Amid false claims that a CNN team staged a rocket attack near the Israel-Hamas border, a recent Instagram post suggests that they weren’t even there.
“A long honored tradition at CNN to absolutely fake being somewhere they ain’t,” the Oct. 11 post said.
The post shared an image of Clarissa Ward, CNN’s chief international correspondent, taking shelter on the roadside.
“CNN staging a dramatic live reporting of a barrage of rockets by them,” text above the image says. “They cut off the footage when 2 men casually walking on the sidewalk with flipflops get into the camera view.”
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
We asked CNN about the post, and a spokesperson said Ward and her team were near the border “when a barrage of rockets flew close to their position.” (This echoes CNN’s description of the Oct. 9 footage on its website.) “Their location was close to the place where Hamas militants had first breached the border wall and begun firing at vehicles, resulting in multiple casualties,” said Jonathan Hawkins, CNN’s vice president of communications. “The team was reporting on the aftermath of the weekend’s assault and the ongoing situation close to the border.”
Ward said as much in the broadcast. About two and a half minutes into the clip on CNN’s site, two men walk by, one wearing flip-flops, but the video doesn’t “cut off” as the post claims. Ward continues to describe the scene for another minute.
Hawkins said Ward was still reporting from Israel on Oct. 12 but declined to disclose her exact location.
Every NFL game is a test of talent, brawn, and smarts. But for the 49ers, Sunday’s game in Cleveland is a test of character, too.
The Niners are the unquestioned team to beat in the NFL. They’ve won 15 consecutive regular-season games — a win Sunday would be a franchise record — and enter Sunday’s contest as a 9.5-point road favorite (and rising) against a Browns team that lost its best player for the season in Week 2 and is sitting its starting quarterback for the contest.
This is a trap game if I’ve ever seen one.
It’d be so easy for the 49ers, feeling like this should be an easy win amid so many other victories, to go to Ohio for a 10 a.m. Pacific kickoff and lay an egg — making a should-be win a close game, or worse, a loss.
And don’t think the Browns can’t make that happen for San Francisco. Cleveland might be starting quarterback P.J. Walker (11 interceptions to 5 touchdowns in 228 career pass attempts) — elevating him from the practice squad to do it — but there are still weapons around him, including impressive running back Jerome Ford.
And, with all due respect to the 49ers, the Browns’ defense might be the best in the NFL. Now, the Niners’ offense will be the Browns’ defense’s toughest test yet this season, but don’t think Cleveland is not up for the challenge.
They’re not the Cowboys, after all.
No, the question for Sunday for the Niners is if they’re up for the challenge of this game.
It’s a simple challenge, but it’s difficult to master: The Niners need to stay on task.
Brock Purdy and company will win handily if they have their heads in this game.
Now, I believe Purdy when he says his weekly motivation — regardless of opponent — is that: “There’s another level I can get to, so that’s what I’m trying to get. Take it one day at a time.” But every player, up and down the roster, having that chip on their shoulder is pretty unlikely.
And it takes a whole team to win.
The Niners coaches and players are hellbent on returning to the Super Bowl and, this time, winning it. With that goal constantly in mind, it’s hard not to look forward to bigger games and look over lesser opponents like the Walker-led Browns.
Can the Niners’ captains — Fred Warner, Trent Williams, George Kittle, Arik Armstead, Deebo Samuel, and Brock Purdy — keep this team’s focus on Cleveland and not the Eagles on Dec. 3 or the Super Bowl on Feb. 11?
Yes, the moment that Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was ruled out for Sunday’s game was when the Niners had to hunker down and focus.
We on the outside can admit that we’re looking past this game. The Niners have no such luxury if they want to win.
As such, the Browns aren’t the opponent this weekend; it’s the Niners against themselves.
San Francisco has a chance to be the best team I’ve ever seen. Mercy, are they good. But to actually reach that status, the players and coaches cannot take off a week physically or mentally.
Amid a 17-week schedule, teams are going to coast. It’s human nature. And this game against Cleveland is ripe for the 49ers to enter with their guard down. Even against a quarterback like PJ Walker, that’s a recipe for disaster.
This week, the 49ers’ character needs to lead the way.
There are a lot of teams with top-tier roster talent.
There are a lot of well-coached teams.
But rare is the team that has both of those factors working in their favor and also has elite locker room leadership.
We know the Niners have the first two things.
I think the Niners have the third. This Sunday we’ll find out if that’s true.
In a momentous celebration of knowledge, dedication, and expertise, Nigeria’s very own Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, an indigene of Bauchi State, has been awarded the coveted Roux Prize 2023, cementing his status as one of the world’s foremost public health professionals.
This honour recognizes his unwavering commitment to improving health outcomes over the last three decades.
A beacon of excellence and transformational force, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, currently serving as the Dean of the Faculty of Population Health Sciences at University College, London.
He is also a Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, and has tirelessly dedicated his life to improving public health globally.
Born and raised in Bauchi, Nigeria, his professional journey began at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, where he obtained his medical degree in 1992.
His unrelenting pursuit of knowledge led him to specialize in public health medicine and engage in post-graduate studies in the United Kingdom.
Professor Abubakar’s impact reaches far beyond the borders of his current base in the United Kingdom.
Combining his research on tuberculosis and other infectious diseases with projects in Nigeria and various parts of Africa, he has championed the fight against some of the world’s most pressing health challenges.
During the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic, Professor Abubakar was at the forefront, serving as a key adviser to the Nigerian government.
His invaluable expertise helped guide the nation through the tumultuous times, leading to a significant decrease in the spread of the virus.
As part of his sterling achievements, he drafted the Nigeria Commission of the Lancet, a leading international medical journal.
Professor Abubakar’s impact transcends academic accolades. His dedication and quiet, effective advocacy have led to a transformational change in Nigeria’s healthcare landscape.
His tireless work was instrumental in passing the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022, marking a watershed moment in public health management in Nigeria.
This landmark legislation will pave the way for a brighter future for the nation’s most vulnerable citizens.
The Roux Prize, awarded by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington’s School of Medicine, is a beacon of recognition for individuals who leverage evidence-based health data to improve population health.
In honouring Professor Abubakar, the Roux Prize 2023 celebrates a brilliant mind and recognizes his profound dedication to humanity.
It is a testament to his unwavering commitment to the betterment of society and the improvement of public health for all.
A video recirculating on social media suggests that recent violence in Israel and Gaza is staged.
The footage shows about 10 people surrounding and carrying what looks like a stretcher. When an air siren sounds, the people scatter, dropping the stretcher and leaving it in the street. As the camera zooms in, the person who’d been on the stretcher, covered in a wrap and presumably a corpse, throws off the cover, stands and runs off. Someone off camera laughs.
“How radical Israeli build narrative,” an Oct. 11 X post sharing the video said. “A dead boy suddenly comes alive hearing an air raid siren. #Gaza_under_attack #Hamas #Israel.”
“Everything seems to be fake,” reads the text over a version of the video shared on Instagram Oct. 11.
This Instagram post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
A reverse-image search of several stills from the video revealed it predates the current violence in the Middle East.
It’s been online since at least March 2020, and several posts connect it to COVID-19.
One September 2021 Facebook post also suggests the clip was filmed in Jordan. BBC News reviewed 2020 reports that said “it showed a group of boys in Jordan trying to avoid strict COVID-19 restrictions by pretending to hold a funeral.” (The BBC fact-checked another claim in 2021 that the video showed a fake funeral in Gaza.)
We rate claims the video is related to the current violence in Israel and Gaza False.
SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks will be without Mikael Granlund for at least the rest of their challenging homestand and possibly longer, leaving the team without two of their top three centermen for an undetermined amount of time.
The Sharks — already without Logan Couture, who is considered week-to-week — placed Granlund on injured reserve Friday, one day after he re-aggravated a lower-body ailment in San Jose’s season-opening game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Granlund, who dealt with the injury during training camp, will miss Saturday’s game with the Colorado Avalanche and remain inactive for upcoming games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Boston Bruins, and perhaps beyond.
Most NHL teams, if not all, would be severely affected if they were to miss two top-nine centermen. But that’s especially true for the Sharks, who are still building up their depth at the position from top to bottom.
“I think anytime you lose two players in one position, you kind of get a chance to assess where you’re at in that position,” Sharks coach David Quinn said before Saturday’s game. “and that’s what we’ve done as an organization.”
The Sharks on Saturday recalled Jacob Peterson from the Barracuda of the AHL to take Granlund’s roster spot. He, Tomas Hertl, Thomas Bordeleau, and Nico Sturm were slated to be the four centers lining up against the Avalanche.
Still, along with other positions, the Sharks are going to be challenged to match up with most of their upcoming opponents at the center spot.
Carolina, which comes to San Jose on Tuesday, is considered a Stanley Cup contender and Boston, here on Thursday, is still expected to be in the playoff mix despite some key personnel losses, notably Patrice Bergeron, David Krejčí, and Taylor Hall, in the offseason.
After Thursday, the Sharks start a five-game road trip, with three of those games coming against playoff teams from last season.
Sturm knows how good it can be, having been a part of an extremely deep forward group when he won the Stanley Cup in 2022 with the Avalanche.
“I never came to the rink and if there was a guy hurt and was like, ‘Oh, no, what’s going to happen now?’ Everybody knew exactly who the next man up would be,” Sturm said of that Avs team. “And there was never any doubt of whether that guy could fill that hole or not.
“Obviously, we still have a ways to go to get to that point, to achieve that type of chemistry. (In Colorado), it’s a group that’s been, the core at least, together for a long time. Right now, we obviously have a lot of turnover, a lot of new faces coming in and out, but that’s definitely what we want to build towards.”
San Jose Sharks’ Nico Sturm (7) fights for the puck against Anaheim Ducks’ Tyson Hinds (61) in the first period for their preseason game at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept 26, 2023. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Among younger centers, Bordeleau is in his second full season as a pro and the Swedish-born Peterson is in his third in North America. But drafted centermen such as Will Smith, Filip Bystedt, and Cameron Lund might be two or three years away from being full-time NHL players.
Sharks forward William Eklund was drafted as a centerman by the Sharks two years ago, but there does not appear to be any plans to move him to the middle anytime soon, or ever, Quinn said.
“When I had Clayton Keller at (Boston University), he was a center and now he’s one of the better left wingers in the league,” Quinn said. “Most great forwards, before they get to this level, were probably centers. I remember coaching in the (AHL) and on the first day I asked how many guys were centers. I think 12 forwards raised their hands. That’s kind of normal to what (Eklund’s) doing.”
For now, the Sharks are just hoping to get by without Couture and Granlund as they continue to face some of the NHL’s best teams.
Quinn said Couture is getting close to the point where he could start to skate again. Couture, who did not practice with the Sharks during camp, skated twice earlier this month before had what was termed by Quinn as, “a bit of a setback.”
“Colorado doesn’t care that we don’t have Couture and Granlund,” Quinn said. “They’re not going to take it easy on us. Nobody cares about who’s in and who’s out, who’s injured and who’s not. So, it’s up to the 20 guys that are dressing tonight to be ready to go and do what they’re supposed to do.”
WIESBLATT SUSPENDED: Ozzy Wiesblatt, a 2020 Sharks first-round draft pick who is now with the Barracuda, was given a three-game suspension by the American Hockey League on Saturday for what was termed as interference on a Rockford IceHogs player.
The sequence occurred Friday night in a game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose. Wiesblatt missed San Jose’s game vs. Rockford on Saturday and will also sit for games on Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 at Henderson.
Wiesblatt, 21, had just come onto the ice when he skated into the Rockford zone and leveled IceHogs forward Kale Howarth, who didn’t have the puck. Howarth, listed at 6-foot-5 and 201 pounds, remained down on the ice for several moments before he was helped off.
Wiesblatt, at 5-10 and 185 pounds, was given a five-minute major and a match penalty at the 3:12 mark of the second period. The AHL’s player safety committee met Saturday morning and leveled the suspension on Wiesblatt, who was drafted 31st overall by the Sharks in 2020. The Barracuda were playing their first game of the season.
After the incident, the IceHogs scored twice on the ensuing power play, increasing their lead to 4-1. Rockford scored three more goals in the third period and won the game 7-2.
The Federal Government on Saturday said that the World Bank will soon release the $1.5bn concessionary loan to support budget funding soon.
The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun confirmed the development during a press briefing on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Recall that in 2020, the World Bank also approved a $1.5bn credit facility for Nigeria to enable it bridge budget funding gap for the pandemic year when the country faced sharp fall in oil prices and the economy jumped into a difficult recession.
Speaking on the new loan, Edun confirmed ongoing talks with the World Bank for the loan and added that the money will likely be released soon.
Edun who said the loan request will possibly be discussed as the Federal Executive Council meets on Monday, added that it will come with a near zero interest rate, dousing concerns around rising debt service obligations.
He said, “Talks with the World Bank on $1.5 billion budget support, is correct. The World Bank is the number one multilateral development bank for helping developing countries fund own projects and programs. It has free money through International Development Association (IDA).
“It has this for the poorer countries and right now I think we qualify as one of the countries that are almost in the normal window of the World Bank funding but also some concessionary IDA funding.
“That means that effectively, the interest rate will be zero. Therefore, there is no stigma at all attached with qualifying for a World Bank funding to help finance development.
“In this particular case, its long been in the pipeline, and we are hoping that that funding will come through soon. A lot of hard work is being done. There’s a Federal Executive Council meeting on Monday that should be able to discuss this as well as other initiatives for financing of reasonable term.
“We’ve talked about the high costs of money, but the World bank money is the cheapest.”
On the priority of government, he said the key focus remains providing a better life for all Nigerians.
The Minister added, “The various discussions we have had with institutions such as the International Monetary and Finance Committee (IMF), the International Finance Corporation, the Islamic Development Bank and the British Government, to name a few, show that domestic revenue mobilization is a critical component of Nigeria’s long-term path to sustainable development finance.
“The Nigerian economy is not immune to these global headwinds and the overall geopolitical fragmentations. Fiscal consolidation remains the preferred policy option for many countries, so that buffers can be built after long years of stimulus.”
SAN JOSE – Ozzy Wiesblatt, a San Jose Sharks first-round draft pick from three years ago now with the Barracuda, was given a three-game suspension by the American Hockey League on Saturday for an illegal check to the head of a Rockford IceHogs player.
The hit occurred Friday night in a game at Tech CU Arena in San Jose. Wiesblatt will miss San Jose’s games tonight vs. Rockford and Oct. 20 and Oct. 21 at Henderson.
Wiesblatt, 21, had just come onto the ice when skated into the Rockford zone and leveled IceHogs forward Kale Howarth, who didn’t have the puck. Howarth, listed at 6-foot-5 and 201 pounds, remained down on the ice for several moments before being helped off.
Wiesblatt, at 5-10 and 185 pounds, was given a five-minute major and a match penalty at the 3:12 mark of the second period for an illegal check to the head. Under AHL rules, any player receiving a match penalty remains suspended until the matter can be reviewed by the league president.
The AHL’s player safety committee met Saturday morning and leveled the suspension on Wiesblatt, who was drafted 31st overall by the Sharks in 2020. The Barracuda were playing their first game of the season.
After the incident, the IceHogs scored twice on the ensuing power play, increasing their lead to 4-1. Rockford scored three more goals in the third period and won the game 7-2.
After he was drafted, Wiesblatt was signed by the Sharks to a three-year, entry-level contract. He played nearly two more full seasons with Prince Albert of the WHL before he turned professional last season.
In 45 games with the Barracuda in 2022-23, Wiesblatt had six goals, nine assists, and 30 penalty minutes. He is in the second year of his contract.
Governor Alex Otti of Abia State has increased the Alex Otti Foundation scholarship package to beneficiaries from N150,000 to N250,000. A total of 34 beneficiaries were selected for this year’s edition for the scholarship programme.
Otti who disclosed this while addressing the 2022- 2023 beneficiaries, during a banquet held at the Sacramento Event Centre , Olokoro, Umuahia South LGA, pledged to continue his support to the beneficiaries to enable them achieve their full potential.
He stated that the scholarship scheme, which started many years ago, but formalized seven years ago is modelled in such a way that beneficiaries do not need to know anyone to succeed.
The Governor further revealed that the foundation has no relationship with Abia state government even as he said that there is a line between the Abia state finances and Alex Otti’s foundation.
According to him, the initiative is a way of investing in the future and charged beneficiaries not to disappoint but rather put in their best to excel.
He said that the scholarship programme targets bright and indigent students of Abia Origin or those resident in the state.
Otti used the forum to appreciate the management committee of the scholarship scheme for their input and for remaining committed to the vision of the foundation without compromise.
In his speech, the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor and immediate past Executive Secretary of the foundation Mr Chinedu Ekeke, said the selection process was transparent, adding that the scholarship award is just an arm of the Alex Otti foundation which has continued to empower the citizens.
He thanked The Governor for supporting the venture,adding that the Governor never plays politics with excellence .
He urged the beneficiaries to maintain high standard in education,pointing out that the foundation made sure that beneficiaries must come from public tertiary institutions.
In his remarks, the Chairman planning committee and Head , logistics ,Mr Maxell Umesi on behalf of the beneficiaries of the 2023 batch thanked Governor Alex Otti for giving them the latitude to conduct the selection process transparently, noting that all beneficiaries were selected based on merit.
He noted that the foundation has over the years produced about 6 first class students, noting that the Governor is determined to building a generation of accomplished individuals who would continue to do great in their chosen fields and urged them to remain worthy ambassadors of the foundation and state at large.
Speaking on behalf of other beneficiaries one of the first class graduates ,Mr Kelvin Ikeoha thanked Governor Alex Otti for giving them a future through the foundation and pledged to also give back to the society.
La Esfera en Las Vegas tiene afuera una pantalla LED que puede cambiar la apariencia de la órbita, incluyendo de calabaza a una imagen marina.
Unos videos recientes compartidos ampliamente en Facebook, X y TikTok muestran la Esfera iluminandose con la bandera israelí, tras la violencia en el país. Pero estas imágenes fueron alteradas.
“Esta imagen fue photoshopped”, la cuenta de la Esfera escribió el 11 de octubre en X.
No es la primera vez que surge desinformación sobre la Esfera.
En julio, verificamos la declaración de que la Esfera mostraba un mensaje derogatorio dirigido al Presidente Joe Biden. Esta imagen también era falsa.
Calificamos las publicaciones que muestran a la Esfera iluminada con la bandera israelí como Falsa.
Una versión de este artículo originalmente fue escrita en inglés y traducida por Maria Briceño.
