Microsoft reports strong earnings as Azure hit by major outage

Tech giant reports earnings of $3.72 per share day after deal with OpenAI pushed value of company to more than $4tn

Microsoft blew off concerns of overspending on AI on Wednesday, reporting elevated earnings even as it faced an outage of its cloud computing service, Azure, and its office software suite, 365. The strong earnings report comes a day after a deal with OpenAI pushed the value of tech giant to more than $4tn.

After its Xbox and investor relations pages went down, the company issued a statement that said: “We are working to address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services.”

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Meta reports mixed financial results amid spree of AI hiring and spending

Tech company brings in record quarterly revenue but major tax bill dampens earnings per share

Meta reported mixed financial results for the third quarter of 2025. The company brought in record quarterly revenue but reported a major tax bill that dampened earnings per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The financial results come as Meta ends a multibillion-dollar hiring spree focused on artificial intelligence talent.

The tech giant earned $51.24bn in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and the company’s own projections for third-quarter sales. However, it reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, far below Wall Street expectations of $6.70 in EPS. The major drop was due to a one-time non-cash income tax charge of $15.93bn. The EPS would have been $7.25 without this one-time charge, the company said.

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Google parent Alphabet beats forecasts with first $100bn quarter

Strong demand for ads and cloud services powered tech giant’s growth as it makes multibillion-dollar AI investment

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, displayed steady growth in its core advertising business and cloud computing division as it reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates as it reported its first quarter of $100bn in revenue.

The company thrilled Wall Street – shares rose in after-hours trading – even as it announced that it would spend billions more than previously predicted. Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance in financial filings, declaring it would spend between $91bn and $93bn in the upcoming year, nearly all of it on infrastructure like datacenters to support artificial intelligence products, which are becoming an integral part of the company’s business. That estimate is up from an original declaration of $75bn in February and a revised figure of $85bn announced in July.

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Vietnamese arrivals in UK by irregular means will be fast-tracked for deportation, says No 10

Starmer signs agreement with visiting Vietnamese leader after surge in clandestine arrivals from country

Vietnamese people who arrive in the UK by irregular means will be fast-tracked for deportation under a new agreement, Downing Street has said.

After a surge in clandestine arrivals from the south-east Asian country last year via small boats and in the back of lorries, the deal is supposed to cut red tape and make it faster and easier to return those with no right to be in the UK.

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Red Cross says its staff in Gaza “were not able to intervene” as alleged Hamas members buried and uncovered Israeli hostage remains – CBS News

  1. Red Cross says its staff in Gaza "were not able to intervene" as alleged Hamas members buried and uncovered Israeli hostage remains  CBS News
  2. Israel receives remains of two deceased hostages held in Gaza  CNN
  3. Video Analysis Shows Staged Recovery of Israeli Hostage Remains  The New York Times
  4. Hamas hands over two bodies after Israel resumes attacks on Gaza  Al Jazeera
  5. Red Cross to receive 'several coffins of deceased hostages' in Gaza Strip, IDF says  Fox News
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Hurricane Melissa leaves dozens dead in trail of destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica – AP News

  1. Hurricane Melissa leaves dozens dead in trail of destruction across Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica  AP News
  2. Hurricane Melissa kills over 30 in the Caribbean as it heads toward the Bahamas  CNN
  3. How will the dismantling of USAID affect U.S. relief efforts in Jamaica?  NPR
  4. Jamaicans take stock after hurricane causes damage, flooding and power cuts  BBC
  5. Hurricane Melissa Maps Tracker: Forecast Track, Rainfall, Winds, Threats And More  The Weather Channel
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‘This was a slaughter, not an operation’: the favela reeling from Rio’s deadliest police raid

Residents of Vila Cruzeiro gather bodies after more than 130 were killed in pre-dawn assault

Day had yet to break over Vila Cruzeiro but already dozens of corpses were splayed out along the favela’s main drag after more than 130 people were killed during the deadliest police operation in Rio’s history: grotesquely disfigured, blood-smeared bodies that had been dragged out of nearby forests and dumped on blue tarpaulins and black plastic sheets covering the street.

“I’ve brought 53 down myself … there must be another 12 or 15 up there in the bush,” said Erivelton Vidal Correia, the head of the local residents’ association, bleary-eyed from a sleepless night spent hauling bullet-riddled local men down from the hills.

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Hundreds reportedly killed at Sudanese hospital as evidence of RSF atrocities mounts

Rapid Support Forces, which claimed control of El Fasher on Sunday, reportedly killed at least 460 people ‘in cold blood’

Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces killed hundreds of patients and staff inside a hospital in El Fasher, according to the World Health Organization and the Sudan Doctors Network, after the paramilitary group claimed control of the city on Sunday.

The WHO secretary general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was “appalled and deeply shocked” at reports that more than 460 people had been killed at the Saudi maternity hospital, without assigning blame, in a post on X.

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