How to Spot Fake News Ahead of the 2020 Elections

The purposeful spread of misinformation on the internet isn't new, but there are ways we can avoid — and learn to recognize — it so we don't fall into the trap and distribute or believe false information ourselves. Some social media companies work hard to remove or label fake news as it runs rampant on their platforms, and others fall entirely too short in their efforts (or lack thereof) to do so. Facebook in particular takes the lead as the "referrer site for untrustworthy news sources over 15% of the time."

Recently, the spread of fake news about COVID-19 online has created confusion that resulted in a negative impact on public health. According to The Washington Post, politicians, celebrities and other public figures were the superspreaders of misinformation as "the source of about 20% of false claims." Here’s the reason we’re worried about it: We’ve seen fake news show up during the pandemic and the previous presidential election — times when we really need and are trying to look for the most accurate information — and it may happen again this upcoming election.

Thankfully, there are some steps we can take to protect ourselves from believing and spreading the false material.This guide will help you learn to identify images, videos and news articles that contain misinformation so they don’t slip through the cracks |||READ MORE

 

Bomb attack injures vice president, kills 10 [Videos]

A roadside bomb in Kabul has injured first Afghanistan’s Vice President, Amrullah Saleh, on Wednesday.

Saleh, 49, escaped with minor injuries.

The explosion killed at least 10 people and wounded 15, including the VP’s bodyguards.

Saleh, in a video, confirmed he sustained a minor burn on his face and an injury to his hand |||READ MORE

Woman Banished From Community For Allegedly Cheating On Husband With Neighbours’ Teenage Sons

The 35-year-old wife a teacher in Kenyoni One Village in Kitutu Chache North in Kisii County of Kenya, has been banished from her in-laws’ community after allegedly cheating on her husband with their neighbours’ teenage sons.

While family members alleged that David Mageto's wife was caught in compromising positions with teenage boys in the area, her mother-in-law Elmerita Kerubo accused her of being a divorcee who “pretended to be good” when her son was courting her.

Kerubo said;

“She presented herself as very kind and welcoming. At that time, she had just divorced her first husband. I urged my son to marry her. We followed traditional customs to bring her home.

“Immediately after we had paid dowry for her, she changed her character completely. She began engaging in sexual relationships with every young man or boy in the community. She’d paw at the boys the same way a cheetah would attack a deer |||READ MORE

 

Explosive wildfires across California stoked by fierce winds

SHAVER LAKE, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires raged unchecked across parts of the Western U.S. on Wednesday, with gusty winds forecast to drive flames into new ferocity.

In California, Diablo winds in the north and Santa Ana winds in the south were stoking unprecedented numbers of fires that have already grown explosively. In Washington, more acres burned in a single day than firefighters usually see all year. Fires also forced people to flee in Oregon and Idaho.

A temperature plunge of as much as 60 degrees helped contain wildfires that spread in Colorado and Montana in the hot, windy weather. But no such respite was in the immediate forecast for California |||READ MORE

 

Trump and Biden run vastly different pandemic campaigns

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina caps outdoor gatherings at 50 people to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, but don’t tell that to President Donald Trump. He basked in a largely maskless crowd of several thousand supporters during a campaign rally in this critical state.

“As far as the eye can see,” Trump said, reveling at the sight of people flouting public health guidelines at Tuesday’s event. “I really believe that these crowds are bigger than they were four years ago.”

A day earlier in Pennsylvania, Trump’s Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, held a socially distanced meeting in a backyard. His team has been so attentive to local regulations that some staffers have left the room if they risked breaking the rules on crowd limits |||READ MORE

How Juventus legend Pavel Nedved saved Victor Osimhen from signing a bad deal with Napoli

Super Eagles star Victor Osimhen sought the counsel of Juventus legend Pavel Nedved, a move which saved him from signing a bad deal with Napoli.

Negotiations for Osimhen’s move to Napoli dragged on for several weeks before the €71m deal was finalized in late July 2020.

After getting over his initial scepticism on a move to Italy because of concerns over racism, Osimhen’s move to Napoli suffered further delay after he parted ways with his long-term agent Jean-Gérard Benoit Czajka |||READ MORE

Information Minister Lai Mohammed says petrol in Nigeria remains the cheapest in Africa

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, says the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) or petrol in Nigeria remains the lowest on the continent, in spite of a recent recalibration that has seen the price of the product go from N145/liter to N162/liter at gas stations.

Mohammed also said Nigerians should understand that the federal government can no longer afford to pay for subsidies on petrol in the face of current economic realities.

“The long drawn fuel subsidy regime ended in March 2020 when the PPMC (Petroleum Products Marketing Company) announced that it had begun fuel price modulation in accordance with the varying market dynamics,” Mohammed said during a press briefing in the nation’s capital city of Abuja |||READ MORE

President Buhari says Donald Trump accused him of killing Christians

United States President Donald Trump once asked President Muhammadu Buhari why he was killing Christians, the Nigerian leader said in an off-the-cuff remark during a ministerial retreat at the State House, Abuja on September 8, 2020.

Buhari recalls being taken aback by the question, Punch reports.

Buhari said Trump posed the question in the heat of the farmers-herders clashes in the country’s north central region and the reprisal attacks involving Muslim and Christian communities in the north |||READ MORE

Police shoot 13-year-old boy with autism several times after mother calls for help

A 13-year-old boy with autism was shot several times by police officers who responded to his home in Salt Lake City after his mother called for help.

Linden Cameron was recovering in a Utah hospital, his mother said, after suffering injuries to his shoulder, both ankles, his intestines and his bladder.

Golda Barton told KUTV she called 911 to request a crisis intervention team because her son, who has Asperger’s syndrome, was having an episode caused by “bad separation anxiety” as his mother went to work for the first time in more than a year |||READ MORE

 

Regis Philbin, Legendary Television Host, Dies at 88

Regis Philbin has died. The beloved star was 88.

The longtime television host died on July 24, PEOPLE confirms. "We are deeply saddened to share that our beloved Regis Philbin passed away last night of natural causes, one month shy of his 89th birthday," his family shares with PEOPLE in an exclusive statement on Saturday.

"His family and friends are forever grateful for the time we got to spend with him – for his warmth, his legendary sense of humor, and his singular ability to make every day into something worth talking about. We thank his fans and admirers for their incredible support over his 60-year career and ask for privacy as we mourn his loss," the Philbin family says |||READ MORE

John Elway Lays Down The Law: ‘Kneel On My Field And You’re Fired On The Spot’

DENVER, Co. - John Elway, former Super Bowl-winning quarterback and Head of Football Operations for the Denver Broncos, has laid down some ground rules for the upcoming season of the NFL. According to our sources inside the locker room who may or may not have direct knowledge of what’s going on, Elway is already polishing up his index finger to point at the traitors he’ll fire |||READ MORE

 

American mayhem: More rioting and lawlessness in cities across US

Another night of rioting and lawlessness exploded in more than half a dozen U.S. cities Saturday night -- with the mayhem including damage to federal buildings, local police precincts, and a fatal shooting in Austin, Texas.

Similar protests and violent demonstrations have been seen across the country following the death of George Floyd, a Black man in Minnesota who died while in police custody. A video of the May 25, 2020, encounter with police officers showed a White officer putting his knee on Floyd's neck for more than 8 minutes. Floyd died later that day.

Floyd's death -- as well as the police shooting death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky, and other Black men and women -- sparked widespread protests and demonstrations in the U.S. and across the world, which still continue in some cities to this day |||READ MORE

 

Mixed reactions trail alleged directive to halt BBNaija

Controversy has continued to trail the reported order by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to the National Broadcasting Commission to shut down the Big Brother Naija reality television show.

The Acting Director-General of the NBC, Armstrong Idachaba, had allegedly told senior management members of the commission at a meeting during the week that he had been directed by the minister to shut down the show due to the coronavirus pandemic.

MultiChoice Limited had subsequently replied the NBC stating the measures taken to forestall any violation of the COVID-19 protocols advised by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, adding that the Lagos State Safety Commission gave approval for the show |||READ MORE

Ondo poll: Adelegan emerges ADC gov candidate

Dapo Adelegan has emerged the governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress in Ondo State.

The Chairman, Electoral Matters of ADC, Anayo Arinze, described the party’s primary as peaceful while appreciating four aspirants who stepped down for Adelegan to fly the party’s flag in the forthcoming October 10 governorship election in the state.

This was contained in a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Yemi Kolapo |||READ MORE

Highest-ever temperature recorded in Norwegian Arctic archipelago

Norway's Arctic archipelago Svalbard on Saturday recorded its highest-ever temperature, the country's meteorological institute reported.

According to scientific study, global warming in the Arctic is happening twice as fast as for the rest of the planet.

For the second day in a row, the archipelago registered 21.2 degrees Celsius (70.2 Fahrenheit) in the afternoon, just under the 21.3 degrees recorded in 1979, meteorologist Kristen Gislefoss told AFP |||READ MORE

50 women share their favourite cheap beauty product that's way better than their expensive ones

If a beauty product is truly that good, price shouldn't matter (well, within reason).

Because, although there are many fabulous expensive products on the market, we will guarantee that there are plenty of chemist bargains that are just as good, if not better.

Today, we're going to prove that.

Here you'll find 50 women sharing their favourite beauty product that's 10 times better than their expensive ones. Some shared their favourite face moisturiser, while others insisted on their must-have mascara |||READ MORE

 

These People are at the Most Risk at Restaurants Right Now

There are a lot of risks involved with eating in a restaurant. Not sitting far enough away from other people or sitting inside, waiting for your table inside, and not wearing a mask all increase the risk of the coronavirus spreading.

With the number of cases hitting 4 million recently, some dining rooms are closing again to keep customers as well as workers safe. Servers come into contact with multiple people at a time while at work, including other servers, chefs, and customers. This means they are more susceptible to catching the virus that travels through the air in droplets. Being outside helps, as does not giving out plastic menus and keeping buffets closed.

But servers, hosts, and bartenders spend time around lots of people. Some of them could carry the virus and not know it. They have to interact with people in the back and the front. Sometimes they might not be able to stay six feet away from others |||READ MORE

 

US ‘failures’ are holding back search for coronavirus drugs

The global effort to produce useful anti-Covid medicines is being hampered by the US because researchers are testing drugs in “an arbitrary, willy-nilly way”, the expert leading the UK’s programme has warned.

Britain’s Recovery Trial programme, which has involved 12,000 patients at several hundred British hospitals, has already pinpointed one promising new drug to tackle the disease and also highlighted two others – previously thought to be potential life-savers – as being useless.

But the failure of the US medical system to match this output has meant that other promising treatments that could have been cleared for widespread use have still to be evaluated. In particular, convalescent plasma (blood plasma that is taken from Covid-19 patients and which contains antibodies that could protect others against the disease) has still to be properly tested on a large-scale randomised trial |||READ MORE

Ghana president self-isolates despite negative virus test

Ghana's president has gone into self-isolation for two weeks as a precautionary measure despite testing negative for coronavirus, the government said, after one of his contacts was confirmed to have the illness.

President Nana Akufo-Addo began his quarantine on Saturday and will be working from the presidential villa in Accra, capital of the West African country, the information minister said in a statement.

"The president has elected to do so after at least one person within his close circle tested positive for COVID-19," the minister said |||READ MORE

 

Ghana library showcases black and African literature

A small group of visitors waits eagerly at the entrance to a single-storey building in Ghana's capital Accra, looking to explore the literary treasure inside.

This is the Library of Africa and the African Diaspora -- a passion project launched by Ghanaian-British writer Sylvia Arthur.

Based around Arthur's personal book collection, the library provides a remarkable opportunity to bring literature from the global black community to a country considered a cradle of African civilisation, and which was once a hub of the transatlantic slave trade |||READ MORE