royal analysis on twitter

Twitter Data Has Revealed A Coordinated Campaign Of Hate Against Meghan Markle

A concentrated set of users drive 70% of the hate content targeting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a new analysis found.

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Prince Harry and Meghan visit New York City on Sept. 23, 2021.

Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have long cited social media toxicity as a factor in their decision to step back from royal life. And now, an analysis of more than 114,000 tweets about the couple has revealed a coordinated campaign of targeted harassment of Meghan on Twitter — and the 83 accounts responsible for approximately 70% of the negative and often hateful content.

On Tuesday, Twitter analytics service Bot Sentinel released a report examining Twitter activity related to the Sussexes and found that the majority of the hate and misinformation about the couple originated from a small group of accounts whose primary, if not sole, purpose appears to be to tweet negatively about them. Bot Sentinel’s analysis also revealed a level of sophistication and coordination between the accounts, who use their combined 187,631 followers to fuel a campaign of negativity against Harry and Meghan.

A Twitter spokesperson told BuzzFeed News on Tuesday that they are “actively investigating the information and accounts referenced in this report — we will take action on accounts that violate the Twitter Rules.”

The couple currently does not have a social media presence on any platform (neither does Archewell, their charitable foundation and production company). Meghan told Fortune in October 2020 that she hadn’t been on social media in a long time “for [her] own self-preservation.” In a January interview , Harry said that he and Meghan “will revisit social media when it feels right for us — perhaps when we see more meaningful commitments to change or reform.”

Bot Sentinel is a crowdfunded website and browser plug-in created in 2018 to analyze the activity of Twitter accounts and identify those that violate the platform's terms of service. It evaluates an account and assigns it a score based on the likelihood that the account is either run by a bot or by someone engaging in targeted harassment, trolling, or other behavior banned by Twitter’s rules. Past analyses by Bot Sentinel include the right-wing campaign to discredit the results of the 2020 American election, accounts behind COVID-19 disinformation , and online abuse toward UK football players after the team lost in the Euro 2020 final.

Bot Sentinel CEO Christopher Bouzy told BuzzFeed News that this anti-Meghan Twitter campaign is unlike anything he and his team have ever seen before.

“There’s no motive,” he said, comparing the anti-Meghan campaign to other disinformation and harassment campaigns on Twitter such as the #StopTheSteal movement to overturn the results of the 2020 US presidential election or the campaign to remove actor Amber Heard from the upcoming Aquaman sequel as a result of abuse allegations made against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp . “Are these people who hate her? Is it racism? Are they trying to hurt [Harry and Meghan’s] credibility? Your guess is as good as ours.”

In the report, Bot Sentinel includes examples of tweets from this group of 83 users that violate Twitter’s terms of service against targeted harassment. BuzzFeed News received an advance copy of the Bot Sentinel report and the list of users identified within it and found hundreds of additional tweets that violate Twitter’s rules.

Twitter’s terms of service forbid abusive behavior and engagement “that harasses or intimidates, or is otherwise intended to shame or degrade others” and prohibit social coordination between accounts that results in harm to others or that encourages dogpiling.

Bouzy emphasized that the negative Twitter activity is not fueled by automated bot accounts, but real accounts run by humans.

“This campaign comes from people who know how to manipulate the algorithms, manipulate Twitter, stay under the wire to avoid detection and suspension,” he said. “This level of complexity comes from people who know how to do this stuff, who are paid to do this stuff.”

Bouzy said the users targeting Meghan and Harry are operating “in a more clever way than we normally see.” He said their hateful tweets are mixed in with tweets that do not violate Twitter’s terms of service, making these accounts harder for Bot Sentinel to automatically detect.

Bouzy told BuzzFeed News that it’s easier for these single-purpose anti-Sussex accounts to also avoid detection because they pair their negative content about Harry and Meghan that violate the terms of service with positive comments about other members of the royal family, particularly Harry’s brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

For this report, Bot Sentinel used hashtags and specific royal or Sussex-related keywords, such as #HarryandMeghan and #MeghanMarkle, to identify a sample group of 114,000 tweets.

Bot Sentinel identified 55 “primary accounts” responsible for the vast majority of original and derivative negative content against Meghan. Another 28 users were flagged as “secondary accounts” that primarily amplify the tweets of the first group. According to Bot Sentinel’s analysis, these 83 accounts are responsible for 70% of the negative hate content targeting the couple on Twitter. In the report, Bot Sentinel estimates that the accounts have a combined potential reach of at least 17 million Twitter users.

BuzzFeed News examined the timelines of these 55 primary accounts and found tweets with clear racial undertones, one calling for Meghan’s death, as well as posts claiming that she faked her pregnancy and that her children were either born via surrogate or are not real.

“There’s a difference between free speech and literally harassing someone,” Bouzy said.

The report states that 40% of the primary accounts listed have been previously suspended by Twitter, and Bouzy said that most of the primary accounts engage in behavior specifically to avoid suspension, such as making their accounts private or temporarily deactivating them, only to return days later.

“What these accounts are doing — they’re really flying under the wire,” Bouzy said. “They’re right at the edge. They’re doing things our technology isn’t going to catch.”

Once these primary accounts were identified, Bot Sentinel looked for accounts that would quickly share their content and identified 28 separate anti-Meghan-and-Harry accounts whose Twitter activity showed hundreds of retweets from accounts in the first group.

Further analysis of followers, retweets, mentions, and other interactions between these 83 identified accounts indicated a high level of coordination between them. Many of the tweets from these accounts violate Twitter’s policies against coordinated harmful activity, which, among other things, prohibit accounts from encouraging their followers to engage in targeted harassment. One of the primary accounts in the list, @duchofnarsussex, has openly recruited individuals to join an anti-Meghan-and-Harry “ intelligence agency ” to “end the House of Monte-Shite-SO” (the Sussexes live in Montecito, California). The person behind the account, who declined to provide their name, told BuzzFeed News that it was created “for fun” and that “these things are being taken as literal and they are nothing more than jokes.”

“These primary and secondary accounts are pushing [hate and disinformation] out, and then it’s being taken over by organic hate,” Bouzy said. “You have the ringleaders, then the secondary accounts, and then an outside network that also amplifies and pushes a certain narrative.”

The Duchess of Sussex speaks onstage in New York on Sept. 25, 2021.

Bouzy said that although he was aware of the campaign against Meghan before this report, the impetus for the investigation came after he shared a positive tweet about the Sussexes that resulted in him personally receiving hateful messages from anti-Meghan accounts.

When Bouzy tweeted that Bot Sentinel would be launching an investigation into anti-Sussex accounts on Twitter, he became the target of a full-fledged harassment campaign unlike anything he or his team had experienced before, he told BuzzFeed News.

While every investigation pursued by the company garners hate tweets and sometimes even death threats, he said, the targeted harassment from anti-Meghan accounts was “different” and “personal.”

Bouzy said that accounts spammed his timeline and mass-reported him to Twitter (encouraging their followers to do so as well), all while sharing false allegations about him and Bot Sentinel in an attempt to preemptively discredit the report’s findings.

BuzzFeed News made a request for comment to Twitter about the accounts identified in this report on Monday. By Tuesday morning, 4 of the 83 accounts had been suspended and 6 had made their accounts private, a tactic that Bouzy said is often used by abusive accounts to prevent other users from reporting their tweets .

“This is a game they play with Twitter, and they know exactly what they’re doing,” Bouzy said.

Topics in this article

• Meghan Markle
• Royal Family

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Everton at Bournemouth: Opposition Analysis | A Clash of Philosophies

The Blues return to action with no time to lose to find that hard-to-locate win

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Everton head towards the final quarter of the campaign at the weekend with a visit to a ground on the South Coast which has proven the scene of setbacks in the past: the Vitality Stadium, where they’ll face Bournemouth. The Blues’ form has deserted them since mid-December, when they achieved their last league victory, since when they’ve failed to win in eleven outings.

The squad will be coming off a well-earned three week break when they take to the pitch today and hopefully will have both rested and worked on some things in the interim, in preparation for the final push in Everton’s battle to stay in the Premier League.

The Cherries surprisingly opted to dispense with Gary O’Neil after the rookie manager guided them to safety last term, finishing 15th. The club’s ambitious owners headhunted the in-demand Andoni Iraola, who’d recently departed Rayo Vallecano, concluding an impressive three-year stint at the Madrid side.

The new man was backed heavily in the summer transfer window , with a new spend of €126m, bringing in USMNT midfielder Tyler Adams from Leeds United , promising teenagers Alex Scott and Milos Kerkez, one-time rumoured Everton target Max Aarons, Justin Kluivert from AS Roma and on-loan Leeds winger Luis Sinisterra. More than €40m was splashed on the pair of Hamed Junior Traore and Romain Faivre, who have either been sent out on loan (the former) or returned (the latter). The only major departure was Jefferson Lerma, to Crystal Palace.

Iraola got off to a rocky start at his new club, going winless in nine in the Premier League, registering just three draws and getting hammered 3-0 by the Toffees at Goodison Park in October. With early pressure already piling onto the Basque, mercifully the hapless Burnley arrived just in time, allowing Bournemouth to squeak a narrow victory, before being walloped 6-1 away at Manchester City next time out.

Abruptly, things appeared to gel for the young boss and his charges, with the side then embarking on a quite remarkable turnaround in form, signalled by an unbeaten run of six wins from seven, during which they found their scoring boots, firing 18 goals. Alas, such a hot streak could not last, with the Cherries failing to win any of the next seven, but any fears that they may be dragged into the relegation battle proved unfounded.

The South Coast outfit next took on the bottom three clubs, doing the double over the Clarets, but being held by Sheffield United and then, amazingly roaring back from a three-goal half-time deficit to overturn Luton Town 4-3, in a result which helped the Blues no end. The Cherries await Everton tomorrow sitting safe in 13th spot in the table, on 35 points.

Style of Play

Iraola was identified by Bournemouth as someone who would bring a modern, progressive ball-playing approach to the club and though the side is still a work in progress, great strides have been made. The 41-year-old has resolutely stuck to his guns and worked through what looked to be a catastrophic switch in the team’s playing identity in the early months of the season, which was in ample evidence as the Cherries were dismantled by Everton in the Autumn. He’s gone with a 4-2-3-1 formation throughout, with an emphasis on possession and an intense, pressing system.

Players incapable of making the adjustment from Bournemouth’s former, more passive direct counterattacking style - such as Philip Billing - have fallen by the wayside. The side’s share of possession (44.4% - ranking joint 13th) isn’t indicative of how they want to play, being more a measure of relative squad strength, rather than intent. Likewise a 16th-ranked 77.3% pass success rate - with 15.5% being long balls - suggests a slightly more pragmatic adaptation to Iraola’s original plan.

Offensively, the Cherries generate a solid 14.3 shots per game (eighth ranked), scoring 41, broadly in-line with an accumulated xG (Expected Goals) of 42.6. They are competent in attacking set-pieces, scoring ten to date and are effective on the counter, with four goals from transition. They’ve bagged twice the number of goals from general play (26) as have Everton.

Bournemouth allow 14.4 shots per 90 minutes, but have shipped an alarming 52 this term, from an xGA (Expected Goals Allowed) of 44.8; quite an underachievement. They’ve only succumbed once in transition, but have otherwise leaked goals from all quarters, conceding one less than the Blues via dead ball situations and ranking a lowly joint 15th from open play, permitting 36 - a staggering 21 more than Sean Dyche’s side.

Player Assessment

Unfortunate not to be called up by England over the international break, Dominic Solanke continues his breakout season. Once seen as promising but lacking a cutting edge, the versatile forward has hit 15 league goals this term, a far greater return than he’s previously attained in the top flight. A mobile, hard-working link-up striker, the 26-year-old has added a clinical edge to his game and presents Bournemouth’s major scoring threat.

Deployed as a conventional central midfielder, Ryan Christie has been one those to get Iraola’s system and is enjoying a strong campaign as a result. The Scot ranks highly in ball recoveries (6.87) and combined tackles and interceptions (4.12) per 90. He’s second in the team in SCA (Shot-Creating Actions) per game, with 3.49 and provides 1.52 key passes per 90 minutes.

Last time the two sides met, almost six months ago, Everton already had plenty of experience in playing in Dyche’s system, whereas Bournemouth were clearly struggling to adapt to the demands of their new manager. The Cherries are a very different team to the one exposed at Goodison and are now relatively comfortable in playing out from the back and pressing systematically.

However, they are no Manchester City - or even Brighton & Hove Albion. Whilst the squad has been heavily reinforced since their return to the top flight (almost a net spend of €210m across two campaigns), they are still only a lower mid-table outfit in terms of player quality and technical prowess. Hence, the visitors today have plenty of potential to disrupt their play and to take advantages of failures in possession, should the Toffees perform as we know they can.

Everton’s game plan will be familiar - there really is just a Plan A with Dyche - which will be to adopt a mid-level block and to press in a coordinated fashion in the centre of the park and in the opposition third, should the hosts attempt to pass out from the back, as is probable. Despite having three weeks preparation time I do not expect any significant departures from the Blues' tactical setup. There’ll be a focus on transitions, dead balls and plenty of long switches to either wing.

Dyche’s options are limited in many areas of the pitch, due to injury (the flanks) or a lack of viable competition (centre half, left back). The major questions are whether Beto will be again favoured over Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who of Amadou Onana, James Garner and Idrissa Gueye will miss out in the midfield and the eternal debate of who will line up at right back. Should centre half Ben Godfrey trot out once more, despite his obvious shortcomings in the position, then patience may be stretched to breaking point.

The Toffees really do need to secure that elusive victory sooner, rather than later in order to ease the mounting pressure, but is this the game the side can get over the hurdle? With six fruitless trips in a row to the Vitality Stadium (five defeats) I’m not so certain, but against that Dyche has won both his games as Everton boss against the Cherries - albeit at Goodison - but with the club’s current predicament, on and off the pitch, why not be optimistic?

Prediction: Everton 2-1 Bournemouth

Statistics provided courtesy of fbref.com , transfermarkt.co.uk and whoscored.com

More From Royal Blue Mersey

• Bournemouth 2-1 Everton: Match Report & Instant Reaction | Toffees succumb in poor display
• Everton at Bournemouth: kickoff time, starting lineups, TV schedule, live stream and how to watch online
• Everton at Bournemouth: Predicted Line-Up | Right Back Question
• Bournemouth v Everton: Match Preview | The run-in starts here
• Friday’s Everton News: Onana Bayern rumours, young Juventus winger linked
• Thursday’s Everton News: Rocco Vata link, Patterson defiance, Richarlison interview

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Shadowy Russian actors spread Princess Kate conspiracies, analysis finds

LONDON — Social media accounts linked to a prominent Russian disinformation campaign were all too happy to capitalize on conspiracy theories about the whereabouts of Kate, Princess of Wales , according to an analysis by British security experts. 

The role played by these shadowy Russian actors may serve as an alarming test case, experts said, in a year when elections in Washington and Europe will be buffeted by the long-standing fake news threat — which is now being supercharged by artificial intelligence .

However, clear as the malicious foreign involvement in the #KateGate conspiracy was, the researchers at the Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institute at Cardiff University in Wales were quick to point out that these actors were not responsible for originating rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding the princess, before she revealed last week that she was being treated for cancer .

“It’s not as though these Russia-linked accounts were driving the story; they were jumping on it,” said Martin Innes, the institute’s director. “It was already being framed in conspiracy terms, so foreign actors don’t need to set that frame — that’s already there to exploit.”

Conjuring these theories was usually the work of Western influencers with high follower counts, regular social media users engaging with them. While some cracked jokes and posted memes, others took a more sinister tone as people speculated about Kate's whereabouts. Traditional media played its own role in the feedback loop by amplifying and prolonging the circus.

But Innes and his colleagues said they identified 45 accounts posting about Kate on X that bore the hallmarks of the Russian disinformation campaign known as Doppelgänger. For the researchers who have spent years analyzing this sort of traffic, telltale signs included the accounts’ usernames and the fact that they had apparently been created in batches and were all using the same wording. Some were easy to mark out because they posted pro-Russia or anti-Ukraine content.

The campaign’s aims are twofold, Innes said. First, use the traffic spike associated with Kate to disseminate pro-Russia content, often related to its war in Ukraine . Second, sow discord.

“It’s about destabilization. It’s about undermining trust in institutions: government, monarchy, media — everything,” he said. “These kinds of stories are ideal vehicles by which they do that.”

Doppelgänger was first identified in 2022 by EU DisinfoLab , a nonprofit group of experts based in Europe that investigates the spread of disinformation online. In the past, this “Russia-based influence operation network” has worked by cloning the websites of traditional media companies, posting fake articles and promoting them on social media, EU DisinfoLab says on its website. The technology has likely become more sophisticated since then.

“These are not groups that are part of the state security services, as has happened with other operations,” Innes said. Rather, this campaign is run by “commercial firms who are getting contracts from the Kremlin.”

NBC News has emailed the Kremlin and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment. 

Britain’s Telegraph newspaper also reported this week that Russia might not be the only country involved. Citing anonymous government sources, it reported that China and Iran were also fueling disinformation related to the princess.

When it came to the Russia-linked accounts, they did not come up with their own conspiracy theories in relation to Kate, but rather replied to existing posts, often but not exclusively with pro-Russia, anti-Ukraine content, Innes said. The researchers focused on X because of their ability to collate and analyze its posts quickly. But that may only be the tip of the iceberg.

“For independent researchers, getting a good view into TikTok is really difficult,” he said. “But just to kind of give you some sense of scale, we’ve done a bit of research and the #KateGate story had 14 billion views in one month.” These were overall views and not only those linked to Russian accounts.

The already rich ecosystem of conspiracy theories — hardly dissuaded by blanket coverage in traditional media — gave them an ample canvas on which to work.

The story was “a perfect cocktail in terms of the things that you need for conspiracy theories to thrive,” said Sander van der Linden, a psychology professor at the University of Cambridge who researches why people are influenced by misinformation.

The royal family has always been the target of conspiracy theories suggesting they are somehow “conspiring behind the scenes and plotting nefarious goals,” van der Linden said. He added that the edited photo of Kate and her three children that Kensington Palace released earlier this month had played right into this mindset.

Added in the mix are the declining global trust in institutions such as media and governments, a “mass panic about AI and manipulated news and imagery online,” and the “newer development” whereby “everyone with a social media account feels that they can be their own sleuth, uncovering details and having fun playing investigator online,” he said.

These factors are all a big worry for experts in a year that will yield a presidential election in the United States , as well as votes in the European Union , India and elsewhere.

The Russian actors “are seeing right now that this can be hugely successful,” van der Linden said. “They just wait for a controversial issue, then massively amplify it. So this could be a sort of training phase for them almost, to see how they would do it during an actual election.”

Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.

• International

March 26, 2024 - Baltimore Key Bridge collapses after ship collision

By Helen Regan , Kathleen Magramo , Antoinette Radford, Alisha Ebrahimji , Maureen Chowdhury , Rachel Ramirez , Elise Hammond , Aditi Sangal , Tori B. Powell , Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Kathleen Magramo , CNN

Ship lights flickered and veered off course shortly before Baltimore bridge hit, CNN analysis shows   

From CNN’s Allegra Goodwin in London

The Singaporean-flagged cargo ship that struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Tuesday altered course and veered toward a pillar shortly before impact, a CNN analysis of MarineTraffic ship-tracking data confirms.  

It’s unclear what caused the ship to crash into the bridge or why its lights were flickering. CNN has reached out to the National Transportation Safety Board to inquire about a possible power failure. 

The container ship DALI, which was en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka, begins to change course toward the bridge’s pillar at 1:26 a.m. local time, striking the bridge at 1:28 a.m. ET, according to MarineTraffic data and video from the scene. Video from 1:25 a.m. ET shows a plume of dark smoke billowing from the ship. DALI's lights flicker at least twice before the incident.  

In video, as it navigates down the Patapsco River, the ship’s lights can be seen going out at 1:24 a.m. ET, before turning back on, and then flickering off and on again between 1:26 a.m. ET and 1.27 a.m. ET, just before it hits the bridge.  

Maryland transportation secretary says contractors were working on bridge at time of collapse

From CNN's Antoinette Radford

Maryland State Transportation Secretary Paul Wiedefeld told reporters there were workers on the Francis Scott Key Bridge at the time of its collapse.

"We know there were individuals on the bridge at the time of the collapse, working on the bridge, contractors for us," he said at a news conference Tuesday morning.

Wiedefeld said the workers were "basically doing some concrete deck repair," but said they did not know how many vehicles were involved.

He added that the transport authority has set up a facility for family members of those who were believed to be on the bridge at the time of its collapse.

Baltimore fire chief: Sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water

Baltimore Fire Chief James Wallace says authorities have detected vehicles submerged in the water.

“Our sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water,” said Wallace at a news conference on the collapse of Francis Scott Key Bridge. “I don't have a count of that yet.”

He said emergency services are using sonar, drones and infrared technology as a part of their search for people and vehicles who may have fallen from the Key Bridge into the Patapsco River.

No indication of "terrorism" or intent in Baltimore bridge collapse, police chief says

From CNN’s Andy Rose

Baltimore Police said there was no evidence that the ship collision that caused the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge was intentional.

“There is absolutely no indication that there's any terrorism, that this was done on purpose,” Chief Richard Worley said at a news conference.

The FBI  said  that it was joining the investigation into the cause of the collision.

Rescue crews have determined there are vehicles in the Patapsco River following the bridge collapse.

“Our sonar has detected the presence of vehicles submerged in the water,” said Fire Chief James Wallace. “I don't have a count of that yet.”

Wallace said they are waiting to make sure that the ship is secure and stable before investigators board it.

“Never would you think that you would see, physically see, the Key Bridge tumble down like that,” Mayor Brandon M. Scott said.

Cruises, cars and commodities: What to know about the Port of Baltimore

From CNN's Mark Thompson and Hanna Ziady

The collapse of the   Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River outside the Port of Baltimore threatens to disrupt shipping operations at a major US trade hub for autos, container traffic and commodities. Baltimore also has a cruise terminal.

Closer to the Midwest than any other port on the East Coast, Baltimore ranks first in the United States for autos and light trucks, handling a record 850,000 vehicles last year. It was also the leading port for farming and construction machinery, as well as imported sugar and gypsum. It was second in the country for exporting coal.

Overall, Baltimore ranks as the 9th biggest US port for international cargo, handling a record 52.3 million tons, valued at $80.8 billion in 2023.

“The immediate focus is the rescue operation, but there will clearly be a highly-complex recovery phase and investigation to follow and we don't know what impact this will have on operations at the Port of Baltimore," said Emily Stausbøll, market analyst at Norway-based shipping analytics company Xeneta.

“While Baltimore is not one of the largest US East Coast ports, it still imports and exports more than one million containers each year so there is the potential for this to cause significant disruption to supply chains," she added.

Baltimore's cruise terminal serves ships operated by Royal Caribbean, Carnival and Norwegian. Cruises carrying more than 444,000 passengers departed from the port last year.

According to the Maryland state government, the port supports 15,330 direct jobs and 139,180 jobs in related services.

Rescue crews looking for at least seven people in Baltimore bridge collapse

Rescue operations are underway near the wreckage of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, as crews look for people who fell into the Patapsco River.

“We are still very much in an active search and rescue posture at this point, and we will continue to be for some time,” Wallace added.

Baltimore Fire says two people have been rescued from the river – one who was uninjured, and another in hospitalized “very serious condition.”

“This is an unthinkable tragedy,” Mayor Brandon Scott said. “We have to first and foremost pray for all of those impacted.”

Ship that collided with Baltimore bridge was chartered by Danish shipping company Maersk 

From CNN's Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong

The container ship that collided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Tuesday was chartered by Maersk and carrying their customers' cargo, the Danish shipping company told CNN.

"We are horrified by what has happened in Baltimore, and our thoughts are with all of those affected," The company said in its statement.

The company, which has a full name of A.P. Moller - Maersk, said no company crew and personnel were onboard the vessel. It said the ship, DALI, is operated by charter vessel company Synergy Group. 

"We are closely following the investigations conducted by authorities and Synergy, and we will do our utmost to keep our customers informed," the statement said. 

CNN is attempting to contact the owner and managers of the ship, including Synergy.

FBI Baltimore on the scene at the Key Bridge

FBI Baltimore personnel are on the scene at the Francis Scott Key Bridge, they have said in a post on X.

The agency said it was working "side by side with our local, state and federal partners."

Baltimore fire emergency chief says 2 people saved from water after Key Bridge collapse

The Baltimore Fire Department Chief James Wallace says authorities rescued two people from the water this morning, one without injury and the other who has been transferred to hospital in a serious condition.

Authorities are continuing their search for upwards of seven people, Wallace says. But, he says that number could change as it is a "very large incident." Earlier on Tuesday, an official said as many as 20 people could be in the water.

Wallace added that the crew remains on board the ship, and are communicating with the US Coast Guard. He added that emergency services are looking into reports that there were workers on the bridge at the time of the incident.

Speaking at the press conference, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott also described the incident as an “unthinkable tragedy,” and offered his prayers for all those affected, as well as his thanks to first responders.

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Prince William and Kate Middleton's family didn't attend Easter Sunday service alongside King Charles, but here are all the royals who did

• The Prince and Princess of Wales didn't attend Easter Sunday service with the royal family.
• King Charles III made his first major public appearance since announcing his cancer diagnosis.
• Here are all the royals who attended the service. 

The Prince and Princess of Wales' family did not attend the Easter Mattins Service on Sunday.

A few British royals attended the service at St. George's Chapel, but Prince William, 41, Kate Middleton, 42, and their three children were not among them.

The family appeared at the service last Easter but decided to step back following Middleton's health announcement this month. Middleton said she has cancer in a video statement after undergoing abdominal surgery.

Middleton is undergoing chemotherapy treatment and recovering, so the couple and their children — Prince George, 10, Princess Charlotte, 8, and Prince Louis, 5 — are spending a private weekend at their home instead, according to People .

The service also marked King Charles III's first major public outing since his own cancer diagnosis this year . Buckingham Palace announced Charles, 75, had cancer in February after he underwent a prostate procedure.

Here are all the royals at this year's Easter Sunday service.

Queen Camilla.

Photographers captured Queen Camilla, 76, at Sunday's service. Following Charles' cancer announcement, she continued royal duties and attended more than 13 official engagements.

Princess Anne

Princess Anne , 73, attended the service alongside her second husband, Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence.

Prince Andrew, Duke of York

Buckingham Palace announced in January 2022 that Prince Andrew, 64, would not return to public duties after allegations in a sexual assault lawsuit. But he attended the Easter service alongside his family on Sunday.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York

Sarah Ferguson , 64, also attended the Easter service alongside her former husband, Prince Andrew. However, the former couple's daughters — Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie — did not appear.

Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Edward , 60, attended the service with his wife and youngest son. His daughter, Lady Louise Windsor, did not attend.

Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh

The Duchess of Edinburgh , 59, waved to photographers while arriving at St. George's Chapel on Sunday.

James, Earl of Wessex

James, 16, is the youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh. He is also Queen Elizabeth II's youngest grandchild.

• Main content

Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru: IPL – as it happened

All our updates as holders Chennai Super Kings beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by six wickets in the IPL 2024 opener.

• Defending champions Chennai Super Kings open the Indian Premier League 2024 season with a six-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
• New Zealand’s Rachin Ravindra top scored on IPL debut with 38 for CSK while Anuj Raway salvaged the RCB innings with an unbeaten 48.
• Chennai beat Gujarat Titans by five wickets in a final-ball victory in last year’s rain-reduced final.
• This is the 17th edition of the IPL and the Super Kings and Mumbai Indians have each won the title a record five times.
• Bengaluru have reached the final on three occasions but are yet to be crowned champions.

Goodbye for Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru

That’s it from our live coverage of the opening match of IPL 2024.

The defending champions open with a six-wicket win with eight balls to spare.

Rachin Ravindra top scored for CSK on his IPL debut with 37. Anuj Rawat lead a recovery from 77-5 for RCB with his unbeaten 48.

Mustafizur Rahman was the start with the ball as the left armer claimed 4-24 off his four overs to force the early innings collapse by CSK.

We hope you enjoyed the live action and we’ll be back on Saturday with Kolkata Knight Riders vs Sunrisers Hyderabad so do join us for that if you can.

For now though, from me Kevin Hand, its goodbye but don’t forget you can stay up-to-date with all our sports coverage, news and features here .

A Winning Start in #TATAIPL 2024 ✅ A Winning Start at home in Chennai ✅ The Defending Champions Chennai Super Kings seal a 6⃣-wicket victory over #RCB 👍 👍 Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/4j6FaLF15Y #CSKvRCB | @ChennaiIPL pic.twitter.com/DbDUS4MjG8 — IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) March 22, 2024

Rachin Ravindra hails CSK dressing room after top scoring with 37

“It was a pretty complete performance by us on a good wicket,” he told Sky Sports.

“This team is very good at slowing the game down and there are such good guys in the dressing room to learn from.”

RCB captain Faf du Plessis gives his response

“When you play here you fell like you need to get ahead of the game at the start because their spinners get on top in the middle,” he told Sky Sports.

“In the end, I thought we were only 15 or 20 runs short.”

Chennai Super Kings win by six wickets

A pull for six by Dube off Joseph set it up and then two leg byes sealed it.

18 overs. Chennai Super Kings 164-4

Four dot balls from Siraj, but two fours as Dube selects his shots and his side to the verge of victory.

Ten to win from 12 balls.

17 overs. Chennai Super Kings 156-4

A costly over and that could and should be that.

Joseph concedes 12 with the addition of four byes, as well.

Rawat lept to stop the byes, but hurt his finger in the process and there was a long delay as the physio came on.

Eighteen needed from 18 balls.

16 overs. Chennai Super Kings 140-4

A good over for CSK as Dube runs Green fine off his hip for four off the second ball and 12 are taken in total even though that was the only boundary.

The Australian bowler did help by throwing in a wide.

15 overs. Chennai Super Kings 128-4

Siraj returns and concedes just six runs with two twos and two singles.

Forty-six needed from 30.

14 overs. Chennai Super Kings 121-4

Maxwell enters the attack for the first time and is welcomed by a six from Jadeja off the second ball.

A little skip was required to smash the ball over long-on.

Just a single off the over otherwise.

13 overs. Chennai Super Kings 114-4

Jadeja, the hero of the 2023 final, arrives in the middle to incredible noise.

Sixty needed from 42. One partnership should do it from here and it’s still CSK’s to lose.

WICKET! Mitchell is out! Chennai Super Kings 110-4

Mitchell pulls Green straight to long-on and falls for 22 from 18.

Could RCB find a way back? 12.3 overs bowled.

12 overs. Chennai Super Kings 109-3

No boundary in the over with just seven conceded and it’s 65 to win from 48.

A couple of wickets now would make it interesting.

A better start for Joseph

His first over started with a six. This time, the first three balls concede three singles.

11 overs. Chennai Super Kings 99-3

Dube joins Mitchell in the middle as three singles finish out the over following the wicket of Green.

WICKET! Rahane is gone! Chennai Super Kings 99-3

Green comes into the attack and sees his first ball called a wide, the second was pulled for six and then the third claimed Rahane.

Another attempted back foot pick-up, but this one is well claimed by Maxwell on the rope. Rahane falls for 27 off 19.

Ten overs. Chennai Super Kings 92-2

Dagar continues with his tight line and just four singles are taken.

RCB were 75-3 at this stage.

Nine overs Chennai Super Kings 88-2

Mitchell hammers consecutive sixes back over Karn’s head midway through the over.

The first was over long-on and the second long-off. Brilliant from the Kiwi.

Eight overs. Chennai Super Kinds 73-2

Dagar enters the attack after the timeout and concedes just two singles. Mitchell is the new batter for CSK.

WICKET! Ravindra falls! Chennai Super Kings 71-2

Karn drops short and Ravindra makes no mistake. A huge pull for six by the left-hander off the leg spinner.

The next ball is another attempted pick-up, but instead, the ball sails down the throat of deep square and Ravindra falls for 37 from 15.

Strategic timeout called at the end of the seventh over.

Over to Karn

The leg spinner concedes just two off his first three balls.

Six overs. Chennai Super Kings 62-1

Over throws to end the over as Rahane dropped a single into the off side and the throw to the non-striker’s end hit the stumps and deflected away.

Dayal concedes 13 off the over.

RCB were 42-3 at this stage.

Rahane’s first boundary is a six

The right-hander hammers Dayal for a six over deep extra-cover. An extraordinary drive.

Five overs. Chennai Super Kings 49-1

Joseph gets out of the over with two singles, a two and a wide.

There was one huge appeal for LBW from the bowler, but the ball clearly hit the edge. No review was used.

Joseph is welcomed with a six

The West Indies seamer drops short with his first ball and the left-handed Ravindra pulls over deep square.

WICKET! Gaikwad edges. Chennai Super Kings 38-1

Dayal drifted onto the pads of the right-handed Gaikwad and the ball flicked fine for four more.

The odds were stacking against RCB by Dayal sends a length ball across the right hander with the final delivery of the over and it’s nicked to Green at slip.

The CSK’s skipper falls for 15 from 15. End of the fourth over.