US naval assets are massing off the coast of Venezuela, while President Donald Trump's administrations boasts about blowing up alleged "drug boats" departing those shores.

Trump has hinted at carrying out "land strikes" in Venezuela and the White House earlier this year threatened to place 25 per cent import tariffs on any country that imported Venezuelan oil.

What's going on in the South American country and why is Trump so angry about it?

READ MORE: 'I don't like you': Trump blasts Rudd during Albo meeting

Troops building up in the region

The US military has been steadily massing a large number of troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean over the last two months, conducting training missions off the coast of Venezuela, reopening a military base in Puerto Rico that had been shuttered for decades, and attacking speedboats carrying suspected drug traffickers from Venezuela and Colombia.

As of Tuesday, a significant percentage of all deployed US naval assets globally are also now located in US Southern Command, the US military's command responsible for operations in the region, according to a fleet tracker published by the United States Naval Institute's news portal.

That includes the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, amounting to more than 4500 Marines and sailors, three guided-missile destroyers, an attack submarine, a special operations ship, a guided missile cruiser and P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft.

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At the same time, the US has deployed 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico, which has become a hub for the US military as part of the increased focus on the Caribbean.

The US has also deployed at least three MQ-9 reaper drones to the island, according to images captured by Reuters in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, a US military installation that had been shuttered since 2004, is now back up and running, according to satellite imagery and photos taken at the base.

At least one AC-130J Ghostrider, a heavily armed plane capable of providing air support to ground troops, was photographed equipped with Hellfire missiles at José Aponte de la Torre Airport in Puerto Rico, which is used by the installation.

Why is the US putting these forces in place?

The administration has said repeatedly that the military presence is part of a counter-drug trafficking campaign, but Trump has also been weighing strikes inside Venezuela itself as part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening leader Nicolas Maduro, CNN has reported.

Experts generally agree that at this point, the US does not have enough assets or troops in place to launch an incursion to control Venezuela itself.

"The military presence in the Caribbean is too big for just hitting a few speedboats, though it is not big enough for an invasion of Venezuela," Elliott Abrams, who served as the US envoy to Venezuela during Trump's first term, told CNN on Thursday.

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"What's in the middle, I think, is a pressure campaign, meant to rattle Venezuela."

The US does have the ability now to conduct strikes inside Venezuela from afar. Trump could order Tomahawk missile strikes, for example, from the guided-missile destroyers, cruiser and submarine stationed in the Caribbean.

"It's enough to cause pain but not to seize terrain," Peter Singer, a strategist and Senior Fellow at New America focusing on defense issues, told CNN, referring to the military buildup.

"We're not talking about an invasion and occupation force," Singer said.

How has Venezuela responded?

President Nicolas Maduro has responded in kind, repositioning troops, mobilizing "millions" of militia and denouncing US activity in the region – a sign of defiance from the strongman as the two leaders are locked in a standoff.

Maduro has claimed that his volunteer militias now have more than eight million reservists, though experts have called into question that number as well as the quality of the troops' training.

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As of October 17, 20 out of 23 Venezuelan states have been militarised as part of the Maduro's military mobilisations, called Independence 200.

Maduro has also cracked down on civil liberties, signing an emergency declaration designed to expand his powers and limit the scope of the national constitution.

What is the ultimate goal of the US?

Trump administration officials have privately acknowledged that the intensifying US pressure campaign is aimed at ousting Maduro, a goal that was also a target of Trump's first term in office when the White House recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of the country in 2019.

The US has been quietly laying the groundwork for potential military action inside Venezuela for months by tying Maduro to drug traffickers and cartels that officials have designated as terror groups who pose an imminent threat to the US.

But to date, there is no indication that Trump has decided to take that step or target the Venezuelan leader directly.

Instead, the goal has been to pressure Maduro to step down on his own, sources told CNN, in part by establishing a credible threat of US military action if he does not.

The recent strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean are a clear message to Maduro, the sources said, noting the administration has been very intentional about linking the Venezuelan leader to trafficking groups and cartels.

Trump said Wednesday that he authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela to clamp down on the flows of migrants and drugs from the South American nation, but stopped short of saying they would be attempting to remove Maduro.

The remarks are Trump's most expansive comments on his decision to expand the CIA's authority to conduct lethal targeting and carry out covert action in the region, which CNN first reported last week.

Maduro has accused the Trump administration of seeking control over Venezuela's substantial oil wealth.

Reported with CNN.

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump have signed an $US8.5 billion ($13 billion) critical minerals and rare earths agreement in a move to break China's stranglehold on the market.

The US–Australia Critical Minerals Framework puts rare earths squarely at the forefront of the Australian-US relationship, with Albanese saying there is a "pipeline that we have ready to go".

The deal will kick off with both countries paying $US1 billion over the next six months for new projects.

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Trump was delighted in securing the agreement with Australia. China earlier this month ramped up restrictions on its rare earth exports. That didn't sit well with the US president, who threatened to call off an upcoming meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.

"We work together very much on rare earths, critical minerals and lots of other things, and we've had a very good relationship," Trump said as he sat beside Albanese at the White House.

"We've been working on that for quite a while.

"In about a year from now, we'll have so much critical mineral and rare earths, and you won't know what to do with them."

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What are rare earths?

Rare earths include 17 metallic elements in the periodic table made up of scandium, yttrium and the lanthanides.

The name "rare earths" is a bit of a misnomer, because the materials are found throughout the Earth's crust.

They are more abundant than gold, but they are difficult and costly to extract and process and are also environmentally damaging.

The minerals are used to make everyday technologies, from smartphones to wind turbines to LED lights and flat-screen TVs.

They're crucial for batteries in electric vehicles, as well as MRI scanners and cancer treatments.

Rare earths are also essential for the arms industry and the US armed forces, the world's biggest.

They're used in F-35 fighter jets, submarines, lasers, satellites, Tomahawk missiles and more, according to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US think tank.

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Why is Australia so crucial?

The US sees Australia, a long-standing ally, as an alternative source for rare earths as the critical minerals shape up to become a major hurdle in Washington-Beijing relations.

China is the world's largest producer of rare earth elements, with 61 per cent of mined rare earth production, according to the International Energy Agency, and 92 per cent of the global output in the processing stage.

Trump hopes the Australia deal will help break that monopoly.

Australia offers three major attractions: it has some of the world's biggest geological reserves: a share market with a record of successfully investing in mining; and a skilled labour force.

Are there any hurdles ahead?

Economic geographer Lian Sinclair, of the University of Sydney, says vast sums of money are pouring into the Australian rare earths industry: $3.2 billion by Australian government agencies; $2.9 billion from foreign allied governments, including the US, Japan, South Korea and Canada.

"This is a large amount for an industry with a total global trade of less than US$4 billion ($6 billion) every year," he said.

It means without investment in refineries and magnet production in allied countries, Australian miners will continue to either sell into or be outcompeted by Chinese domestic industry.

Sinclair says apart from Australian rare-earths mining company Lynas, which sells into the Japanese market, miners are struggling to find potential international buyers.

To wean themselves off Chinese rare earths for wind turbines and electric vehicles, the US, Europe and South Korea need to heavily invest in magnet and advanced metal processing industries.

Sinclair also points to the environmental cost of Australia becoming a big player in rare earths, with more work needed to be done in planning for managing radioactive waste and building partnerships with First Nations people.

– With CNN

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Law enforcement have warned "the threat is real" as increasing numbers of high quality, high-power home-made and 3D printed guns flood into Australia.

A multi-agency operation led by the Australian Border Force and spanning every state and territory in Australia as well as New Zealand, saw police engage in a week-long crackdown on illegal guns around the country.

ABF Commander Graeme Campbell said around the country, police had made 184 arrests and laid 854 charges.

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They seized 719 whole guns, 489 firearm parts, 64 imitation firearms, and 281 3D-printed or privately made firearms and parts.

Campbell said many of home-made and 3D-printed guns and parts were intercepted at the border from a broad range of overseas sources.

In NSW alone, police executed 20 warrants between October 13 and October 19.

In total, 45 people were arrested, 206 charges laid, and 270 guns seized.

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Police also collected 89 gun parts, 19 imitation guns, 10 home-made or 3D-printed guns and 130 home-made or 3D-printed gun parts.

The home-made firearms were a major focus of the operation, and were involved in some of the biggest busts.

Just before 7am on Monday, October 13, police carried out a search warrant in Hinchinbrook, Sydney, where they allegedly found a 3D printer attempting to print a gun part.

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Officers also allegedly seized numerous other firearm parts, electronics, and crypto-currency wallets.

A 41-year-old man was arrested at the scene and charged with multiple firearm-related offences.

The next day, on Tuesday, October 14, in a search warrant in Gosford north of Sydney, police seized another 3D printer and three home-made Glock-style pistols, magazines, holsters, and other items.

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A 52-year-old man was arrested and charged with 14 gun-related offences.

NSW Police Detective Superintendent John Watson said the quality of the guns was increasing and newer models had displayed semi-automatic and high-powered capabilities.

"Privately manufactured firearms present a fast-evolving challenge, but this operation shows what's possible when agencies collaborate effectively," he said.

Watson said many people who were involved in 3D-printing guns and gun parts may not even be aware they were breaking the law, and that they were more interested in the technology.

Others may be licensed firearm holders with an interest in the guns.

Watson said a public education campaign was needed to warn such people away from printing or privately manufacturing guns, which is highly illegal, even if the weapon is non-functioning.

He said police wanted to focus on "the real threat" of the guns in the hands of organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gang elements.

And he said there was "no question" so-called sovereign citizens and "doomsday preppers" were making use of the technology.

"The threat is real. The threat is right across Australia," he said.

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Donald Trump has reportedly "forgiven" Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd over the latter's old remarks labelling the US president a "traitor to the West".

Rudd, a former prime minister and now Australia's ambassador to the US, was present this morning at the landmark meeting between Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The meeting saw Trump and Albanese sign off on an $8.5 billion critical minerals deal, while warm behaviour was on show between the two leaders.

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But there was an awkward moment when one reporter asked Trump why it had taken him nine months into his term as president to meet with Albanese – and whether Rudd's since-deleted remarks had anything to do with it.

Trump said he didn't "know anything about" who the reporter was referring to and asked Albanese where Rudd was and if he still worked for him.

When Albanese pointed out the former Labor leader sitting across from Trump at the cabinet table, Trump asked Rudd if he "said bad", to which Rudd replied, "before I took this position, Mr President".

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"I don't like you either and I probably never will," Trump replied.

The comments prompted laughter in the room.

The Sydney Morning Herald has since reported that after the cameras were turned off, Rudd approached Trump to apologise for his comments.

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"All is forgiven," Trump said, according to sources in the room.

Prior to being appointed ambassador in 2022, Rudd had posted remarks online labelling Trump "the most destructive president in history" and "a traitor to the West".

Those have long since been deleted but they have prompted ongoing calls from the Coalition for Rudd to be recalled from Washington.

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Foreign Minister Penny Wong brushed off the exchange this morning, telling Today it was "tongue in cheek".

"Full credit to Kevin, ambassador Rudd has worked so hard on, firstly getting this agreement," she said.

"He's worked so hard on assuring AUKUS and the delivery of the submarines in our national interest.

"And he's worked so hard on the critical minerals deal."

She said Rudd had been instrumental to the "success" of Albanese's meeting with Trump.

Rudd would be far from the first fierce critic the president has "forgiven".

Vice President JD Vance once referred to Trump as "America's Hitler", while current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with whom Trump sparred in his first election campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, described him as a "con artist".

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The Louvre Museum in Paris announced it would remain closed as investigations continue into Sunday's extraordinary theft of historic jewellery – and experts say the prospects of recovering the treasures are slim.

In a post on X, the museum said it regretted Monday's closure, as France begins to digest the implications of the brazen heist in which robbers made off with artefacts from the French crown jewels, dating from the Napoleonic era.

There are also concerns they will be cut down and sold by the gang, or have already been shipped outside France.

READ MORE: Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese sign critical minerals deal in chummy first White House meeting

How did the heist happen?

The thieves used a truck-mounted ladder to gain access to the Apollo Gallery, one of the most ornate rooms in the Louvre, through a window.

Armed with tools including an angle grinder and a blowtorch, they targeted two high-security display cases.

The entire operation lasted just seven minutes, authorities said, with the suspects fleeing on motorcyles.

What was stolen?

Among the items taken from the Louvre was a diamond and sapphire jewellery set including a tiara and necklace worn by Queen Marie-Amélie and Queen Hortense.

The diadem – a jewelled headpiece worn by royalty – features 24 Ceylon sapphires and 1083 diamonds that can be detached and worn as brooches, according to the Louvre.

Also stolen was an emerald necklace and earrings set that was a wedding gift from Napoleon to his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria, in March 1810, containing 32 intricately cut emeralds and 1138 diamonds.

Eight of the nine items taken remain unaccounted for.

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Wider implications for France

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin admitted that the Louvre heist exposed security failings at the museum.

"One can wonder about the fact that, for example, the windows hadn't been secured, about the fact that a basket lift was on a public road," he said on France Inter radio. "What is certain is that we have failed."

"The French people all feel like they've been robbed," he said.

Elaine Sciolino, author of Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love with the World's Greatest Museum, emphasised the significance of a robbery at the Louvre, which was originally built as a fortress before becoming a palace for the French royal family.

"This attack really is a dagger into the heart of France and French history," she said.

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Will the jewellery be recovered?

Natalie Goulet, a Centrist member of the French senate, told CNN on Monday that she believes the jewellery has probably already been taken out of the country.

"I think that the pieces are already abroad," she said. "I think it's lost forever."

Goulet also appeared on BBC Radio about the prospects of recovering the jewellery, replying: "None."

"The jewellery will be cut up and sold and used as a money-laundering system," she said. "It's the easiest way to clean dirty money."

The robbery was probably linked to organised crime, Goulet said.

Christopher Marinello, the founder of Art Recovery International, said that if the thieves are just looking to get cash out as quickly as possible, they might melt down the precious metals or recut the stones with no regard for the piece's integrity.

"We need to break up these gangs and find another approach, or we're going to lose things that we are never going to see again," Marinello said.

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Past heists

The most well-known robbery at the Louvre took place in August 1911, when Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa painting was stolen off the museum's walls by handyman Vincenzo Peruggia.

It was 24 hours before anyone even noticed the Mona Lisa was missing, with artworks often removed to be photographed or cleaned.

A bungling police investigation then dragged on for two years before the painting was recovered in December 1913, making it the most famous artwork in the world.

More recently, a work by French painter Camille Corot was stolen from its frame in 1998 and has never been found.

More recent heists at other European museums include the theft of four ancient gold artefacts from a museum in the Netherlands in January.

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has walked away from his long-awaited White House meeting with an $8.5 billion critical minerals deal and some effusive praise from US President Donald Trump.

In a 35-minute sitdown, Trump referred to his visitor repeatedly as a friend and seemed to throw his support behind the AUKUS deal but declined to budge on Australia's tariff levels and took a swipe at former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who was also in the room.

After multiple attempts to meet in person over the past months, Albanese and Trump shook hands outside the White House on Monday morning (early Tuesday AEDT) and sat down in the cabinet room surrounded by Trump's top secretaries.

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Even given the close relationship between the two countries, there had been minor fears of a Zelenskyy-style ambush on Albanese's first White House meeting with Trump, which was shifted from the Oval Office to the cabinet room at late notice.

But any fears melted almost immediately as Trump declared his love for Australia before calling Albanese "highly respected" and "very popular".

"I think he's doing a really good job, and we've had a very good relationship," Trump said, when asked to compare his relationships with Albanese's predecessors Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull.

"I don't want to compare one with the other, but I'll tell you this, they've got a great, they really have a great prime minister."

Albanese quipped that he'd use the line in his re-election ads in 2028.

"We are great friends and we're great allies, and this is a relationship that's been forged in the battlefields of the world," Albanese said. 

"We have stood side by side for freedom and democracy."

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Trump sprays Rudd

There was an awkward moment when Trump was asked by a reporter whether ambassador to Washington Kevin Rudd's criticisms of him in the past had played into the long wait for an in-person meeting with Albanese.

When the former prime minister took the job of ambassador, he deleted some old social media posts, including one in which he called Trump "the most destructive president in history".

Trump said he didn't "know anything about" who the reporter was referring to and asked Albanese where he was and if he still worked for him.

When Albanese pointed out the former Labor leader sitting across from Trump at the cabinet table, Trump asked Rudd if he "said bad", to which Rudd replied, "before I took this position, Mr President".

"I don't like you either and I probably never will," Trump replied.

It's understood Rudd apologised to Trump after the cameras left the room.

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AUKUS fears eased

One of Canberra's leading concerns heading into the meeting was the status of AUKUS, a defence agreement with the US and UK under which Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

There were concerns the Pentagon would torpedo the pact when a review headed by known AUKUS sceptic Elbridge Colby, Trump's undersecretary for war policy, was launched in June. 

When Trump was asked about the pact earlier this year in a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he responded with, "What does that mean?"

On Monday, he said the process was moving along "very rapidly, very well".

Asked if he could guarantee Australia would be getting the submarines, amid concerns about manufacturing delays in the US, he said, "oh it's getting them, no they're getting them".

Secretary of the Navy John Phelan said all three parties were working to "clarify some of the ambiguity" that was in the original AUKUS deal, in what he said "should be a win-win for everybody".

Asked if he would consider expediting the delivery of the submarines, Trump said, "we are doing that".

No movement on tariffs

Australian officials didn't make any serious noises about winning a tariff reduction out of this meeting  and Trump didn't give any reason to raise those low expectations.

"I will say this, Australia pays very low tariffs. Very, very low tariffs," he said, when asked if he would consider dropping the 10 per cent tax on Australian imports.

"Australia pays among the lowest tariffs."

Critical minerals deal signed

While the meeting was ostensibly about a critical and rare earths minerals supply agreement the leaders signed in front of the camera, they didn't spend a lot of time talking about it beyond Albanese describing it as an $8.5 billion pipeline, with the US and Australia to chip in $1 billion in the next six months.

The deal itself says that money is for financing projects both in Australia and the US and outlines extremely broad plans to accelerate free and fair markets to develop "resilience and security of critical minerals and rare earths supply chains".

China is the world's largest producer of rare earth elements, with 61 per cent of mined rare earth production, according to the International Energy Agency, and 92 per cent of the global output in the processing stage.

Both the US and Europe have sought to reduce their dependence on Beijing. According to Geoscience Australia, Australia has among the largest deposits in the world of several of the 17 critical elements, but they can be difficult and costly to mine and process.

Trump threatened Beijing with even more tariffs if it manipulated the global market for rare earths, while also saying China had treated the US with "great respect" and boasting of a good relationship with President Xi Jinping.

Trump also confirmed that Albanese had invited him to Australia and that he considered the trip a "real possibility".

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Spring is settling in as an absolute scorcher, with temperature records for October tumbling around the country.

Weatherzone reports multiple states around the country recorded unprecedented October heat yesterday – though official confirmation will only come later this morning, as maximums are calculated in a 24-hour 9am to 9am period.

But the weather reporting site said Birdsville in Queensland reached 44.9 degrees, just 0.2 degrees short of the statewide October weather record.

READ MORE: Trump and Albanese sign critical minerals deal in chummy White House meeting

In other parts of the state, new regional records were set, including 44.2 degrees at Ballera, and 43.1 degrees at Thargomindah.

And the scorchers weren't limited to the Sunshine State.

In South Australia, Moomba Airport reached 44.1 degrees, breaking the previous record of 43.5 degrees.

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And Oodnadatta registered 44 degrees just after 3.30 pm, Weatherzone said – though that was shy of South Australia's overall October record high of 45.4 degrees.

Regional New South Wales also copped it, with Tibooburra in the far north-west breaking records to reach 42.6 degrees.

White Cliffs, in the same region, hit 42.3 degrees.

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"The pool of unseasonably warm air in Australia's interior will begin to dissipate in South Australia on Tuesday, however the (south-west) corner of Queensland and the (north-west) corner of New South Wales can expect another scorcher on Tuesday," Weatherzone said.

"Tuesday's temperatures at some locations could even potentially exceed Monday's, which obviously means that more records could tumble."

Temperatures in Sydney today are expected to reach a mild 23 – but will soar tomorrow with a forecast maximum of 38 degrees, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Brisbane will reach 30 degrees today and tomorrow before rising to 35 on Thursday.

Adelaide, meanwhile, is going in the other direction, with temperatures plummeting to below 20 after today and storms and rain forecast.

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The prime minister and US president have gushed about each other and their friendship in a critical meeting in Washington.

An issue with Amazon Web Services has impacted some of the world's biggest apps and websites.

Users on Down Detector, a website which measures outages, reported difficulties accessing a range of popular services including Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Canva and Duolingo.

The problems appeared to stem from Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides infrastructure for many major websites and apps.

The technology giant confirmed the underlying issued had been "fully mitigated" by 9.35pm today, with services expected to return to normal despite a backlog.

Which websites went down?

Down Detector showed users reporting errors for a huge list of sites and apps.

Some services confirmed their issue was linked with Amazon Web Services, while Down Detector reported others were likely to be impacted by the issue.

Websites experiencing difficulties included:

• Snapchat
• My Fitness Pal
• Epic Games Store
• Fortnite
• Canva
• Roblox
• Hinge
• Tinder
• Signal
• Duolingo
• PlayStation Network
• XBox
• Steam
• Ubisoft Connect
• Pokemon Go
• Video service Zoom
• Xero
• EA Games
• Strava
• 9Now
• Disney+
• Music service Tidal
• Ring doorbells
• Online game Among US
• Lloyds Bank
• Halifax (UK bank)
• Slack
• Reddit
• Amazon Alexa
• Life360
• Signal
• BT (British Telecom)
• Bank of Scotland
• Virgin Media
• Vodafone
• EE
• 3 (British telco)
• Blink Security
• HM Revenue and Customs
• Microsoft 365
• Microsoft Outlook
• Microsoft Teams
• Just Eat
• Whatsapp

What has Amazon Web Services said?

Just after 8pm, Amazon Web Services said its engineers had "identified a potential root cause" of the outage and services were being restored.

"We continue to observe recovery across most of the affected AWS Services," the company said in a statement.

"We can confirm global services and features that rely on US-EAST-1 have also recovered.

"We continue to work towards full resolution and will provide updates as we have more information to share."

By 9.35pm, AWS said the "underlying DNS issue has been fully mitigated" and that most requests were succeeding normally.

Is Snapchat down right now?

One of the biggest websites affected by the outage was Snapchat, a social media platform with about 900 million active monthly users.

Users reported difficulty logging into Snapchat after being met with error messages.

The company told users on X its team was looking into the issue.

What is Amazon Web Services?

Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon, the mega company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, one of the world's richest people.

"Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining physical data centres and servers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, on an as-needed basis," AWS says.

It says its customers are companies "of every type, size and industry".

It provides infrastructure that is used for data backup, disaster recovery, email, virtual desktops, software development and testing, big data analytics, and customer-facing web applications.

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Some of the world's biggest apps and websites appear to have stopped working.

Roblox, Snapchat, Fortnite, Canva and Duolingo are among the services that are down, according to website DownDetector.

The problems appear to stem from an issue at Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides infrastructure for many major websites and apps.

"We can confirm increased error rates and latencies for multiple AWS services in the US-East-1 region," the company said in a statement.

"We are actively engaged and working to both mitigate the issue and understood the root cause.

"We will provide an update in 45 minutes, or sooner if we have additional information to share."

Amazon Web Services is one of the most popular providers of cloud services in the world.

Popular encrypted messaging service Signal has reports of its service being down.

"We are aware that Signal is down for some people," president Meredith Whittaker said on X.

"This appears to be related to a major AWS outage."

The currency trading app Coinbase confirmed "many" of its users were unable to access its service.

"Our team is working on the issue and we'll provide updates here," the company said.

Graphic design platform Canva said it was experiencing "significantly increased error rates which are impacting functionality".

The software company has about 220 million active monthly users.

"Our team is actively investigating the issue and working to restore full access as quickly as possible," the company said in an update on its website.

More to come…

What is AWS?

Amazon Web Services provides cloud computing.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon, the mega company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, one of the world's richest people.

"Instead of buying, owning, and maintaining physical data centres and servers, you can access technology services, such as computing power, storage, and databases, on an as-needed basis," AWS says.

It says its customers are companies "of every type, size and industry".

It provides infrastructure that is used for data backup, disaster recovery, email, virtual desktops, software development and testing, big data analytics, and customer-facing web applications.

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