CALIFORNIA: Facebook Inc. struggled to restore its services fully on Thursday after a 17-hour partial outage made the world’s largest social network inaccessible to users across the globe, driving a wave of online complaints.
Number of reports on the crowd-sourced Down Detector website – one of the internet’s most used sources of numbers on outages – peaked at just over 12,000 gradually falling to a couple of hundreds by early Thursday.
But with thousands of users complaining on Twitter under the hashtag #facebookdown, a number of media reports put the number affected in the millions.
The BBC and a handful of other media outlets said it was the platform’s longest ever outage. Reuters was not immediately able to verify those claims.
Facebook representatives took to Twitter to update users on the problems.
A Facebook spokesman, asked by Reuters for more details, would only repeat the company’s initial statement on the outage on Wednesday, saying that it was working to resolve the issue as soon as possible.
Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook apps were down for much of Wednesday, although the photo-sharing social network said it was back up early on Thursday. Facebook was yet to provide an update on its other services.
“Anddddd… we’re back,” Instagram tweeted here along with a GIF image of Oprah Winfrey screaming in excitement.
Social media users in some parts of the United States and Europe as well as in Japan were hit by the disruption, according to DownDetector’s live outage map here.
The Menlo Park, California-based company, which gets a vast majority of its revenue from advertising, told Bloomberg that it was still investigating the overall impact “including the possibility of refunds for advertisers.”
On Twitter it also said that the matter was not related to a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack.
In a DDoS attack, hackers use computer networks they control to send such a large number of requests for information from websites that servers that host them can no longer handle the traffic and the sites become unreachable. (Reuters)
LONDON: Air pollution kills nearly as many people as smoking in Britain each year, new figures have shown. Although it was previously thought that emissions were responsible for around 40,000 deaths in the UK, new figures suggest it is closer to 64,000, just 18 percent less than the 78,000 deaths caused by tobacco.
A further 29,000 deaths in Britain were also linked to air pollution which exacerbated other conditions such as cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease. Globally, dirty air from vehicle exhausts, factories and power plants causes more deaths than smoking, accounting for 8.8 million deaths a year, compared to the 7.3 million people that die from inhaling smoke.
Co-author Professor Thomas Munzel, from the University Medical Centre Mainz in Germany, said, “Smoking is avoidable but air pollution is not.” In a new study published in European Heart Journal, scientists used an updated modelling technique to calculate how the atmosphere and weather interacts with industry, traffic and agriculture, and mapped it against population data from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In Europe alone the death toll was found to be 790,000 twice the previous estimate. The average lost life expectancy of someone dying in Britain because of air pollution was found to be 1.5 years, while across Europe it was 2.4 years.
In Britain, 98 deaths in every 100,000 can now be attributed to inhaled pollutant chemicals, according to the research, while in Europe the figure was Europe 133 per 100,000 deaths, more than one in 1,000.
(Agencies)
KATHMANDU: Nepal Telecom, a state-owned telecommunication service provider in Nepal, has 50,000 more subscribers than that of Ncell.
Ncell, a privately owned telecom company, has lost its customers after it was dragged into controversy over tax issues.
According to a Management Information System (MIS) report unveiled by the Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA), a telecommunications regulatory body, Nepal Telecom leads Ncell with a wide margin, with over 39.9 million clients taking various telecom-related services.
The customers of fixed telephone and sim-cards under Nepal Telecom have crossed 40 million.
KATHMANDU: France consented to support Nepal to operate and manage a satellite. Gokul Prasad Baskota, has signed an agreement with France to seek the support and establish a security printing in Nepal.
The French government would provide concessional financial aid and technical support to Nepal in order to enforce its plan to operate and manage the satellite in the orbital slot provided by the International Tele-communications Union.
During his visit to France, a Letter of Intent was signed at the ministerial level to establish a security printing press and operate the satellite. The agreement to establish the security printing was reached between Nepal’s security printing center and the INGROUPE, a company owned by the French government. Likewise, Nepal Telecommunications Authority and Thales Alenia Space of France signed the agreement on operation of the satellite. The work of the security printing shall be completed within three years and that of the satellite within thirty months, said Minister Baskota.
During the bilateral talks held with State Minister Lemonye, matters relating to further consolidating Nepal-France relations through exchange of high-levels visits to mark the 70 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries were discussed.
Minister Baskota also urged the State Minister to encourage French investors to attend the investment summit to be held in Kathmandu from 29 to 30 March.
NEW DELHI: Google has launched an app to help Indian children to read and write. Bolo, an online reading tutor, was availed to Indian users of Google’s Android operating system, company said.
The app mimics teacher-student interactions, using artificial intelligence to guide children and give them feedback as they read aloud. The app is geared towards native speakers of Hindi. The app includes 40 Hindi stories and 50 English stories that children can choose from. The company is mulling to add more languages. In India, more than 580 million people use internet. Nearly 60% of the country’s population is still to have access to the internet, presenting a huge potential market for major tech companies.
Bolo is the latest of several India-first features that Google has rolled out to try and attract hundreds of millions of users. The new reading app will also be available offline.
KATHMANDU: New proposed laws relating to social media use in Nepal are intended to stifle dissent and silence critical voices, say global and regional human rights groups.
Global civil society alliance, CIVICUS and the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) say they are seriously concerned that new legislation, which has been tabled in parliament by the Nepalese government, are meant to create a chilling effect on freedom of expression in the country.
A new law being introduced by the government gives the authorities sweeping powers to block social media platforms and remove or criminalize defamatory posts, states a press release issued by CIVICUS and AHRC today.
The government has also tabled legislation that restricts civil servants from sharing their views in the media including via social media sites.
On February 20, 2019, Nepal’s government tabled the Information Technology bill in parliament, which would impose harsh sanctions for “improper” social media posts. Under the proposed law, the government would have the power to block social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, unless the owners registered their platforms in Nepal.
The government can also instruct social network site operators to remove posts. Failure to do so could lead to a three-year jail term and a fine of 30,000 Nepalese rupees. Those responsible for social media posts deemed defamatory or against national sovereignty could be punished with up to five years behind bars and a fine of 1.5 million Nepalese rupees.
“We are extremely concerned that this bill is overly broad and restrictive and, if passed, could be used to block or criminalise reporting on government misconduct and the expression of critical opinions by civil society and citizens,” said Josef Benedict, CIVICUS Civic Space Researcher.
“Any efforts to genuinely regulate online content must be approached in a transparent and consultative manner, and avoid criminal restrictions on free speech,” said Benedict. “We call on the Nepalese government to ensure that the legislation is in line with international law and standards in particular the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which it has ratified and that vague provisions around protecting national sovereignty should be removed” .
CIVICUS and AHRC are also concerned about a new bill, tabled on February 13 2019, that prohibits civil servants from sharing their views through media including their micro-blogging sites, even after their retirement from government service.
The law also prohibits speeches and writing that are considered “contrary to the policies of the Government of Nepal or to undermine mutual relationship between the Government of Nepal and the people or the relationship with any foreign country”.
“It is extremely worrying to see such laws being introduced by the authorities that will further shrink civic space in Nepal,” said Basil Fernando, Director of AHRC. “Criticism and dissent are essential attributes for an open and democratic society. We urge the authorities to pull the plug on such regressive legislation and instead take steps to create an enabling environment for freedom of expression to flourish,” said Fernando.
Freedom of expression in Nepal continues to face serious threats. Journalists have been arrested and charged under the Electronic Transaction Act 2008 for their reports and dozens have been attacked or threatened. Police have also used excessive and lethal force at demonstrations, with impunity and laws have been proposed to curtail the work of NGOs.
The CIVICUS Monitor, an online platform that tracks threats to civil society in countries across the globe, rates civic space – the space for civil society – in Nepal as obstructed.
LONDON: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is taking the social media company in a new direction by focusing on messaging similar to the features of Chinese app WeChat.
Zuckerberg outlined his vision to give people ways to communicate privately, by stitching together Facebook’s various services so users can contact each other across all of the apps.
That sounds strikingly similar to WeChat, which has become essential for daily life in China. WeChat, or Weixin as it’s known in Chinese, combines functions and services that in the West are done by a number of separate companies — think of Facebook and its Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram services combined with PayPal and Uber.
WeChat, launched in 2011, has the usual chat features — instant messaging and voice and video calling, though it doesn’t employ top-notch encryption like Facebook’s Whatsapp. Here’s a look at what else it does.
The app hosts group chats where users can discuss topics like sports, technology, social issues, investment ideas, celebrities, breaking news and beyond. WeChat Moments is a scrolling social media feed where users can write posts and share photos and videos.
The app rolled out a new feature this year, Time Capsule,that removes user videos after 24 hours, in an apparent attempt to mimic Facebook’s Stories feature.
Users can also send friends digital stickers, get access to online games and find out who’s nearby by shaking their phone.
Companies and organizations both inside and outside China can use the app for marketing by setting up an official account. Travel booking platform AirBnb, luxury goods company Chanel and Chinese tech giant Huawei are among brands with a presence on WeChat.
It is wildly popular in mainland China and less so in other countries, which is unsurprising because the communist leaders in Beijing have blocked its citizens from accessing Facebook and other Silicon Valley services for years.
But there’s one thing that WeChat doesn’t let users do: speak freely. Politically sensitive posts are regularly scrubbed from the service, illustrating how the app has become a key part of China’s censorship regime because of its huge user base and outsize social influence.
WeChat also lacks so-called end-to-end encryption, considered the gold standard for privacy and used by Facebook and other services like Signal and Apple’s iMessages.
Chinese dissidents and activists have long suspected that authorities are able to monitor what they’ve been saying on the app. The company, however, has denied it keeps a record of user chats.
(Agencies)
WASHINGTON: Iranian hackers have hit more than 200 companies over the past two years, targeting thousands of people. Hackers have stolen corporate secrets and wiped data from computers.
According to Microsoft, hackers have affected oil-and-gas companies and makers of heavy machinery in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, the United Kingdom, India and the US, incurring a loss of millions of dollars.
Holmium, the Iranian hacker group, that usually attacks big companies, have been targeting more than 2,200 people with phishing emails that can install malicious codes.
SURKHET: The CAN Info Tech-2019 is taking place in Birendranagar, the capital of Karnali State, from coming Friday.
The five-day Karnali State-level ‘Info Tech Fair’ is to be held on 8-12 March under the aegis of Federation of Computer Association Nepal, Karnali State, Surkhet.
In order to make the State tech-savvy and develop it as a hub for tourist attraction, the fair has been organized, informed Purna Dev Adhikari, chair of Federation’s Karnali State.
“Expansion of Information Technology – Foundation for Digital Karnali’ has been set as the slogan for the fair.
“We have anticipated that the fair would help Karnali State in framing the concept of ‘Digital Karnali’ and execute the idea”, Chair Adhikari added.
Smart tourism has also been laid emphasis in the fair, he shared, adding that the innovative information and technology products would be exhibited in the CAN Info Tech.
Prem Prakash Chand, chair of CAN Federation Surkhet informed that a robot would inaugurate the ‘CAN Info Tech fair’.
Tech related instruments and accessories, including IT seminar and robots developed by Nepali scientists would be exhibited in the fair.
Also, the event would offer several programs such as ICT conference, ICT workshops, seminar on smart technology for digital Karnali, Chair Chand informed.
“Free maintenance of computer, laptop and printer would be provided and 5 to 50 percent discount would be offered on the purchase of IT equipment and parts”, he further shared.
Over 100,000 people from all 10 districts of the State are expected to visit the first-ever fair.
SAN FRANCISCO: Google found that some male software engineers received less pay than women last year, resulting in pay adjustments for thousands of men, according to a company blog post.
The pay equity analysis comes amid allegations of gender discrimination against parent company Alphabet, the world’s second-biggest technology company. In January 2018, a class action lawsuit by a group of women accused the company of systematically paying women less than men. The suit could affect more than 8,000 current and former female employees. Google has denied the claims.
The 2018 pay study included 91 per cent of company employees, the highest percentage since the company introduced the annual study in 2012. Google paid out $9.7 million in adjustments to a total of 10,677 employees following the internal compensation audit. In comparison, the company paid out $270,000 to 228 employees in the 2017 study.
About half of the total dollars spent on adjustments was for new employees because a new hire analysis was conducted for the first time this year. Another reason for the steep increase in payouts was attributed to one job at Google in particular: Level 4 software engineer.
“Within this job code, men were flagged for adjustments because they received less discretionary funds than women,” the company said, without disclosing what percentage of the payouts went to men.
Employee compensation at Google is generated by a basic calculation of the market rate for the job, the location, level and performance rating. From there, managers are provided discretionary funds to increase an employees’ salary, bonus or equity. The study found that among Level 4 software engineers, more women were given additional funds than men in the same job, so Google adjusted for men in this category.
The purpose of the study is to “make sure that the modeled amounts, and any changes made by managers, are equitable across gender and racial lines,” wrote Lauren Barbato, Google’s people analytics research manager, in the post published on Monday.
While the analysis is meant to ensure compensation is fair, Ms Barbato said in the post “that’s only part of the story” because it did not take starting salaries for each employee into account – called leveling – or an employee’s subsequent trajectory through the company.
“Because leveling, performance ratings, and promotion impact pay, this year, we are undertaking a comprehensive review of these processes to make sure the outcomes are fair and equitable for all employees,” Ms Barbato wrote.
(Agencies)