Author: BBC

Microsoft says it estimates that 8.5m computers around the world were disabled by the global IT outage.It’s the first time that a number has been put on the incident, which is still causing problems around the world.The glitch came from a cyber security company called CrowdStrike which sent out a corrupted software update to its huge number of customers.Microsoft, which is helping customers recover said in a blog post: “we currently estimate that CrowdStrike’s update affected 8.5 million Windows devices.”The post by David Weston, vice-president, enterprise and OS at the firm, says this number is less than 1% of all…

Disruption to GPs caused by a global IT outage may continue into the coming week, NHS England has said.A spokesman for the health service told the BBC that digital systems for GPs and pharmacies had been restored “in most areas” – but that surgeries would have to work through a backlog of appointments.Practices across the UK have had to cancel routine appointments because of the issue, while pharmacies have been unable to access digital prescription records.Friday’s outage – which also sparked major issues in the travel and banking sectors, among others – was caused by a faulty update to CrowdStrike…

Singer Jessie J has revealed she was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) three months ago.In a post on Instagram on Saturday, the Price Tag singer, 36, said it had made her “re-think” her whole life.She added that ADHD felt like “a superpower as long as you look at it from the right perspective”.ADHD is a condition that affects people’s behaviour. It can make sufferers seem restless, and they may have trouble concentrating and can act on impulse, according to the NHS website.OCD is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts…

21 hours agoBy Ethirajan Anbarasan and Yogita Limaye, in London and Delhi, BBC NewsEPAAn injured woman gets help on Thursday, the deadliest day since the protests beganAuthorities in Bangladesh have imposed a nationwide curfew, after further rioting in the capital Dhaka left an additional 35 people dead.Days of violence have been sparked by students calls for the government to axe a rule reserving scores of public jobs for the families of veterans of the country’s independence war in 1971.The prime minister’s office announced the curfew after an attack on the Narsingdi prison on Friday saw hundreds of inmates released.Government Press Secretary Naeemul…

Christina Sandera, the partner of Oscar-winning actor and director Clint Eastwood, has died at the age of 61.Eastwood, 94, confirmed her death in a statement to BBC News, adding: “Christina was a lovely, caring woman, and an important part of my life.”He added that he would “miss her very much”.The pair are reported to have been together for ten years. Sandera’s cause of death was not revealed.Eastwood was previously married twice, first to model Margaret Neville Johnson, and later to TV news anchor Dina Ruiz.His relationship with Ruiz ended in divorce in 2014.The legendary actor is believed to have met…

While most of the world was grappling with the blue screen of death on Friday, one country that managed to escape largely unscathed was China.The reason is actually quite simple: CrowdStrike is hardly used there. Very few organisations will buy software from an American firm that, in the past, has been vocal about the cyber-security threat posed by Beijing.Additionally, China is not as reliant on Microsoft as the rest of the world. Domestic companies such as Alibaba, Tencent and Huawei are the dominant cloud providers.So reports of outages in China, when they did come, were mainly at foreign firms or…

Getty ImagesStrictly Come Dancing judge Craig Revel Horwood has said complaints about professional dancers on the show have come as a “shock”.The BBC programme has been hit by damaging allegations concerning former dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima.Pernice has denied “any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour”. On Thursday, Di Prima’s spokesman admitted he made a “mistake” by kicking celebrity partner Zara McDermott once during rehearsals.Speaking on BBC Radio Wales, Revel Horwood said he found out about the allegations “through the press”.Zara McDermott, who was partnered with Graziano Di Prima, has said she was involved in “distressing” incidents during…

A woman who served 43 years for a murder she did not commit has been released after her conviction was overturned.Sandra Hemme was 20 years old when she was found guilty of stabbing to death library worker Patricia Jeschke from St Joseph, Missouri, in November 1980. She was given a life sentence.There was no evidence that linked her to the crime other than a confession she gave under heavy sedation in a psychiatric hospital, a review into her case found.Now 64, she is believed to have served the longest known wrongful conviction of a woman in US history according to…

Yun Chuan and Xin Bao are the first pandas to enter the US in 21 years. Source link

Cyber-security experts and agencies around the world are warning people about a wave of opportunistic hacking attempts linked to the IT outage.Although there is no evidence that the CrowdStrike outage was caused by malicious activity, some bad actors are attempting to take advantage.Cyber agencies in the UK and Australia are warning people to be vigilant to fake emails, calls and websites that pretend to be official.And CrowdStrike head George Kurtz encouraged users to make sure they were speaking to official representatives from the company before downloading fixes.”We know that adversaries and bad actors will try to exploit events like this,”…