Author: BBC

Disruption to flights is expected to continue across the UK after massive outages hit computer systems globally on Friday. Airports have said their systems are working again but that journeys could still be affected by delays and cancellations into the weekend.A number of airports have said passengers should continue to check for potential disruption affecting their flights before they travel. The outages came on one of the busiest days of the year, with many schools in England and Wales having broken up for summer this week. GPs, pharmacies, banks, payment systems, and train services were also affected. The problems were…

At least 40 migrants have died after the boat they were travelling in caught fire off the northern coast of Haiti, a United Nations agency says. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says 41 others were rescued by the Haitian Coast Guard.The vessel was travelling from Cap-Haitien to the Turks and Caicos Islands, more than 220km (137 miles) away, the IOM said.The exact cause of the fire is not yet clear, but a local official told Reuters that people on the boat were lighting candles in a ritual to ask for safe passage, leading gasoline-filled drums to catch fire.The injured…

A selection of striking news photographs taken around the world this week.Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesFormer President Donald Trump was rushed off stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, after a gunman opened fire from a nearby building. The Republican candidate for president dropped to the ground and was seen with blood on the side of his face.Evan Vucci/APAs the stage was swarmed by Secret Service agents, Trump held up his fist and mouthed the words “fight, fight, fight” to supporters as he was rushed off stage, bleeding from his ear.Chen Jimin/China News Service/Getty ImagesA panda cub is measured at the Guangzhou…

3 hours agoBy Wedaeli Chibelushi & Habtom Weldeyowhannes, BBC News & BBC TigrinyaAFPTo his fans, he’s the “African king” – an international star and the first black African to win a Tour de France stage.Biniam Girmay did that not only once but three times this year at road cycling’s premier event. Barring an accident, the 24-year-old looks set to win the green jersey on Sunday – a prize awarded to the best sprinter over the gruelling three-week competition. But Girmay’s journey to the top has been riddled with obstacles – he has battled culture shocks, Europe’s visa procedures and the loneliness of…

2 hours agoBy Noor Nanji & Sophie van Brugen, Culture reportersGetty ImagesRihanoff said the new measures were “better now than never”Former Strictly Come Dancing professional Kristina Rihanoff has welcomed the BBC’s decision to give stars chaperones during rehearsals, after complaints about two fellow dancers on the show.Speaking to BBC News, she said she thought celebrities would now “be feeling a little bit more comfortable” to sign up to the show.Rehearsals were often “frustrating” and “pressurised,” she said, adding that celebrities would feel “at ease that there will be somebody watching and observing the situations”.Strictly has been hit by a string of damaging…

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,…