The European Union’s diplomatic service this week alerted officials that Russian trolls are spreading falsehoods about the coronavirus in Europe, using the health crisis “to sow distrust and division.”

In an “information environment assessment” dated March 16 and seen by POLITICO, the EU External Action Service’s East StratCom office said it had collected 80 coronavirus-related disinformation cases on popular media channels in Europe since January 22.

Disinformation reports include “claims that the coronavirus was brought to us by migrants, or that it is a bio-weapon developed by either the U.S., the U.K. or China,” the note said. Other false theories include that the virus originated in the U.S. and that it is linked to 5G technology, it added.

“In Israel, a prominent narrative is that of the coronavirus being ‘yet another crisis coming from Europe,'” the note added.

The office said the Russian government wasn’t authoring the fake news articles but rather had amplified false theories and disinformation that come from elsewhere, including from American far-right groups. It remains unclear how far these Kremlin-backed false reports have spread, and analysts say the majority of misinformation is currently spread by normal people on social media.

Among media sources consulted in Europe, the Spanish version of RT, a Russian government-funded media group, popped up as the 12th-most-shared source for corona-related news on social media. The contents of the EU’s misinformation report was previously reported by the Financial Times.

Russia on Wednesday denied the report’s allegations that it was spreading disinformation, Reuters reported. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “we’re talking again about some unfounded allegations which in the current situation are probably the result of an anti-Russian obsession.”

Facebook, Google under fire

Politicians’ criticism of big online social media platforms like Facebook and Google have risen again as these platforms seek to push back on disinformation about coronavirus spreading on their pages.

Germany’s Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht said she expected social media to “live up to their responsibility and clearly prioritize trustworthy and relevant information.”

Meanwhile Facebook, Twitter and Google have said they would rely more on algorithms to stop the spread of fake news as human moderators are sent home.

“Online platforms have taken strong measures to combat corona-related misinformation and disinformation. However, they do not do enough to systematically share data and statistics with researchers and others,” the East StratCom note said.

The European Commission is expected to come out with an evaluation of its Disinformation Action Plan, which it launched in the run-up to the 2019 European Parliament election.

Part of that action plan was creating a Rapid Alert System, which drew criticism in recent months because of its lack of action in alerting authorities about ongoing campaigns.

But the system is working during the coronavirus outbreak, alerting authorities to two cases of disinformation, one about a U.S. soldier allegedly infected in Lithuania and one about the Slovak prime minister allegedly being infected.

Russia as a megaphone

The ongoing misinformation underscores how Kremlin tactics have evolved, from creating original content to amplifying social media posts created by others in a move that aims to sidestep platforms’ deterrence mechanisms. Amplified posts include ones saying the virus did not come from China.

Russia is far from alone in amplifying misleading claims. In recent weeks, some German politicians, bloggers in Lithuania and Russian military experts have linked ongoing operations by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to spreading the coronavirus across Europe, according to the Atlantic Council’s DFR Lab.

In one example that was picked up by Sputnik in Germany, Alexander Neu, a politician from the leftist Die Linke party in the German Bundestag, said certain NATO operations should be stopped to halt the spread of the virus.

Similarly, anonymous bloggers in the Baltics published a stream of stories also questioning why these operations were still taking place, while an article in a pro-Kremlin political science outlet was titled: “Defender Europe 2020 — the deadly route of Coronavirus in Europe,” in reference to an ongoing NATO operation.

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Five areas of spending that fall outside the EU budget were included in last week’s budget deal. Together, they are worth €37 billion; by far the largest, with €27bn, is the European Development Fund, the EU’s main fund for aid to poor countries. (It is financed from the member states and managed by a special committee according to its own rules.) But this will grow by just €200 million against the current multi-annual budget, a rise of only 0.6% – despite the EU’s failure to meet its own goal of providing 0.7% of its gross national income for development aid.

In all, the off-budget items are set to decrease by 9.5%, or €3.9bn. The European Globalisation Fund and the Solidarity Fund will be slashed by more than 50%, while the Flexibility Instrument grows by 131%, or €1.9bn. These lines, unlike the EDF, are activated only when the need arises.

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — The University of California, Irvine is ranked No. 1 on Money magazine’s latest list of the nation’s best colleges, knocking Princeton University off the top spot, UCI revealed Monday.

The achievement makes UC Irvine the first public university to achieve no. 1. The ranking is up from no. 3 last year and no. 7 in 2017, something that the university says acknowledges it’s continued growth in providing “accessible, high-quality education and fostering alumni success.”

The magazine evaluates colleges annually using 26 factors across three categories – quality, affordability and outcomes – each of which accounts for one-third of a school’s final score.

According to Money — which recently went all digital and is now known as Money.com — UCI scored well across the board on the 2019-20 list, but especially in the measures of low-income and Pell Grant enrollment and favorable graduate outcomes.

“This latest recognition of our national leadership in combining outstanding academics with outstanding value is testament to the concerted efforts of our faculty, staff, students and supporters,” UCI Chancellor Howard Gillman remarked.

UCI excelled in indicators of short- and long-term affordability. The campus provided need-based grants to 59 percent of its students. Over 12,000 UCI enrollees received Pell Grants in 2018-19, and UCI graduated more Pell students than any other college. The majority were first-generation students, for whom a university education is a means to upward social mobility. Almost half of UCI’s incoming class of California-resident freshmen are first-gen, and the ratio is even higher for in-state transfer students.

Additionally, according to the survey, UCI graduates’ median debt load was $19,000, much lower than the national average, and their early-career earnings averaged $57,700 per year.

These factors determining the Money.com rankings help explain why, among UC campuses, UCI had the largest total number of in-state freshman applications for the 2019-20 academic year, as well as the most from underrepresented minorities and Chicanos/Latinos.

The Money.com recognition is just the latest in a series putting UCI in the top tier of U.S. universities for affordability and excellence. According to Forbes, UCI ranks No. 1 in the country among public universities for “best value” – a school’s ability to deliver the biggest bang for the tuition buck based on costs, academic quality, postgrad earnings, student debt and graduation success.

U.S. News & World Report currently rates UCI the seventh-best public university in America. And in the 2019 Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education rankings of this nation’s universities, UCI placed first for offering an inclusive, supportive learning environment.

In addition, for the second consecutive time, the campus tops The New York Times’ College Access Index of U.S. universities, which gauges their commitment to economic diversity through the number of low- and middle-income students that a school enrolls and the price it charges them.

WICHITA, KS — The first day of school can be overwhelming for any child, but especially so for kids on the autism spectrum like 8-year-old Connor Crites, a second-grader at Minneha Elementary School in Wichita, Kansas. He was sitting alone, crying before the morning bell rang.

What another 8-year-old, Christian Moore, did wasn’t a grand gesture. Just powerful. It was a simple act of kindness that smoothed the rough spots and put Connor at ease. Christian consoled the crying boy, then took his hand and they walked through the front door together.

That was on Aug. 14. The two boys have been inseparable ever since.

Proud mom Courtney Moore shared a photo of Christian and Connor on Facebook.

“It’s an honor to raise such a loving, compassionate child,” she wrote. “He’s a kid with a big heart; the first day of school started off right.”

Connor’s mother told Wichita news station KAKE she worries her son will be bullied — something that happens to one in three U.S. school children — because he has autism. Kids on the spectrum are especially vulnerable to bullying, according to a study by the Interactive Autism Network.

The organization found in a 2012 study of 1,167 children ages 6-15 with autism spectrum disorder that 63 percent had been bullied at some point in their lives.

“I fear everyday that someone is going to laugh at him because he doesn’t speak correctly, or laugh at him because he doesn’t sit still or because he jumps up and down and flaps his hands,” April Crites told KAKE.

To Christian, Connor was just a little boy who needed a friend.

“He was kind to me,” Connor told the news station, saying later that the tears of trepidation turned into “happy tears” when Christian took his hand.

The world could learn a lot from these two boys, Crites said.

“It doesn’t matter color, it doesn’t matter gender, it doesn’t matter disability, and it doesn’t matter anything. Just be kind; open your heart,” she told the news station. “It’s what we need in this world.

“One act of kindness can change someone’s life, can change the world. That’s all it takes.”

Moore’s Facebook post has been shared, liked and commented on tens of thousands of times.

These boys are teaching adults around the world important lessons, several people commented.

“In a country now so distorted my racism bigotry and antisemitism, it [is] nice to know life only changes once we are adults,” wrote Anthony Williams, of Jacksonville, Florida. “We should all learn from the babies and live our lives through their eyes. Wow.”

“This shows the world how we can love each other,” wrote Katherine Pauline Armstrong of Las Vegas. “Just ask a child.”

Added Bilal El-Amin, who lives in the Bronx in New York City: “Today, I’m gonna use this, Today, I’m gonna do the same. … Hatred is taught. And all [people[ aren’t the same. We must love, laugh and live!”

There are thousands more comments, all written in the same vein.

For the two 8-year-old boys, it’s quite simple.

“Be nice!” they said in unison in the KAKE interview.

Un sondage britannique montre que beaucoup de femmes lesbiennes ne font pas de le dépistage annuel du cancer du col de l’utérus parce qu’elles pensent avoir moins de risques que les femmes hétérosexuelles ce qui est totalement faux.

Selon un nouveau sondage réalisé par le National Health Service (système de santé britannique équivalent de la Sécurité sociale), une femme homosexuelle sur cinq n’a jamais fait de frottis chez un gynécologue. En Grande-Bretagne, comme en France, cet examen qui permet de dépister le

cancer du col de l’utérus est préconisé une fois par an pour toutes les femmes entre 25 et 65 ans. Soucieux de savoir la raison pour laquelle certaines femmes gay ne le font pas, les auteurs du sondage mené sur 600 femmes leur ont donc posé la question.

 Le cancer ne fait pas de discrimination21% d’entre-elles ont répondu, qu’elles pensaient être moins à risque de cancer du col de l’utérus par rapport aux femmes hétérosexuelles et 8% qu’elles n’étaient pas au courant des recommandations officielles. A en juger par ce taux, étendu sur la totalité du pays, le NHS estime qu’il pourrait y avoir près de 50 000 femmes bisexuelles et hétérosexuelles qui ne se font pas dépister chaque année. “Le fait que les lesbiennes ne peuvent pas avoir un cancer du col de l’utérus est un mythe qu’il faut absolument casser, explique le Dr Michael Brady, médecin membre du NHS pour la BBC. Soyons clair si vous avez un utérus, vous pouvez y développer un cancer, cette maladie ne fait pas de discrimination.” Les rapports sexuels avec un homme étant le plus souvent cités comme facteurs de risques pendant les campagnes et messages de préventions, beaucoup de femmes

lesbiennes pensent être moins à risques. Pourtant le HPV (papillomavirus), à l’origine du cancer de l’utérus, peut également se transmettre via relations sexuelles orales. En 2009, le Dr J Fish de la Monfort University au Royaume-Uni  a passé en revue 2 290 articles d’études sur le sujet. Il s’est avéré que 3,3 à 30% des femmes gays et bisexuelles étaient touchées par le HPV et 19% n’avaient jamais eut de relation hétérosexuelles. Ce sondage a donc permis de montrer que le manque de dépistage ne vient pas seulement des mauvaises expériences chez un gynécologue et de la peur de la douleur ou du résultat, le manque d’information et les mythes autour de la santé font également partie des choses à prendre en compte pour améliorer la prévention des maladies.Click Here: pinko shop cheap

Le flair de Nova est infaillible. En quelques secondes, cette working cocker de 15 mois détecte la présence de punaises de lit. Elle jappe, remue la queue. Son maître lui lance un bravo. Et une balle pour la féliciter.Nova est le deuxième chien à être formé au coeur de cette ancienne caserne militaire de Magnac-Laval, en Haute-Vienne.

Jacky Experton, ancien militaire spécialisé dans les recherches cynophiles de stupéfiants ou d’explosifs, a créé cette formation de 10 à 12 semaines proposée par la société de sécurité Seris, locataire des lieux.En arrivant à repérer, au flair, ces insectes hématophages de la taille d’un pépin de pomme, les canidés offrent une localisation rapide et précise des nids à la société qui sera chargée de traiter les lieux infestés. La quantité d’insecticide utilisée sera moins élevée. L’intérêt est donc économique et écologique.”C’est un marché émergent. Les

punaises de lit se développent de manière exponentielle en France. Et nous n’arrivons pas à tout traiter. Or les chiens étaient jusqu’à présent formés aux Etats-Unis. On ne remplace pas les services de neutralisation mais nous offrons un moyen infaillible de détection“, affirme Jacky Experton. Aucun diplôme ne sanctionne cette “formation”, d’où l’idée de l’ancien militaire de la faire valider par huissier. Coût de la formation : 12.000 euros.Deux qualités sont demandées aux animaux. La première : être de petit gabarit pour se faufiler partout. “Difficile pour un malinois de se glisser facilement sous un lit”, résume Jacky Experton. La seconde : il faut qu’ils soient joueurs. “Nous associons l’odeur dégagée par la punaise à une balle, ou un jouet. Chaque fois qu’il arrive à retrouver cette odeur particulière, il sait qu’il va avoir sa récompense. C’est de cette manière que nous les formons“.Aux côtés des salles aménagées pour la détection d’explosif ou la recherche stupéfiants, l’une d’elle est désormais consacrée aux punaises. Quelques boîtes sont accrochées à un mur dont l’une contient les insectes suceurs de sang. Guidée par son maître Patrick Claude, Nova arpente la salle et ne met que quelques secondes à les détecter. Dans un autre bâtiment, un appartement entier a été reproduit. Chaises, lits, bureaux, malles rendent l’accès plus difficile. Nova saute sur un bureau, plonge sous le lit et marque l’essai !”Les nez électroniques n’ont pas encore atteint l’odorat du chien“, affirme Jacky Experton.Théâtres, maisons ou HLMFléau nocturne des particuliers, les punaises de lit envahissent les logements des particuliers, des offices HLM, ou autres salles de spectacles. C’est dans ce type d’endroit que le propriétaire de Nova, Patrick Claude, deuxième maître chien à être formé dans ce centre haut-viennois, espère intervenir. Après l’été, il compte créer une structure dans les environs de Bordeaux.”Une femelle peut pondre 5 oeufs par jour, c’est considérable. Et elle peut vivre durant deux ans“, analyse Laurent Renouard-Vallet, formateur cynotechnique. “On est très vite débordé. Bien souvent les gens veulent traiter eux-mêmes et ce n’est pas la meilleure chose à faire. Les punaises ont développé des résistances aux insecticides et il est très compliqué de s’en débarrasser. Plus vite elles sont localisées, plus vite on peut en venir à bout en faisant appel à une société spécialisée“.Le chien a également la faculté de distinguer les punaises mortes des vivantes. “Ce qui permet de faire revenir l’animal une fois le traitement effectué et de savoir s’il a été efficace“, dit Laurent Renouard-Vallet.C’est dans ce même centre de Magnac-Laval qu’un autre

projet baptisé Kdog a été initié il y a quelques années. Des chiens ont été utilisés pour détecter le cancer du sein sur une lingette imprégnée de la transpiration ou de tissus prélevés sur un sujet.Ce projet, né en 2013 d’une rencontre entre Isabelle Fromantin, chercheuse à l’Institut Curie et les équipes cynophiles de Jacky Experton, a débouché sur une étude clinique d’une durée de trois ans, de 2018 à 2021, portant sur un échantillon de 1.000 femmes.Les six premiers mois ont été “positifs à 100%” assure l’Institut.Click Here: cheap all stars rugby jersey