Instant messaging service WhatsApp has suffered a major outage across Western Europe, Asia and America.
The Facebook-owned instant messaging app began experiencing problems on Wednesday evening.
The issues began at around 9pm in the UK and then problems were reported in the US, South America and Asia, according to web service monitoring site Down Detector.
By 11.20pm many reported being able to access the service once again.
WhatsApp has not commented on the cause of the problem.
Social networking company Facebook bought WhatsApp for $19bn (£14.7bn) in 2014.
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Wednesday, May 3, 2017
Facebook to hire 3,000 more staff to police content - Zuckerberg
Mark Zuckerberg has said he will hire an extra 3,000 staff to combat extremist and distressing content on Facebook.
The social network's founder published - on his Facebook page - what amounted to a greater commitment to users' safety following several "heartbreaking" instances of people hurting themselves or others in live, or recorded, videos in recent weeks.
He said the investment would also include a greater emphasis on tackling hate speech and child exploitation.
Mr Zuckerberg wrote: "If we're going to build a safe community, we need to respond quickly.
"We're working to make these videos easier to report so we can take the right action sooner - whether that's responding quickly when someone needs help or taking a post down.
:: Sky Views: The fall of Silicon Valley
"Over the next year, we'll be adding 3,000 people to our community operations team around the world - on top of the 4,500 we have today - to review the millions of reports we get every week, and improve the process for doing it quickly."
He added: "Just last week, we got a report that someone on [Facebook] Live was considering suicide.
"We immediately reached out to law enforcement, and they were able to prevent him from hurting himself. In other cases, we weren't so fortunate.
"No one should be in this situation in the first place, but if they are, then we should build a safe community that gets them the help they need."
The statement will be largely seen as an admission by Facebook that action was overdue.
Last week, a father in Thailand broadcast himself killing his daughter on Facebook Live.
The company removed the video a day later after more than 370,000 views.
There have been many other examples including a live stream, in January, of a man with learning difficulties being bound, gagged and brutally punched.
Last month, a video was uploaded of a man being shot dead in an unprovoked attack.
A report by a House of Commons committee has recommended social media firms are fined if they fail to tackle illegal or harmful material.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has also come under pressure after it emerged Westminster terror attacker Khalid Masood sent an encrypted message via the messaging service just minutes before his rampage.
Google, too, has also been at the centre of a boycott by some advertisers angry that their messages have appeared alongside extremist content on the company's video-sharing site YouTube.
The social network's founder published - on his Facebook page - what amounted to a greater commitment to users' safety following several "heartbreaking" instances of people hurting themselves or others in live, or recorded, videos in recent weeks.
He said the investment would also include a greater emphasis on tackling hate speech and child exploitation.
Mr Zuckerberg wrote: "If we're going to build a safe community, we need to respond quickly.
"We're working to make these videos easier to report so we can take the right action sooner - whether that's responding quickly when someone needs help or taking a post down.
:: Sky Views: The fall of Silicon Valley
"Over the next year, we'll be adding 3,000 people to our community operations team around the world - on top of the 4,500 we have today - to review the millions of reports we get every week, and improve the process for doing it quickly."
He added: "Just last week, we got a report that someone on [Facebook] Live was considering suicide.
"We immediately reached out to law enforcement, and they were able to prevent him from hurting himself. In other cases, we weren't so fortunate.
"No one should be in this situation in the first place, but if they are, then we should build a safe community that gets them the help they need."
The statement will be largely seen as an admission by Facebook that action was overdue.
Last week, a father in Thailand broadcast himself killing his daughter on Facebook Live.
The company removed the video a day later after more than 370,000 views.
There have been many other examples including a live stream, in January, of a man with learning difficulties being bound, gagged and brutally punched.
Last month, a video was uploaded of a man being shot dead in an unprovoked attack.
A report by a House of Commons committee has recommended social media firms are fined if they fail to tackle illegal or harmful material.
Facebook-owned WhatsApp has also come under pressure after it emerged Westminster terror attacker Khalid Masood sent an encrypted message via the messaging service just minutes before his rampage.
Google, too, has also been at the centre of a boycott by some advertisers angry that their messages have appeared alongside extremist content on the company's video-sharing site YouTube.
Explosion at Iran coal mine Dozens trapped
At least two miners have been killed and as many as 50 are trapped after a large explosion in northern Iran.
Rescue vehicles raced to the coal mine near Azadshahr, Golestan Province, with officials blaming a build up of gas for the blast.
Iranian state media reported that the explosion may have been triggered when workers at the Zemetsanyurt mine tried to jump start a locomotive engine.
Sadeq Ali Moghadam, head of Golestan provincial emergency management department, said that 40 to 50 people are thought to be trapped inside the mine, IRNA news agency reported.
The explosion is understood to have taken place as workers were changing their shifts at the mine.
Images from the scene showed apparently dazed miners, covered in coal dust, being helped clear by onlookers.
More than 500 people are employed at the mine, which is nine miles from Azadshahr, close to the Caspian Sea and the border with Turkmenistan.
Rescue vehicles raced to the coal mine near Azadshahr, Golestan Province, with officials blaming a build up of gas for the blast.
Iranian state media reported that the explosion may have been triggered when workers at the Zemetsanyurt mine tried to jump start a locomotive engine.
Sadeq Ali Moghadam, head of Golestan provincial emergency management department, said that 40 to 50 people are thought to be trapped inside the mine, IRNA news agency reported.
The explosion is understood to have taken place as workers were changing their shifts at the mine.
Images from the scene showed apparently dazed miners, covered in coal dust, being helped clear by onlookers.
More than 500 people are employed at the mine, which is nine miles from Azadshahr, close to the Caspian Sea and the border with Turkmenistan.
French election: Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen to face off in TV debate
France's two presidential candidates will square off in a marathon live TV debate this evening - their last encounter before votes are cast on Sunday.
Polls still give centrist Emmanuel Macron a commanding lead over far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but the face-off could shift the numbers with the rhetoric of the two becoming increasingly sharp in recent days.
The event, scheduled to last two hours and 20 minutes, is regarded as a must-watch in France and as many as 15 million people are expected to tune in at 9pm (8pm UK time).
Voters are being asked to choose between Mr Macron, a Europhile former banker who wants to cut state regulation in the economy whilst balancing workers' rights, and Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen, who wants to ditch the single currency, close France's borders and impose tough restrictions on immigration.
Ms Le Pen has consistently portrayed Mr Macron as a candidate of high finance and of the establishment - he served as an economy minister in the current Socialist government.
In an interview this week, she said: "His programme is very vague, but in reality it is a simple continuation of Francois Hollande's government."
:: In profile - Marine Le Pen
:: In profile - Emmanuel Macron
That is a potent narrative for many voters who are demanding change in France and Mr Macron will have to work hard to convince people that his party, En Marche!, offers a new kind of politics.
He is likely to focus heavily on the controversial history of Ms Le Pen's National Front party, seeking to portray her as the heir to her father Jean-Marie's racist, anti-Semitic politics.
Mr Macron has warned he won't pull any punches, saying: "I am not going to use cliches or insults.
"I'll use hand-to-hand fighting to demonstrate that her ideas represent false solutions."
The choreography of the debate has been argued over, and Europe, the economy, immigration and French identity are likely to dominate.
:: What you need to know about the French elections
The pair will be seated (apparently at Ms Le Pen's request as she wears heels) and the studio set to a cool temperature to stop them sweating (think Richard Nixon's 1960 US presidential debate).
There will be no audience and after drawing straws Ms Le Pen will speak first and Mr Macron last.
While millions will watch, surveys suggest the vast majority of voters don't think the TV clash will change their choice for president.
However, Marine Le Pen has shown herself adept at landing punches on Mr Macron in previous debates and will likely try to rile him as she has nothing to lose.
If it turns into a slanging match she could have the advantage. But with a big lead over Ms Le Pen, perhaps all Mr Macron needs to do is keep his cool and not obviously lose to his rival.
Polls still give centrist Emmanuel Macron a commanding lead over far-right leader Marine Le Pen, but the face-off could shift the numbers with the rhetoric of the two becoming increasingly sharp in recent days.
The event, scheduled to last two hours and 20 minutes, is regarded as a must-watch in France and as many as 15 million people are expected to tune in at 9pm (8pm UK time).
Voters are being asked to choose between Mr Macron, a Europhile former banker who wants to cut state regulation in the economy whilst balancing workers' rights, and Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen, who wants to ditch the single currency, close France's borders and impose tough restrictions on immigration.
Ms Le Pen has consistently portrayed Mr Macron as a candidate of high finance and of the establishment - he served as an economy minister in the current Socialist government.
In an interview this week, she said: "His programme is very vague, but in reality it is a simple continuation of Francois Hollande's government."
:: In profile - Marine Le Pen
:: In profile - Emmanuel Macron
That is a potent narrative for many voters who are demanding change in France and Mr Macron will have to work hard to convince people that his party, En Marche!, offers a new kind of politics.
He is likely to focus heavily on the controversial history of Ms Le Pen's National Front party, seeking to portray her as the heir to her father Jean-Marie's racist, anti-Semitic politics.
Mr Macron has warned he won't pull any punches, saying: "I am not going to use cliches or insults.
"I'll use hand-to-hand fighting to demonstrate that her ideas represent false solutions."
The choreography of the debate has been argued over, and Europe, the economy, immigration and French identity are likely to dominate.
:: What you need to know about the French elections
The pair will be seated (apparently at Ms Le Pen's request as she wears heels) and the studio set to a cool temperature to stop them sweating (think Richard Nixon's 1960 US presidential debate).
There will be no audience and after drawing straws Ms Le Pen will speak first and Mr Macron last.
While millions will watch, surveys suggest the vast majority of voters don't think the TV clash will change their choice for president.
However, Marine Le Pen has shown herself adept at landing punches on Mr Macron in previous debates and will likely try to rile him as she has nothing to lose.
If it turns into a slanging match she could have the advantage. But with a big lead over Ms Le Pen, perhaps all Mr Macron needs to do is keep his cool and not obviously lose to his rival.
Brad Pitt opens up about drinking and divorce
Brad Pitt has spoken for the first time about his divorce from Angelina Jolie and his relationship with their children.
During a photoshoot around US national parks, the actor told GQ magazine that the recent chaos in his personal life was "self-inflicted".
The 53-year-old actor admitted to heavy drinking and smoking cannabis, but said he had turned a new page.
"I just started therapy," he said.
"I love it. I love it. I went through two therapists to get to the right one."
He spoke of his recent divorce from Angelina Jolie, which followed a reported altercation between him and his 15-year-old son Maddox on the family's private plane.
"I famously step in s*** - at least for me it seems pretty epic," he said.
"I often say the wrong thing, often in the wrong place and time. I'm trying to get better. I'm really trying to get better."
He said he had passed his "stoner phase" and given up drinking, something his wife publicly criticised him for.
"Back in my stoner days, I wanted to smoke a joint with Jack and Snoop and Willie. You know, when you're a stoner, you get these really stupid ideas. Well, I don't want to indict the others, but I haven't made it to Willie yet," he said.
"I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute," he added.
"Don't want to live that way anymore."
The actor told GQ he now prefers to replace booze with "cranberry juice and fizzy water", and promised he has "the cleanest urinary tract in all of LA".
Pitt said the split with Jolie had been a "huge generator for change".
He said the two decided to abandon the path of "vitriolic hatred" and work together to sort out their issues.
Now, the actor says he finds solace in working creatively with his hands.
"I'm making everything," he said.
"I'm working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood."
During a photoshoot around US national parks, the actor told GQ magazine that the recent chaos in his personal life was "self-inflicted".
The 53-year-old actor admitted to heavy drinking and smoking cannabis, but said he had turned a new page.
"I just started therapy," he said.
"I love it. I love it. I went through two therapists to get to the right one."
He spoke of his recent divorce from Angelina Jolie, which followed a reported altercation between him and his 15-year-old son Maddox on the family's private plane.
"I famously step in s*** - at least for me it seems pretty epic," he said.
"I often say the wrong thing, often in the wrong place and time. I'm trying to get better. I'm really trying to get better."
He said he had passed his "stoner phase" and given up drinking, something his wife publicly criticised him for.
"Back in my stoner days, I wanted to smoke a joint with Jack and Snoop and Willie. You know, when you're a stoner, you get these really stupid ideas. Well, I don't want to indict the others, but I haven't made it to Willie yet," he said.
"I enjoy wine very, very much, but I just ran it to the ground. I had to step away for a minute," he added.
"Don't want to live that way anymore."
The actor told GQ he now prefers to replace booze with "cranberry juice and fizzy water", and promised he has "the cleanest urinary tract in all of LA".
Pitt said the split with Jolie had been a "huge generator for change".
He said the two decided to abandon the path of "vitriolic hatred" and work together to sort out their issues.
Now, the actor says he finds solace in working creatively with his hands.
"I'm making everything," he said.
"I'm working with clay, plaster, rebar, wood."
Researchers develop 'seeing' bionic hand
Scientists in Newcastle have developed a cheap way of helping amputees with prosthetic limbs reach out and grasp objects - a bionic "hand that sees".
The hand was developed by bioengineers at Newcastle University who modified a standard NHS myoelectric hand with a cheap camera to provide upper-limb amputees with a more functional prosthetic.
Myoelectric hands allow amputees to make their prosthetics express different grips using sensors on the skin surface of the stump which detect the electrical activity of wearers' muscles.
With the added camera, which the researchers say they purchased for 99p, the new device bypasses the usual processes of gripping with a myoelectric hand, which require the user to see the object, physically stimulate the muscles in their arm and trigger a movement in the prosthetic limb.
The wearer points the camera at the object they want to grasp, tenses their arm muscles and the prosthetic controller automatically recognises the shape and adopts the correct grip to pick it up.
To achieve this the Newcastle team had to teach the prosthetic controller how to recognise different shapes and select which grip to use.
"We would show the computer a picture of, for example, a stick," explained Ghazal Ghazaei, the lead author behind the research, which was published today in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
"But not just one picture, many images of the same stick from different angles and orientations, even in different light and against different backgrounds and eventually the computer learns what grasp it needs to pick that stick up.
The hand was developed by bioengineers at Newcastle University who modified a standard NHS myoelectric hand with a cheap camera to provide upper-limb amputees with a more functional prosthetic.
Myoelectric hands allow amputees to make their prosthetics express different grips using sensors on the skin surface of the stump which detect the electrical activity of wearers' muscles.
With the added camera, which the researchers say they purchased for 99p, the new device bypasses the usual processes of gripping with a myoelectric hand, which require the user to see the object, physically stimulate the muscles in their arm and trigger a movement in the prosthetic limb.
The wearer points the camera at the object they want to grasp, tenses their arm muscles and the prosthetic controller automatically recognises the shape and adopts the correct grip to pick it up.
To achieve this the Newcastle team had to teach the prosthetic controller how to recognise different shapes and select which grip to use.
"We would show the computer a picture of, for example, a stick," explained Ghazal Ghazaei, the lead author behind the research, which was published today in the Journal of Neural Engineering.
"But not just one picture, many images of the same stick from different angles and orientations, even in different light and against different backgrounds and eventually the computer learns what grasp it needs to pick that stick up.
North Korea says American professor Tony Kim held for 'hostile' acts
North Korea has confirmed the arrest of a US professor for alleged acts of hostility aimed at overthrowing the country's regime.
The Korean Central News Agency said Tony Kim, also known as Kim Sang Dok, was "intercepted" at Pyongyang's airport on 22 April as he tried to leave the country.
In the North's first confirmation of the professor's detention, the agency said he had been held for "committing hostile criminal acts aimed to subvert the country".
He is the third American being detained in North Korea.
His arrest is likely to add to tensions between North Korea and the United States.
As Washington deals with North Korea and its nuclear weapons programme, President Donald Trump has said all options, including military action, are on the table.
But the US leader also said this week he would be "honoured" to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un under the right conditions.
The detained professor had been teaching accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, which reported last month he had been held and said the arrest was not connected to the school's work.
It added that the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which handles issues involving US citizens as Washington has no diplomatic ties with the North, was "actively involved" in talks.
Mr Kim is a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China, close to the Korean border.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Mr Kim is 55 and had been involved in relief activities for children in rural area of North Korea. It described him as a "religiously devoted man".
Two other US citizens were sentenced last year to lengthy prison terms in the North.
Korean-American pastor Kim Dong-Chul was sentenced to 10 years of hard labour for "spying".
College student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years for stealing a propaganda material and for "crimes against the state".
North Korea has arrested and jailed several US citizens in the past decade, often releasing them after high-profile visits by current or former US officials or former US presidents.
The Korean Central News Agency said Tony Kim, also known as Kim Sang Dok, was "intercepted" at Pyongyang's airport on 22 April as he tried to leave the country.
In the North's first confirmation of the professor's detention, the agency said he had been held for "committing hostile criminal acts aimed to subvert the country".
He is the third American being detained in North Korea.
His arrest is likely to add to tensions between North Korea and the United States.
As Washington deals with North Korea and its nuclear weapons programme, President Donald Trump has said all options, including military action, are on the table.
But the US leader also said this week he would be "honoured" to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un under the right conditions.
The detained professor had been teaching accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, which reported last month he had been held and said the arrest was not connected to the school's work.
It added that the Swedish embassy in Pyongyang, which handles issues involving US citizens as Washington has no diplomatic ties with the North, was "actively involved" in talks.
Mr Kim is a former professor at Yanbian University of Science and Technology in China, close to the Korean border.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Mr Kim is 55 and had been involved in relief activities for children in rural area of North Korea. It described him as a "religiously devoted man".
Two other US citizens were sentenced last year to lengthy prison terms in the North.
Korean-American pastor Kim Dong-Chul was sentenced to 10 years of hard labour for "spying".
College student Otto Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years for stealing a propaganda material and for "crimes against the state".
North Korea has arrested and jailed several US citizens in the past decade, often releasing them after high-profile visits by current or former US officials or former US presidents.
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