The Evening Wrap: Microsoft outage impacts airlines, financial institutions and broadcasters

A host of services including flights, hotels, and offices globally were all affected on July 19 for most Microsoft Windows devices. The outage has caused disruptions in air traffic, forcing airports to shift to manual operations. Brokerages and stock exchanges have also been hit as a result of the tech outage. Microsoft while acknowledging the outage has said “a resolution is forthcoming”. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT-In, has issued a severity rating of ‘Critical’ for the incident. However, NSE and BSE have said that they have not been impacted due to the global outage of Microsoft systems amid reports of disruptions. On the other hand, India’s Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said the government was in touch with Microsoft and that the reason for the outage had been identified. Sources now say that the issue was due to a recent update called ‘Falcon Sensor’ from U.S. cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike which provides endpoint services for several global organisations. Users across were unable to login to their systems as they crashed reflecting the Blue Screen of Death or BSOD error on all systems. An error like this occurs when Windows devices face a critical issue forcing them to restart or shut down to prevent further damage. The Delhi airport also released a statement saying some services have been affected. Late on Thursday, the company said that customers could experience issues including “failures with service management operations and connectivity or availability of services” with multiple Azure services and its Microsoft 365 suite of apps. While Microsoft appears to have restored some services like Microsoft Defender, Intune, OneNote, and SharePoint Online, tools like PowerBI, Fabric, Purview and Viva Engage are still down. Teams users are reportedly unable to access group chats, and PowerBI service can only be read in read-only mode. CrowdStrike has acknowledged the issue saying, “their engineers were actively working to resolve the issue.” Kanwar Yatra eateries row: Muzaffarnagar order now extends across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Days after Muzaffarnagar Police asked all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names, the Uttar Pradesh government is extending the controversial order across the State and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said similar instructions are already in place there. The order issued by the Muzaffarnagar police earlier this week has been slammed by Opposition parties and some members of the ruling alliance, who say it targets Muslim traders. An Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson said on July 19 that a formal order for all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route in the State was likely to be issued soon. In Dehradun, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the decision was taken on July 12 at a meeting to review the preparations for the Kanwar Yatra. As in Muzaffarnagar, hotels, dhabas and roadside eateries along the yatra route in Uttarakhand have been asked to display their owners’ names, addresses and mobile phone numbers. The Uttarakhand decision will mostly cover Haridwar but some ‘kanwariyas’ also visit Rishikesh, Neelkanth and Gangotri as part of the yatra which begins on July 22. The Muzaffarnagar police advisory drew criticism from several quarters. Union minister and BJP ally Chirag Paswan unequivocally opposed it and said he would “absolutely … never support or encourage” any divide in the name of caste or religion. Another BJP ally, the Janata Dal (United), also criticised the advisory. Party leader KC Tyagi said the advisory should be withdrawn as it may cause communal tension and there should be no discrimination based on religion or caste. The Congress has alleged that the directive was intended to normalise the economic boycott of Muslims. Its spokesperson Pawan Khera called the order “state-sponsored bigotry”. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi compared the Muzaffarnagar police advisory to the Apartheid and Judenboykott, the boycott of Jewish businesses in Hitler’s Germany. The BJP, which is in power at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, however, defended the measure, claiming that it gives fasting Hindus a choice should they want to eat at a pure-vegetarian restaurant where the likelihood of them being served ‘satvik’ food is higher. But senior BJP leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi expressed apprehension that it might spread the “disease of untouchability”. Both Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati hit out at the Muzaffarnagar police advisory. Yadav dubbed it a “social crime” and appealed to courts to take suo motu cognisance of the matter. J&K judges should take note of growing arrests of Kashmir lawyers: Mirwaiz Hurriyat chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on July 19 sought the intervention of judges of the J&K and Ladakh High Court into a series of arrests of lawyers in the past month, in the wake of erstwhile J&K High Court Bar Association’s (JKHCBA) plans to hold internal elections. “If lawyers are put behind bars, who will fight people’s cases in courts? Who will defend their judicial rights? In this situation, it is incumbent upon the judiciary, including the judges, to take notice of this matter and intervene to do the needful,” the Mirwaiz said, in his Friday sermon at the Jama Masjid in Srinagar. Several senior lawyers, who held positions in the JKHCBA, have been arrested in the past month. Former Bar chief Mian Qayoom, acting Bar chairman Nazir Ahmad Ronga, former general secretary Ashraf Bhat and Qayoom’s nephew advocate Mian Muzaffar were arrested and shifted to jails in the Jammu province, which is around 300 km from Srinagar. “I am deeply concerned by the flurry of nocturnal arrests of senior functionaries and advocates of the JKHCBA and slapping of Public Safety Act. They have been dispatched to outside jails in the sweltering heat,” the Mirwaiz said. He said it was distressing because these senior and reputed advocates are an important part of civil society. “They are being treated in this authoritarian manner. Today, it is lawyers. Tomorrow, it could be traders, shopkeepers or ordinary people. One fails to understand what the authorities want to achieve by such actions except to instil fear among people and alienate them further,” the Mirwaiz said. The Mirwaiz said the administration, instead of releasing thousands of political prisoners, journalists, youth and others languishing in jails for years, is sending more locals into jails. “Those in positions of power should discontinue the policy of arbitrary arrests and show humanity and compassion in dealing with the people of J&K. The lawyers should be released immediately. All matters can be addressed through dialogue instead of force,” the Mirwaiz said. The JKHCBA has been disallowed elections by the administration and accused of “pro-secessionist” tendencies. Instead, Kashmir Advocates Association has been recognised as a new lawyers’ body by the court in Kashmir. Supreme Court notice on woman’s challenge to ‘blanket’ immunity of Bengal Governor against legal proceedings The Supreme Court on July 19 sought responses from the Union government and the State of West Bengal on a plea by a former Raj Bhavan employee challenging constitutional immunity from legal proceedings claimed by West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose against a molestation complaint filed by her against him. Article 361 of the Constitution grants the President and State Governors immunity from legal proceedings during their term in office. The petitioner, who retained her anonymity, and represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, argued that the Governor cannot claim “blanket immunity” of office. The complaint should at least be investigated. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud issued notice, impleaded the Union and sought assistance from the Attorney General of India. Divan said the investigation into the complaint should not be deferred indefinitely. The petitioner urged the court to direct the West Bengal police to begin the investigation and record the statement of the Governor. She has also requested the apex court to frame guidelines specifying the exact contours of the immunity available to constitutional functionaries against legal proceedings. “The petition raises an issue pertaining to the ambit of the protection which is afforded to the Governor under Article 361 (2) of the Constitution, according to which ‘no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be prosecuted or continued against the Governor of the State in any court during his term of office’. The petitioner raises the issue as regards the protection of Clause (2), more particularly, when criminal proceedings would be construed to have been constituted,” the court recorded in the order. The petitioner had also sought protection for herself and her family along with compensation. The woman had filed the police complaint in May. The Calcutta High Court had previously stayed proceedings on an FIR lodged against the Officer on Special Duty (OSD-II) to the Bengal Governor. The officer was accused of pressuring the woman from filing the complaint against the Governor. Protesters storm Bangladesh jail, free ‘hundreds’ Student protesters in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi stormed a jail and freed hundreds of inmates before setting it on fire, a police officer told AFP. “The inmates fled the jail and the protesters set the jail on fire,” the police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I don’t know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds.” Moushumi Sarker, a senior government official in Narsingdi district, confirmed the jailbreak to AFP but did not give further details. A resident of Narsingdi who lives near the jail and gave his name as Ripon told AFP he saw at least 20 men leaving the facility carrying their belongings in handbags. At least 50 people have been killed in Bangladesh this week after police heightened a crackdown on student protests calling for reforms to public service hiring rules. In Brief: Vinay Mohan Kwatra appointed next Ambassador of India to the U.S. Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the United States of America, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on July 19. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. Kwatra, a 1988 batch officer, was appointed Foreign Secretary in April 2022. Kwatra was serving as India’s envoy to Nepal before assuming the charge of the Foreign Secretary. Kwatra is known to have extensive expertise in dealing with India’s neighbourhood as well as the U.S., China and Europe. Before his diplomatic posting to Nepal in 2020, he served as the Ambassador of India to France from August 2017 to February 2020. South Korea’s top court recognises some rights for same-sex couples South Korea’s top court has ruled that same-sex couples are eligible to receive the same health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples, a landmark verdict hailed by human rights groups. The Supreme Court said it ruled that the state health insurance agency’s refusal to provide spousal insurance coverage for gay couples was an act of discrimination that violates the constitutional principle of equality. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 19 July 2024 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [View in browser]( [More newsletters]( Microsoft Windows outage impacts airlines, financial institutions and broadcasters on a global scale A host of services including [flights, hotels, and offices globally were all affected]( on July 19 for most Microsoft Windows devices. The outage has caused disruptions in air traffic, forcing airports to shift to manual operations. Brokerages and stock exchanges have also been hit as a result of the tech outage. Microsoft while acknowledging the outage has said “a resolution is forthcoming”. The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, CERT-In, has issued a severity rating of ‘Critical’ for the incident. However, NSE and BSE have said that they have not been impacted due to the global outage of Microsoft systems amid reports of disruptions. On the other hand, India’s Minister for Railways, Information & Broadcasting, Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, said the government was in touch with Microsoft and that the reason for the outage had been identified. Sources now say that the issue was due to a recent update called ‘Falcon Sensor’ from U.S. cybersecurity company, CrowdStrike which provides endpoint services for several global organisations. Users across were unable to login to their systems as they crashed reflecting the Blue Screen of Death or BSOD error on all systems. An error like this occurs when Windows devices face a critical issue forcing them to restart or shut down to prevent further damage. The Delhi airport also released a statement saying some services have been affected. Late on Thursday, the company said that customers could experience issues including “failures with service management operations and connectivity or availability of services” with multiple Azure services and its Microsoft 365 suite of apps. While Microsoft appears to have restored some services like Microsoft Defender, Intune, OneNote, and SharePoint Online, tools like PowerBI, Fabric, Purview and Viva Engage are still down. Teams users are reportedly unable to access group chats, and PowerBI service can only be read in read-only mode. CrowdStrike has acknowledged the issue saying, “their engineers were actively working to resolve the issue.” Kanwar Yatra eateries row: Muzaffarnagar order now extends across Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand Days after Muzaffarnagar Police asked all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route to display their owners’ names, the Uttar Pradesh government is [extending the controversial order across the State]( and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said similar instructions are already in place there. The order issued by the Muzaffarnagar police earlier this week has been slammed by Opposition parties and some members of the ruling alliance, who say it targets Muslim traders. An Uttar Pradesh government spokesperson said on July 19 that a formal order for all eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route in the State was likely to be issued soon. In Dehradun, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the decision was taken on July 12 at a meeting to review the preparations for the Kanwar Yatra. As in Muzaffarnagar, hotels, dhabas and roadside eateries along the yatra route in Uttarakhand have been asked to display their owners’ names, addresses and mobile phone numbers. The Uttarakhand decision will mostly cover Haridwar but some ‘kanwariyas’ also visit Rishikesh, Neelkanth and Gangotri as part of the yatra which begins on July 22. The Muzaffarnagar police advisory drew criticism from several quarters. Union minister and BJP ally Chirag Paswan unequivocally opposed it and said he would “absolutely … never support or encourage” any divide in the name of caste or religion. Another BJP ally, the Janata Dal (United), also criticised the advisory. Party leader KC Tyagi said the advisory should be withdrawn as it may cause communal tension and there should be no discrimination based on religion or caste. The Congress has alleged that the directive was intended to normalise the economic boycott of Muslims. Its spokesperson Pawan Khera called the order “state-sponsored bigotry”. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi compared the Muzaffarnagar police advisory to the Apartheid and Judenboykott, the boycott of Jewish businesses in Hitler’s Germany. The BJP, which is in power at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh, however, defended the measure, claiming that it gives fasting Hindus a choice should they want to eat at a pure-vegetarian restaurant where the likelihood of them being served ‘satvik’ food is higher. But senior BJP leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi expressed apprehension that it might spread the “disease of untouchability”. Both Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati hit out at the Muzaffarnagar police advisory. Yadav dubbed it a “social crime” and appealed to courts to take suo motu cognisance of the matter. J&K judges should take note of growing arrests of Kashmir lawyers: Mirwaiz Hurriyat chairman and Kashmir’s chief cleric Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on July 19 [sought the intervention of judges of the J&K and Ladakh High Court into a series of arrests of lawyers]( in the past month, in the wake of erstwhile J&K High Court Bar Association’s (JKHCBA) plans to hold internal elections. “If lawyers are put behind bars, who will fight people’s cases in courts? Who will defend their judicial rights? In this situation, it is incumbent upon the judiciary, including the judges, to take notice of this matter and intervene to do the needful,” the Mirwaiz said, in his Friday sermon at the Jama Masjid in Srinagar. Several senior lawyers, who held positions in the JKHCBA, have been arrested in the past month. Former Bar chief Mian Qayoom, acting Bar chairman Nazir Ahmad Ronga, former general secretary Ashraf Bhat and Qayoom’s nephew advocate Mian Muzaffar were arrested and shifted to jails in the Jammu province, which is around 300 km from Srinagar. “I am deeply concerned by the flurry of nocturnal arrests of senior functionaries and advocates of the JKHCBA and slapping of Public Safety Act. They have been dispatched to outside jails in the sweltering heat,” the Mirwaiz said. He said it was distressing because these senior and reputed advocates are an important part of civil society. “They are being treated in this authoritarian manner. Today, it is lawyers. Tomorrow, it could be traders, shopkeepers or ordinary people. One fails to understand what the authorities want to achieve by such actions except to instil fear among people and alienate them further,” the Mirwaiz said. The Mirwaiz said the administration, instead of releasing thousands of political prisoners, journalists, youth and others languishing in jails for years, is sending more locals into jails. “Those in positions of power should discontinue the policy of arbitrary arrests and show humanity and compassion in dealing with the people of J&K. The lawyers should be released immediately. All matters can be addressed through dialogue instead of force,” the Mirwaiz said. The JKHCBA has been disallowed elections by the administration and accused of “pro-secessionist” tendencies. Instead, Kashmir Advocates Association has been recognised as a new lawyers’ body by the court in Kashmir. Supreme Court notice on woman’s challenge to ‘blanket’ immunity of Bengal Governor against legal proceedings The Supreme Court on July 19 [sought responses from the Union government and the State of West Bengal]( on a plea by a former Raj Bhavan employee challenging constitutional immunity from legal proceedings claimed by West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose against a molestation complaint filed by her against him. Article 361 of the Constitution grants the President and State Governors immunity from legal proceedings during their term in office. The petitioner, who retained her anonymity, and represented by senior advocate Shyam Divan, argued that the Governor cannot claim “blanket immunity” of office. The complaint should at least be investigated. A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud issued notice, impleaded the Union and sought assistance from the Attorney General of India. Divan said the investigation into the complaint should not be deferred indefinitely. The petitioner urged the court to direct the West Bengal police to begin the investigation and record the statement of the Governor. She has also requested the apex court to frame guidelines specifying the exact contours of the immunity available to constitutional functionaries against legal proceedings. “The petition raises an issue pertaining to the ambit of the protection which is afforded to the Governor under Article 361 (2) of the Constitution, according to which ‘no criminal proceedings whatsoever shall be prosecuted or continued against the Governor of the State in any court during his term of office’. The petitioner raises the issue as regards the protection of Clause (2), more particularly, when criminal proceedings would be construed to have been constituted,” the court recorded in the order. The petitioner had also sought protection for herself and her family along with compensation. The woman had filed the police complaint in May. The Calcutta High Court had previously stayed proceedings on an FIR lodged against the Officer on Special Duty (OSD-II) to the Bengal Governor. The officer was accused of pressuring the woman from filing the complaint against the Governor. Protesters storm Bangladesh jail, free ‘hundreds’ Student protesters in the central Bangladeshi district of Narsingdi [stormed a jail and freed hundreds of inmates]( before setting it on fire, a police officer told AFP. “The inmates fled the jail and the protesters set the jail on fire,” the police officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I don’t know the number of inmates, but it would be in the hundreds.” Moushumi Sarker, a senior government official in Narsingdi district, confirmed the jailbreak to AFP but did not give further details. A resident of Narsingdi who lives near the jail and gave his name as Ripon told AFP he saw at least 20 men leaving the facility carrying their belongings in handbags. At least 50 people have been killed in Bangladesh this week after police heightened a crackdown on student protests calling for reforms to public service hiring rules. In Brief: Vinay Mohan Kwatra appointed next Ambassador of India to the U.S. Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as the [next Ambassador of India to the United States of America]( the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on July 19. He is expected to take up the assignment shortly. Kwatra, a 1988 batch officer, was appointed Foreign Secretary in April 2022. Kwatra was serving as India’s envoy to Nepal before assuming the charge of the Foreign Secretary. Kwatra is known to have extensive expertise in dealing with India’s neighbourhood as well as the U.S., China and Europe. Before his diplomatic posting to Nepal in 2020, he served as the Ambassador of India to France from August 2017 to February 2020. South Korea’s top court recognises some rights for same-sex couples South Korea’s top court has ruled that [same-sex couples are eligible to receive the same health insurance benefits as heterosexual couples]( a landmark verdict hailed by human rights groups. The Supreme Court said it ruled that the state health insurance agency’s refusal to provide spousal insurance coverage for gay couples was an act of discrimination that violates the constitutional principle of equality. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. 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