Years | Common News Update

Jan182019 by adminNo Comments

Twitter warns that private tweets were public for years

Private tweets sent by users of Twitter's Android app could have been exposed publicly for years. Twitter said it had discovered a security flaw which meant "protected" tweets became public when some changes were made to accounts.Anyone who updated the email address linked to their account between November 2014 and January 2019 could have had messages exposed, it said.Twitter said it had started to let affected users know about the bug.It added that it had turned the protections back on for Android users who had inadvertently switched them off.Twitter said it was also issuing a public notice about the error because it could not confirm the exact number of accounts that had been affected and wanted to reach those it could not iden...

Jan182019 by adminNo Comments

Asteroid impact rates increased 290 million years ago

Science

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Most people think of early Earth as a harsh, violent place. It's true that young Earth was hot and barren, but new research suggests that between 650 million years and 290 million years ago, asteroid impact rates were lower than usual. By studying the history of impacts on the lunar surface, scientists determined both Earth and its lunar satellite experienced a three-fold increase in asteroid impacts around the time dinosaurs first showed up on Earth's surface. Until now, scientists were perplexed by the dearth of impact craters older than 290 million years old. Many planetary scientists assumed the evidence of older craters had been eroded beyond recognition. But the latest research, published this week in the journal Science, suggests geologists have failed to find olde...

Jan162019 by adminNo Comments

Northridge earthquake shattered Los Angeles 25 years ago

Technology

Twenty-five years ago this week, a violent, pre-dawn earthquake shook Los Angeles from its sleep, and sunrise revealed widespread devastation, with dozens killed and $ 25 billion in damage. A look back at the damage, deaths and developments in seismic safety since the disaster: ——— THE QUAKE At 4:31 a.m. on Jan. 17, 1994, a hidden fault lurking under the city's San Fernando Valley neighborhoods unleashed a magnitude 6.7 earthquake that shattered buildings, broke water mains and ignited fires. The so-called blind thrust fault — one with no surface features to reveal its presence — caused a block of earth to move upward. Most of the energy was released toward mountains that line the northern side of the valley, but there was more than enough energy sent in oth...

Jan162019 by adminNo Comments

Inflation falls to lowest level in nearly two years

Business

The UK inflation rate fell to 2.1% in December, from 2.3% the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) figure was the lowest in nearly two years, pushed down by petrol price falls.The inflation reading was in line with analysts' expectations.The figure is close to the Bank of England's target of 2% and may mean the Bank is less likely now to consider any rate rises in the near future.Inflation is being outstripped by average UK pay growth, with the most recent available figures showing that wages excluding bonuses were up by 3.3% for the three months to October 2018.Toys and hobbiesThe head of inflation at the ONS, Mike Hardie, said: "Inflation eased mainly due to a big fall in petrol, with oil ...

Jan152019 by adminNo Comments

German economic growth slowest for five years

Business

Germany's economy grew by 1.5% last year, its slowest rate since 2013, the latest official figures show.Figures from the Federal Statistics Office showed Europe's largest economy slowed sharply as the year wore on.A weaker global economy and problems in the car industry, caused by new pollution standards, have been cited as contributing to the slowdown.At the start of 2018, the German economy had been expected to grow by 1.8%. Growth was 2.2% in 2017.Germany's economy had shrunk in the third quarter of the year, by 0.2%, with global trade disputes blamed for the contraction.There were fears that Germany was at risk of following that with another quarter of negative growth, something that would have put the country into recession.The statistics office has ...