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Paris, Nov 30: Lionel Messi won the men's Ballon d'Or for a record-extending seventh time on Monday, ending the year in style after a brilliant final season with Barcelona and earning his first major international trophy with Argentina.

Alexia Putellas became the third winner of the women's award for an outstanding season with Barcelona and Spain.

The 34-year-old Messi led Argentina to the Copa America title in July after losing in four major international finals.

I'm very happy to be here, happy to keep fighting for new trophies," he said through a translator. I don't know how many years I have left, but I hope many more. I'd like to thank all my (former) teammates at Barcelona and Argentina.

Messi finished with 613 points to top prolific Bayern Munich and Poland striker Robert Lewandowski on 580.

I would like to say to Robert that it's an honor to be your rival, and everyone would say you deserved to win it last year, Messi said.

Awarded by France Football magazine, the Ballon d'Or has been given out to men every year since 1956 when Stanley Matthews won.

The 33-year-old Lewandowski set a new single-season scoring record for the Bundesliga with 41 goals one more than late Germany great Gerd M ller when he scored in the last minute of the last game.

Lewandowski netted in 19 consecutive games in all competitions for Bayern from February to September and he just missed out on equaling the record of scoring in 16 Bundesliga games in a row. Overall, he already has 25 goals in 20 games for Bayern this season.

His 11 goals in 12 games for Poland this year took his international tally to 74 in 128 games, just six less than Messi.

Chelsea and Italy midfielder Jorginho was third with 460 points after helping the London club win the Champions League and his nation win the European Championship. Real Madrid and France forward Karim Benzema was fourth on 239.

Putellas helped Barca win the treble and scored 26 goals in 42 games overall. The midfielder netted in the Champions League final against Chelsea, and in August she was named UEFA women's player of the year.

I'm very emotional, it's a very special moment, she said at the Paris ceremony through a translator. I would like to start by thanking all my teammates, especially my current (Barcelona) teammates. For me it's a collective success.

The only previous women's award winners are Norway striker Ada Hegerberg in 2018, and U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe in 2019. The 2020 awards were canceled because the coronavirus pandemic disrupted the season.

Putellas tallied 186 points to finish far ahead of club and country teammate Jenni Hermoso on 84.

Hermoso netted 31 goals to top the Spanish first division scoring charts for a third straight season. Hermoso was joint-top scorer in the Champions League with Chelsea's Fran Kirby on six goals.

Chelsea and Australia striker Sam Kerr placed third in the voting after 21 goals in the English Women's Super League and then six for Australia at the Tokyo Games. Kerr has maintained her excellent form with 13 goals in 12 games this season.

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Claim: Viral video shows celebrities from all around the world taking a dip in the holy water at Mahakumbh Mela.

Fact: The viral video is AI generated, these celebrities have not visited Mahakumbh Mela.

The Maha Kumbh Mela is a major Hindu festival held every 12 years at Prayagraj, India. It began on January 13, 2025, and will continue till February 26, 2025. This event is expected to attract around 40 crore visitors, making it the world's largest religious gathering. The festival's origins are rooted in Hindu mythology, symbolising the victory of gods over demons. Devotees believe that bathing at the confluence of the Ganges, Yamuna, and mythical Saraswati rivers cleanses sins and leads to salvation.

To accommodate the massive inflow of pilgrims, the authorities have established a temporary city spanning 4,000 hectares. This includes 150,000 tents, enhanced sanitation facilities, and improved transportation services. Security measures involve deploying 40,000 police officers and surveillance systems to ensure safety. Many foreign enthusiasts from countries like Brazil, Germany, South Africa are visiting the Mahakumbh Mela. Philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, the billionaire widow of Steve Jobs, co-founder and former CEO of Apple also visited the Kumbh Mela and received spiritual initiation from her guru and head seer of Panchayati Akhada Shri Niranjani Swami Kailasanand Giri.

Meanwhile, a video showing many celebrities like Elon Musk, Putin, USA President Donald Trump, football players Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, actors Will Smith, John Cena, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others and taking a dip in the holy water at the Maha Kumbh Mela. We can see the celebrities taking the holy dip with other devotees in the background. The video is in circulation with the captions like ‘Is elon musk in Kumbh mela 2025?’

Others shared it with caption ‘Haters will say its edited’

Here is the archived link of the claim.

Fact Check:

The claim is False. The video is an AI generated.

When we extracted the keyframes from the viral video, and searched using Google reverse image search, we found that the video was shared by several social media users with the captions like “Elon Musk, Putin, Donald Trump and Other Celebs at Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 - AI Version *Wait For End* #MahaKumbh2025 #MahaKumbhMela2025”

Some users shared the video with captions “और बनाओ AI…. भारत वाले हैं, तुम्हारा ही कबाड़ कर देंगे”. When translated it states “Make more AI…. They are Indians, they will destroy you”

 

When we used Deepfake detector by Invid tool to check whether the video is an AI generated one, it detected the video to be having moderate evidence of being AI generated. Most of the faces in the video were found to be AI-generated. When checked the faces in the video, we found that the faces of Indian PM Modi, US president Trump and Russian President Putin to be more than 90% deepfake.

 
 

According to an article publsihed in Hindustan Times, an AI video of international celebrities at the Mahakumbh Mela is creating waves online. The AI video shows top athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi taking a dip in the Sangam, which is the confluence of the Ganga, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers.

World leaders like Donald Trump, Rishi Sunak, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin were seen in the AI video. The use of generative AI also brought Hollywood stars like Will Smith, Zendaya and Tom Holland to Mahakumbh. Meanwhile, the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, was seen taking a dip in the Sangam in the AI video. The video was shared on the Instagram page ‘Artificial Budhi’ and has gone viral with 5.7 million views in a matter of a few days. People in the comments section praised how realistic it looked, but also raised concerns about ethicality.

Hence, the viral video is not an original video, it is AI generated. The claim that several celebrities from various countries are seen taking holy dip in the Sangam at the Mahakumbh Mela is False.

(This story was originally published by telugupost.com, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)

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