The Scottish Parliament is set to vote on a controversial bill that would legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults, sparking a heated debate among lawmakers and revealing divisions within the Scottish National Party (SNP). The bill, introduced by Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, proposes to allow mentally competent adults in the advanced stages of a terminal illness to seek assistance in ending their lives. The vote, scheduled for 13 May, will be a free vote, meaning MSPs will not be bound by party lines but will vote according to their conscience.

Former First Minister Humza Yousaf and current First Minister John Swinney have both voiced their opposition to the bill, citing concerns over the lack of sufficient safeguards to protect vulnerable individuals from potential coercion. Yousaf emphasized the irreversible nature of the decision, stating that the legislation would 'open a door that cannot be closed.' Swinney, who has consistently opposed similar bills in the past, reiterated his stance, highlighting the ethical and legal complexities surrounding the issue.

However, the SNP's unified front appears fractured as Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville announced her support for the bill. Somerville, who represents Dunfermline, acknowledged the profound impact of the issue on individuals across Scotland and stressed the importance of implementing 'enforceable protections' for vulnerable patients. Her decision underscores the personal and moral dilemmas faced by MSPs as they prepare to cast their votes.

The debate over assisted dying in Scotland reflects broader discussions on end-of-life care and individual autonomy. With the bill's progression hinging on the upcoming vote, the outcome will not only shape the future of assisted dying legislation in Scotland but also test the cohesion of the SNP. As MSPs grapple with their consciences, the nation watches closely, awaiting a decision that could redefine the boundaries of life and death in Scottish law.

A major outage at Amazon Web Services has disrupted operations for numerous popular applications and platforms globally, affecting millions of users. The cloud computing infrastructure failure began early Monday morning, with users reporting widespread issues accessing services including Snapchat, Duolingo, Zoom, and various gaming platforms. Amazon confirmed it was investigating increased error rates and latency across multiple AWS services, though the company has not yet identified the root cause of the system failure.

The disruption appears to have originated with servers hosted in the US-EAST-1 region, according to initial reports. This triggered a cascade effect that impacted AWS infrastructure supporting millions of websites and applications worldwide. Downdetector, a platform that monitors service outages, reported receiving over four million problem reports in a single morning—more than double the typical weekly volume—indicating the scale of the disruption across affected services.

Among the services experiencing significant operational problems are communication platforms like Zoom, Signal, and Slack; gaming services including Roblox, Fortnite, and PlayStation Network; social media applications such as Snapchat; and financial services from banks including Lloyds and Bank of Scotland. Streaming platforms Prime Video and Crunchyroll, along with educational tool Duolingo and design platform Canva, have also been affected by the cloud service failure.

The outage has manifested differently across regions, with Amazon's own websites remaining operational in Europe while still experiencing service-specific errors. AWS engineers are actively working to mitigate the issues and restore normal operations. The company has committed to providing regular updates as they work to resolve the widespread service disruption that has highlighted the internet's heavy reliance on cloud infrastructure providers.