NY Post, UPI Twitter accounts hacked, claim WWIII

UPI tweeted out a fake report claiming a U.S. warship had been hit by a Chinese missile.(Photo: Screengrab)Twitter accounts belonging to the New York Post and UPI were hacked Friday, sending out fake claims a U.S. warship had been fired on by the Chinese.A series of tweets on the two accounts reported China had fired an anti-ship missile at the USS George Washington. The U.S. Navy said it had no reports of its ships being fired on. "I can assure you and everybody else that the USS George Washington is safe and sound in dry dock," where it is getting needed maintenance, said Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary. "She has not been attacked by anybody."He said the erroneous report was quickly knocked down before it could trigger an inadvertent reaction. "Nobody got ramped up about this tweet," Kirby said.The New York Post and UPI acknowledged their twitter accounts had been hacked and removed the erroneous tweets.One of the tweets by UPI had claimed: "US Joint Chief of staff: USS George Washington damaged, US navy now engaged in active combat against Chinese vessels in South China sea." Another UPI tweet with a photo of Pope Francis said, "Pope: 'World War III has begun.'"Tweets on both the New York Post and UPI accounts also made reference to financial moves by the Federal Reserve. One such tweet that appeared on the Post account said: "BREAKING: Federal Reserve head Yellen announces bail-in emergency meeting, rumored negative rate to be set at 4pm EST today."Europe anti-terrorism raids lead to dozens of arrestsJan 16, 2015