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☆ Fact Check-CNN headline about cannibalism at Burning Man is fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A screenshot of an article on CNN’s homepage titled “Burning Man attendees unable to leave desert, resort to cannibalism” is fabricated, a spokesperson for the outlet said. “Burning Man festival turns into Cannibalism festival? #CNN #burningman,” reads a post sharing a collage featuring the fabricated CNN headline on Facebook (bit.ly/44ORGHT). “This image is fabricated and not something that appeared on the CNN.com homepage,” Emily Kuhn, a CNN spokesperson, said in an email to Reuters. CNN did not report on cannibalism at the 2023 Burning Man festival.

Persons: ” Emily Kuhn, revelers, Read Organizations: CNN, Facebook, CNN.com, Reuters

☆ Fact Check-Burning Man X post addressing reports of cannibalism is fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A screenshot showing an X social media post from Burning Man’s official account addressing “reports of Ebola and widespread cannibalism” at the Nevada desert festival is fake, a spokesperson for the event said. The viral screenshot shared on Facebook (bit.ly/3Zu6Bq1) and (bit.ly/45Mr0c5) purports to show a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, from @BurningMan that reads: “Reports of Ebola and widespread cannibalism are circulating the internet. Please be aware, there is NO CANNIBALISM HAPPENING AT BURNING MAN.”The alleged post is not visible on the X account (bit.ly/4881q2F) listed on Burning Man’s official website (bit.ly/3ZbIHPO), nor in the archives (here). Unexpected summer rain turned Burning Man 2023 - a weeklong, annual arts festival - into a muddy affair that stranded participants at the site for days, Reuters reported on Sept. 4 (here). A Burning Man post on X about “reports of Ebola and widespread cannibalism” is fake, according to a spokesperson for the event.

Persons: Dominique Debucquoy, Dodley, Read Organizations: Facebook, Burning, Reuters Locations: Nevada, Black Rock

☆ Fact Check-No evidence Burning Man officials announced Ebola case on X
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-08 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

There is no evidence that a screenshot showing an announcement from the account on X, formerly Twitter, of the Burning Man festival saying a case of Ebola was recorded at the gathering is real. The screenshot shared on Facebook (here) and X (here) shows a post from the ‘@burningman’ account which reads, “For anyone who attended Burning Man, we unfortunately have to share with you that an attendee has contracted ebola. (here)On being shown the viral screenshot, Burning Man spokesperson Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley told Reuters that it is “unequivocally fake”. (here)Thousands attending the 2023 Burning Man festival were stranded in the Nevada Desert after unexpected summer rain turned the site into mud, closing access to and from Black Rock City, the event's site, Reuters reported on Saturday. A Burning Man spokesperson told Reuters that a screenshot showing a post from its official X account about an attendee contracting the Ebola virus at the 2023 event is not real.

Persons: Dominique Debucquoy, Dodley, John Asselin, Scott Pauley, “, ”, Read Organizations: Twitter, Facebook, Reuters, U.S Bureau of Land Management, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, ” Reuters, Black, Black Rock City Locations: Nevada, Black Rock

☆ Fact Check-Burning Man attendees weren't given posters warning of viral symptoms, says spokesperson
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

There is no evidence that attendees at the 2023 Burning Man festival were handed posters warning to stay inside if they experience certain viral symptoms. A spokesperson for the festival said to Reuters an image detailing viral symptoms is fake and that rumors of a transmissible outbreak at the festival are untrue. One user shared the image on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, with a caption that reads: “Supposedly, these posters are being shared outside of people's campers at Burning Man” (ghostarchive.org/archive/zH1tg). A spokesperson for the festival said to Reuters that the image is fake. The image appears to be altered from a graphic uploaded to stock image websites detailing the symptoms of Dengue Fever.

Persons: ”, Read Organizations: Reuters, Burning, ” Reuters Locations: Black Rock, Nevada

☆ Fact Check-Screenshot of CDC post on Ebola outbreak at Burning Man is fake
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

It is recommended that all Burning Man attendees remain in their dwellings until further notice. Facebook users sharing the screenshot wrote, “CDC put out Ebola Warning about Burning Man Festival... government soon pulled it. Another cover-up is going on,” (here) and “Never been a fan of BURNING MAN (too dirty and dusty & unsanitary for me) but WTF?? The link in the purported CDC post (bit.ly/NjMklRjjH) redirects to an article by The Independent addressing conspiracy theories around the Burning Man festival (here). The CDC did not publish a post on an Ebola outbreak at Burning Man 2023.

Persons: ”, Read Organizations: U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, Black Rock City, “ CDC, CDC, Reuters, Independent, Rock Locations: Nevada, NV, West Africa, Rock City , Nevada

☆ Fact Check-Forbes headline about Ebola outbreak at Burning Man is altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Forbes did not publish an article titled, “Yes, There’s An Ebola Outbreak At Burning Man.” Instead, it reported there was no Ebola outbreak at the Burning Man arts and music festival in the Nevada desert. “The image … appears to be an altered screenshot of a Forbes story entitled, ‘No, There’s Not An Ebola Outbreak At Burning Man,’” a spokesperson for Forbes said in an email to Reuters. The timestamp, author, and satellite image of the Burning Man festival in this article match the altered screenshot (here). Reuters found no evidence to support online claims that there was an Ebola outbreak at Burning Man (here). Forbes did not report that there was an Ebola outbreak at the Burning Man festival.

Persons: Forbes, revelers, ’ ”, ”, Scott Pauley, Read Organizations: Man, Facebook, Reuters, “ CDC, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, U.S . Bureau of Land Management Locations: Nevada, Black Rock

☆ My miserable, euphoric, muddy escape from Burning Man
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Rob Price | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Social media was having a field day turning Burning Man into the epicenter of schadenfreude and misinformation, the few people who managed to connect to the internet reported. AdvertisementAdvertisementThe reality of Burning Man was not quite so dire. 2023 was my first year at Burning Man. I'd wanted to go to Burning Man for years. Even before the floods, there was an uncomfortable tension to Burning Man.

Persons: Joy, I'd, JULIE JAMMOT, Betty, preemptively, There's, they'd, Twitter, Zeynep Tufekci, Tufekci, I've, Ansel, we'd, Rob Price Organizations: FEMA, National Guard, Social, Getty, New York Times, Rock City, YouTube Locations: Nevada, San Francisco, Silicon, playa, AFP, Somme, Northern Nevada, Rock, American, Ansel Adams, Trail

☆ Fact Check-No reported mpox outbreak at Burning Man festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Social media posts falsely reporting mpox and other diseases at the festival are circulating amid news of heavy downpours that produced a sea of sticky mud at the event in 2023 and prompted a shelter-in-place order. One post on X, formerly known as Twitter, (here) reads, “There's no ebola outbreak at Burning man.. we've received confirmation that it's just a new strain of monkeypox. However, there are no credible news reports of an mpox outbreak at Burning Man in 2023, nor do the event organizer’s social media accounts mention any cases of the disease (here), (twitter.com/bmantraffic), (www.facebook.com/burningman/). Reuters has previously addressed false claims of an Ebola outbreak at the 2023 Burning Man event (here). There have been no reports of an mpox outbreak at Burning Man 2023, according to the CDC and BLM.

Persons: “, we've, Dave Daigle, ” Daigle, ” John Asselin, Read Organizations: U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, Land Management, Man, Twitter, Facebook, Reuters, CDC, Mpox, BLM, Burning Locations: Nevada, Black Rock, Marburg

☆ Fact Check-LA airport evacuated because of a suspicious item, not Burning Man quarantine
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-06 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

“Private jet from Burning Man lands at LAX and get (sic) quarantined on runway and airport evacuated,” read a post sharing video of the evacuation on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter (here). The X post included hashtags #Ebola and #outbreak that refer to a separate, unfounded narrative that there was a virus outbreak at Burning Man (here). Screenshots of the X post were also shared on Facebook (here) and (here). Burning Man festival organizers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. LAX was not evacuated because of a quarantine or reasons related to the Burning Man festival.

Persons: revelers, ”, Dae Levine, Scott Pauley, Read Organizations: Los Angeles International Airport, Man, Reuters, Posts, LAX, Facebook, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, Los, Los Angeles World Airports, CDC, U.S . Bureau of Land Management Locations: Nevada, LA, Los Angeles, Black Rock

☆ Fact Check-No evidence of Ebola outbreak at 2023 Burning Man festival
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

There is no evidence of an Ebola outbreak during the 2023 Burning Man festival, despite viral claims online. Reuters found no evidence of any such outbreak and messaging from the festival organizers and public agencies contradicts the online claims. “CDC has not received reports of Ebola nor requests for testing, or for CDC teams to deploy tied to the Burning man Festival,” a spokesperson for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said to Reuters in an email on Tuesday. Archives of the festival’s website and accounts associated with the festival on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, do not reveal any post warning of an Ebola outbreak (here), (here), (here). There is no evidence of an Ebola outbreak during 2023 Burning Man festival.

Persons: ”, Read Organizations: Reuters, CDC, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, Bureau, Land Management, Twitter, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA Locations: Black Rock

☆ Elon Musk called Burning Man the 'best art on Earth' before thousands of mud-soaked attendees fled the disastrous event
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Elon Musk called Burning Man the "best art on Earth" despite chaotic weather conditions. Elon Musk, who has been known to attend the arts festival in the past, praised the event as the "best art on Earth." In a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, Musk said: "Burning Man is unique in the world. The billionaire made the remarks in response to a joke video of a Balenciaga fashion show in Paris that was falsely labeled as Burning Man. Burning Man has long been a favorite among billionaires and tech elites.

Persons: Elon, hasn't, Elon Musk, Musk, Angie Peacock, hadn't, Musk's, Kimbal, Sergey Brin Organizations: Twitter, Rock City, Wall Street Locations: Nevada, Paris

☆ Rich, poor countries split over costs of pandemic prevention
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +9 min

REUTERS/Bruno Kelly/StringerSince early in the COVID-19 pandemic, global health officials have sought to create a “pandemic treaty” to better prepare for future outbreaks. The governing body of the World Health Organization, or WHO, chose delegates from each of its six administrative regions worldwide to lead the negotiations. Ahead of next week’s meeting, according to officials interviewed by Reuters, the biggest sticking point remains financing for poor countries. The United States and the European Union have both said they support the inclusion of “One Health” provisions in a pandemic treaty. But as a far-reaching and sometimes abstract concept, “One Health” measures could be costly to put into practice.

Persons: ”, Chadia Wannous, zoonotic spillover, Bruno Kelly, Stringer, Lawrence Gostin, ” Gostin, –, Maria Van Kerkhove, “, Deborah J, Nelson, Ryan McNeill, Helen Reid, Sam Hart, Simon Newman, Edgar Su, Paulo Prada, Janet Roberts, Feilding Organizations: LONDON Health, World Health Organization, Organisation for Animal Health, Reuters, REUTERS, WHO, European Union, Center, National, Global Health Law, “, Pacific, Brazilian, South Locations: Geneva, France, United States, Asia, Africa, Latin America, Americas, Southeast Asia, Brazil

☆ Australia: Doctors remove 3-inch parasitic worm from woman's brain in world first
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The finding unleashed a mad scramble to find out what exactly the parasite was, Canberra Hospital infectious disease expert Sanjaya Senanayake told CNN. “We were able to send the live wiggling worm to him, and he was able to look at it and immediately identify it,” Senanayake said. In this case, the patient was likely an accidental host of the worm, Senanayake said. “There’s more opportunities for humans, domestic animals and wild animals to interact with each other and the vegetation that’s out there. And of those emerging infections, about 75% were zoonotic, meaning there has been transmission from the animal world to the human world – including coronaviruses.

Persons: Dr, Hari Priya Bandi, ” Bandi, Sanjaya Senanayake, “, ” Senanayake, ”, Senanayake, Hossain M, Kennedy KJ, Wilson HL Senanayake Organizations: CNN, Australian National University, Canberra Hospital, Wilson, US Centers for Disease Control, Prevention Locations: Canberra, New South Wales, Australia

☆ A stock trader who returned 630% in 3 years shares 6 key signals he identifies before making a trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( Laila Maidan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

For example, if a stock's price is below the VWAP, it may lure many traders into shorting it, he said. Since Sykes trades penny stocks with less trading volume, he uses indicators that help him determine whether his theses will play out. However, its importance is inferior to the above criteria because the catalyst could move a stock's price in either direction. On the morning of December 1, 2022, the stock's price plunged, creating a pattern he calls a morning panic. This trade fit Sykes' criteria because it had attention on it as a catalyst and created a pattern he trades.

Persons: Timothy Sykes, Sykes, Norman Zadeh, It's, they're, CLOW Organizations: Bollinger, United States, Nasdaq Locations: shorting

☆ Sierra Leone main opposition party rejects partial presidential poll results
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

FREETOWN, June 27 (Reuters) - Sierra Leone's main opposition party has rejected the partial results of a tense presidential election that showed President Julius Maada Bio leading the poll, alleging irregularities in the tallying process. The All People's Congress (APC) party's main candidate Samura Kamara, 72, is the incumbent's main rival. A provisional results sheet on Monday showed Kamara trailing behind Bio with just under 800,000 votes, compared to over 1 million for the president. [1/2]Supporters of Sierra Leone's opposition leader and presidential candidate for the All People's Congress (APC) party, Dr. Samura Kamara, wipe rain drops from his campaign poster in Freetown, Sierra Leone June 23, 2023. Bio addressed the nation after the publication of provisional results on Monday evening and called on citizens to remain peaceful.

Persons: Julius Maada, Samura Kamara, Kamara, Sierra, Cooper, Sierra Leone, Umaru, Sofia Christensen, Christina Fincher Organizations: Congress, party's, All, REUTERS, World Bank, Thomson Locations: FREETOWN, Freetown, Sierra Leone, Sierra

[1/6] Ballots are displayed at a polling station, after polls closed, on the day of the national election, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, June 24, 2023. The race is expected to be close between the incumbent and the All People's Congress' (APC) Samura Kamara, who narrowly lost to Bio in the last election in 2018. The main opposition APC also said their election representatives were attacked and intimidated in three districts, highlighting the tense backdrop to the vote. Inflation soared to its highest level in over 20 years in 2022, while the national Leone currency slumped 60% in value. Bio and Kamara reported small-scale attacks on their supporters ahead of election day, while the APC's recent questioning of the independence of election officials has raised tensions.

Persons: Cooper Inveen, Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio's, Samura Kamara, Abu Koroma, We've, Kandeh Yumkella, Mohamed Rahman Swaray, Kamara, Alessandra Prentice, Angus MacSwan, Ros Russell, Marguerita Choy Organizations: REUTERS, Reuters, Provisional, APC, World Bank, Thomson Locations: Freetown, Sierra Leone, FREETOWN, Sierra, Leone, Ukraine

☆ Sierra Leone : Tensions mount ahead of high-stakes elections
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Stephanie Busari | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —Sierra Leone is gearing up for crucial presidential elections on Saturday amid growing discontent and calls for change from its citizens. Sierra Leone has also faced devastating epidemics, including Ebola in 2014 and the Covid pandemic. President of Sierra Leone and Leader of Sierra Leone People's party (SLPP), Julius Maada Bio, addresses his supporters during his final campaign rally in Freetown John Wessels/AFP/Getty ImagesTwelve candidates are challenging Maada Bio, 59, in the general election, including the leader of the opposition ‘All People Congress’ (APC) party, Samura Kamara. ‘The people are tired’The mood in the country is tense as the country prepares for the high-stakes elections. Sierra Leoneans are concerned about several issues, including economic management, food shortages, healthcare services, infrastructure development, and education.

Persons: Julius Maada, Freetown John Wessels, Samura Kamara, Kamara, ‘, Mohamed Konneh, John Wessels, Sierra Leoneans, ”, Aminata Fanta Koroma, Kadira Rodhe Kamara, Bio, Ishmael Beah, ” Beah Organizations: CNN —, Getty, Congress, Police, European Union, International Monetary Fund, CNN Locations: CNN — Sierra Leone, Sierra Leone, Freetown John, Freetown, United Kingdom, United States, Ireland, Germany, France, Sierra

☆ China, birthplace of COVID, lays tracks for a new global health crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +10 min

Bat viruses have been the source of multiple health crises besides those related to coronaviruses, including recent outbreaks of Ebola, Nipah, and Marburg. Partners in risk The total area at high risk for bat viruses to infect humans more than doubled in size in Laos between 2002 and 2020. The animals, known to be susceptible to bat viruses, included raccoon dogs, bamboo rats and porcupines. As China boomed in recent decades, global demand for rubber also skyrocketed, leading to further development and deforestation here. Already, scientists have found local bats bearing viruses closely related to those responsible for the 2003 SARS and COVID-19 pandemics.

☆ How a deadly bat virus found new ways to infect people
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

Scientists found bats with Nipah virus roosting near Sabith’s home. A search of the neighborhood led to a colony, near their house, of flying foxes, a common fruit bat. NETTING NIPAH: Researchers in Bangladesh use nets to catch bats and collect samples to find the Nipah virus in the wild. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainWhether Sabith ate contaminated fruit or somehow came into direct contact with a bat, the virus entered his cells. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir HossainA year later, Chua’s team found the same strain of Nipah virus in flying foxes.

☆ How Reuters pinpointed bat-virus risk zones worldwide
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +12 min

Areas where conditions are similar are more prone to spillover, scientists say. The Reuters analysis, which assessed spillover risk through 2020, has proven to have some predictive power. Similar statistical models are used widely to analyze data in ecology, and researchers use them to understand spillover risk. More than one of every five people on the planet is living in areas where the risk is highest for spillover. Using epidemic modeling software called GLEAMviz, the news agency simulated a worldwide pandemic originating from the spillover of a theoretical novel virus.

☆ Bat lands worldwide are besieged, seeding risk of a new pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +16 min

This collision – bats and humans competing for resources on territory long the domain of the bats – could trigger the next pandemic. As people destroy bat habitats worldwide, they are unwittingly helping bat-borne viruses mutate, multiply, and infect other species, including homo sapiens. For millennia, bat viruses lurked across the forests of West Africa and in other undisturbed parts of the world but posed little threat to humanity. They’re potent proliferators: Some roost tightly together and in close quarters with other bat species. Each of the bat viruses analyzed by Reuters has epidemic potential, according to the World Health Organization.

☆ Opinion | We Could Easily Make Risky Virological Research Safer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The 2007 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Britain was traced to a faulty drainage pipe at a research facility. In 2015 the Department of Defense discovered that a germ-warfare program in Utah had mistakenly mailed almost 200 samples of live anthrax over 12 years. Lab accidents happen, and they aren’t especially rare. In January the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity issued a series of draft recommendations for tightening regulation and oversight. And many of those who see the Covid pandemic as merely the sort of pathogenic disaster that lab accidents might cause agree that greater safety is needed.

☆ Opinion | If the Pandemic Is No Longer a Public Health Emergency, Then What Is It?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( David Quammen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Is malaria an emergency? Is tuberculosis of international concern? I’m neither a public health expert nor a scientist, so I offer a citizen’s opinion: Yes, it’s time to cease calling Covid-19 a public health emergency of international concern. Therefore, Covid is still certainly a public health situation of international concern. We will need to keep improving laboratory techniques and manufacturing capacity for potentially ever-revised Covid vaccines.

☆ WHO dismisses lead COVID origins investigator for sexual misconduct
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Emma Farge | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a response to Reuters, Ben Embarek said he contested the accusation of harassment and was challenging the sanction. "Peter Ben Embarek was dismissed last year following findings of sexual misconduct against him that were substantiated by investigations, and corresponding disciplinary process," said WHO spokesperson Marcia Poole. Ben Embarek said that a single incident in 2017 "was settled immediately in a friendly way." "I am not aware of any other complaints and no other complaints have ever been brought to my attention," Ben Embarek said in a digital message. The agency said that people are more willing to come forward about sexual misconduct and that it is taking action where allegations are substantiated.

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - British pop star Elton John urged U.S. senators on Wednesday not to ease up on the fight against HIV and AIDS, as Congress faces a September deadline for reauthorizing the multi-billion-dollar U.S. program to fight the disease. Congress must reauthorize PEPFAR for another five years before Sept. 30. REUTERS/Anna GordonA set amount has not been set for the reauthorization, but Congress typically has approved $6.5 billion to $6.9 billion for PEPFAR each year. Global AIDS Coordinator John Nkengasong told the committee PEPFAR has saved 25 million lives and created health networks that have helped fight outbreaks of Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic. "I urge my colleagues to join me in working to reauthorize PEPFAR without delay and without new mandates and directives," said Senator Jim Risch, the panel's top Republican.

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