Crowdstrike CEO 'deeply sorry' for impact of global IT outage 28:19

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I'm Katrina Perry from the Global Story podcast, where we're looking at the violence and anger sweeping across the UK. There's been a wave of anti-immigrant protests since the murder of three young girls over a week ago. But how did that attack spark rioting throughout the country? The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janette Jalil, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 20th of July, these are our main stories. The boss of the cybersecurity firm responsible for the global IT chaos apologises and admits it could be some time before the disruption ends. The UN's top court rules that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal.

The Biden administration says it's working every day to try to bring home the reporter, Evan Gershkovich, who's been sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony for spying. Also in this podcast... I know nothing about martial arts, nothing. I just try to do whatever King would tell me to do, even how to move my eyes.

A trailblazer for women in Asian martial arts movies, Chang Pei Pei, has died at the age of 78. Global computer systems in healthcare, banking and airlines are slowly coming back online after a digital outage disrupted networks in many countries. CrowdStrike, the cyber security firm which caused the outage, has said it's deeply sorry for the disruption.

The crisis was caused by a faulty software update which affected Microsoft Windows systems. From Australia to the United States, plane and train passengers were left stranded with thousands of flights cancelled, TV stations were knocked off air, shoppers left unable to make payments and health services unable to access their records. Even the Paris Olympics were affected as organisers were unable to issue some accreditations ahead of the Games next week.

Here's how events unfolded. Thank you for contacting CrowdStrike support. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on... Computer security company CrowdStrike has been linked to the outage that is affecting banks, airports, supermarkets and businesses across Australia and the world. Our flights have been cancelled, so...

Now we're trying to find accommodation in Sydney. Then we'll have to try and get a flight home somehow, somewhere. I had a flight to Goa. They're saying that they have a pan-India system outage at the moment. Right now, it's quite crowded out there. Well, I'm in the heart of Tokyo. I am in Shibuya. And the budget airline Jetstar Japan has been experiencing disruptions. It's had to

cancel dozens of its domestic flights. Families here are also getting ready for the summer holidays. Well, the City of London, the financial district, and we have seen the knock-on effects. Metro Bank here in the UK, they've all suffered effects. There have been trading platforms that have suffered problems. So trading in currencies has been disrupted. Trading in oil, in gas, in other energy stocks. It's at about three o'clock when suddenly all of our computer screens flashed blue. The dreaded

so-called screen of death. And the media really does depend, particularly television. The ABC has basically been broadcasting without the capacity to play tape. It's essentially been people talking nonstop on air, trying to make it up as they go along. Let's look at the stories grabbing our attention right now. A massive tech outage causes chaos.

Well, initially, many people had feared a cyber attack was to blame for this huge outage. But in fact, it was a relatively minor error that caused what's been described as a digital pandemic. Our technology editor Zoe Kleinman reports. From Sydney to Amsterdam, the world woke up to chaos. Screens in airports, hospitals, schools, train stations turned blue and stopped functioning.

And it was all because of a small software update to an antivirus tool issued by the cyber security firm CrowdStrike.

The update reacted catastrophically with machines running Microsoft software, of which there are millions, rendering them useless. Apple and Linux users were unscathed. Not a cyber attack or a hack, but an expensive mistake. CrowdStrike's chief executive, George Kurtz, speaking on NBC's Today show in the US, apologised. We're deeply sorry for the impact that we've caused to customers, to travellers, to anyone affected by this, including our companies. So...

We know what the issue is. We're resolving and have resolved the issue now. It's recovering. That fix involves deleting a file and doing a manual reboot in safe mode. Not as simple as switching it off and on again. And Microsoft is warning that some people are reporting having to do it 15 times. There are big questions now for the tech giant as to how this update slipped through its own safety net.

Many outages cause the tiniest of ripples before they're fixed, but that's not the case here. For IT teams, it's going to be a long weekend.

Zoe Kleinman. So how could one faulty cybersecurity software update cause so much havoc around the world? A question Celia Hatton put to technology and AI expert Dan Sodegren. This is the danger, of course, of monopolies. And this is the danger of allowing too few companies, shall we say, having so much power. And then you've got this one point of failure. We're actually quite lucky that there are multiple people in the tech world and multiple companies and therefore monopolies.

we're not all relying purely on Microsoft services and around Azure cloud, et cetera, because a lot more could have gone down. And this is not in any way Microsoft bashing, but you know, it's most probably cost the world billions. And maybe as a society, we've got to look at this and actually say, it might be a bit, it might be a bit dangerous just to have one company do all this. Maybe we need, you know, a version of Microsoft in the UK and maybe in a different place and different places. We shouldn't just go, Oh my goodness, this is all broke.

We should think, actually, what are the implications to make sure this doesn't happen again? So, Dan, just briefly, I mean, what about the idea of cyber resilience? Should major companies really be thinking more about planning for the future?

Yeah, I think that's exactly it, because we now rely on these things almost entirely for the future of work. So I think the companies and governments should be pushing on companies and saying, actually, you should have more plan Bs in place. And maybe they shouldn't be so concerned about their share price. They should be thinking about society as a whole. It's going to be interesting to see Microsoft's share price. But of course, the stock exchange went down. So I don't even know if we could even check that. So one of those things. And it's also from an insurance point of view, this whole

B-Sod, the old blue screen of death. Is it an act of God or is it a B-Sod? It's going to be fascinating in the next couple of days to work out who pays for what. Dan Sodergren.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has said the Biden administration is working every day to try to bring home the jailed reporter, Evan Gershkovich, along with other Americans detained in Russia. Mr Gershkovich was sentenced on Friday to 16 years in a penal colony after a Russian court found him guilty of espionage. The trial has been dismissed by his employer, The Wall Street Journal, as a sham.

He's the first American journalist to be convicted of spying by Russia since the Cold War. Our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, was in court in Yekaterinburg, the city where Mr. Gershkovich was arrested last year. The trial was behind closed doors. For the verdict, we were allowed in. But where was Evan Gershkovich? Almost hidden from the cameras, in the far corner of the glass cage that is the dock in a Russian courtroom.

He looked like he'd lost weight. The judge found him guilty of spying and sentenced the Wall Street Journal reporter to 16 years in a high-security penal colony. What just happened in this courtroom is unprecedented in the history of modern Russia. An American journalist convicted of espionage in a trial that was held behind closed doors, a trial that US officials have dismissed as a sham.

In a joint statement, the Wall Street Journal's publisher and editor-in-chief called it a disgraceful sham conviction. They added, journalism is not a crime and we will not rest until Evan Gershkovich is released. Evan was arrested at a steakhouse on a reporting assignment in Yekaterinburg. He was accused of collecting secret data about a defence factory nearby.

His employer has accused Moscow of stockpiling American citizens in Russian jails to trade them for Russians jailed abroad. Is a prisoner swap likely?

It's happened before. In 2022, Russia freed US basketball star Brittany Greiner. She'd been jailed on a drugs charge. In return, America released convicted Russian arms dealer Victor Boot. As soon as I win the election, I will have that reporter out. Donald Trump promises big, but the Biden administration is already in discussion with Moscow about Evan and other Americans jailed in Russia.

It's not clear, though, how close a deal is. What is clear is that an American reporter has been pronounced a spy without any evidence having been made public. Someone cries, we love you, Evan. All he can do now is wait patiently.

That report by Steve Rosenberg. Well, Anton Troianovsky is a New York Times Moscow bureau chief and knows Ivan Gershkovich well. Speaking to Marion Mashiri, he gave his reaction to the sentencing. On the one hand, this was completely expected. We knew these types of trials in Russia pretty much always end in a guilty verdict. And we knew he was going to get close

close to the maximum of 20 years in prison that he was facing. So it was very much expected. But then if you pause to think about it, it's really such a travesty and such an assault on press freedom and on journalism and even just on common sense, because it's so clear that Evan was simply doing his job when he was working in Russia and arrested last year. How is he?

Well, you know, it's possible to exchange letters with him, which I have done over the last year plus since his arrest. And I can say that, you know, he's been incredibly strong. I think he understands, has understood throughout this process what a serious situation this is. But he's kept his hopes up. He's kept his spirits up. He's kept...

the spirits up of those close to him on the outside who are so worried about him. We can only hope at this point that sometime soon this terrible ordeal will come to an end. But we can really only speculate about that right now. It is speculation. But, you know, is there, do you think, some hope amongst his friends and supporters that there could be some sort of deal?

That's the most realistic way, unfortunately, that that Eben can get out of prison is is through some sort of prisoner swap. But that's how Vladimir Putin and the Russian government have operated in recent years in terms of other imprisoned Americans. At the same time, you know, he should not be in prison. He is completely innocent. He was just doing his job.

Anton Troinovsky of the New York Times and friend of the jailed Wall Street Journal reporter Ivan Gershkovich. A Chinese film star who pioneered martial arts roles for women and starred in the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has died at the age of 78. Cheng Pei-pei had been suffering from a degenerative brain disease. Mickey Bristow reports.

Cheng Pei-pei's breakthrough film was Come Drink With Me in 1966. She played a young woman called Golden Swallow who used her kung fu skills to free her brother who'd been kidnapped by bandits. Similar roles followed. Later on, she admitted she knew nothing of martial arts before she began her film career, although it didn't seem to matter to audiences. I was so young and I know nothing about martial arts, nothing. So...

I just try to do whatever King would tell me to do, even how to move my eyes. Cheng Peipei was born in Shanghai. She grew up during a chaotic period in China's history, just as the communists took over. In the early 60s, she moved to Hong Kong and started acting. Later, after her initial success, she went to live in the United States and had a brief period away from the movies.

Her career picked up again when she starred in the Oscar-winning film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. It attracted a new, more international audience to kung fu movies. The film's star was a young woman skilled in martial arts, a kind of role that had been pioneered many years before by Cheng Pei Pei. Mickey Bristow looking back on the life and career of the Chinese film star Cheng Pei Pei, who died at the age of 78.

Still to come on this podcast. We make the magic that people pay for, but we don't get anything for it. We're magic makers. Mickey would want fair pay. Unhappiness amongst workers at Disneyland, the self-proclaimed happiest place on earth. It's that time of the year. Your vacation is coming up.

You can already hear the beach waves, feel the warm breeze, relax, and think about work. You really, really want it all to work out while you're away. Monday.com gives you and the team that peace of mind. When all work is on one platform and everyone's in sync, things just flow. Wherever you are, tap the banner to go to Monday.com.

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The UN's top court has said that Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory is illegal and needs to end as soon as possible. The International Court of Justice, or ICJ, called on Israel to stop settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. This comes amid mounting international concern over the huge death toll and destruction in Gaza as the Israeli military wages a campaign to destroy Hamas. The

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the court's decision as lies. But the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told reporters he welcomed it as a watershed moment. This ruling couldn't be more timely or solely needed. The Palestinian people have endured unbearable suffering and injustice for decades.

Israel's colonial, expansionist and genocidal policies are on full horrific display before the world. The Palestinian people are confronting a ferocious genocide and defending their very right to exist and live. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner told me more about the ruling.

On paper, this is pretty significant. It's an absolutely damning indictment by the world's highest court of Israel's policies and practices towards Palestinians in the territories that Israel conquered in 1967, i.e. the West Bank, as we call it, Judea and Samaria, as some Israelis call it, and East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians would like to have as their future capital.

And the ruling, which is non-binding, I mean, this is an advisory ruling by a panel of 15 judges that has examined evidence over the last 18 months, is that those Israeli policies and practices are in breach of international law. The presence of Israel in the occupied territories is illegal. It must end that occupation as early as possible. And it must cease all new settlement activity.

It's been very quickly rejected by Israel, not surprisingly, pretty angry rejection, calling it blatant lies and propaganda. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the Jewish people are not occupiers in their own land, including in our eternal capital, Jerusalem, nor in Judea and Samaria, our historical homeland. Those are the words that they use for the West Bank.

But I think what this does show, and OK, first of all, let's just explain what it is not. This is nothing to do with the Gaza war directly, the Gaza conflict. This is about the territories that Israel is occupying seemingly permanently and not only occupying, but colonizing, building settlements there. There are now 700,000 Jewish settlers living in occupied, well, territory that most of the world considers to be occupied territory.

Israel considers it can't possibly be an occupation because it's our land. You can't be occupiers in your own land, is Netanyahu's view. So it's non-binding. And even if it were legally binding, I think Israel would ignore it because it has already ignored...

by the same court, the ICJ, the International Court of Justice, that came out earlier this year. But I think what it does show is how diplomatically isolated not only Israel is, but also the United States, its primary backer on this. The world is not on Israel's side on this one. Frank Gardner. Next, let's go to Bangladesh. Bangladesh!

Where after another day of more violent clashes between police and demonstrators and the storming of a prison in which hundreds of inmates were freed, the government has now ordered a nationwide curfew and called in the army to help.

The unrest began on Tuesday after a controversial government job quota system angered students who said it favoured supporters of the country's authoritarian ruler Sheikh Hasina. The BBC Bengali service says at least 67 people have been killed in the past few days of violence. Internet, mobile and phone services have now been mostly shut down.

Amitabha Bhattasali from the BBC Bengali service is monitoring the situation from neighbouring India in Calcutta.

BBC got a confirmation from the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's office that army is being deployed and a car fee is being imposed all across the country. And the decision was taken at a meeting, at a late night meeting of the ruling alliance, that's a 14-party alliance. And order in this regard will be issued shortly. That's what our colleagues in Dhaka has informed us.

Prior to this, throughout the day, there have been numerous clashes and incidents of violence and arson throughout the country, particularly in several places in Dhaka city. And the death toll has been increasing since late afternoon.

And in one of the areas in the Dhaka city where at least 10 people have died, the hospital authorities are telling our colleagues that most of them had gunshot injuries. And in the same hospital right now, there are around 300 others are being treated and most of them died.

were shot and the incident you were just mentioning about the prison break that has happened in nursing the district. Several eyewitnesses have confirmed to our colleagues in Dhaka that huge crowd of demonstrators, they had just barged into the prison. The prison guards lost control over it and several hundred prisoners had been freed by those demonstrators.

And this was more or less a picture of what we could gather from our colleagues in Dhaka. It's very difficult, isn't it, for you to gather information right now because services have been shut down, such as internet, mobile phone. How are you able to do this? And do we know why these students stormed this prison?

This internet shutdown has started a little over 24 hours now. And since then, the BBC colleagues are using a very, very feeble internet connection. They are losing the connection intermittently. And for one and a half hours, we were unable to

get any updates from them. And they are updating us so that we can take it to our readers and listeners throughout the world. Amita Bhattasali from the BBC Bengali service.

Disneyland claims to be the happiest place on earth, but for those that work there, some might well disagree. Talks between the company and thousands of employees are growing increasingly acrimonious. As we record this podcast, Disneyland workers are in the process of voting on whether to authorise a strike. They want higher wages and improved working conditions, and many say they can't even afford to live in the expensive neighbourhoods near the theme park in Southern California.

The BBC's Regan Morris reports from the home of the Disneyland resort, Anaheim. We make the magic! They make the money! We make the magic!

I'm outside Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where things are becoming increasingly heated between management and Disney workers. The Disneyland cast members, and if you work for Disney, you're a cast member, whether you're a princess, a pirate, a chef, or a janitor. And the cast members I've spoken to said they make the magic and the executives make the money. It makes me wonder, why don't you want to recognize me? Because I'm making you that money.

I am making that money so that you can buy that sports team now. And I'm struggling to pay my bills. Colleen Palmer is one of the union negotiators pushing for a better contract with Disneyland, where she has worked for nearly 37 years. She makes almost $24 an hour as a merchandise hostess in New Orleans Square. Just recognize us. Just give us our fair share. Give us what we're worth. But they don't want to do it. And that's why we're here.

The first woman I met when I showed up here today had experienced homelessness, and then I met another woman who's experiencing homelessness. Is that, I guess it's not unusual. It is not unusual. We don't get it, shut it down! We don't get it, shut it down!

Disney brands itself as the happiest place on earth, but union officials say about one in 10 Disney cast members have experienced homelessness while working at the park. I make a little over $20 an hour and the company's not really offering us much. I cannot live off of that. Last summer, I was living in my car with my dogs and, you know, that's not something that anybody should experience working a full-time job for a company like Disney. I

Cynthia Carranza works overnight shifts at Disneyland in floor care, cleaning, carpeting and repairs. At one stage, she was working three jobs, all while living in her car. There was times when I questioned what I was doing here and how I was going to get back on my feet. And my dogs were there for me all the time. That's all I had. I threw myself into work because my goal was to get back on my feet.

There's no reason anybody should ever experience that. I had to shower on the property. I had to go to the costuming building before my shift and shower there. There was times when I didn't know where I was going to sleep because it's summertime. And working third shift and sleeping during the day is hard to find shade. For me as a female, it was hard to find a safe spot. We make magic. We make the magic that people pay for, but we don't get paid.

Anything for it. We're magic makers. Mickey would want fair pay. In a statement, Disney said that they respect and value our cast members and recognize the important role they play in creating happiness for our guests. The company said it's committed to reaching a deal that focuses on what matters most to our current cast members, helps us attract new cast, and positions Disneyland Resort for growth and the creation of more jobs.

Disneyland is known as a place where dreams come true. As contract talks are set to resume next week, the workers hope that's true. That report by Reagan Morris.

Now let's end this podcast in Munich in the south of Germany. The city is probably best known for Oktoberfest, an annual beer festival where the average beer consumption is a whopping 6.9 million litres each year. When you walk through the streets of the city, you won't be able to miss the many beer gardens, outdoor areas where they serve beer and traditional foods.

But now there's a new one amongst them with a difference. It doesn't sell any alcohol. Catherine Bjerre-Hanger has been speaking to one of the people behind Die Nudelbiergarten, Florian Schoenhofer. Yeah, I'm in the alcohol business for years now. And, you know, we got a little problem with public drinking, like in many places.

after the coronavirus. And so right now there is a big scene of drinking on the street. And we had the idea to change that thing a little.

And to change how people think about drinking in public. And not to be facetious about it, of course, you know, it's important to have non-alcoholic options. But I imagine in a culture where beer, alcohol is so important to people in Munich, how

How have people been reacting to your business? Yeah, so there's a lot of good attention and the consumption is sinking for years right now. And one of our major breweries in Munich is doing alcohol-free beer right now.

And it's running so good, so they don't do enough beer for the consumption right now. It's still a beer garden, but it's without alcohol. And how much of a culture change do you think that would be in Germany to see more zero alcohol options? Yeah, the last two, three, four years, there's a lot more alcohol-free beverages.

Even in my business, and I do a lot of alcohol, people ask for more options. You know, you can have fun without alcohol. And Florian, before we let you go, just tell us, how does the beer taste, though? Different, really different. In a good way or in a bad way? Different could mean a lot of things. In a really good way, because, you know, they changed how they do this.

A couple of years ago, they took the alcohol off. It was a yak beer. And now you have three or four different beers with different tastes. It's more like the craft idea. And the taste is really interesting. It's not just different. It's really good.

Florian Schoenhofer talking about the merits of alcohol-free beer. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod.

This edition was mixed by Darcy O'Brie. The producer was Rebecca Wood. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jeanette Jalil. Until next time, goodbye. I'm Katrina Perry from the Global Story podcast, where we're looking at the violence and anger sweeping across the UK. There's been a wave of anti-immigrant protests since the murder of three young girls over a week ago.

But how did that attack spark rioting throughout the country? The Global Story brings you unique perspectives from BBC journalists around the world. Find us wherever you get your podcasts.