Scoop: Blinken says he asked Qatari PM to rein in Al Jazeera war coverage, per sources​

Al Jazeera headquarters in Doha, Qatar. Photo: Karim Jaafar/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken told a group of American Jewish community leaders on Monday that he asked the Qatari prime minister less than two weeks ago to tone down Al Jazeera's rhetoric about the war in Gaza, according to three people who attended the meeting.

Why it matters: Blinken's comments suggest the administration, which has asserted its support for the independent press globally, is concerned Al Jazeera's framing of the conflict could escalate tensions in the region.

Background: The Al Jazeera Media Network is funded by the Qatari government but maintains it operates independently. Critics have said it reflects the foreign policy position of Qatar, which has faced scrutiny over its ties to Hamas.

• Israel has accused Al Jazeera of being "a propaganda mouthpiece" for Hamas.
• The Al Jazeera press office did not respond to requests for comment.
• Al Jazeera has been described by the Council on Foreign Relations as one of the Qatari government's soft power tools that allows it to have political influence in the Middle East and around the world.
• Blinken appeared to be talking about Al Jazeera Arabic, not Al Jazeera English.

Behind the scenes: Blinken told American Jewish leaders on Monday that when he was in Doha on Oct. 13 he asked the Qatari government to change its public posture towards Hamas, three people who attended the meeting said.

• According to the three attendees, Blinken said he gave toning down Al Jazeera coverage of the war in Gaza as an example of steps the Qatari government can take to do this. Blinken said he asked the Qataris to "turn down the volume on Al Jazeera's coverage because it is full of anti-Israel incitement," according to one source.
• Blinken didn't give any examples of the heightened rhetoric he asked to be dialed back.

• The State Department declined to comment on Blinken's remarks about Al Jazeera.
• The Qatari Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The big picture: Speaking alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani in Doha, Blinken said "there can be no more business as usual with Hamas."

Yes, but: The Biden administration is dependent on Qatar's mediation with Hamas, which led last week to the release of two American hostages.

• A State Department official said Blinken is "deeply appreciative of the role Qatar is playing" in securing the release of hostages.
• "We know Qatar has an open line of communication with Hamas," White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday.

Trump tells Republicans gathered at a pep rally that they "don’t have to vote" or "worry about voting" in 2024 because he has "plenty of votes."

The former president said his supporters would be better off watching other voters than voting themselves.

Matt Young​

Night Editor

Alex Nguyen​

Breaking News Intern
Updated Oct. 24, 2023 7:59AM EDT / Published Oct. 23, 2023 6:03PM EDT

Donald Trump compared himself to Nelson Mandela in what has been described by the Associated Press as a “dark and at times profane speech” Monday at a Derry, New Hampshire campaign rally—where the former president even told his fans that they didn’t need to worry about voting come election day next year.

During his speech, Trump said he would have “plenty of votes”—enough that instead of voting, his fans should “get out there and watch those voters,” presumably referring to supporters of his eventual opponent. “You don’t have to vote, don’t worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes.”

Trump had earlier in the day visited the state Capitol to formally file the paperwork needed to enter New Hampshire’s Republican presidential primary race.
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Mike Sington

@MikeSington

Trump tells crowd at New Hampshire rally they don’t have to vote: “You don’t have to vote, don’t worry about voting. The voting, we got plenty of votes.” Sounds like he’s going to rig the election.
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While at times going on particularly outlandish tangents, Trump remained the victim throughout Monday’s speech. The former president targeted New York City judge Arthur Engoron—the same justice overseeing the former president’s civil fraud trial that threatened Trump with jail time last week over a failed gag order.

New York Attorney General Letitia James was also in Trump’s sights.

“This radical left judge. He’s a Trump hating judge...hates Trump. We have a judge that is out of control and he is totally afraid of peek-a-boo James. He’s intimidated by her,” Trump said, adding his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago, “is probably the most valuable home anywhere in the United States, probably by far.”

Trump—who is fighting numerous criminal indictments and civil trials including allegations he attempted to change the results of the 2020 presidential election—likened himself to anti-apartheid legend Nelson Mandela, who was incarcerated from 1964 to 1982 for opposing South Africa’s racial apartheid system. He was also awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.

“Bad things are happening, but we keep going up,” Trump said.

“If you want to challenge the result of an election, they hound you. But we don’t get scared — we don’t get scared. I’ll tell you what, I don’t mind being Nelson Mandela, because I’m doing it for a reason.”

”We’ve got to save our country from these fascists, these lunatics that we’re dealing with. They’re horrible people and they’re destroying our country.”

Trump used the opportunity to criticize President Joe Biden’s moves following Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct.7, even promising to build an missile defense system–one like Israel’s Iron Dome– in the U.S., one “capable of blasting Chinese, Russian, and Iranian missiles out of our skies.”

“Americans deserve an Iron Dome, and that’s what we’re going to have,” Trump said.

He described Biden’s speech to the nation last week as “a grotesque betrayal of Israel” and “one of the most dangerous and deluded speeches ever delivered from the Oval Office.”

Reflecting Biden's comments in 2018 “I’d take [Trump] behind the gym and beat the hell out of him” if they were back in high school, Trump replied: “I dream of that. You know what I’d do with him? I’d hit him right in that fake nose. He’d have plastic lying all over the floor.” Trump made the comments as he made punching gestures in the air.
He even scored a round of rambunctious applause after imitating the U.S. President.

In true form, he brought out some of his greatest hits, talking Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, but with added flair. Trump said Kim was “getting very anxious again, he thinks Biden is a total–I won’t tell you the word he used but a very bad word. And you better be careful.”

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PENTAGON —
U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked with drones or rockets at least 13 times over the past week, Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Tuesday, confirming earlier VOA reporting.

Panama think! Think!​

Why ‘Free Palestine from the River to the Sea’ Means Genocide against Jews​

Philip KleinOctober 25, 2023 11:48 AM
Palestinian-Americans and their supporters march as the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas continues, in downtown Chicago, October 8, 2023. (Eric Cox/Reuters)none

The phrases “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” or “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” may seem innocuous to those unfamiliar with the geography of the region, but in reality, they represent calls for genocide against Jews.

Those of us who follow these issues closely have recoiled whenever we hear the phrase chanted at rallies around the world, or, as was the case last night, projected in massive letters on the library of my alma mater, George Washington University. We may take it for granted that everybody else understands why these words are so alarming. But it strikes me that, to the unacquainted, saying, “Free Palestine from the river to the sea” may seem like an innocent call for people to be free. How could that be objectionable?

Well, the issue is that “from the river to the sea” refers to the entire area in between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — an area that encompasses not just territories captured by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War, but the entirety of Israel. Referring to that entire area as “Palestine” is not a call to end the occupation, to create a two-state solution, or even to return Israel to the borders that existed before 1967. It is a call for the elimination of Israel in its entirety. Israel is home to nearly half of the world’s Jewish population.

The only way you can eliminate Israel and turn that whole area into Palestine is by killing millions of Jews.​

Easy Money.

Many Palestinians in Gaza hate Hamas. My father certainly did. ​

To throw all Gazans in the same bucket as Hamas is a grave insult — one that people on both sides of the political spectrum are committing.​

Opinion by Yasmine Mohammed
5 minute read
Updated 12:56 PM EDT, Thu October 19, 2023

Editor’s note: Yasmine Mohammed is the author of “Unveiled: How Western Liberals Empower Radical Islam.” She is also the president of the nonprofit organization Free Hearts Free Minds.

CNN —
When my father, who was born and raised in Gaza, was still alive, he often spoke out against Hamas, calling it the ugly face of the Palestinian struggle everywhere.

Since Hamas’ attack on Israel, as I have read post after post on social media referring to Hamas as freedom fighters involved in anti-colonial resistance, I have been struck by the devastating weight of this lie. It is an insult to Palestinians to refer to these terrorists as our freedom fighters.

At the hands of Hamas, the Jewish people have endured horrors not seen since the Holocaust. And, like the Nazis, Hamas does not view Jewish people as human beings. According to its 1988 covenant, every Jew must be eradicated from this earth. Its goal is not the genocide of Jewish people in Israel; its goal is the genocide of all Jewish people on this planet, period.

My father hated that Hamas had dominated the conversation and positioned itself as the face of Gaza worldwide. My dad was born and raised in the Gaza Strip and lived there until he went to Egypt to attend university. Although he left Egypt for San Francisco and later moved to Montreal, he always carried Gaza in his heart.

He had a Facebook page and a YouTube channel dedicated to sharing images and videos of a Gaza before it was overrun with terrorists. There is nothing he hated more than Hamas. In words he posted to social media: “May God curse the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, they have brought us nothing but backwardness in our Arab societies.”

He would not be surprised to see the massacres of families, of babies, of the elderly by Hamas because he knew its brutality already. Like many people from Gaza, my father knew that if you spoke up against these tyrannical oppressors, you were swiftly dealt with. And your family, too, for good measure. Hamas has never shied away from violence.

To throw all Gazans in the same bucket as Hamas is a grave insult — one that people on both sides of the political spectrum are committing.

Many people on the left, for example, conflate Hamas with all Palestinians and then deem them all the oppressed — the minority group, the victims, the besieged. Hamas is happy with this misguided and confused perspective because it allows the group to hide under the umbrella of “oppression” to justify its violence. It would rather, of course, be seen as freedom fighters than terrorists.

Among the hard right, many people are conflating Palestinians with Hamas to justify the flattening of Gaza. While cutting power and water to civilians violates international law, cutting water and electricity to terrorists is justified, according to that line of thinking.

The truth is, Hamas is not Gaza, and Gaza is not Hamas. Gaza is an area of land with people who are trying to do the best that they can to survive under abysmal circumstances. Gazans are just human beings, like their Israeli neighbors. They want to live in a peaceful environment where they do not have to be concerned about the safety of their children. While there are many Gazans who say they support Hamas, a poll conducted in July showed that 50% of Gazans agreed that “Hamas should stop calling for Israel’s destruction, and instead accept a permanent two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.”

Hamas stands next to al Qaeda and ISIS in perpetuating deadly terror attacks against civilians. I believe Israel has every right to protect its people from a vicious, violent and ugly terrorist group. Jewish history is fraught, with generation after generation having to face various groups wanting to eradicate the Jewish population.

I am heartbroken, of course, that Gazans will now have to pay the price for Hamas’ depravity. It is brutal and horrific. War always is. It was also brutal and horrific when al Qaeda was responsible for the loss of so many Iraqi lives or when ISIS was responsible for the loss of so many Syrian lives.

Sadly, Hamas will likely continue its destruction. Its funding will still flow in from Iran, though perhaps it will need to rebrand under a different name. Like the mythic Hydra, it will grow two heads when this one is cut off. It is Gazans who will never recover. It is Gazans who will have to give up on their dream of a homeland forever.

If you want to help Gazans, conflating them all with a terrorist group is not the way. Instead, you can help them to get out from under the tyranny of Hamas. Share the voices of peace-loving Palestinians such as activist Bassem Eid. Elevate the words of secular politicians who do not use religion to sow division and encourage hate of the other.

I fear none of us will ever get to see Gaza as an independent state freed from the clutches of terrorists. I will never see my family’s two buildings there that my father so desperately wanted me to visit. They probably won’t be left standing. I will likely never set eyes on his beloved olive trees. They will return to the earth as he has.

It could have been so different. Ignorance and religious zealotry ripped away any chance that Gaza had. Mercifully, my dad died thinking that one day his dream of freeing his homeland from the clutches of Hamas so the Gazan people could breathe and flourish might be realized. He didn’t have to endure the heartbreak of seeing the reality playing out today.

When my dad died, I mourned mostly for what could have been in my relationship with him. Now I am mourning for what could have been for his homeland.

So big note here: Lincoln Riley is not at practice today as he has been recovering from an illness. This is the second practice he has missed. Dennis Simmons has taken over as acting head coach while Riley recovers from his house under doctors orders.

USC is working with compliance to have Kliff Kingsbury able to operate as a full-fledged assistant if needed.

The latest:

Ellis became the fourth co-defendant in the case to accept a plea deal instead of going to trial.


Oct. 24, 2023, 8:53 AM CDT / Updated Oct. 24, 2023, 9:28 AM CDT
By Rebecca Shabad

Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis pled guilty on Tuesday morning in the Georgia election interference case, becoming the fourth co-defendant to accept a plea deal instead of going to trial.

Ellis pleaded guilty in court to aiding and abetting false statements and writings.

The conditions of the plea agreement include the requirements that she serve five years of probation, pay $5,000 of restitution to the Georgia secretary of state within 30 days, and testify at hearings or trials in the case.

Ellis is also required to complete 100 hours of community service and write an apology letter to the citizens of the state of Georgia. Ellis also agreed to provide any requested documents or evidence, not post about the case on social media and not have any communication with any witnesses or the media until the case has been closed.

Ellis was Trump’s senior legal adviser from early 2019 until shortly after he left office in January 2021 and was part of the legal team that advised him as he sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Prosecutors said Tuesday that Ellis participated in a December 2020 meeting in which Rudy Giuliani and other Trump lawyers made false statements in an effort to disregard the certified results of the presidential election in Georgia and to get fake presidential electors appointed. They said Ellis was also involved in similar false statements in other states, including in Arizona, Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Ellis became emotional in court on Tuesday, tearing up as she delivered brief remarks about how she regrets her experience representing Trump.

"As an attorney who is also a Christian, I take my responsibilities as a lawyer very seriously and I endeavor to be a person of sound, moral and ethical character in all of my dealings. In the wake of the 2020 presidential election, I believed that challenging the results on behalf of President Trump should be pursued in a just and legal way. I endeavored to represent my client to the best of my ability. I relied on others, including lawyers with many more years of experience than I, to provide me with true and reliable information, especially since my role involved speaking to the media and to legislators in various states," Ellis said.


"What I did not do but should have done, your honor, was to make sure that the facts the other lawyers alleged to be true were in fact true," she continued. "In the frenetic pace of attempting to raise challenges to the election in several states, including Georgia, I failed to do my due diligence. I believe in and I value election integrity. If I knew then what I know now, I would have declined to represent Donald Trump in these post-election challenges. I look back on this full experience with deep remorse."

Her plea agreement comes after co-defendants Sidney Powell and Scott Chesebro took plea deals last week. Powell pleaded guilty Thursday to six misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to commit election interference. Chesebro pleaded guilty on Friday to a felony count of conspiracy to file false documents.

Both co-defendants had been scheduled to start a joint trial in the case before their plea agreements.

Another defendant in the sprawling case, Scott Hall, pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges in late September as part of a deal with Fulton County prosecutors. Hall, a bail bondsman, was charged in relation to a voting system breach in Georgia’s Coffee County in early 2021.

They were among 19 defendants named in District Attorney Fani Willis’ indictment, which also charged former President Donald Trump.

Trump’s New York civil fraud trial rolls on after an appeals judge declines to halt it​

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK
Updated 4:56 PM CDT, October 6, 2023

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial will roll ahead next week after the former president lost a bid Friday to halt the proceedings while he fights a pretrial ruling that could strip him of Trump Tower and other marquee properties.

An appeals court judge rebuffed Trump’s push to pause the New York trial, but agreed to leave him in control of his holdings for now. The decision, after an emergency hearing Friday afternoon, came five days into the closely watched trial.

Trump went to the courthouse for the first three days of the trial in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit, observing testimony — and fulminating to TV cameras outside about a case he deemed a “a witch hunt and a disgrace.”

Trump’s lawyers had asked the state’s intermediate appellate court to suspend the trial and prevent Judge Arthur Engoron from enforcing a ruling he made last week. Engoron’s decision revoked the Republican presidential frontrunner’s business licenses and puts a court-appointed receiver in charge of his companies.

“This is a massive error. It is irreparable,” Trump lawyer Christopher Kise told the appellate judge, Associate Justice Peter H. Moulton. Kise argued that the ruling will make defendants in other cases fear that their companies and properties will be seized without recourse.

“We’re not seeking a delay. We’re seeking a fair trial,” Kise said.

Trump’s lawyers said Engoron’s ruling could harm not only the ex-president and other defendants but as many as 1,000 employees.

State Deputy Solicitor General Judy Vale told the appeals judge that James’ office had already offered to keep the business licenses as-is until after the trial. Kise acknowledged the offer, but said he was worried Engoron wouldn’t allow it.

“We could have resolved some of this, and we’re still happy to do so,” Vale said, calling the defense arguments for a delay “completely meritless.”

“No one thinks the lights will go off at 40 Wall Street tomorrow, that’s not what’s happening,” Vale said.

Mounting the trial has been ”an enormous endeavor,” Vale said, entailing extensive court planning, security resources for Trump’s attendance and special arrangements for press and public access.

In a statement, Kise said that he was pleased the appeals court “upheld New York law and put a halt to any cancellation of business certificates, receivers or dissolution.”

“The trial court’s attempt to reach issues, entities and assets beyond the scope of this case has been suspended,” Kise said.

James countered that Trump’s side was “falsely claiming victory” for a resolution that her office had proposed and that the big takeaway was that the trial goes on as scheduled.

“Once again, Donald Trump’s attempts to delay this trial have been rejected,” James said in a statement. “Yet another court denied his efforts to evade justice for his years of fraud. But Donald Trump lives in a fantasy world where money grows on trees and facts don’t matter.”

The appellate court last week rejected the defense’s last-minute effort to delay the trial just days before it began. On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers dropped a lawsuit they filed against Engoron as part of that challenge.

Engoron ruled last week that Trump committed years of fraud as he built the real estate empire that vaulted him to fame and the White House.

The judge, ruling on the top claim in James’ lawsuit, found that Trump routinely deceived banks, insurers and others by exaggerating the value of assets on his annual financial statements, which were used in making deals and securing loans.

Trump has denied wrongdoing, arguing that some of his assets are worth far more than what’s listed on the statements.

Before the appellate action, former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified at the trial Friday that values he assigned to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida — as much as $739 million in 2018 — were based on the false premise that it could be sold as a private residence. Such use is prohibited by Trump’s 2002 agreement with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

“Were you aware that Mr. Trump had deeded away his right to use the property for any other purpose than a social club?” state lawyer Andrew Amer asked.

“I was not aware,” said McConney, who’s also a defendant in this case.

The trial will resume Tuesday with Trump’s longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg on the witness stand. Weisselberg, a defendant, oversaw Trump’s dealmaking, was involved in securing loans and supervised McConney’s work on the financial statements. He left jail in April after serving about 100 days for dodging taxes on $1.7 million in job perks.

As the trial was unfolding this week, Engoron issued an order Thursday setting procedures for enforcing his ruling. He gave both sides until Oct. 26 to submit names of potential receivers and gave Trump and other defendants seven days to provide a court-appointed monitor, retired federal judge Barbara Jones, with a list of all entities covered by the ruling.

He also ordered the defendants to give Jones advance notice of any application for new business licenses in any jurisdiction and any attempts to create new entities to “hold or acquire the assets” of a company that’s being dissolved under the ruling.

Trump’s lawyers argued in court papers that Engoron had “no rationale or legal authority” to impose what they described as “the corporate death penalty.” They also rapped the judge for not being clear in explaining the real-world effects of his decision.

At a pretrial hearing on Sept. 26, Trump lawyer Christopher Kise pressed Engoron to clarify whether his ruling meant Trump would be required simply to close up some corporate entities or if he’d be forced to relinquish some of his most prized assets.

Engoron then said he wasn’t “prepared to issue a ruling right now.”

This is about a President who led the most successful economic comeback in the world. It’s about a compassionate leader who made America respected on the world stage again. It's about a man who has used his years of public service to develop the wisdom and toughness to continue to guide our great nation.

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covering Vaki in man D 3 times with two burnt for TD’s. Pete used to drop a D-lineman into coverage, but it was usually zone and NOT trying to stay with a player who is definitely faster. That is a matchup I would everyday and twice on Sunday.

I mean Korey did end the game against the Bruins last year but he dropped back in a zone look.

Many will disagree but Caleb has been off all year. The crazy stats early on were against really poor competition. As the teams have gotten better he has regressed and the results show. Just his clock management alone has been terrible. He's letting the play clock wind down to zero and then when the snap finally occurs you can see he's not progressing through his reads well at all, sitting in the pocket too long, not running when he should, etc. Also there were at least 6 times I counted yesterday where guys wide were open and he just didn't see them. I know we want to blame the OL all the time but some of this is on Caleb being very indecisive in the pocket. So many stalled drives yesterday are the fault of Caleb. He is best when he's on the move. He needs to run more and if you noticed yesterday, our successful drives always involved some QB scrambles/runs.

...this could go to any normal person's head.

Exactly what I was thinking as it unfolded....

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Top-70 2024 versatile power forward Brody Kozlowski will announce his commitment decision later this morning at around 11:45. He visited USC earlier this month and the Trojans are part of his final list that also includes UCLA, Cal, San Diego State and BYU. USC heads into the announcement as the favorite after his recent trip, and it would be a significant recruiting victory for Andy Enfield and the staff. Kozlowski, who plays at Corner Canyon High School in Draper, Utah, has strong family connections to BYU with both of his parents being former athletes for the Cougars.

I watched him this summer, and he's an impressive player who has a unique game for his size. He can step out and shoot but isn't afraid to mix it up in the paint. He has solid ball-handling ability and some good athleticism as well. He'll be a nice fit for the Trojans if he does make that move.

San Diego State gained some traction for a bit this summer and then Cal really made a strong push but right now it is feeling like USC will be the call.

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LINK A look at what the Trojans are getting in their newest commit

Taiwan’s Impossible Choice: Be Ukraine or Hong Kong​

The island democracy draws two opposite lessons from Russian invasion of Ukraine​

By Yaroslav Trofimovand Joyu Wang

July 5, 2023 at 12:01 am ET

These two competing visions will play out in Taiwan’s presidential elections, slated for January, and shape how the island democracy revamps its defenses as China’s military might expands. The soul-searching inside Taiwan, and the determination with which it will strengthen its armed forces, is also bound to affect the extent to which the U.S. will get involved militarily should Beijing try to capture the island, home to 24 million people—and most of the world’s advanced semiconductor production capacity.

While Taiwan has been living under a threat of invasion ever since China’s Communist Party took control of the mainland in 1949, the Russian thrust into Ukraine drove home to many Taiwanese that war can erupt with little notice. Chinese leaders have intensified their rhetoric around Taiwan, repeating that they won’t rule out using force to achieve what they call “national reunification.” Beijing has also ramped up naval and air probes around the island that wear out Taiwanese defenses. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency estimates that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has set 2027 as the deadline for his military to be ready to take the island.

Editors’ Note: Gaza Hospital Coverage​

By The New York Times
Oct. 23, 2023

On Oct. 17, The New York Times published news of an explosion at a hospital in Gaza City, leading its coverage with claims by Hamas government officials that an Israeli airstrike was the cause and that hundreds of people were dead or injured. The report included a large headline at the top of The Times’s website.

Israel subsequently denied being at fault and blamed an errant rocket launch by the Palestinian faction group Islamic Jihad, which has in turn denied responsibility. American and other international officials have said their evidence indicates that the rocket came from Palestinian fighter positions.

The Times’s initial accounts attributed the claim of Israeli responsibility to Palestinian officials, and noted that the Israeli military said it was investigating the blast. However, the early versions of the coverage — and the prominence it received in a headline, news alert and social media channels — relied too heavily on claims by Hamas, and did not make clear that those claims could not immediately be verified. The report left readers with an incorrect impression about what was known and how credible the account was.

The Times continued to update its coverage as more information became available, reporting the disputed claims of responsibility and noting that the death toll might be lower than initially reported. Within two hours, the headline and other text at the top of the website reflected the scope of the explosion and the dispute over responsibility.

Given the sensitive nature of the news during a widening conflict, and the prominent promotion it received, Times editors should have taken more care with the initial presentation, and been more explicit about what information could be verified. Newsroom leaders continue to examine procedures around the biggest breaking news events — including for the use of the largest headlines in the digital report — to determine what additional safeguards may be warranted.