Global technology outage disrupts flights, banks; Trump accepts GOP nomination at RNC

On the version of Hot off the Wire posted July 19 at 8:15 a.m. CT:

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — A global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and media outlets off air in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said Friday that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Donald Trump, somber and bandaged, has accepted his party’s presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention. His speech described in detail the assassination attempt that could have ended his life just five days earlier before laying out a sweeping populist agenda, particularly on immigration. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's a critical weekend ahead for President Joe Biden. Isolated as he battles a COVID infection at his beach house in Delaware, he is confronting the stark reality that many Democrats at the highest levels want him to consider how stepping aside from the 2024 election could be the party’s best chance of preventing widespread losses in November. 

WASHINGTON (AP) — As President Joe Biden faces a growing drumbeat of pressure to drop his reelection bid, most Democrats think his vice president would make a good president herself. The new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 6 in 10 Democrats believe Kamala Harris would do a good job in the top slot.

In other news:

• Federal appeals court blocks remainder of Biden's student debt relief plan.
• Rally shooter had photos of Trump, Biden and other US officials on his phone, AP sources say.
• Hunter Biden seeks dismissal of tax, gun cases, citing decision to toss Trump's classified docs case.
• Amazon says this year's Prime Day was its biggest ever.
• Ford to start making F-Series Super Duty pickups at plant in Canada to keep up with demand.
• Boeing is closer to understanding thruster failures on its first astronaut flight with latest test.
• Average rate on a 30-year mortgage drops to 6.77%, sliding to lowest level since March.
• US homes find fewer foreign buyers as rising costs and a strong dollar leave market in record slump.
• Comedian Bob Newhart, deadpan master of sitcoms and telephone monologues, dies at 94.
• Lou Dobbs, conservative pundit and Fox Business host, dies at 78.
• Shannen Doherty finalizes divorce hours before death.
• Alabama has executed man convicted of killing delivery driver during a 1998 robbery attempt.
• A sizzling first round has a young tour member atop the British Open leaderboard, in the NBA, it looks like a former MVP will be joining the Nuggets, and in baseball, Tampa Bay has a plan to improve its ballpark situation. Correspondent Bruce Morton reports.
• Dodgers and Cubs open 2025 MLB season in Tokyo March 18, rest of league starts March 27.
• Jason Wright is out as Washington Commanders president and will leave the team after the '24 season.
• Clemson gives men's basketball coach Brad Brownell new contract after run to Elite Eight.
• Meet Crush, the rare orange lobster diverted from dinner plate to aquarium by Denver Broncos fans.

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.