World
How can you spot fake news online?
False claims about ballot manipulation spread across social media during the 2025 German elections, raising concerns about the fast impact of misinformation online and how internet users can better protect themselves.
Recent global and geopolitical events have prompted an increasingly large avalanche of false narratives and fake news both in Europe and beyond.
While the US faces a stream of dubious claims made by President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, the European continent is also under the constant threat of disinformation.
For example, during and since Germany’s recent federal election, social media was full of misleading posts about election fraud, with some viral posts claiming that the name of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) candidate was missing from the Leipzig ballot.
However, Leipzig officials quickly debunked the claim, saying all ballots were printed the same way, making such changes impossible.
This is just a sample of the false narratives and disinformation campaigns that Europeans and others have to deal with on a daily basis.
It’s increasingly important that we know how to spot and protect ourselves against the flood of fake news, so how can we do so?
EuroVerify spoke to experts who shared their three top tips for spotting and avoiding misinformation online.
#1: Watch for Red Flag stock phrases
Certain cliché phrases are a strong indicator that certain claims may not be what they seem, according to Marc Owen Jones, professor of media analytics at Northwestern University in Qatar.
“Rhetorical techniques are very strong giveaways and things that [misleading posts] might say like ‘Western media isn’t telling you’, or things that ‘the mainstream media is not telling you’… These are red flags”, says Jones.
These statements often appear during decisive events, like elections, or in war-related posts, influencing users’ opinions and behaviour.
For Robert Rajczyk, professor at the Institute of Journalism and Media Communication at the University of Silesia in Katowice, social media and its driven algorithm tools can not only shape but also polarise users’ opinions.
“The more controversial content user consumes, the more content of this type is being offered to internet users,” he said. “So we will hear mainly what we want to hear or what we ourselves believe in.”
#2: Look carefully for AI-generated misinformation
Another significant concern is the use of AI-generated content, which makes it even harder for users to differentiate between real and fake information.
Jones said that while deepfakes and AI-generated images can look incredibly realistic, there are key ways to identify them.
“Sometimes you get artefacts where the ears are not symmetrical, or it’s not very good at generating earrings,” said Jones. “You might look closely and see that if they don’t have glasses there might be glasses stems near the ear.”
These are not “foolproof” methods to recognise fake content, according to Jones, but he said that the main warning signs to identify AI-generated visuals and text can be very similar.
“It’s about manipulation, it’s about trying to inflame the emotions because when our emotions are inflamed, we’re more likely to share something and it’s more likely to go viral. This is the danger of AI,” Jones said.
#3: Double-check your sources
With so many different stories online, fact-checking is key. Ike Picone, professor of media and journalism studies at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, stressed the importance of media literacy beyond just recognising misinformation.
“When it comes to specific forms of literacy and news literacy, one of the key aspects is understanding how news works,” said Picone. “Because when you understand how news works, you can identify, for example, why certain traditional news media might also be susceptible to a certain bias.”
Although the techniques to recognise bias can vary, for Picone it can also come from a much simpler method, such as checking for others’ opinions.
“Ask your parents, ask your friends, ‘do you think this is real? Do you believe it?’”, he said.
Rajczyk stressed a similar need for media literacy and how crucial it is to compare news from multiple sources.
“Watch mainstream media, verify information with reading, watching and listening to other mainstream media,” Rajczyk said.
“If we haven’t got a proper education and we don’t know the real historical context, we will be much less resilient to such content,” he added.
World
UAE cuts funding for citizens studying at UK universities over campus radicalization fears: report
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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is removing funding for its citizens to study in the United Kingdom, citing concerns they could be radicalized abroad.
The move means the UAE has removed British universities from a list of higher education institutions eligible for state scholarships amid growing tensions over London’s decision not to designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, The Financial Times reported.
“[The UAE] don’t want their kids to be radicalized on campus,” a person directly involved with the decision told the outlet.
UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA ORDERED TO REINSTATE LAW STUDENT WHO WAS EXPELLED AFTER ANTI-JEWISH COMMENTS
A “Welcome to the People’s University for Palestine” banner at King’s College at the University of Cambridge May 11, 2024, in Cambridge, U.K. (Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)
Since then, Emirati students who have applied to their government for scholarships to study in the U.K. have been denied.
The move also means that the UAE will not recognize qualifications from academic institutions that are not on its accredited list, rendering degrees from U.K. universities less valuable than others, according to the report.
NYC STUDENTS EXPOSE ‘EXTREMIST’ PROFESSORS FOSTERING CAMPUS ANTISEMITISM AT MAJOR UNIVERSITIES
The skyline in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, where funding for its citizens to study in the United Kingdom has been halted. (Vidhyaa Chandramohan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“All forms of extremism have absolutely no place in our society, and we will stamp them out wherever they are found,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said in a statement. “We offer one of the best education systems in the world and maintain stringent measures on student welfare and on-campus safety.”
The UAE has taken a hardline approach to Islamist movements abroad and at home.
During the 2023-24 school year, 70 students at U.K. universities were reported for possible referral to the government’s deradicalization program, the report states.
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UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan has repeatedly questioned the U.K.’s decision to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Starmer’s administration last year said the matter was under “close review.”
World
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,416
These are the key developments from day 1,416 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Published On 10 Jan 2026
Here is where things stand on Saturday, January 10:
Fighting:
- The death toll from a massive Russian attack on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv that began on Thursday night has risen to four, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service wrote in an update shared on Facebook on Friday. At least 25 people were also injured, including five rescuers, the service added.
- The attack left thousands of Kyiv apartments without heat, electricity and water as temperatures fell to minus 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit) on Friday, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and other local officials said.
- Klitschko called on people to temporarily leave the city, saying on Telegram that “half of apartment buildings in Kyiv – nearly 6,000 – are currently without heating because the capital’s critical infrastructure was damaged by the enemy’s massive attack”.
- Russian forces shelled a hospital in the Ukrainian city of Kherson just after midday on Friday, damaging the intensive care unit and injuring three nurses, the regional prosecutor’s office wrote on Telegram.
- “As a result of the attack, three nurses aged 21, 49, and 52 were wounded. At the time of the shelling, the women were inside the medical facility,” the office said in a statement.
- The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemned attacks on healthcare in Ukraine in a statement shared on X, saying that there had been nine attacks since the beginning of 2026, killing one patient, one medic and injuring 11 others, including healthcare workers and patients.
- Tedros said that the attacks further “complicated the delivery of health care during the winter period” and called for “the protection of health care facilities, patients and health workers”.
- Russian forces attacked two foreign-flagged civilian vessels with drones in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, killing a Syrian national and injuring another, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba and other officials said on Friday.
- A Ukrainian drone attack on a bus in Russia’s Belgorod region injured four people, the regional task force reported, according to Russia’s TASS state news agency.
- Russian forces seized five settlements in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, including Zelenoye, the Russian Ministry of Defence said, according to TASS.
- Ukrainian battlefield monitoring site DeepState said on Friday that Russian forces advanced in Huliaipole and Prymorske in the Zaporizhia region, but did not report any further changes.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that Russia’s Oreshnik missile strike late on Thursday was “demonstratively” close to Ukraine’s border with the European Union.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency has begun consultations to establish a temporary ceasefire zone near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after military activity damaged one of two high-voltage power lines, Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement on Friday.
Sanctions
- US forces seized the Olina oil tanker and forced it to return to Venezuela so its oil could be sold “through the GREAT Energy Deal”, United States President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Friday. According to The Associated Press news agency, US government records showed that the Olina had been sanctioned for moving Russian oil under its prior name, Minerva M.
- Ukraine’s ambassador to the US, Olha Stefanishyna, said that Ukrainian nationals were among members of the crew of the Russian-flagged tanker Marinera seized earlier this week by US forces over its links to Venezuela, according to Interfax Ukraine news agency.
- The Russian Foreign Ministry separately said on Friday that the US had released two Russian crewmembers from the Marinera, expressing gratitude to Washington for the decision and pledging to ensure the return home of crewmembers.
Politics and diplomacy
- Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “deep regret” over damage to its embassy in Kyiv, confirming that no diplomats or staff were hurt, in a statement on Friday. The ministry underscored the importance of protecting diplomatic buildings and reiterated its call for a “resolution to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis through dialogue and peaceful means”.
- British Defence Secretary John Healey said that the United Kingdom was allocating 200 million pounds ($270m) to fund preparations for the possible deployment of troops to Ukraine, during a visit to Kyiv on Friday.
- The leaders of Britain, France and Germany described Russia’s use of an Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile in western Ukraine as “escalatory and unacceptable”, according to a readout of their call released by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office on Friday.
World
Some flu measures decline, but it’s not clear this severe season has peaked
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked.
New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to flu-like illness and in the number of states reporting high flu activity.
However, some measures show this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history. And experts believe there is more suffering ahead.
“This is going to be a long, hard flu season,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, in a statement Friday.
One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.
The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.
So far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and 180,000 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. It also estimates there have been 7,400 deaths, including the deaths of at least 17 children.
Last week, 44 states reported high flu activity, down slightly from the week before. However, flu deaths and hospitalizations rose.
Determining exactly how flu season is going can be particularly tricky around the holidays. Schools are closed, and many people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.
Also, some seasons see a surge in cases, then a decline, and then a second surge.
For years, federal health officials joined doctors’ groups in recommending that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The shots may not prevent all symptoms but can prevent many infections from becoming severe, experts say.
But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it is a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.
“I can’t begin to express how concerned we are about the future health of the children in this country, who already have been unnecessarily dying from the flu — a vaccine preventable disease,” said Michele Slafkosky, executive director of an advocacy organization called Families Fighting Flu.
“Now, with added confusion for parents and health care providers about childhood vaccines, I fear that flu seasons to come could be even more deadly for our youngest and most vulnerable,” she said in a statement.
Flu is just one of a group of viruses that tend to strike more often in the winter. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, also have been rising in recent weeks — though were not diagnosed nearly as often as flu infections, according to other federal data.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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