Many died from drinking methanol or alcohol-based cleaning products.
They wrongly believed the products to be a cure for the virus.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has previously said that the “infodemic” surrounding Covid-19 spread just as quickly as the virus itself, with conspiracy theories, rumours and cultural stigma all contributing to deaths and injuries.
False information costs lives
Many of the victims had followed advice resembling credible medical information – such as eating large amounts of garlic or ingesting large quantities of vitamins – as a way of preventing infection, the study’s authors say. Others drank substances such as cow urine.
These actions all had “potentially serious implications” on their health, the researchers say.
The paper concludes that it is the responsibility of international agencies, governments and social media platforms to fight back against this “infodemic”, but tech companies have been criticised for their slow and patchy response. In the UK, laws to regulate online harm might be several years away.
Online rumours led to mob attacks in India and mass poisonings in Iran. Telecommunications engineers have been threatened and attacked and phone masts have been set alight in the UK and other countries because of conspiracy theories that have been incubated and amplified online.
Social media also helps scammers to take advantage of the pandemic, selling ineffective badges that claim to ward off the virus, and urging followers to part with money in exchange for a “mineral miracle supplement”, which is – in reality – diluted bleach.
Conspiracy threat to Covid-19 vaccine
As vaccines emerge, there is the further threat that anti-vaccine campaigners will use the platform provided by social media to persuade people not to protect themselves.
Despite social media companies removing or labelling misleading information about vaccines, recent polling in the United States showed that 28% of Americans believe that Bill Gates wants to use vaccines to implant microchips in people.
The achievement of an effective coronavirus vaccine could be completely undermined by misinformation, doctors told the BBC’s anti-disinformation team.
A French citizen is facing execution by firing squad in Indonesia after he was accused of molesting and beating over 300 children.
Authorities reportedly found Camille with two underage girls in his hotel room.
Upon further investigation, police found numerous videos on Camille’s laptop, which showed him molesting many different children, who were estimated to have been between the ages of 10 and 17.
The footage was recorded with a hidden camera that Camille had installed in the room to record his crimes.
Police say Camille visited Indonesia on a tourist visa many times over the past five years, and that he would prey on children while he was in the country.
Camille allegedly pretended to be a photographer and made promises of turning the children into models. He would initially give them money to get them involved and build trust before he began to abuse them.
He would approach children and lure them by offering them work as models. The ones who agreed to have sex with him would get paid between 250,000 and one million rupiah ($17-70),” Jakarta police chief Nana Sudjana told reporters, according to the Jakarta Post.
“We arrested him while he was in the hotel with two minors, one already naked and one half-naked. We took him to the [Jakarta] police headquarters immediately,” he added.
It is suspected that Camille has been committing these crimes in Indonesia for at least five years.
“It would be impossible to record hundreds of videos in one day. I believe it took him years to make them. Also, he has been living in Indonesia since 2015. I urge everyone who feel they were a victim of Frans to report it to us,” Sudjana said.
He also said that Camille would become extremely violent with the victims if they refused to have sex with him.
“Those who didn’t want to have sex would be beaten, slapped and kicked by the suspect,” he said.
Police say that most of the children approached by Camille were very poor and lived on the streets. Police have been able to track down at least 17 victims from the videos, but there is additional footage showing far more children being abused, which has led them to estimate that there are at least 300 victims.
The Indonesian government is taking the matter very seriously, and if convicted of the charges against him, Camille may face the death penalty. At the very least, he will spend a minimum of 10 years in prison.
“He [may] face the death penalty, with a minimum of 10 years or a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment,” Sudjana said.
Sadly, there are a significant number of wealthy and deranged westerners who travel abroad to prey on children, where there can seek our vulnerable orphans, and where they feel they are less likely to get caught.
According to the global anti-trafficking network ECPAT International, an estimated 70,000 children are victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation every year in Indonesia.
Ye Jianhui becomes fourth Canadian in less than two years handed capital punishment in China
A Chinese court has sentenced a second Canadian citizen to death on drug charges in as many days, as relations between the two countries rapidly deteriorate following the arrest of an executive of the Chinese tech giant Huawei.
Ye Jianhui was handed the punishment for manufacturing and transporting drugs by the Foshan Municipal Intermediate Court in the southern province of Guangdong on Friday.
Ye’s sentencing came a day after fellow Canadian Xu Weihong was given the death penalty by the Guangzhou Municipal Intermediate Court, also in Guangdong province.
Another four suspects in the case were sentenced to between seven years and life in prison.
The court gave no further details of the charges against Ye and the others, but a local news website said Ye and co-defendant Lu Hanchang conspired with others to manufacture and transport drugs between May 2015 and January 2016.
Police seized roughly 218kg of white crystals infused with MDMA from a room used by the pair, and found another 9.84g of the drug in bags and residences used by Lu and others, according to the Yangcheng Evening News based in neighbouring Guangzhou.
Relations between Canada and China deteriorated after Canada’s late-2018 arrest of Meng Wanzhou, an executive and the daughter of Huawei’s founder, at Vancouver’s airport.
The US wanted her extradited to face fraud charges over the Chinese telecom firm’s dealings with Iran.
Beijing condemned the arrest as a political move aimed at constraining China’s rise as a global technology power.
Ye is the fourth Canadian citizen to be sentenced to death on drug charges in China in less than two years.
Convicted Canadian drug smuggler Robert Schellenberg was sentenced to death in a sudden retrial shortly after Meng’s arrest, and a Canadian citizen identified as Fan Wei was given the death penalty in April 2019 for his role in a multinational drug smuggling case.
THE massive explosion which killed at least 100 people and left 4,000 injured in Lebanon’s capital Beirut is feared to have been started by a reckless welder.
Shocking images show flattened buildings, the walking wounded, and a sea of rubble in the wake of the explosion which could be heard 110 miles away in Cyprus.
This drone picture shows destroyed silo at the seaport of BeirutCredit: AP:Associated Press
More than 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate detonated when a blaze spread to the warehouse where it had been stored for six years.
One insider told Reuters it was started by work being carried out to repair a hole in a warehouse at the Port of Beirut.
The scene of an absolute destruction
Ammonium nitrate is mainly used as a fertilizer, but has also been linked to terror attacks after being used in homemade bombs.
Lebanon’s General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim said the dangerous chemicals had been confiscated in 2013 from an Africa-bound ship.
The law firm prosecuting the case said the cargo had then been unloaded into a warehouse near the port.
“It is negligence,” the official source told Reuters, adding that the storage safety issue had been before several committees and judges and “nothing was done.”
The blast has devastated the city of Beirut leaving at least 100 dead
The source said a fire had started at warehouse 9 of the port and spread to warehouse 12, where the ammonium nitrate was stored.
Badri Daher, Director General of Lebanese Customs claimed customs had sent six documents to the judiciary warning that the material posed a danger.
“We requested that it be re-exported but that did not happen. We leave it to the experts and those concerned to determine why,” he said.
The blast was said to be a fifth of the size of the one which devastated HiroshimaCredit: AP:Associated Press
Another source said a team that inspected the ammonium nitrate six months ago warned that if it was not moved it would “blow up all of Beirut”.
The explosion erupted next to a towering building called the Beirut Port Silos, which could be seen partially collapsed amid the rubble of nearby buildings.
The intensity of the blast threw victims into the sea and rescue teams were today still trying to recover bodies.
Many of those killed were port and custom employees and people working in the area or driving through during rush hour.
A bloodied woman after getting caught in the explosionCredit: AFP or licensors
The blast also knocked out a crater some 200 meters (yards) across that filled with seawater.
Those leading the rescue effort today chillingly warned the death toll is likely to rise.
Images taken from the scene showed a thick cloud of gray smoke hovering over the Mediterranean before an enormous burst of red and orange fumes exploded into the sky.
Up to 300,000 people have also now been left homeless by the explosion which caused around £5bn of damage, claimed local reports.
At hospitals across the city people had been waiting all night for news of loved ones who had gone missing or were wounded.
Others posted requests for help online.
It is not yet known how many British nationals are among those caught up in the aftermath of a huge blast, the Foreign Office confirmed this morning.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun has declared a state of emergency for Beirut for two weeks – and vowed the “harshest punishments” for those responsible for causing the explosion.
Nearby structures were flattened, windows and doors were blown out, cars were crushed, and fires burned as the sun set over Beirut.
Horrifying video of the explosion shows an enormous mushroom cloud over the city followed by a shockwave – with witnesses comparing it to a “nuclear bomb”.
Toxic gases were been reported in the aftermath along with strange orange clouds, with the US Embassy warning any Americans in Beirut to stay inside.
Many people are feared to still be trapped under the rubble – including those stuck inside their damaged homes.
Locals woke to apocalyptic scenes this morning with smoke still rising from the port, where a towering grain silo was shattered.
Streets were littered with debris and damaged vehicles, and building facades were blown out.
“It’s like a war zone. I’m speechless,” Beirut’s mayor, Jamal Itani, told Reuters while inspecting the damage. “This is a catastrophe for Beirut and Lebanon.”
The head of the country’s Red Cross said: “What we are witnessing is a huge catastrophe. There are victims and casualties everywhere.”
Prime Minister Hassan Diab described the disaster as a “national catastrophe” and added “those responsible will pay the price”.
His wife and daughter were injured in the explosion after it damaged his residence at The Government Palace.
The deadly blast was one of the world’s biggest-ever peacetime explosions.
Lebanon’s health minister Hamad Hasan said the blast was a “real catastrophe”.
Damage was reported up to six miles from the explosion, with windows shattered and building facades shredded by the shockwave.
Beirut’s governor Marwan Abboud compared the blast to the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear attacks that killed an estimated 225,000 people.
Breaking into tears as he arrived at the scene of the disaster, he said: “I ask the Lebanese people to pull together.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK stands ready to offer “any support we can” to Lebanon – and confirmed some caught up in the blast were Brits.
He added: “The pictures and videos from Beirut tonight are shocking.
“All of my thoughts and prayers are with those caught up in this terrible incident.”
The Queen sent a message to the President of the Republic of Lebanon to say she and the Duke of Edinburgh were “deeply saddened” by the news.
International aid in the form of emergency workers and medical personnel is now heading to Lebanon.
France says it is sending two planes with dozens of emergency workers, a mobile medical unit and 15 tonnes of aid.
Emmanuel Macron’s office says the aid should allow for the treatment of some 500 victims.
French peacekeepers stationed in Lebanon, a former French protectorate, have been helping since the explosions, they added.
Jordan says a military field hospital including all necessary personnel will be dispatched and Egypt has opened a field hospital in Beirut to receive the wounded.
Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamacek says Lebanon has accepted an offer to send a team of 37 rescuers with sniffer dogs to Beirut.
Denmark says it is ready to provide humanitarian assistance to Lebanon, and Greece says it is ready to help Lebanese authorities with all means at its disposal.
British grandmother Valerie Fakhoury, 65, from Darlington, who works at Beirut’s American Community School was left with blood pouring from her head in the blast.
All staff at the British embassy in Beirut are accounted for, but some have sustained “non-life-threatening injuries”.
British journalist Lizzie Porter, who lives just one mile from the scene, told the Daily Mail: “It was 6.10pm and there was a rumble like thunder.
“Then the whole apartment building shook like an earthquake.”
Witness Fady Roumieh said: “It was like a nuclear bomb. The damage is so widespread and severe all over the city.
“Some buildings as far as 2km are partially collapsed. It’s like a war zone. The damage is extreme. Not one glass window intact.”
Red Cross spokesman Georges Kettaneh said emergency services had been “overwhelmed”.
Ambulances were been called in from across the country to aid the rescue effort.
Hours after the blast, ambulances still carried away the wounded as army helicopters helped battle fires raging at the port.
Some hospitals were too badly damaged to treat patients, with pictures showing doctors administering first aid in the street.
Initial reports had claimed the blast came from a firework storage site as video appeared to show small flashes and pops in the fire before the catastrophic explosion.
Newly-leaked police bodycam footage shows the tragic last moments before George Floyd was killed.
Newly-leaked police bodycam footage shows the tragic last moments before George Floyd, casting new light on the killing of the 46-year-old Black man whose May 25 death sparked a long period of unrest and ongoing protests against police brutality and racism.
In video footage obtained by UK tabloid The Daily Mail, rookie police officer Thomas Lane can be seen pointing his firearm at Floyd’s head, provoking an extremely distressed response from Floyd.
Floyd, who had just attempted to use a counterfeit $20 bill to buy cigarettes at the Cup Foods convenience store, was largely deferential and referred to the officers as “Mr. Officer” throughout the ordeal while also repeatedly saying that he would likely die in the encounter.
Floyd had been waiting in the car with his ex-girlfriend Shawanda Hill, 45, and friend Maurice Hall for some time before the police arrived. It still remains unclear if Floyd knew that the money he was using was counterfeit.
The footage also depicts the police behaving in a belligerent and physically rough manner despite the clear need for de-escalation when confronted by Floyd’s distraught and anxious state.
When Officer Lane approached the driver side of Floyd’s SUV, he immediately ordered Floyd to show his hands. Floyd did not immediately open the door. Officer Lane abruptly opened the door and Floyd apologized, saying “Hey man, I’m sorry.”
At that point Lane, who was on his first week with the Minneapolis Police Department along with his fellow rookie partner Alex Kueng, responded with extreme belligerence and aimed his gun straight at Floyd’s head.
“Put your f**king hands up right now! Let me see your other hand,” Officer Lane shouts.
Floyd doesn’t immediately place his hands on the wheel, causing Lane to continue cursing and brandishing his weapon at him.
“Put your f**king hand up there! Jesus Christ, keep your f**king hands on the wheel,” he continues to shout.
Floyd, clearly alarmed by the officer’s angry escalation, begins explaining himself.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” he tells the officer. “God dang, man. Man, I got shot the same way, Mr. Officer, before.”
“Okay. Well when I say ‘Let me see your hands,’ you put your f**king hands up,” Lane replies.
“I’m not going to shoot you,” Lane replies. “Step out and face away.”
“I’ll look at you eye-to-eye. Please don’t shoot me man,” a visibly upset Floyd answers. “I just lost my mom, man.”
Floyd then begins to break down and weep as Kueng and Lane pull him out of his car, explaining that he “didn’t do nothing wrong.”
Lane then begins to speak to the officers to find out why he responded “all weird like that,” and whether he was under the influence of alcohol or another substance.
“No, he’s got a thing going on … about the police” Hill said, gesturing to her head with a circular motion to suggest Floyd suffered from mental issues.
As the officers attempt to put Floyd in the squad car, Floyd refuses and begins falling down, begging: “Please man. Don’t leave me by myself man, please. I’m just claustrophobic.”
As he pleads with the officers, he explains: “Y’all, I am going to die in here … I’m going to die, man. I just had COVID, man. I don’t want to go back to that.”
As Lane says that he can roll the window down, Floyd continues to beg: “I’m scared as f**k.”
A bystander attempts to calm Floyd down by explaining that he can’t win by behaving the way he was.
“Please, I’m not trying to win,” Floyd answers. “I’m not a bad guy, man. I’m not a bad guy … I’m claustrophobic and I’ve got anxiety. I don’t want to do nothing to them.”
Within minutes, officers Derek Chauvin and Tou Thao arrive. Chauvin attempted to subdue Floyd by holding his knee down on Floyd’s neck for several minutes as Floyd begs for his “momma” while his life is sapped away.
“Tell my kids I love them – I’m dead,” he gasps at one point.
Footage of the incident captured by bystanders sent shockwaves across the country and the world that continue to reverberate to this day.
The video footage is a part of court records in the murder case against Chauvin, Thao, Lane and Kueng, all of whom were fired the day after Floyd was killed. They were later charged after worldwide protests demanding justice for Floyd and other victims of police brutality.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.AcceptRead More
Privacy & Cookies Policy
Privacy Overview
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
