the eight shots, which suggests that they likely came from the same firearm, Mr. Maher said.

A witness told the BBC that he saw an armed man “in muted colors, tan-typed clothing” climbing up the roof of a building of the same compound captured in the videos. The witness, who gave his name as Greg, said he attempted to alert the police to the man’s presence, minutes before the shots were fired.

Christiaan Triebert is a reporter working on the Visual Investigations team, a group that combines traditional reporting with digital sleuthing and analysis of visual evidence to verify and source facts from around the world. More about Christiaan Triebert

Alexander Cardia is a designer, animator and graphics editor with the Visual Investigations team at The Times. He was among the recipients of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for coverage of Russian atrocities in Bucha, Ukraine. More about Alexander Cardia

Aric Toler is a reporter on the Visual Investigations team at The Times where he uses emerging techniques of discovery to analyze open source information. More about Aric Toler

Riley Mellen is a reporter on The Times’s visual investigations team, which combines traditional reporting with advanced digital forensics. More about Riley Mellen

Our Coverage of the Trump Rally Shooting

The Investigation : F.B.I. officials told Congress that the 20-year-old gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump used his cellphone and other devices to search for images of Trump and President Biden .

Congress Forms Task Force : The top Republican and Democrat in the House have struck a deal to form a bipartisan task force  to lead congressional investigations into the attempted assassination.

Security Blind Spots : Even as investigators continue to examine what happened at the Trump rally, it is already clear that there were multiple missed opportunities to stop the gunman  before the situation turned deadly.

The Gunman : In interviews, former classmates of the suspect described him as intelligent but solitary , someone who tried to avoid teasing by fellow students.

Secret Service Director : Kimberly Cheatle  returned in 2022 to lead the agency she had served for nearly 30 years. Before her resignation, she faced grueling questions from lawmakers  about the adequacy of her agency’s preparation .

Florida drivers, deny that need for speed during 'Operation Southern Slowdown'

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the Florida Highway Patrol and local law enforcement agencies have joined forces for “Operation Southern Slow Down,” a joint effort with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the states of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.

“The Florida Highway Patrol will be working with our many dedicated law enforcement partners toward providing highway safety,” said Col. Gary L. Howze, director of the Florida Highway Patrol, in a blog post on the FHP's website. “Your FHP troopers will be on patrol monitoring traffic for hazardous drivers and enforcing traffic laws along Florida’s state highways in support of Operations Southern Slowdown.”

Preliminary data from the FLHSMV shows more than 13,296 crashes in 2022 in Florida involving speeding or driving too fast for conditions. Speeding contributed to 10.5 % of all crash fatalities statewide, resulting in more than 368 fatalities.

Tips provided by the Florida Highway Patrol

As you travel, here are some tips to stay safe on Florida’s roadways this summer:

• Anticipate increased traffic during peak travel periods. Plan ahead and give yourself ample drive time.
• Buckle up and make sure all passengers are buckled up the entire trip.
• Slow down in construction zones. Keep in mind that construction increases during the summer season.
• No matter how eager you are to reach your destination, speeding and driving aggressively is dangerous. Stay patient and give other road users plenty of space.
• Slow down at twilight hours and at night for wildlife crossing the roads.

When will 'Operation Southern Slowdown' be in force?

State and local law enforcement agencies in all five states will be conducting a week-long speed enforcement awareness campaign from July 15-20 aimed at saving lives and preventing reckless driving and speeding.

More details: flhsmv.gov/fhp

Global tech outage hits airlines, banks, health care and public transit

In the u.s., hundreds of flights were canceled friday morning and some public transit systems reported impacts..

A defective update from U.S. cybersecurity software company CrowdStrike crashed Microsoft Windows systems around the globe Friday . The tech outage disrupted operations across industries such as banks, hospitals and 911 call centers, plus grounded flights and hampered public transit systems and. Although a fix was deployed to restore most systems by the afternoon to return to normal, ripple effects may be felt throughout the weekend, experts warn. 

CrowdStrike , which advertises being used by over half of Fortune 500 companies, said one of its recent content updates had a defect that impacted Microsoft's Windows Operating System, adding the incident was "not a security incident or cyberattack."

"Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems globally," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement on Friday afternoon. "We are actively supporting customers to assist in their recovery."

The company's CEO, George Kurtz, apologized for the disruptions in a post on X, noting the issue has been identified and isolated and a fix has been deployed. CrowdStrike is "working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on." Meanwhile, Microsoft said, "the underlying cause has been fixed" and impacted Microsoft 365 apps and services have been recovered, though the company continues to monitor the issue.

Kurtz went on to warn in his statement, "We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this. I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives."

In the U.S., thousands of flights were canceled Friday morning . American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines were among those who grounded flights less than an hour after Microsoft said it resolved a cloud-services-related outage that impacted several low-cost carriers.

“Every line is long,” said Chance Ortego, 31, whose flight to New York was canceled Friday morning.

Public transit systems in the U.S. also reported temporary impacts, but for the most part, trains and buses were running as scheduled. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority in Washington, D.C., said its "website and some of our internal systems are currently down," but trip-planning applications were later restored. In New York City, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority also said some of its MTA customer information systems were temporarily offline until around 5:30 p.m.

Around the world, the outages disrupted London's Stock Exchange, caused major train delays in the U.K., sent British broadcaster Sky News off air, forced medical facilities in Europe and the U.S. to cancel some services and caused disruptions at airports in Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong and India.

Widespread economic impact from the outage is expected to be small, even though many companies were still trying to resume full operations by the time the stock market closed.

Travel disruptions: Over 2,000 US flights canceled amid global IT outage

Developments:

◾ More than 5,000 flights were canceled globally as of 3:30 p.m. Eastern, about 4.6% of all scheduled commercial flights for the day, according to aviation analytics company Cirium.

◾ Some U.S. border crossings saw impacts amid the outage: Traffic stalled on the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Detroit with Windsor, Ontario, Canada, as well as at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, the Detroit Free Press reported . CBP One, the Customs and Border Patrol app, and the agency’s border wait times website, each appeared to experience outages.

◾ U.S. stocks closed lower on Friday, in the wake of the outage. CrowdStrike shares closed down 11.1% at $304.96, with analysts predicting the outage would cost the company money to fix and restore trust with its customers. It was the lowest close for the shares since May 2. Microsoft shares fared better, closing down only 0.74% at $437.11.

◾ Krispy Kreme gave away free doughnuts  Friday due to the global tech outage.

◾ Some Starbucks locations were reportedly taking only cash Friday, and customers reported being unable to use the coffee chain's mobile app.

◾ Some had a sense of humor through it , with workers who had to muddle through expressing their wishes for a digital snow day from the office − "Knock Teams out" − as the outage didn't equate to a work stoppage for all.

◾ Dubai International Airport said on X it was operating normally following "a global system outage that affected the check-in process for some airlines." It added the affected airlines "promptly switched to an alternate system, allowing normal check-in operations to resume swiftly."

CrowdStrike impact: How a global IT outage unraveled the world's tech

How the CrowdStrike outage played out throughout the day:

Portland issues emergency declaration

Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler issued an emergency declaration Friday over the tech outage, with a statement noting the outages are affecting city servers, employee computers and emergency communications.

Meanwhile, the Maryland Department of Emergency Management increased its state activation level from "normal" to "partial," citing the tech outage. A post on X says a "partial" activation is for incidents that require "significant monitoring or resources," with additional emergency operations staffing from other agencies, functions and supporting organizations.

- Bailey Schulz

What is CrowdStrike?

CrowdStrike is a popular cybersecurity software company created in 2012 by CEO George Kurtz, along with Dmitri Alperovitch, and Gregg Marston.

According to its website, CrowdStrike has the "world's most advanced cloud-native platform that protects and enables the people, processes and technologies that drive modern enterprise."

Alperovitch, CrowdStrike's former Chief Technology Officer, is a member of the Biden administration's Homeland Security Advisory Council , which is meant to provide advice and expertise to support decision-making "across the spectrum of homeland security operations."

- Gabe Hauari , Bailey Schulz

What caused the CrowdStrike outage?

According to an alert sent by CrowdStrike to its clients and reviewed by Reuters, the company's "Falcon Sensor" software caused Microsoft Windows to crash and display a blue screen, known informally as the "Blue Screen of Death." 

Kurtz said "there was an issue with a Falcon content update for Windows Hosts" but customers “remain fully protected,” according to a post on X . He also reiterated that Friday's outage "was not a security or cyber incident."

Anne Neuberger, deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technology, said she spoke to Kurtz Friday and confirmed the incident did not appear to be related to a cyber attack.

“At this point, we believe that it is an IT-related patch, an issue with that patch,” she said while speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado. "I think they're determining what went wrong there."

‘I’m just hoping to make it onto a flight’

Chance Ortego had reached the finish line of a nearly two-week work trip when he saw the news all air travelers dread: his flight was delayed. 

Ortego was in the AirTrain en route to his flight from San Francisco International Airport when he heard other travelers discussing the outage. After checking the status of his 7:05 a.m. Delta Air Lines flight to New York – which was pushed back nearly three hours – he rebooked another flight at 9:15 a.m. 

He later learned his original flight had been canceled. Ortego was among the thousands of passengers around the world facing delays, cancellations and problems checking in as airports and airlines were caught up in a massive IT outage that grounded U.S. flights early Friday. 

“I was already planning to sleep,” said Ortego, who works in health care. “Now I'm just hoping to make it onto a flight.” 

Inside the airport, there was more chaos than a typical travel day as airlines recovered from the outage. Many screens were blank except for an error message and airport personnel made announcements directing questions about flights to airlines.

All U.S. airlines issued travel waivers for those affected to easily rebook their plans. Those who opted to cancel can rest easy knowing the Department of Transportation classified the cancellations and delays as controllable, thus airlines are responsible for upholding the commitments they've made to customers when it comes to policies like rebooking or hotel and meal vouchers as the mess gets sorted out. 

- Nathan Diller

Impact on the economy

The outage isn’t expected to have any effect on the broader economy unless it persists for days.

“At this point, the IT outage is more a nuisance than an economic event,” says Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “If it drags on into early next week, the economic damage will begin to mount.”

If the outage is limited to a day or two, canceled flights can be rebooked and banking transactions can be completed later.

“There is plenty of time for activity to be recovered over the remainder of the month,” says Jonathan Miller, senior U.S. economist at Barclays.

- Paul Davidson

Outage impacts US public transit websites, ticketing

Major cities were generally able to keep trains and busses running, but tech issues have been causing problems with ticketing and other tech systems, leading to delays in some cases.

The Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Transit Authority reported website and other tech issues, but said trains and buses were running as scheduled.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York City reported problems with "customer information systems" but said it's buses and trains were unaffected. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it was not affected but urged riders who might be using public transit to any area airports to check with their airlines before traveling for updates.

New Jersey Transit said some of its ticketing machines may have been impacted but its buses and trains were, for the most part, running on time. Some trains were out of operation Friday due to repairs that had to be made because of the intense heat that blanketed the region all week.

The Chicago Tribune reported Friday morning that commuter rail lines were affected, though it noted traffic is typically lighter on Fridays than other days. Delays on some lines were as long as 45 minutes, the Tribune reported. Chicago Transit bus and rail service was not affected but some CTA customers were unable to add value to their payment cards via the app or machines overnight, but the issue has been resolved.

Some transit systems, including Metro Transit in Minneapolis and Cincinnati Metro reported temporary disruptions to websites, trip planners, social media and other applications but no impact to its bus or trains.

- Phaedra Trethan

Despite summer break, schools disrupted by IT issues

The CrowdStrike outage crashed some computers at colleges Friday and hampered a popular software for enrolling students in K-12 schools for the fall.

The University of Rochester, a private school in New York, told students to keep rebooting their systems until the problem was fixed. The University of Alabama’s technology office said its campus computers using Microsoft Windows crashed. Rutgers University and the University of Kentucky also reported disruptions. 

Despite the summer break, K-12 schools in Maryland and Kansas said they were having problems with PowerSchool, a widely used software for grading and student enrollment. An update posted to the company’s webpage Friday morning said the outage was impacting all its major products, including its enrollment feature. 

- Zachary Schermele

911 call centers disrupted

State and local law enforcement agencies across the country reported disruptions to 911 services after the outage hit.

National reports of 911 outages peaked at more than 100 on Friday just before 3 a.m. according to Downdetector .

Agencies in at least seven states reported temporary outages, including the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office and Faribault Police Department in Minnesota, 911 systems New Hampshire , Fulton County, Indiana , and Middletown, Ohio . 

Non-emergency and 911 calls to multiple dispatch centers in Alaska "were not able to be answered" for around seven hours overnight, Austin McDaniel, communications director for the Alaska Department of Public Safety, told USA TODAY in an email.

"Dispatch centers switched to analog phone systems or to partner dispatch centers that were not impacted to continue taking calls," he wrote. Systems in the state were back up as of 4:23 a.m. local time.

The Phoenix Police Department was also impacted ‒ 911 call centers could take calls, but had to dispatch officers manually, the Arizona Republic, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported .

The Federal Communications Commission said in an email to USA TODAY that it was aware of reports of disruptions to 911.

"We’re closely working with other federal agencies to provide assistance and determine the extent of these service disruptions.”

- Cybele Mayes-Osterman

Biden briefed on global outage as federal agencies assess impacts

President Joe Biden has been briefed on the CrowdStrike outage and his team is in touch with the cybersecurity firm, as well as with impacted companies and agencies, according to the White House. Biden will receive "sector-by-sector updates throughout the day and is standing by to provide assistance as needed," the White House added.

Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it is working to "fully assess and address system outages."

DHS added it's working alongside the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency as well as CrowdStrike, Microsoft and federal, state, local and critical infrastructure partners to get a grasp on the incident and its impacts.

Over 2K US flights canceled amid outage

Several U.S. carriers, including American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines, issued ground stops for all their flights early on Friday due to communication problems, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The FAA said operations were no longer impacted as of 10:53 a.m. ET, but it continues to monitor the situation and warned the global IT issue could continue to affect flights this weekend.

There were more than 2,500 U.S. flights canceled and more than 7,900 delays as of 3:25 p.m. EDT, according to flight-tracking website  FlightAware .

Most airlines were able to resume operations as the morning progressed, but many said they expected disruptions to continue throughout the day.

Read more about the outage's travel impacts

Hospitals cancel nonemergency services

Hospitals across the U.S. and overseas were impacted by the outage, which forced some to cancel elective surgeries and halt visitations as well as outpatient services.

Mass General Brigham in Boston canceled previously scheduled nonurgent surgeries, procedures and medical visits, according to a statement sent to USA TODAY. In the same area, Tufts Medical Center told media outlet WHDH it’s still assessing the outage’s effect on clinical and surgical operations.

In Texas, Ben Taub Hospital and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital suspended "hospital visitation and patient information," citing a "Microsoft Windows failure," according to a statement from Harris Health System . Cincinnati Children's Hospital said many of its Microsoft-based computer systems are down because of the outage, which forced the hospital to cancel early morning appointments.

"We are in touch with the hospital field and the federal government and monitoring the situation closely to better understand its scope and impact," said John Riggi, the American Hospital Association's national adviser for cybersecurity and risk. 

Two hospitals in northern German cities canceled elective operations scheduled for Friday but continued to provide patient care and emergency services.

Outages exposes fragility of internet infrastructure

While there were reports of companies gradually restoring their services, analysts weighed the potential of what one called the biggest-ever outage in the industry and the broader economy.

"This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core Internet infrastructure," Ciaran Martin, Professor at Oxford University's Blavatnik School of Government and former head of the U.K. National Cyber Security Centre, told Reuters.

"IT security tools are all designed to ensure that companies can continue to operate in the worst-case scenario of a data breach, so to be the root cause of a global IT outage is an unmitigated disaster," said Ajay Unni, CEO of StickmanCyber, one of Australia's largest cybersecurity services companies.

Outages ripple far and wide

From the United Kingdom to Singapore, the effects of tech outages were far-reaching on Friday.

British broadcaster Sky News went off-air and train companies in the U.K. reported long delays. Departure boards at several U.K. airports appeared to freeze, according to passengers who posted reports on social media.

London's Stock Exchange reported experiencing disruptions. Some hospitals also reported difficulties processing appointments and several chain retail stores said they couldn't take payments. The soccer club Manchester United said on X that it had to postpone a scheduled release of tickets.

In Australia, media, banks and telecoms companies suffered outages.

There was no information to suggest the outage was a cybersecurity incident, the office of Australia's National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said in a post on X.

New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said some of its systems were offline due to a worldwide technical outage, but have since been restored. It said MTA train and bus services were unaffected.

Spanish authorities reported a "computer incident" at all its airports.

Berlin's main airport said check-ins were delayed because of a "technical fault."

Ryanair, Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers, warned passengers of potential disruptions which it said would affect "all airlines operating across the Network." It did not specify the nature of the disruptions.

There were reports a shipping terminal in Gdansk on Poland's Baltic coast was not operating normally.

NetBlocks, a digital-connectivity watchdog, said that the outage reported by global airlines, corporates and infrastructure services firms and others was having "minimal" impact on global Internet connectivity.

Contributing: Reuters

2024 Paris Olympics: How to watch every event and the opening ceremony

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Amid concerns about protests, strikes, security and whatever might be floating in the Seine, the City of Light is about to strike a pose on its years-long Olympics runway. For the next 19 days, Paris will be in front of the international lens as more than 10,000 athletes and seemingly countless fans converge on France to witness and revel in the first Summer Games held in front of crowds in eight years.

That group will include the nearly 600 athletes competing for Team USA, many of whom are favorites for gold across the 329 events slated to be held.

Here’s everything you need to know about how and who to watch during the Paris Olympic Games:

When do the Paris Olympics begin?

The opening ceremony takes place Friday night in Paris, but the first events start Wednesday at 6 a.m. PDT (3 p.m. Paris time) when Argentina plays Morocco and Uzbekistan faces Spain in men’s soccer.

Rugby sevens, archery and handball also will start before the opening ceremony. The first medals will be awarded Saturday.

The Paris Olympics will end Sunday, Aug. 11, with the women’s basketball gold-medal game slated to be the final event.

How to watch the Paris Olympics opening ceremony

The Paris Olympics opening ceremony will take place at 10:30 a.m. PDT Friday and will be shown live on NBC and Peacock . NBC will re-air the ceremony at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

The opening ceremony is scheduled to occur outside a stadium for the first time, with the “Parade of Nations” scheduled to take part on boats floating down the Seine River in front of the Eiffel Tower.

How to watch and stream the Paris Olympics

The daily window for events at the Paris Olympics runs from roughly midnight PDT until about 2 p.m. (Paris is nine hours ahead of Los Angeles). Linear networks USA, E!, CNBC, Golf Channel, Telemundo and Universo will have coverage every day of the Olympics, with all live coverage ending around 2 p.m. PDT. “Primetime in Paris” will air each night on NBC, usually at 7 p.m. or 8 p.m., offering a recap of the day’s biggest events and moments.

Though NBCUniversal networks will broadcast many live events, including viewer favorites such as gymnastics, swimming and track and field, a large portion of coverage will be exclusively on streaming platforms.

Peacock will broadcast every event live and will have replays and highlights on demand. Cable and satellite subscribers can log into NBCOlympics.com at no additional charge to watch any event.

2024 Paris Olympics

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Part of Peacock’s coverage will include Gold Zone, an NFL Red Zone-like show streaming from 4 a.m.-2 p.m. PDT each day.

NBCUniversal also launched two temporary Olympics channels. “Paris Extra 1” will show a range of live and delayed events, with a focus on team sports such as basketball, handball, water polo and field hockey. “Paris Extra 2” will feature mostly combat and racket sports such as boxing, judo, taekwondo, badminton and table tennis. Both channels are available on DirecTV, Comcast, Cox, Dish/Sling, YouTube TV, Fubo and Hulu Live.

Click here for the Olympic TV broadcast schedule for Saturday (only the opening ceremony will be held Friday). The Times will publish TV schedules a day before the events take place. TV schedules will be available on The Times’ Olympics page .

Who will be competing for Team USA?

There will be 594 athletes representing the United States in Paris, with 121 from California — the most of any state (Florida is next with 43 athletes and Texas third with 41). With baseball and softball not being played, the total number is down from the 613 U.S. athletes who competed in Tokyo.

The U.S. will compete in 31 of the 32 sports (U.S. handball teams will make their long-awaited return in 2028 ). There is one sport making its Olympic debut — breaking (don’t call it break dancing, though).

Women will comprise the majority of athletes competing for the U.S., with 314 (53% of Team USA) — the most women for any nation. There will be 157 medal events for men, 152 for women and 20 mixed-gender. Twenty-eight of the 32 events will be “fully gender equal,” the IOC said.

Here’s a look at the 2024 U.S. Olympic team:

Must-watch U.S. athletes at the Paris Olympics

Every athlete at the Paris Games is probably worth watching, but here are some of the top contenders for gold.

Simone Biles , women’s gymnastics — The favorite in the women’s all-around competition and considered one of the greatest in the history of her sport, Biles has won seven Olympic medals, including four at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. After her shocking withdrawal from the team and all-around competitions in Tokyo, Biles is out to win gold in what could be the final chapter of her storied career.

Caeleb Dressel , men’s swimming — After winning five golds in Tokyo, Dressel nearly walked away from the sport in 2022. After rediscovering his passion for competitive swimming, he proved at the U.S. trials in June he is among the favorites to win gold in the 100-meter butterfly and 50 freestyle.

Katie Ledecky , women’s swimming — She is the most-decorated athlete competing at the Paris Olympics. Ledecky has 10 Olympic medals, including seven golds. She will be looking to add to her medal count in the 1,500-meter freestyle, 800 freestyle and 400 freestyle. Will this be her Olympic swansong, or will she be swimming at SoFi Stadium in four years?

Paris Olympics TV schedule: Wednesday’s listings

A look at the events that will be on television Wednesday when competition begins at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Noah Lyles , men’s 100 and 200 meters — Never camera shy, the Yu-Gi-Oh! card-carrying Lyles is the defending world champion in the men’s 100 and 200 meters. He set the world’s fastest time in the 200 at the U.S. trials last month and he’ll try to become the first man since Usain Bolt (2016) to win Olympic gold in the 100 and 200.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone , women’s 400-meter hurdles — The overwhelming favorite for gold, McLaughlin-Levrone broke her world record in the event at the U.S. trials. She won gold in the 400 hurdles and 4x400 relay in Tokyo.

Sha’Carri Richardson , women’s 100 meters — After her controversial disqualification three years ago because of a positive marijuana test, Richardson won the U.S. trials in June and is considered a favorite for gold. She’ll face tough competition in Jamaican sprinters Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Shericka Jackson.

U.S. women’s gymnastics team — They’re the favorite to win the team competition, with four of the five having previous Olympic experience. Suni Lee won gold in the all-around and Jade Carey took gold in floor exercise in Tokyo. Jordan Chiles played a critical role in helping the Americans take silver in the team championship then.

Other gold contenders worth watching: Ryan Crouser (men’s shot put), Lilly King (women’s swimming), Simone Manuel (women’s swimming), Carissa Moore (women’s surfing), Ryan Murphy (men’s swimming), Gabby Thomas (women’s 200 meters), U.S. women’s basketball team, U.S. men’s basketball team.

From 16 to 59

The youngest American athlete at the Olympics will be gymnast Hezly Rivera. She turned 16 just before competing in the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials and is the only first timer on the squad (other than the reserves). While she is the youngest, 16-year-olds Paige Heyn (skateboarding street) and Quincy Wilson (4x400 mixed relay) will also be in Paris. Wilson is the youngest man to ever qualify for the U.S. in track and field.

The oldest U.S. Olympian in Paris? That goes to equestrian rider Steffen Peters, who will compete in team and individual dressage at age 59. Peters is appearing in his sixth Olympics after making his debut at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Basketball star Diana Taurasi and equestrian competitor McLain Ward have appeared in six consecutive Olympics dating to the 2004 Athens Games.

Paris Olympics TV schedule: Thursday’s listings

Here’s a rundown of the Paris Olympics television broadcast schedule for Thursday.

July 24, 2024

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Austin Knoblauch is a senior editor in Sports at the Los Angeles Times, overseeing NFL coverage and digital initiatives. He previously worked as an editor and writer at NFL.com. He initially joined The Times in 2005, serving in various web editing and reporting roles. Knoblauch’s favorite sports are football, hockey and auto racing. He is a native of Southern California and graduated from Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles.

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Netanyahu meets with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, offering measured optimism on a Gaza cease-fire

Former US President Donald Trump hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Friday.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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FILE - President Donald Trump, right, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office, Sept. 15, 2020, at the White House in Washington. Trump is due to talk face-to-face with Netanyahu for the first time in nearly four years. The meeting Friday, July 26, 2024, at Mar-a-Lago will mend a break that has lasted since 2021. Trump at the time blasted Netanyahu for being one of the first leaders to congratulate President Joe Biden for his election victory. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks while meeting with Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks while meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump listens as he meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, July 26, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON (AP) —

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked to mend ties with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Friday and offered measured optimism about progress toward a cease-fire deal for Gaza, nearing the end of a contentious U.S. visit that put on display the growing American divisions over support for the Israeli-Hamas war.

At Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago estate, where the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years, Netanyahu told journalists that he wanted to see U.S.-mediated talks succeed for a cease-fire and release of hostages.

“I hope so,” Netanyahu said, when reporters asked if his U.S. trip had made progress. While Netanyahu at home is increasingly accused of resisting a deal to end the 9-month-old war to stave off the potential collapse of his far-right government when it ends, he said Friday he was “certainly eager to have one. And we’re working on it.”

As president, Trump went well beyond his predecessors in fulfilling Netanyahu’s top wishes from the United States. Yet relations soured after Netanyahu became one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his 2020 presidential victory over Trump.

The two men now have a strong interest in restoring their relationship, both for the political support their alliance brings and for the luster it gives each with their conservative supporters.

A beaming Trump was waiting for Netanyahu on the stone steps outside his private club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. He warmly clasped the hands of the Israeli leader.

“We’ve always had a great relationship,” Trump insisted before journalists. Asked as the two sat down in a muraled room for talks if Netanyahu’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was repairing their bond, Trump responded, “It was never bad.”

For both men, Friday’s meeting was aimed at highlighting for their home audiences their depiction of themselves as strong leaders who have gotten big things done on the world stage, and can again.

Netanyahu’s Florida trip followed a fiery address to a joint meeting of Congress on Wednesday that defended his government’s conduct of the war and condemned American protesters galvanized by the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians in the conflict.

On Thursday, Netanyahu had met in Washington with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Both pressed the Israeli leader to work quickly to wrap up a deal to bring a cease-fire and release hostages held by Hamas.

Trump’s campaign said he pledged in Friday’s meeting to “make every effort to bring peace to the Middle East” and combat antisemitism on college campuses if American voters elect him to the presidency in November.

Netanyahu handed Trump a framed photo that the Israeli leader said showed a child who has been held hostage by Hamas-led militants since the first hours of the war. “We’ll get it taken care of,” Trump assured him.

For Trump, the meeting was a chance to be cast as an ally and statesman, as well as to sharpen efforts by Republicans to portray themselves as the party most loyal to Israel.

D ivisions among Americans over U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza have opened cracks in years of strong bipartisan backing for Israel, the biggest recipient of U.S. aid.

For Netanyahu, repairing relations with Trump is imperative given the prospect that Trump may once again become president of the United States, which is Israel’s vital arms supplier and protector.

One gamble for Netanyahu is whether he could get more of the terms he wants in any deal on a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, and in his much hoped-for closing of a normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, if he waits out the Biden administration in hopes that Trump wins.

“Benjamin Netanyahu has spent much of his career in the last two decades in tethering himself to the Republican Party,” said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. diplomat for Arab-Israeli negotiations, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

For the next six months, that means “mending ties with an irascible, angry president,” Miller said, meaning Trump.

Netanyahu and Trump last met at a September 2020 White House signing ceremony for the signature diplomatic achievement of both men’s political careers. It was an accord brokered by the Trump administration in which the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain agreed to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel.

For Israel, it amounted to the two countries formally recognizing it for the first time. It was a major step in what Israel hoped would be an easing of tensions and a broadening of economic ties with its Arab neighbors.

In public postings and statements after his break with Netanyahu, Trump portrayed himself as having stuck his neck out for Israel as president, and Netanyahu paying him back with disloyalty.

He also has criticized Netanyahu on other points, faulting him as “not prepared” for the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks that started the war in Gaza, for example.

In his high-profile speech to Congress on Wednesday and again Friday at Mar-a-Lago, Netanyahu poured praise on Trump, calling the regional accords Trump helped broker historic and thanking him “for all the things he did for Israel.”

Netanyahu listed actions by the Trump administration long-sought by Israeli governments — the U.S. officially saying Israel had sovereignty over the Golan Heights, captured from Syria during a 1967 war; a tougher U.S. policy toward Iran; and Trump declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy that Jerusalem’s status should be decided in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

“I appreciated that,” Trump told “Fox & Friends” on Thursday, referring to Netanyahu’s praise.

Trump has repeatedly urged that Israel with U.S. support “finish the job” in Gaza and destroy Hamas, but he hasn’t elaborated on how.

Natalie Melzer in Tel Aviv, Israel; Adriana Gomez Licon in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Jill Colvin in New York contributed. Price reported from New York.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024 .