Where things stand
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Microsoft 365 and Outlook went down on Thursday evening, 12 November, with email and login failures reported across several countries.1 Microsoft said part of its infrastructure in several regions faced increased load, which probably contributed to the connection failures, while a DDoS attack was possible but unconfirmed.1 The problem appeared fixed shortly before 20:00 Swiss time, according to 20 Minuten.1 On Monday, 26 October, Microsoft told AFP it was offering voluntary exits to about 60,000 staff in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.2 Microsoft also declined an option to more than double its rented capacity at Nscale's Barstow campus in Texas, according to the Financial Times.3
- yesterday
AI refusal messages expose suspected bot accounts under Salvini's and other Italian politicians' posts
Suspected bot accounts posted replies under posts by Matteo Salvini, Carlo Fidanza, Dario Nardella and Camilla Laureti that read as AI refusals, written in English. The Lega demanded to know who runs the accounts.
- yesterday
Phantasialand: Microsoft outage hid pool chlorine fault, 15 guests hurt
Excess chlorine in a hotel pool at Brühl's Phantasialand injured 15 guests on Friday, 13 November. Warning emails from the pool's dosing system never arrived because of a Microsoft Outlook outage.
- yesterday
Child sexual abuse material cases in Barcelona rise almost 60% in 2025
Barcelona's provincial prosecutors opened 132 child abuse material procedures in 2025, almost 60% more than the year before, and platform complaints now drive half or more of them.
- 3d ago
Microsoft restores Outlook, Teams and Copilot after 20-hour global outage
Microsoft says the fix for an outage lasting more than 20 hours is complete, after disruption in over 70 countries. The company attributes the failure to an earlier network capacity update and says it found no sign of a cyberattack.
- 4d ago
Russia-linked Turla hackers targeted a Romanian government institution, SRI says
The Romanian Intelligence Service says it stopped the attack in December 2025, restored the affected email service and found no sensitive data was taken. It names the Russian actor APT TURLA as responsible.
- 5d ago
Anthropic adds Claude Meetings, Sheets and Whiteboards to take on Microsoft and Google
Anthropic presented Claude Meetings, Claude Sheets and Claude Whiteboards in San Francisco on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, and made Claude Data broadly available. The tools put Claude in direct competition with Excel and Google Sheets, weeks before the company's planned Nasdaq listing.
- 5d ago
Anthropic's seven co-founders sell $1.75bn of stock as IPO nears pricing on 18 November
Orders for Anthropic's share sale have reached several times the shares on offer, and pricing is set for 18 November at a valuation that could top the $1.4tn ceiling the company set on 10 November.
- Nov 6
Protesters break into Microsoft data center construction site near Amsterdam
About 100 people entered a Microsoft data center construction site on the outskirts of Amsterdam during a protest against the facility.
- Nov 5
Microsoft turns down option to expand Nscale's Texas AI deal ahead of IPO
Microsoft has declined an option that would have more than doubled the computing capacity it rents from Nscale in Barstow, Texas. The Financial Times reports the add-on could have been worth tens of billions of dollars to the London-based company as it prepares a New York listing.
- Nov 4
Microsoft says Windows 11 update speeds up 8GB PCs, with multitasking up to 40% faster
Microsoft's latest Windows 11 update adds memory changes and lighter defaults for PCs with 8GB of RAM. The company claims up to 40% faster multitasking in its own lab tests.
- Oct 31
Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic to honour one shared AI training opt-out
Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic will honour one robots.txt rule that lets websites keep their content out of generative AI training. Most of the changes take effect in 2027.
- Oct 30
Investigation finds electrocutions, tuberculosis and unpaid wages on Europe's data centre sites
A five-month cross-border investigation documents electrocutions, a tuberculosis outbreak and unpaid wages on construction sites for data centres linked to Google and Microsoft across Europe.
- Oct 29
Amazon shares fall as negative free cash flow widens on $220bn AI spending plan
Amazon reported negative free cash flow of $42.4 billion over the 12 months to 30 September, and its shares dropped in after-hours trading. The company expects cash capital spending of $220 billion in 2026.
- Oct 28
Alphabet shares fall over 12% as AI search cuts Google ad revenue
Alphabet's shares closed down over 12% on Thursday, 29 October 2026, after third-quarter results showed weaker search advertising revenue, lower profit and negative free cash flow.
- Oct 28
Microsoft revenue rises 19% to $92.3 billion as Azure grows 48% and AI spending climbs
Azure revenue reached $33.2 billion in the quarter to September, ahead of analyst forecasts, while Microsoft capital spending rose to $45.2 billion and it offered buyouts to up to 60,000 staff.
- Oct 28
Fed holds rates at 3.75-4% with two dissents for a hike, Wall Street ends higher
The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark rate at 3.75-4% on 28 October, with two committee members voting for a hike. September CPI inflation reached 3.7%, and Alphabet shares swung after a weak quarterly report.
- Oct 28
Stellantis posts 217 million euro nine-month profit as Milan shares jump
Stellantis reported a net profit of 217 million euros for January to September 2026, against a loss of 6,788 million a year earlier, and its shares rose nearly 15% in Milan on 28 October.
- Oct 28
Fed holds rates at 3.75% to 4% before US midterms, with two votes for a hike
The Federal Reserve kept its benchmark range at 3.75% to 4% on Wednesday, 28 October 2026, after a 10-2 vote in which Lisa Cook and Beth Hammack wanted a quarter-point increase.
- Oct 26
Sweden blocks ChatGPT and Claude on government work computers over data security
From Monday, 26 October 2026, Swedish government staff can no longer use the browser versions of ChatGPT or Claude on work computers, and are steered to Microsoft Copilot instead.
- Oct 26
Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 staff in four countries
Microsoft told AFP on Monday, 26 October, that it is offering voluntary exits to about 60,000 staff, six months after its first such program. Eligibility is limited to vice presidents and below on selected teams in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.
