Microsoft down LIVE: Outage sparks chaos across the globe as TV channels, airports and banks are knocked offline

In a statement, Microsoft said a resolution for Windows devices was 'forthcoming'.

Payments at Sainsbury's, Iceland, Asda and Lidl are all currently unaffected by the global IT outage, the supermarkets have confirmed.

Visa, the banking giant, has claimed to be unaffected by the global tech outage affecting millions of people.

A spokesperson said:

Supermarket chain Waitrose has gone 'cash only' in some stores as its card machines have gone down.

A checkout worker at Kings Cross Station told customers: 'It is cash only at the moment. The card machines are not working.'

A queue of around 30 people was seen snaking around the supermarket in the London station.

One shopper said: 'There is a massive IT issue and all the self checkouts are not working. It is cash only.'

A different shopper said on X that his local Waitrose store had also gone cash only.

Duncan Woods tweeted: 'Just back from Waitrose where card machines have gone down. It's absolute chaos.

'By the time I got home my edadame beans were almost defrosted. Stay safe out there.'

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said there is 'no impact' to 'critical infrastructure' in the country.

In a message of calm on X he said he understood the 'concern' of his citizens.

According to aviation analytics firm, Cirium, has estimated that so far today 1078 flights have been cancelled around the world.

NHS England has issued an alert claiming that the 'majorirty of GP practices' in England have been affected by the global outage.

However, it adds that there is currently no known impact on 999 or emergency services.

Travel journalist Simon Calder told Sky News: 'This is the biggest day for flights leaving the UK since 2019 - we needed everything to go right. Unfortunately, it hasn't.'

Dutch airline KLM has said that its flight handling is currently 'impossible'.

Although they are working to get things up and running again, it has been forced to 'largely' suspend operations.

Manchester United's ticket release has been delayed until midday due to the global IT outage.

The football club's website is also currently unavailable and will remain so until the issue is resolved.

Banks in Germany and South Africa have experienced difficulties this morning, according to reports.

German banks are facing disruptions amid reports of global outages, a spokesperson for the Deutsche Kreditwirtschaft finanical industry association said.

South Africa's Capitec Bank's has seen services restored after experiencing significant disruptions across all its banking channels due to the global downtime incident, it said.

People travelling to the border crossing in Folkstone today have been told to expect delays.

In a post on X it admitted that its services had also been affected by the global crash and longer check-in times were likely.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) confirmed the IT outage is disrupting community pharmacies.

A spokesperson said:

Cyber security expert Dan Card, from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said people 'should remain calm' while businesses respond to the global IT outage.

Passengers have been stranded at the check-in desks at Gatwick Airport as its IT systems have been affected by the global IT outage.

One traveller described the scene at the travel hub as 'bedlam' with staff now handing out water to those stranded.

Dean Seddon started queuing at 6am to check in for a trip with his social media training company to Miami, Florida, ahead of their scheduled departure at 10am with Norse Atlantic Airways.

'There are just people everywhere, there must be 400 people in this queue for the check in desk I'm at... it's just bedlam," the 42-year-old from Plymouth said.

'It's one of those things where you kind of know we're not going to fly, but you don't want to leave because you don't know.

'(Staff are) doing the best they can but they don't actually know when it's going to be fixed, so it is frustrating, but you kind of feel for the staff as well.'

The Liberal Democrats have urged the Government to convene a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee to co-ordinate an urgent response to the major IT outage.

The party's Cabinet Office spokesperson Christine Jardine said:

Passengers in India have been given hand-written boarding passes as they struggle with the ongoing IT problems.

While at Dehli airport's terminal 3, a man stands next to a white board updating the departure times manually for passengers.

Heathrow Airport has been affected by the global IT outage with flights being delayed.

A spokesperson said: 'Flights are operational but we are experiencing delays.

'We are implementing contingency plans to minimise any impact on journeys.

'Passengers are advised to check with their airline for the latest flight information.'

The organising committee for the Paris Olympics says its IT operations have also been impacted.

However, with just a week to go until the lavish boat procession down the River Seine, officials have said they have a 'contingency plan in place', according to Reuters news agency.

CBBC, the BBC's TV channel for children, has been down since this morning.

A message that reads 'Sorry! Something's gone wrong' is popping up instead of the usual content.

The broadcaster has said CBBC is its only channel affected with CBeebies and BBC One still on air.

Two hospitals in the cities of Luebeck and Kiel have been forced to cancel elective operations scheduled for today.

However, they claimed that patient care and emergency services will go ahead as normal.

American Airlines, which is the world's biggest by passenger numbers, was forced to ground all its flight earlier today due to IT problems.

It has now blamed the US firm Crowdstrike as the source of the issue saying it is because of 'technical issues with Crowdstrike that is impacting multiple carriers'.

The airline says its working with the IT security firm to fix the problem as quickly as possible.

Poland’s largest container terminal, the Baltic Hub, has issued a statement to say it is 'stuggling' following the latest IT issues.

It has been forced to ask companies to not send containers to the port, which usually handles up to 2.9 million containers per year.

A GP practice in Oxfordshire has asked patients with 'routine concerns' to wait until Monday amid an IT outage.

Writing on X, Windrush Medical Practice in Witney, said: 'There is a nationwide outage of our booking system EMIS.

'We're continuing as normal for urgent enquiries but ask for routine concerns to wait until Monday.

'Please continue to submit your queries through Engage Consult. Thank you.'

Train service information website National Rail Enquiries said there are 'widespread IT issues across the entire network'.

Among the operators affected are Avanti West Coast, Great Western Railway, Southern and Thameslink.

National Rail Enquiries told passengers:

Luton Airport said that a global IT outage is affecting some airlines and operations are continuing with manual systems.

On X, formerly Twitter, the airport posted:

Owen Sayers, IT security advisor and former IT security consultant to the Home Office and Ministry of Justice has said:

Barcodes on boarding passes at Gatwick airport are reportedly not working, leading attendate to have to check the tickets manually.

However, a BBC reporter has said that airport security is operating as normal.

Even football clubs have been affected, with  telling fans that its ticketing platform was malfunctioning.

New Zealand parliament has reported that their computer network is having problems.

The Metropolitan Police says it has not been affected by this morning's IT issues and currently all systems are operating normally.

Customers at Australian supermarkets have been unable to buy their groceries at the checkouts as IT issues persist.

Bristol Water said it is experiencing company wide IT issues but the billing department remains operating.

On X, formerly Twitter, the company posted:

Japan's Narita airport, around 60km (37miles) from Tokyo, says airlines JetStar, Jeju Air, Qantas, HK Express and Spring Japan are having issues with their systems.

And in India, Delhi airport says some services have been temporarily impacted.

While in Berlin the airport posted on X that it is experiencing delays to check-ins due to a 'technical fault'.

Sky News has just come back on air, after being offline for three hours.

Sky Sports Presenter Jacquie Beltrao has posted earlier on X saying: 'We're obviously not on air - we're trying @SkyNews Breakfast.'

In the UK, bakery and coffee shop chain Gail's is reporting problems.

A sign outside the window of its Swain's Lane shop in London says it is unable to take in-store payments.

Users on social media have also reported being unable to make payments at other Gail's outlets.

GP surgeries across the UK have been hit by the outages, as they claim the issue will will 'have a big effect'.

The Wilmslow Health Centre in Cheshire wrote on X:

Central Lakes Medical Group in Ambleside wrote on X:

Another post by Pocklington Group Practice in the East Riding of Yorkshire said:

While Solihull Healthcare Partnership in the West Midlands said there is a 'national issue' with EMIS Web, the clinical computer system.

NHS England has been contacted for comment.

The London Stock Exchange is reportedly als experiencing technical glitches, after Microsoft reported an outage across its online services.

It said on its website this morning:

Southern, Thameslink, Gatwick Express and Great Northern - all four of Govia Thameslink Railway's brands - said they were experiencing problems but were 'actively investigating' the issue.

It continued: 'We are unable to access driver diagrams at certain locations, leading to potential short-notice cancellations, particularly on the Thameslink and Great Northern networks.

'Additionally, other key systems, including our real-time customer information platforms, are also affected.

'We will provide additional updates when we can. In the meantime, please regularly check your journey before you travel.'

United, Delta and American Airlines have issued a 'global ground stop' on all of their flights.

Flights that are currently airborne will continue, but no further flights will take off for now.

Sky News has apologised for the disruption to its live broadcast on Friday morning, saying: We are working hard to restore all services.'

A Sky News spokesperson said in a statement:

Passengers arriving at Gatwick airport have been faced with mammoth queues as IT system go down.

Edinburgh Airport's automated boarding scanners have been the latest tech to go down following the global Microsoft issue.

One witness has reported that the Airport was checking boarding passes manually.

on top of this departure boards in the main terminal building appeared to freeze, showing out-of-date information about gate numbers and take off times - meaning some passengers have missed their flights.

Edinburgh airport spokesperson said passenger should expect longer waiting times.