Cool weather helped fire crews gain ground against the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century on Thursday, as the search went on for more bodies.

At least 56 people were killed in the Northern fire and 300 were unaccounted for a week after the flames swept through Butte County. At least three people were also killed in a fire in the southern part of the state. 

The nearly 570 square kilometre blaze in Northern California was 40 percent contained, the state fire agency said, and firefighters succeeded in slowing the flames’ advance towards populated areas.

More than 450 searchers were assigned to look for remains in Paradise, which was all but destroyed on November, and in outlying areas such as Magalia, a forested town of about 11,000. Many of the missing were elderly and from Magalia.

“If this town does recover, it’s going to take many, many years,” said Johnny Pohmagevich, an 18-year Magalia resident who lives up the road from many burned homes.

Police drove around town, searching for those still in their homes and checking if they needed food and water.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Wednesday night that 130 people were missing. His office later released a list of 300 people who were unaccounted for, though spokeswoman Miranda Bowersox said some of those may simply not have checked in with officials or family.

At the other end of the state, crews continued to battle wildfires in Southern California, including a blaze of more than 396 square km that destroyed over 500 structures in Malibu and nearby communities. At least three deaths were reported.

Homes destroyed

Officials in Northern California put the number of homes lost there at nearly 8,800, and the sheriff said the task of recovering remains had become so vast that his office brought in 287 more searchers Wednesday, including National Guard troops. The search crews used 22 cadaver dogs.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke joined California’s Governor Jerry Brown on a visit to Paradise on Wednesday, saying it was the worst fire devastation he had ever seen.

“Now is not the time to point fingers,” Zinke said. “There are lots of reasons these catastrophic fires are happening.” 

The governor said officials would need to learn how to better prevent fires from becoming so deadly .

It will take years to rebuild, if people decide that’s what should be done, said Brock Long, administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “The infrastructure is basically a total rebuild at this point,” he said.

Six-time champion Roger Federer beat Kevin Anderson 6-4 6-3 to secure his place in the semi-finals of the ATP Finals for the 15th time.

Federer’s victory means he tops his group to boost his chances of avoiding world number one Novak Djokovic in the last four in London.

The Swiss, 37, looked out of sorts when he lost his first match on Sunday but bounced back with two successive wins.

South African Anderson had already won two matches to reach the semi-finals.

Top seed Djokovic is already through to the semi-finals and can clinch top spot in his group by beating Marin Cilic on Friday.

Alexander Zverev, John Isner and Cilic are battling for the other semi-final berth.

Questions were asked about Federer’s form and state of mind after he lost to Kei Nishikori in straight sets on Sunday but he gave himself a chance of reaching the semi-finals by beating Dominic Thiem on Tuesday.

And after Thiem defeated Nishikori earlier on Thursday, the Swiss knew he needed to win only six games to join Anderson in the semi-finals.

“I’m very happy, my first match was tough and I never got going, but with my back against the wall maybe it’s easier for me to play,” said Federer.

“Kevin’s had a great year, but it’s been a fun group and I’m very happy to be in the semis.”

Federer had three break points on Anderson’s formidable serve in the seventh game and secured the break when the world number six double-faulted.

Surprisingly Federer shanked two shots to lose his serve in the next game but the Swiss broke again to love as Anderson temporarily lost his range.

Federer had to save three break points at 5-4 but held his serve to take the set – much to the delight of the majority of the fans inside the 02 Arena.

The 20-time Grand Slam winner looked back to near his best in the second set, playing nearer the baseline and moving his opponent around.

And Federer went on to get a small measure of revenge for his Wimbledon quarter-final defeat at the hands of Anderson by wrapping up victory in one hour and 16 minutes.

“These round-robin formats are not straightforward, we’re used to it being you lose, you leave, you don’t hang around,” added Federer.

“Maybe it was difficult for Kevin having already qualified, whereas with Thiem winning it was maybe easier for me.

“But I’m happy I’m still alive and hope I can play a good match the day after tomorrow.”

Holy moly, has Google just changed the smartphone camera game with the release of the Night Sight mode for its Pixel 3 and 3 XL phones.

Announced at its October Pixel 3 launch event, Google boasted Night Sight as a significant leap forward for taking night photos — useful for exposing colors and details lost in the shadows.

I’ve only just tried Night Sight, currently rolling out to Pixel 3 phones via a software update, and my mind’s still piecing itself back together from being blown apart.

It’s no secret Google has been flexing its computational photography and machine-learning skills to enhance shots taken with its Pixel phones.

Though it’s questionable whether we, as photographers and creatives, should be letting Google decide for us what is a “good-looking” photo — the Pixel 3 tends to shoot pictures that are more contrasty, more saturated, and artificially sharpened than an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy — I don’t think anyone disagrees that the company’s leveraging of software to produce better pictures is a game-changer.

Unlike regular DSLRs or mirrorless cameras, where you can attach lenses of all different sizes with different-size apertures to shoot better low-light photos, smartphones are limited by their thickness.

The tiny image sensors inside of our phones can only collect so much light. Phone makers could make these image sensors larger so they could collect more light to take better low-light photos, but it’d also make phones balloon in size, thickness, and weight as well. 

So Google turned to software. And Apple’s done the same, too. And I’d bet good money other phone makers will soon make the move as well.

Does it really work like magic? Yes, and no. But mostly yes.

With HDR+, Google proved it could take one evenly-exposed money shot by combining a series of images taken at short exposures. The results were good and have only become better.

Night Sight uses the same HDR+ technology, but injects it with steroids. Depending on how dark the scene is and the amount of luminance available (measured in lux), the Pixel 3 will take up to 15 shots at varying shutter speeds (i.e. 1/15th of a second or 1 second) and then combine them all into one final picture.

In other words, Night Sight is the equivalent to a long exposure on a “real” camera. Google gets really technical and nerdy about the details in a blog post, but what you really want to know is: Does it really work like magic?

Yes. And no. But mostly yes.

While the Pixel 3 and 3 XL are Google’s best phones to show off the power of Night Sight because of improved camera components and a faster processor, the original Pixels and Pixel 2’s are also getting the new camera mode. 

I haven’t tried Night Sight on any Pixel 1 or Pixel 2 phones yet so I can’t speak to how well it works on older hardware (Google says there are some differences and shots won’t look as good as on Pixel 3). 

But on a Pixel 3 XL, however, Night Sight seemingly turns night into day. See for yourself in the shots below.

In the below photos, I pointed the Pixel 3 at a scene so dark I could barely make out what I was shooting. The Pixel 3’s camera brightens the viewfinder in Night Sight mode so you can see what you’re shooting, but it looks really noisy.

However, you won’t see that level of extreme image noise in your photo after it’s finished processing. 

Without firing the flash, the Pixel 3’s Night Sight mode exposed this faux Thanksgiving dinner scene, bringing out the colors that would be lost without the mode turned on.

It’s a lovely shot and would work just fine for posting to Instagram or Twitter, but the picture’s a little soft overall. In really dark scenarios, the Pixel 3 struggled to find something to autofocus on. There’s a button in the upper right corner of the mode that lets you manually change the focus to “near” or “far”. I’ll have to shoot more with it in the real world to see how well it really works, though.

Night Sight enhances dynamic range. Similar to a long exposure, the colors can be more exaggerated. There wasn’t a green cast on the standup bass, but the instrument is more defined and pops in the image.

This candle-lit dinner scene wasn’t quite as dark as the one above, but you can still see Night Sight brings out the shadows nicely.

Night Sight isn’t always the best mode to shoot low-light photos with, though. Sometimes you want a little contrast and shadow to give a shot a certain tone. Night Sight can sometimes flatten the colors in an image like in the shot below. 

Mashable Deputy Tech Editor Michael Nuñez looks more spritely here. His posture is more visible and the food looks more appetizing. 

Not a whole of image noise here too. There’s a teensy bit of skin-smoothening going on, but it still looks pretty darn good.

Image: RAYMOND WONG/MASHABLE

As good as Night Sight is, you don’t wanna use it all the time. In some night shots, the regular camera just produces a better look that’s less washed out and has less image noise (see black sky in on right side of photos below) IMO:

Night Sight also works with the selfie camera. On the left is what the scene looked like to my feeble human eyes. The image is a little soft, but still… like wow.

I can’t help but be really, really impressed by Night Sight, even though it can be hit or miss with photos sometimes coming out completely blurry, soft, or full of image noise.

These nitpicks aren’t enough to stain Night Sight because this is just the first version. It’ll only get better like HDR+ has and as features like optical image stabilization improve. Using a tripod should also improve sharpness.

Night Sight feels almost like black magic. It’s really not very different from Sony’s A7S II, which is beloved for its ability to to do the same. The difference is how the Pixels are doing it. Instead of hardware, Google’s doing it all with software. Night Sight puts the Pixel 3 cameras several steps ahead of the competition — at least when it comes to night photography.

At first, I was really concerned about Night Sight misrepresenting reality. And in many ways it does. Night Sight is like having night vision — it lets you see what your naked eyes can’t. But just like a long exposure, it opens up new creative expressions for mobile photography. You should use it sparingly, but it’s gonna be hard not to. I’d love to see a future version shoot both a Night Sight version and a regular version and let us pick the one we want.

Just when you had finally memorized every addictive word and every stunning vocal run on Normani‘s recently released collabs with Calvin Harris, she’s come through with yet another tune that might be her best yet.

On Thursday (November 15), Normani blessed fans’ ears with “Waves,” a seductive slow jam featuring Atlanta’s 6LACK. Heavy with love-soaked lyrics of an all-consuming relationship, “Waves” doubles down on the cover art’s ’90s feel with a heavy R&B beat. “First I blame you, then I want you / Fucking hate you, then I love you / I can’t help myself, no,” Normani sings, before 6LACK comes through with his own moody verse about “making love on the full moon.” It’s a vibe.

Speaking with Beats 1 host Zane Lowe after the song’s premiere, Normani praised 6LACK as an “important” artist, saying, “He’s an amazing lyricist, and I feel like he took the record to a whole other level. I already love the record as is, but he totally exceeded any expectation I even had, which was pretty high, because I admire him as an artist.”

The former Fifth Harmony singer also took the opportunity to spill a little tea about her upcoming debut solo album — kind of. She made sure not to divulge too much, but did reveal that the album will be released at the top of 2019, and that its title has a number in it (I’m guessing it’s probably not a “five”). She also said Khalid would appear on the album, though their hit single “Love Lies” didn’t make the cut because it “was a moment of its own.”

Sounds like Normani will have a hefty arsenal of bops to dig into when she hits the road with Ariana Grande on the Sweetener World Tour next year. Until then, we’ll be riding these “waves” into the winter.

England have a “great chance” of victory over Sri Lanka in the second Test with “any kind of a score” in their second innings, says spinner Jack Leach.

Roshen Silva’s 85 helped Sri Lanka make 336 on day two, a lead of 46 runs on a pitch offering significant turn.

England closed on 0-0 in Pallekele after Leach survived the final over of the day as nightwatchman.

“Batting last on that wicket will be very hard,” Leach, 27, told BBC Sport.

“If we bat well and get a good lead then that will put a lot of pressure on Sri Lanka.”

England are 1-0 up in the three-match series and victory in the second Test will secure their first away series win under captain Joe Root.

Dimuth Karunaratne (63) and Dhananjaya de Silva (59) put on 96 for the third wicket to frustrate England in the morning before the tourists reduced Sri Lanka to 165-6.

But Roshen expertly accumulated to add 171 for the last four wickets, while England’s spinners failed to bowl a consistent line and lengths.

“Our plan for the day was to be as patient as possible and know that things were not just going to happen,” said left-arm spinner Leach, who took 3-70.

“We were a bit disappointed that they got ahead because we felt at one point we could’ve had that lead.

“I could have been a bit more consistent in terms of asking questions ball after ball.

“I need to be really specific with my line and length in the last innings because if it’s turning a lot then we all need to be right on it. That’s going to give us a great chance.”

The typical YouTuber is young, obnoxious, and speaks at an above-average decibel level. They love pranks. They love covertly selling you *products.* Even though they’re your age or vastly younger, they have more money in their bank account than you ever will.

Thankfully, not all YouTubers like that. This Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the dedicated community of senior citizen YouTubers, here to make homemade pasta, deconstruct mechanical toys, play lullabies on their guitars, knit, apply make-up, and show you how to properly take a dip in the public pool.

If you’re going to be an influencer, at least use your power to show Xennials like me how to make proper tagliatelle.

For all their wisdom and *actual content knowledge,* senior citizen YouTube celebrities are nonetheless a rarity. The demographic data tells the story: 96% of youth aged 13 to 17 have used YouTube, compared to just 51% of those 75 and older. Just 67% of seniors aged 65 and over use the internet, and only 4 in 10 own smartphones.

So we shouldn’t be shocked that of the biggest names in YouTube — Fernanfloo, PewDewPie, Germán Garmendia, Rubén Doblas Gundersen i.e. El RubiosOMG, VanossGaming, and so on — all are male, and none, absolutely none, are above the age of 30.

That doesn’t mean senior citizens are absent from the platform, or that younger generations don’t love to watch older folks on screen. I know that I, for one, am not alone in not wanting to hear this guy opine about suicide prevention:

You just have to look a little harder to find the elders of the community, which we kindly did for you. Here are some of the leading senior personalities on the platform:

70-year-old Tricia Cusden formally kicked off her YouTube account and her personal make-up business, Look Fabulous Forever, five years ago. Cusden specializes in make-up made specifically for older women. 

Cusden remembers when her manufacturer told her to put videos of her products on Twitter:

“I thought, that’s a really stupid idea,” Cusden told Mashable. “Millions of videos are uploaded to YouTube, people just won’t see them.”

Pretty quickly, however, Cusden’s videos started picking up real traffic: 1,000 views one day, 1,500 views on another. It was clear that Cusden had tapped into a real need — and that older women were (gulp!) using YouTube.

Cusden believes she was able to access this demographic because her product line was written up in print publications, which have older followers. These women presumably then followed her to YouTube.

In comparison to other brands that market token “anti-aging skincare” to older women, Cusden hopes to create a positive, stigma-free YouTube space:

“The beauty industry disdains and marginalizes this age group … [but] we won’t disparage you here,” Cusden says. “We won’t be negative.”

Cusden’s channel currently has 28,340 subscribers.

In recent years, knitting has had something of a comeback among the millennial Etsy set. But why learn from some dumb book when you can learn from *THE* Judy Graham? 

Graham is a knitting legend. She’s now in her 80s, and she’s still producing videos nearly every week. In 2015, Graham complained to her son that it was a myth that all seniors hated technology.

“Seniors do know about tech, and they do use it,” Graham told her son, who later published her comments in USA Today. 

Not everyone who watches “Knitting Tips by Judy” is older. She has plenty of younger fans (points at self).

If there’s anything that Judy proves, it’s that you don’t have to be a young, terrible California bro in order to be successful on this nightmare platform.

For all the optical illusion and unusual toy fans out there (I’m assuming that’s everyone on this list), Tim Rowett is your man. 

Rowett’s YouTube channel, Grand Illusions, collects and reviews dozens of random toys. It’s whimsical and strange and exceedingly, unexpectedly popular: The channel currently has over 881,000 subscribers.

In 2015, the Telegraph named Rowett one of the best YouTubers over 50 years old. 

The award was well-deserved. Is there anything more soothing than hearing a handsome older British gentleman with a BBC accent examine the mechanics of a bubble blower?

There’s no such thing as a dream job, except for Vicky Bennison’s. Bennison is the founder of Pasta Grannies, a YouTube channel featuring Italian grandmas making their best homemade pasta. 

Bennison, who is 60, literally travels all around Italy hunting for the country’s most talented grandmas. Every episode, she highlights a particular grandma and their specialty pasta.

Pasta and Italian grandmas are universally beloved, which is why Bennison’s show has such a diverse, cross-generational audience. These women aren’t trained chefs, but they’re exceptionally talented and they know what a good pasta serving size is: one gallon per person.

“What you see on television requires armies of food stylists … These are things all people can do,” Bennison told Mashable. “[It’s why] I do have a broad audience … My demographics for Pasta Grannies is 25 to 65 years old.” 

Some of these grannies are in their late 90s. Yet with more 341,913 subscribers, Bennison has nonetheless been able to build a digital fan base for these women.

Pasta Grannies, you are welcome in my home anytime.

Though he probably wouldn’t classify it this way, Bossa Nakane makes lullabies for stressed-out adults. This man is a nightingale. His music is delightfully tender: Think Nick Drake, but sung by a human robin.

Why would you ever sing “Happy Birthday” yourself when you can have the Bossa Nakane version instead? He’s better.

He currently only has 3,174 subscribers. Everyone, please follow now.

ElderGym is the only YouTube fitness series on the web I’m capable of completing. A 4-minute session on how to get off the floor? This I can do. March in place for 1 minute? Hell freaking yeah. ElderGym isn’t just for seniors, it’s for everyone. 

Squeeze your shoulders for 1 minute. Congratulations! You’ve exercised.

Anyone who’s anyone in the senior YouTuber world knows Grandma Shirley, an 82-year-old gamer who records herself playing games for YouTube, among other places. She’s best known for playing Skyrim and currently has over 410,000 subscribers.

I’ve never understood the appeal of watching other people play games (why watch strangers play Grand Theft Auto when you can watch … anything else) but if I’m going to watch anyone, it will be Grandma Shirley.

Grandpa Kitchen operates a YouTube channel where he cooks enormous amounts of Indian food and feeds if to local orphans. The channel currently operates a Patreon page in order to fund their operations; however, I was unable to independently verify how that money is spent.

That being said, Grandpa Kitchen runs an excellent show. Look at all those potatoes. How can they not make you happy?

Gramma and Ginga are two sisters, one 104 years old, the other 99. They live a few blocks from one another in Clarksburg, West Virginia. If you’re the type of person who loves to see two charming older women bicker non-stop about nothing, this is for you.

Think Seinfeld, but with Grandmas.

Imagine a comedy podcast but the podcast were … actually funny. That’s Gramma and Ginga.

These women currently have 325,684 subscribers. In 2016, they made it to Jimmy Kimmel Live. 

I tend to be skeptical of anyone on YouTube who has more than 500,000 subscribers and says they create “comedy.” Historically, YouTube comedy is an art form lower than improv.

Kevin and his objectively charismatic grandma Lill are an exception to the rule. We talk a lot about YouTube personalities but Grandma Lill actually has one. 

As the kids say, she destroys me.

Look at her make chocolate chip brownies with her grandson Kevin, then try to pick yourself up off the floor. 

Perhaps my favorite part of the series is when she introduces the episode, saying, “Hi fellas and girls.”

Just listen to it instead of reading my far inferior copy.

Grandma Lill says she didn’t really know much about YouTube before her grandson turned on his camera one day in the car:

“I was surprised, but I said, ‘Hey that’s good!’” Lill told Mashable.

You’d think that Grandma Lill would be an inspiration to her friends, many of whom are in the same age bracket.

Grandma Lill doesn’t think so.

“My girlfriends if they don’t have grandchildren [with access to technology] — they could care less about what I do! They don’t care where I’m going. They don’t have YouTube, Instagram.”

She also doesn’t particularly care how they feel. If there’s someone out there she can inspire — even if it’s not her best girlfriends, even if it’s just herself — she’s happy these videos exist.

“It keeps me younger,” Lill told Mashable. “I feel like 65 instead of 88 now. Nobody can believe I’m 88 … We’re just so good.”

A heartfelt thanks to *65*-year-old Grandma Lill and all the YouTubers like her.

The first group of 2,200 Rohingya refugees were due to leave camps in Bangladesh on Thursday in line with a plan agreed with Myanmar.

But authorities appeared to postpone the operation after protests by Rohingya who said they did not want to go.

The United Nations and aid agencies also expressed concerns for their safety if they went back to Myanmar.

The United Nations described as an “act of genocide” the military crackdown last year when more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

So, does the repatriation deal violate international law? And what is next for the Rohingya refugees that do not want to leave?

Presenter: Martine Dennis

Guests:

Tun Khin – Rohingya activist and president of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK

Omar Waraich, deputy director for South Asia at Amnesty International.

Source: Al Jazeera News

Jungkook isn’t afraid of washing his hands. Olivia Hye isn’t offended by people with peanut allergies. And BTS definitely won’t be performing “Telephone” by Lady Gaga and Beyoncé anytime soon.

But if you’re an unassuming K-pop fan who stumbled upon one of the many totally fake “fact” accounts on social media, you might wind up believing those lies are true. Over the past few months, accounts that produce hilariously absurd — and very untrue — graphics on Twitter and Instagram have gained popularity among K-pop fandoms. But why?

The similarities are pretty rigid between the most prominent fact accounts, all of which thrive on the low-quality nature of their images. Most accounts source their facts from their followers, who submit them via direct messages or CuriousCat, a website that allows users to anonymously send comments and questions. With mismatched fonts, blurry photos, and misspelled words, there’s a standard protocol in the fake-fact business.

More than anything else, it’s the out-there ideas for the facts themselves that are the key to a successful post, according to interviews with the creators behind these popular accounts.

“It feels like we know the girls and their personalities,” Jac from Canada told MTV News about her account, @loonafacts12, which creates fake facts for the members of rookie K-pop girl group Loona. “So when I write a fact that’s very blatantly untrue, I think that people find it funny because they know the girls would never do that, but it’s still funny to imagine.”

It’s all about being in on the joke for die-hard fans who would never fall for the made-up facts that a less-connected fan might believe. These facts are finely tuned to be funny in relation to the pop star they’re parodying.

“I just think they find the whole concept funny,” said @legitbtsfacts owner Sofia from the U.S., “because the things I say would definitely correlate with the member I chose for that ‘fact’ based on their personality.”

According to @SuperJuniorFact owner Erin from France, who runs the Super Junior account with her friend Karla from the U.S., this kind of weird, taboo humor can be considered “cursed content.”

“It’s content that makes you cringe the longer you see it and makes you just want to put your phone down for a second to reevaluate your life choices and how they led you there,” Erin told MTV News. “It’s not a set aesthetic or set in stone, it’s more of a feeling that we want the public to feel.”

But not all fans are in on the joke, which can make things awkward for these content creators. Some accept the graphics as fact or completely misunderstand that they’re only intended as jokes in the first place.

“It’s very rare,” Jac said, “but occasionally people will tweet or comment on Instagram accusing us of posting these facts maliciously or saying they believed one of the facts until they read other ones.”

It’s that backlash that can also help fake fact accounts grow, as is the case with @jungkookfacts97 — an account dedicated to BTS’ youngest member and main vocalist, Jungkook.

“The account blew up late August,” the owner said, “after an account with 50,000 followers told everyone to report my facts, and that’s when I got the most hate. I got around 900 comments over a few days and most of them were people getting very angry with me because of the facts.”

Despite the criticism, the owner admitted that she’s not doing much to curb the drama on her account, instead presenting her facts as legitimate. “We always state that the facts are 100% real and that we’d never post a fake fact.”

Beyond just misinformation, fake fact accounts also push the boundaries with posts about politics, violence, and NSFW topics not often broached in the world of K-pop. Some account owners, however, are willing to take things further than others.

“I like kind of pushing the boundaries of what’s ‘OK’ to post,” the @jungkookfacts97 owner said. “But if something is a little more controversial I might send it to my friends who help me [run] the account to see if they think it’s too much.”

Sofia adopts a similar strategy with her friends when it comes to posting controversial content. Meanwhile, Erin and Karla prioritize Super Junior’s own reputation when making sure not to publish jokes that could reflect poorly on the group and its fandom.

For the most part, the riskiest fake facts skew progressive and liberal, which Sofia attributed to the diverse makeup of the fanbase.

“Since majority of the fandom is a part of the LGBT community,” she explained, “I think they find the facts funny and relatable to their own personal circumstances since it deals with their faves.”

Jac agreed, saying, “Facts that express political or social ideas that are mainly liberal receive a lot of attention … This might be because they take stances that majority of the fandom, including me, has as well.”

As fans of K-pop idols that aren’t typically allowed to speak out about politics and controversial subjects like LGBTQ issues and mental health in Korea, fake fan accounts give voice to the fanbases’ progressive ideals. And by putting those views into the voice of their faves, fans create their own ideal reality, one where the groups that they stan can voice their opinions freely.

Ultimately, that’s why these fake fact accounts keep sprouting up across K-pop fandoms — and are beginning to spread to others.

So while fake fact accounts push boundaries and potentially spread misinformation, they’re really just serving as the internet voice of K-pop’s creative, diverse fandom.

Republic of Ireland 0-0 Northern Ireland – first meeting for seven years – Live – BBC Sport

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In the wake of yesterday’s bombshell New York Times report, Facebook is defending itself from a multitude of allegations that appear in the story.

The company is outright denying its reported hesitation to investigate Russian interference on its platform during the 2016 presidential election, but several other allegations from the story have been explained by the company in a way that suggests they’re at least partially true.

Let’s start with the biggest allegation from the story: The claim that Facebook knew about Russian meddling on its platform earlier than it had previously stated. 

The New York Times reports that Facebook’s former chief security officer Alex Stamos began investigating Russian propaganda on the network with a small team in the spring of 2016. The story adds that Stamos and his team were ready to publish a report on the investigation in January 2017, but Facebook’s vice president for corporate public policy Joel Kaplan fought to scuttle and obfuscate the investigation’s results.

The report claims Kaplan was concerned the findings of the internal investigation would make Facebook appear to be biased against conservative viewpoints and Republicans.

Facebook said in a statement Thursday that this allegation is simply “not true.” 

Facebook cites Mark Zuckerberg’s sworn testimony to Congress in April, where the company’s founder said under oath, “Leading up to Election Day in November 2016, we detected and dealt with several threats with ties to Russia… We shut these accounts down for violating our policies.”

Facebook also denied the allegation by referring to a March tweet where Stamos said, “to be clear, the security team has never been prevented or discouraged from investigating any Russian activity by any executives.”

As for the allegation that the fear of conservative backlash prompted the company to leave then-candidate Donald Trump’s Muslim ban post up on the website, Facebook claims it let the post stand for different reasons.

“We did decide that President Trump’s comments on the Muslim ban, while abhorrent to many people, did not break our Community Standards,” Facebook said. The company added that the post was also newsworthy because Donald Trump was a candidate for office.

Facebook also reasserted that it is fully committed to fighting misinformation on the platform. “Mark and Sheryl have been deeply involved in the fight against false news and information operations on Facebook,” the company said. 

The New York Times reported that Facebook indirectly created fake news stories by hiring a third party — Definers Public Affairs — that published negative stories about Facebook’s competitors and critics via its affiliate conservative news website NTK Network. Facebook cut ties with the organization on Thursday.

The company also defended its position on the sex trafficking law Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA). “Sheryl championed this legislation because she believed it was the right thing to do,” the company said in regards to the claims that it supported the bill in order to appease lawmakers.

Finally, Facebook that Mark Zuckerberg was so angered by Apple CEO Tim Cook’s criticism of the social network, that the Facebook founder ordered company management to use Android phones only.

In its response, Facebook did not outright deny the assertion that Zuckerberg told employees to use Android phones over Apple’s iPhone and explained with a dig at Cook. The reason Zuckerberg encouraged Android use, the post says, is because Android is “the most popular operating system in the world.”