Author: BBC

2 hours agoBy Rama Parajuli, BBC NepaliTshiring Jangbu SherpaThe clean-up team removed four bodies from the Himalayas in this year’s operationTshiring Jangbu Sherpa cannot forget the dead body he saw just metres from the summit of Mount Lhotse in the Himalayas more than a decade ago.The Nepali was working as a guide for a German climber trying to scale the world’s fourth highest mountain in May 2012. The body blocking their path was thought to be Milan Sedlacek, a Czech mountaineer who’d perished just a few days earlier.Mr Sherpa was curious why the Czech climber had died so close to the top.…

As the global chaos subsides and systems continue to return online, the enormous IT outage which caused havoc around the world on Friday reveals a few uncomfortable truths about the foundations of our digital lives – and how fragile they might be.The outage showed that even the platform of an enormous firm like Microsoft, with its deep pockets and huge investment in robust system security, could be knocked sideways by an accidental error in a software update issued by an independent cybersecurity company. And with catastrophic impact because Microsoft-powered computers are at the heart of so much of our tech…

44 minutes agoBy Andrew Rogers, BBC NewsbeatGetty ImagesBefore Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, the festival looked pretty much like any other big music event around the world. This was the main stage in 2019.How do you stage a music festival for 25,000 people when you’re under threat from a potential Russian missile attack?That’s a question Vlad Yaremchuk has been trying to answer for the past few months.He’s the programme director of Atlas United, Ukraine’s biggest music festival.The event’s due to return this weekend for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country in February 2022.But it’s not quite business as…

A court in Belarus has sentenced a German medic to death after he was found guilty of charges related to terrorism and mercenary activity, rights activists have said. Rico Krieger, 30, was convicted of six crimes in a closed trial in June, Viasna, one of Belarus’ top activist organisations, said in a statement. The group said he now faced execution by firing squad.What prompted the charges remains unclear, and the country’s state news agency carried no further details about the allegations in its report.Belarus is the last country in Europe where the death penalty is still carried out. It says…

50 minutes agoBy Robert Greenall, BBC NewsEPAThe outage has caused major delays at airports around the worldBusinesses and services around the world are slowly recovering after a massive IT outage affected computer systems for hours on Thursday and Friday.Businesses, banks, hospitals and airlines were among the worst-hit after cyber-security firm Crowdstrike issued a faulty software update which affected Microsoft Windows.Crowdstrike’s CEO apologised for the disruption and said a fix had been issued, but admitted it could be “some time” before all systems were back up and running.While some airline services are beginning to return to normal after thousands of flights were cancelled,…

47 minutes agoBy Regan Morris, BBC News, reporting from Anaheim, California Getty ImagesHundreds of Disneyland workers protested this week outside the park’s gatesCynthia “Cyn” Carranza meticulously scavenged for a shady parking spot in the car she called home.The overnight custodian at Disneyland has to sleep during the day – a difficulty for anyone, let alone when you’re living in your car with two dogs. Ms Carranza says she makes $20.65 an hour (about £15.99) at the park but last summer, she couldn’t afford rent in this Southern California city where the average apartment can run more than $2,000 (about £1,550) a month.Ms…

A judge in New York has set a tentative retrial date for Harvey Weinstein for 12 November after the disgraced film mogul’s rape conviction was overturned in April.New York State Supreme Court Judge Curtis Farber said during a hearing on Friday that he was open to potentially starting the trial earlier than November, as Weinstein’s lawyers have requested.Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have said that they plan to file “additional violent sexual assault” charges after other women agreed to testify against Weinstein.The newest accusers have yet to be publicly identified.Weinstein, 72, attended the court hearing on Friday. He…

US President Joe Biden is looking forward to “getting back on the campaign trail next week”, fortifying his commitment to stick in the race as more Democrats on Friday called for him to step aside as the party nominee. “The stakes are high, and the choice is clear. Together, we will win,” he said.His statement comes amid conflicting reports of conversations within Mr Biden’s circle and the larger party about the president’s future.Over the last several weeks, the president has been caught in a whirlwind of political pressure to step down: Calls from within his own party’s leaders to withdraw…

Getty ImagesThere is no evidence of a large rise in suicides in young patients attending a gender identity clinic in London, an independent review has found.Professor Louis Appleby was asked by Health Secretary Wes Streeting to examine the data following claims made by campaigners of a rise in suicide rates since puberty-blocking drugs were restricted at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust in 2020.Prof Appleby’s review concludes “the data do not support the claim”.And he added that the way the issue had been discussed on social media was “insensitive, distressing and dangerous”.The Department of Health and Social Care said it…

Eminem has earned his 11th number one album with The Death of Slim Shady (Coup de Grâce).He joins a club of Taylor Swift, David Bowie, and U2, who have also had 11 chart-topping albums.The US rapper’s 12th album – in which, he kills off his alter ego, Slim Shady – had a mixed critical reception. But that doesn’t seem to have mattered this week on the charts. Houdini, from the album, is number four on this week’s singles charts – it previously reached number one last month. Ahead of its release, Eminem told fans The Death of Slim Shady was…