How an internet outage caused mass disruption across America

Summary

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Apple News Today — Episode Summary

Episode Title: How an internet outage caused mass disruption across America
Release Date: October 21, 2025
Host: Shumita Basu

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Overview

This episode of Apple News Today, hosted by Shumita Basu, digs into the sweeping internet outage caused by issues with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and its cascading effects on daily life and critical infrastructure across the U.S. It also covers major Supreme Court news regarding gun rights for marijuana users, an audacious jewel heist at Paris’s Louvre Museum, and a breakthrough in prosthetic eye technology.

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1. How the AWS Internet Outage Disrupted the Nation

What Happened and Why It Mattered

• [00:36] The episode opens with breaking news about widespread internet disruption in the U.S. after technical problems hit AWS, Amazon’s cloud computing arm.
• [00:45] AWS struggled for hours to resolve issues, impacting many of the world’s major companies and their services.
• [00:53] Shumita Basu summarizes: “Without web access, some people couldn't check in at airlines, others couldn't pay their bills.”

Who Was Affected

• [01:00] Ben Goggin, Deputy Tech Editor at NBC, details the real-world impacts:

  • Starbucks apps down
  • Sudden spike in “Why is Starbucks app down?” searches
  • Disruptions in car services (Lyft), finance, social media, crypto trading, and online gaming like Roblox.

  “The first companies that gained attention for this outage were Starbucks...and the answer was the AWS outage.” – Ben Goggin [01:00]

• [01:39] Down Detector reported over 2,000 companies affected, with 1.9 million incident reports in the U.S. alone.

Deeper Consequences: Critical Infrastructure Vulnerabilities

• [02:20] Healthcare was “most shocking and potentially disturbing,” per Ben Goggin, as AWS outages made it harder to reach doctors or access health services.

  “When someone is looking for a doctor and not able to find them because of an AWS service disruption, that's pretty disturbing.” – Ben Goggin [02:20]

• Government websites, media, and communications platforms also went down.

  “This type of interruption...is really sort of an interruption or a threat to our democratic system.” – Ben Goggin [02:51]

Cause and Recurrence

• [03:30] Shumita cites Reuters: Issue originated at a Northern Virginia data center, marking at least the third major AWS-related U.S. outage in five years. It lasted about 15 hours.

AWS as “Internet Backbone” & The Case for Redundancy

• [03:47] Goggin notes AWS “has over the years become one of the foundational backbones to the entire Internet,” and many other providers are tied into it through integrations.
• [04:05] David Kennedy (TrustedSec cybersecurity firm) discusses the need for backup plans:

  “If AWS has an issue, can you fail over to Microsoft or...Google?...These are things that companies need to weigh out.” – David Kennedy [04:17]

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2. Supreme Court to Rule on Gun Rights for Marijuana Users

The Legal Debate

• [04:40] The episode shifts to the Supreme Court’s decision to hear a case on whether marijuana users can be prohibited from owning firearms under federal law.

  “Are marijuana smokers only considered drug users when they are actually high?...Should they...be allowed to own guns?” – Shemitah Basu [04:51]

• [05:14] Maureen Gropi, Supreme Court reporter, notes the rarity of the Trump administration defending gun restriction laws.

  “This time the Trump administration is saying they are on the side of enforcing the regulation rather than...questioning whether the regulation is constitutional or not.” – Maureen Gropi [05:21]

The Law in Question

• The law, central to Hunter Biden’s 2024 conviction, prohibits firearm possession for “unlawful users” of controlled substances. The DOJ now seeks to expand its interpretation.

• Past Supreme Court rulings (2022) demanded modern gun restrictions align with historic precedent, but lower courts disagree on how to apply this.

  “There were laws...at the time the country was founded that restricted the rights of habitual drinkers to not have weapons even when they were sober.” – Maureen Gropi [06:36]

• The Supreme Court's decision is due by June 2026.

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3. Flash Heist at the Louvre

How It Happened

• [07:30] Four thieves, disguising themselves as construction workers, executed a jewelry robbery at the Louvre in under seven minutes during opening hours.

• Priceless artifacts, including a crown with 1,300+ diamonds, were taken, with notable property damage and evidence of a hasty escape.

  “They were in and they were out in seven minutes. So it was the perfect heist.” – Arthur Brand, art crime investigator [08:07]

The Method

• [08:49] Used mechanized ladders, battery-operated disc cutters, and yellow vests for disguise.

• Escape involved failed arson on getaway vehicle and eventual use of motorbikes.

  “With this cutter...they got through the window...into the gallery...down this lift thing to the vehicle below, which they tried to set on fire...” – Hugh Scofield, BBC [09:01]

Aftermath and Security Concerns

• [09:33] The heist highlighted outdated security; recent reports noted inadequate camera coverage and staff cuts.

• Museum staff had protested these issues in June.

  “The Louvre security system was outdated and inadequate.” – Shemitah Basu [09:40]

• Chris Marinello (Art Recovery International) pessimistically suggested the jewels might already be destroyed for illicit resale.

  “These pieces might be already gone or being broken up as we speak...They don’t care about the cultural importance...” – Chris Marinello [10:30]

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4. News in Brief

Federal Appeals Court: Trump Can Send National Guard to Portland

• [11:14] Split Ninth Circuit ruling allows Trump's deployment of Guard troops to Portland in response to protests; local officials object on rights grounds.

U.S.–Australia Critical Minerals Pact

• [12:05] The U.S. and Australia signed a $3B mineral extraction deal amid tense trade relations with China, aiming to secure computer chip and defense supply chains.

Breakthrough for Blind Patients

• [13:02] Several dozen people with age-related macular degeneration regain partial sight using a retinal implant and smart glasses.
• [13:37] The results are imperfect (“black and white blurry view”), but researchers call it “the dawn of a new technology.”

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Notable Quotes

• “When someone is looking for a doctor and not able to find them because of an AWS service disruption, that's pretty disturbing.” – Ben Goggin [02:20]
• “This type of interruption...is really sort of an interruption or a threat to our democratic system.” – Ben Goggin [02:51]
• “These are things that companies need to weigh out to ensure that they don’t have a massive impact to their business.” – David Kennedy [04:17]
• “They were in and they were out in seven minutes. So it was the perfect heist.” – Arthur Brand [08:07]
• “These pieces might be already gone or being broken up as we speak... They don’t care about the cultural importance...” – Chris Marinello [10:30]

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Key Timestamps

| Time | Segment/Topic | |----------|-----------------------------------------------------------| | 00:36 | AWS outage and initial impacts | | 01:00 | Ben Goggin on immediate company disruptions | | 02:20 | Critical healthcare vulnerabilities | | 02:51 | Broader democratic/civic implications | | 03:30 | Cause and history of AWS outages | | 04:05 | David Kennedy on redundancy and cyber-risk | | 04:40 | Supreme Court: marijuana & gun rights case | | 07:30 | Flash heist at the Louvre — execution and aftermath | | 09:33 | Louvre's outdated security concerns raised | | 11:14 | Federal court: Trump’s use of National Guard in Portland | | 12:05 | U.S.–Australia critical minerals deal | | 13:02 | Eye implant restores limited sight |

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Tone & Style

The episode is briskly paced, informative, and captures both the big-picture implications and immediate personal effects of the news stories. Commentary balances expert analysis with accessible language, maintaining an even, journalistic tone throughout.

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Conclusion

From the fragility of America’s internet infrastructure to historic legal debates and daring international heists, this episode intertwines timely tech, legal, and world news, enriched with insights from journalists and experts. For listeners on the go, each story is broken down with clarity, urgency, and context—highlighting both what happened and what it means.

Transcript

[Apple News Host]

Good morning. It's Tuesday, October 21st.

[Shemitah Basu]

I'm Shemitah Basu. This is Apple News Today.

[Apple News Host]

On today's show, the Supreme Court weighs.

[Shemitah Basu]

A pot smoker's right to bear arms. Gone in seven minutes. How the flash heist at the Louvre went down. And an incredible breakthrough for blind patients.

[Apple News Host]

But first, to what exactly just happened.

[Shemitah Basu]

With everyone's Internet yesterday? There was major disruption and mass outages.

[Apple News Host]

As Amazon's cloud computing service AWS faced.

[Shemitah Basu]

Technical problems they struggled throughout the day to resolve.

[Apple News Host]

Because so many of the world's biggest.

[Shemitah Basu]

Companies rely on aws, you probably felt some disruption either with managing your finances, your social feed, or just ordering a coffee.

[Ben Goggin]

The first companies that gained attention for this outage were Starbucks, right in the morning. So immediately when I logged on this morning and looked at different news coming in, searches were spiking for why is the Starbucks app down? And the answer was the AWS outage.

[Apple News Host]

That's Ben Goggin, deputy tech Editor at.

[Shemitah Basu]

NBC, who we spoke to about the outage.

[Ben Goggin]

Amazon throughout the day kept saying that the issues were improving and it was implementing fixes. But every time that they would say that more issues would present themselves.

[Apple News Host]

The outage tracker service Down Detector thinks.

[Shemitah Basu]

More than 2,000 companies were affected, with more than 1.9 million reports of problems coming from the US alone. And that's a lot of breakdowns. For businesses dependent on the Internet to function.

[Apple News Host]

It was another reminder of how difficult.

[Shemitah Basu]

It is to complete tasks that used to be done offline. Without web access, some people couldn't check in at airlines, others couldn't pay their bills.

[Apple News Host]

Some people found themselves stranded as car.

[Shemitah Basu]

Services like Lyft went down. Crypto traders found they couldn't access their accounts. And many social media platforms and video games like Roblox were also out for a period.

[Apple News Host]

And as Goggin explained, there were some.

[Shemitah Basu]

Potentially more serious impacts.

[Ben Goggin]

I think that the most shocking and potentially disturbing interruptions that we saw were in the healthcare industry. And I think that in the healthcare environment specifically, obviously, time is of incredible importance. And when someone is looking for a doctor and not able to find them because of an AWS service disruption, that's pretty disturbing.

[Apple News Host]

Goggin said the outage, even if only.

[Shemitah Basu]

Brief, highlighted the vulnerability of some of the services that tie our society together.

[Ben Goggin]

We talked to one expert for our article that really highlighted that this type of interruption, because it was so pivotal to so many different businesses, is really sort of an interruption or a threat to our democratic system. We saw government websites go down, we saw communications platforms go down and we saw media websites of the top publications go down. So even though this was able to be fixed and things are coming back online now, it does show this core vulnerability that has incredibly high stakes when it touches all these different institutions.

[Apple News Host]

The problems originated from a data center.

[Shemitah Basu]

In Northern Virginia, and according to Reuters, it's at least the third time in the past five years this location has contributed to a major Internet meltdown. After around 15 hours, the issues were largely resolved, though some users continued reporting problems into the evening.

[Apple News Host]

Goggin said that AWS has over the.

[Shemitah Basu]

Years become one of the foundational backbones to the entire Internet, and that even.

[Apple News Host]

Other service providers are themselves linked to.

[Shemitah Basu]

AWS through integrations, meaning much of the infrastructure is dependent on this source.

[Apple News Host]

David Kennedy is founder and CEO of.

[Shemitah Basu]

Trusted sec, a cybersecurity firm.

[Apple News Host]

He told CNBC the outage underpins the.

[Shemitah Basu]

Need for companies to move away from a single service handling their entire platforms.

[David Kennedy]

Diversity around applications, being able to move from, you know, if AWS has an issue, can you fail over to Microsoft or can you fill over to Google? So you're not seeing these massive outages. These are things that companies need to weigh out to ensure that they don't have a massive impact to their business and organization.

[Apple News Host]

Yesterday the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case that poses some unusual questions.

[Shemitah Basu]

That aren't typically considered by the high court.

[Apple News Host]

Like are marijuana smokers only considered drug.

[Shemitah Basu]

Users when they are actually high?

[Apple News Host]

And should they and other drug users be allowed to own guns?

[Maureen Gropi]

This is about a federal law that prohibits the possession of firearms by anyone who is a, quote, unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance.

[Apple News Host]

That's Maureen Gropi, who covers the Supreme.

[Shemitah Basu]

Court for USA Today.

[Apple News Host]

She pointed out this is a rare.

[Shemitah Basu]

Instance in which the Trump administration is defending a law that limits gun ownership and use.

[Maureen Gropi]

The Trump administration has been taking a very strong defense of the Second Amendment, but in this case, when it involves drug users who have guns with the question of whether they have gun rights or not. This time the Trump administration is saying they are on the side of enforcing the regulation rather than questioning whether the regulation is constitutional or not.

[Apple News Host]

The DOJ has asked the Supreme Court.

[Shemitah Basu]

To undo a previous ruling that said the law only applies when someone is actively using drugs.

[Apple News Host]

The law being contested here is the.

[Shemitah Basu]

One that Hunter Biden was convicted on back in 2024 after a jury found that he had lied about his drug use when he purchased a gun. President Biden pardoned his son in his last weeks in office before he could be sentenced.

[Apple News Host]

The last time the court ruled in.

[Shemitah Basu]

A major gun case was 2022, when its conservative majority voted to expand gun.

[Apple News Host]

Rights and established that any firearm restrictions.

[Shemitah Basu]

Must have a strong grounding in the nation's history.

[Apple News Host]

As Politico points out in its coverage.

[Shemitah Basu]

Lower courts have struggled with that directive, with judges disagreeing about whether centuries old practices are a sufficient fit for modern times.

[Apple News Host]

Grappi explained how the administration is partly.

[Shemitah Basu]

Relying on that 2022 ruling to make its case.

[Maureen Gropi]

The Justice Department is arguing that there were laws that existed at the time the country was founded that restricted the rights of habitual drinkers to not have weapons even when they were sober. So that's why the Justice Department is arguing that this particular law is consistent with the nation's history of gun regulations.

[Apple News Host]

This Supreme Court has consistently expanded the.

[Shemitah Basu]

Rights of gun owners, but did rule last year that people subjected to certain domestic violence restraining orders should be prohibited from owning firearms.

[Apple News Host]

The court also upheld federal restrictions that.

[Shemitah Basu]

Were imposed on ghost guns, which are homemade firearms that are difficult to trace.

[Apple News Host]

The Supreme Court is expected to issue.

[Shemitah Basu]

A ruling in this case by the end of next June.

[Apple News Host]

And now to Paris and how four.

[Shemitah Basu]

Thieves managed to pull off a major heist in broad daylight on Sunday, thieves made away with priceless jewels from the Louvre museum. In total, nine items were nabbed, including earrings and necklaces from France's past monarchies, pieces with large sapphires, emeralds and diamonds, all set in precious metals. One of the pieces, a crown that once belonged to the wife of Napoleon III, contained more than 1300 diamonds and was found broken outside the museum as though it had been dropped during the escape.

[Apple News Host]

What's perhaps most surprising, though, is just.

[Shemitah Basu]

How quickly the thieves pulled it all off.

[Arthur Brand]

They were in and they were out in seven minutes. So it was the perfect heist.

[Apple News Host]

That's Arthur Brand, an art crime investigator.

[Shemitah Basu]

Known as the Indiana Jones of the.

[Apple News Host]

Art world, offering his outside analysis to.

[Shemitah Basu]

The BBC on Sunday.

[Apple News Host]

Brand says the fact that the thieves.

[Shemitah Basu]

Took less than seven minutes to get in and out meant they were likely well prepared.

[Arthur Brand]

They have studied it. They have been there two or three weeks before, just watching the cameras, watching the doors, watching the vitrines. And in this case, they thought they could get away with it just before the police arrived, and they managed to do that.

[Apple News Host]

The theft was also decidedly low tech. The robbers disguised themselves as construction workers.

[Shemitah Basu]

And used a mechanized ladder to gain access to a second floor balcony during museum hours.

[Apple News Host]

Here's the BBC's Paris correspondent, Hugh Scofield.

[Shemitah Basu]

At the scene, describing how it went down.

[Hugh Scofield]

They were up in the balcony dressed in their yellow vests. And then with this cutter, a sort of battery operated disc cutter, they got through the window, you can see the boarded up panes there, into the gallery with the disc cutters. They were into the cabinets, got what they needed, nine items of jewelry out down this lift thing to the vehicle below, which they tried to set on fire, were unable to do it and then escape on motorbikes.

[Apple News Host]

The incident has now sparked conversations over.

[Shemitah Basu]

Security failures at the world's most famous and most visited museum.

[Apple News Host]

A government report conducted before Sunday's heist.

[Shemitah Basu]

Said the Louvre security system was outdated and inadequate.

[Apple News Host]

The report also noted that postponements of.

[Shemitah Basu]

The upgrades and modernization of security systems led to new cameras mainly being installed in rooms that had been refurbished. Labor unions also warned that staffing cuts had left the museum vulnerable.

[Apple News Host]

The staff staged a brief walkout protest.

[Shemitah Basu]

In June to call attention to understaffing and overcrowding.

[Apple News Host]

France's justice minister said this week's heist.

[Shemitah Basu]

Was a failure on the part of museum security. As for the thieves, the search is still ongoing and the items stolen might not ever be recovered. Here's Chris Marinello, CEO and founder of Art Recovery International, a company that specializes in the return of high profile works of art, speaking to the Australian news show A Current Affair.

[Chris Marinello]

I'm fearful to say that these pieces might be already gone or being broken up as we speak. The criminals are trying right now desperately to hide evidence of their crime. And how do they do that? Not by burying them or putting them under a bed, but by breaking them up and dispersing them and cashing out on what they've stolen. That's what they're trying to do right now. They don't care about the cultural importance to the Louvre and to everyone who loves those types of pieces. So they all they care about is money.

[Hugh Scofield]

Foreign.

[Apple News Host]

Before we let you go, a.

[Shemitah Basu]

Few other stories we're following.

[Apple News Host]

A federal appeals court ruled President Trump.

[Shemitah Basu]

Can send the National Guard into Portland, Oregon.

[Apple News Host]

A two to one split decision by.

[Shemitah Basu]

A panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that sending Guard troops was an appropriate response to protests in the area.

[Apple News Host]

A concurring opinion from one of the judges also said the court does not.

[Shemitah Basu]

Have the ability to review the president's decision. Local leaders in Oregon sued, claiming the president's order violated several laws and the state's rights.

[Apple News Host]

The ruling lifts a previous temporary order.

[Shemitah Basu]

Blocking troops from entering the city.

[Apple News Host]

Many recent Portland protests were described as.

[Shemitah Basu]

Low energy in local police reports reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, lawyers for the State and City of Portland asked the court for an immediate rehearing of the case. Both sides have until midnight tomorrow to file arguments.

[Apple News Host]

President Trump signed a critical minerals deal.

[Shemitah Basu]

With Australia on Monday in a move.

[Apple News Host]

That could impact the U.S. s continuing.

[Shemitah Basu]

Trade war with China.

[Apple News Host]

Under the agreement, the US and Australian.

[Shemitah Basu]

Governments will invest more than $3 billion in mineral projects, with an estimated $50 billion worth of resources extracted.

[Apple News Host]

The deal comes after Chinese President Xi.

[Shemitah Basu]

Jinping announced tighter controls on rare earth exports from China to the rest of the world.

[Apple News Host]

In response, Trump threatened an additional 100%.

[Shemitah Basu]

Tariff on China and said he would cancel an upcoming meeting with Xi.

[Apple News Host]

Those tensions eventually subsided, and for now.

[Shemitah Basu]

The meeting is back on.

[Apple News Host]

Trump said Monday he was confident a.

[Shemitah Basu]

Quote, very fair deal regarding trade would come out of his meeting with Xi. The minerals in question are crucial raw materials in the making of things like computer chips, medical equipment and defense technology.

[Apple News Host]

And finally, the Verge reports several dozen.

[Shemitah Basu]

Patients have regained their eyesight with an eye implant smart glasses combination allowing them to see well enough to do things like crossword puzzles and reading books.

[Apple News Host]

The patients, who all suffered from what's.

[Shemitah Basu]

Known as age related macular degeneration, had a tiny device implanted under their retinas.

[Apple News Host]

Then camera equipped smart glasses beamed zoomed.

[Shemitah Basu]

In images to the implants which transmit electrical signals to the optic nerve, mimicking the retina naturally does.

[Apple News Host]

The study had an 80% success rate. Researchers say it's not perfect and patients.

[Shemitah Basu]

Can only see a black and white blurry view of the world. But it is the first time scientists have been able to restore some amount of vision to people with age related macular degeneration with a prosthetic.

[Apple News Host]

Despite its limitations, researchers called it the.

[Shemitah Basu]

Dawn of a new technology that will significantly advance.

[Apple News Host]

You can find all these stories and.

[Shemitah Basu]

More in the Apple News app.

[Apple News Host]

And if you're already listening in the.

[Shemitah Basu]

News app right now, we've got a narrated article coming up next.

[Apple News Host]

New York Magazine has the story of.

[Shemitah Basu]

How searching for a job in the current economic climate has become both an exercise in frustration and a battle against the increased use of AI tools in applicant screening. If you're listening in the podcast app, follow Apple News plus Narrated to find that story and I'll be back with the news tomorrow.