Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2025
This week's election: 2025 Vanuatuan general election
RNZ
Election Date: 16/01/2025
Vanuatu, a South Pacific island nation known for its stunning landscapes and cultural diversity, is holding snap general elections on 16 January 2025, rescheduled from 14 January due to the impact of the 2024 Port Vila earthquake. The election was triggered when President Nikenike Vurobaravu dissolved Parliament to prevent a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Charlot Salwai. The 52 parliamentary members are elected for four-year terms using a mixed electoral system, combining single non-transferable votes in multi-member constituencies and first-past-the-post voting in single-member constituencies.
#Climate
Snopes
True: Fire hydrants in Los Angeles ran out of water while firefighters were battling the January 2025 wildfires.
Los Angeles officials said on Jan. 8 that some fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades area lost water supply due to high demand on the system from the Palisades fire. Water remained available to firefighters in this area by other means. Fire hydrants do not generally have the capacity to be used in large-scale firefighting, officials also said.
PolitiFact
False: FEMA spent billions on illegal immigrants and now has no money for California.
In December, Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed a bill giving the Federal Emergency Management Agency $29 billion for its Disaster Relief Fund. A FEMA spokesperson stated the fund currently has a balance of $27 billion and the agency is ready to respond to the southern California fires. A separate FEMA program that supports some homeless people, including migrants, draws from funds allocated to Customs and Border Protection, not FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund.
Lead Stories
False: Wildfires could not have caused cars to be destroyed because trees were spared.
There are other examples of wildfires sparing trees while nearby cars and houses were incinerated. Experts explain that trees generally have a higher moisture content and take longer to heat up than closed structures like a car or home, making trees less likely to catch fire or be damaged.
#Politics
PolitiFact
False: After Donald Trump offered to buy Greenland, “Denmark clapped back saying they’d buy the USA, give us free healthcare, and actually make America great again.”
The claim that Denmark offered to buy the U.S. and give Americans free health care originated as satire. Danish politicians have balked at Trump’s latest talk of acquiring the Arctic island, but they have made no counteroffers.
Check Your Fact
False: Keir Starmer is going to cancel county council elections in May 2025.
A post shared on Facebook claims British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is going to scrap county council elections in May 2025. There are no credible evidence or official announcements to support these claims. While there has been discussion about potentially delaying elections in Surrey due to local government reform, no broader cancellation is planned, as confirmed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.
Check Your Fact
False: Biden stated that Trump is the first president to ‘Avoid an inauguration’
During a December 2024 interview with MeidasTouch, a progressive media outlet, Biden claimed Trump is “the only president to ever avoid an inauguration.” However, this is not true. Presidents John Adams, John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Johnson skipped their successors’ inauguration ceremonies.
#Conflicts
PolitiFact
False: The Los Angeles Police Department is “looking for three ‘persons of interest’ all tied to a MAGA website who were spotted at the source of all three major LA fires.”
The Los Angeles Police Department has not said on its website or social media accounts that its officers are looking for "persons of interest" in connection with the wildfires. Los Angeles County Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone and Los Angeles City Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley both said at recent press conferences that the wildfires’ cause is unknown and under investigation.
#Technology
PolitiFact
False: California wildfires “are a deliberate criminal land grab in preparation for Agenda 2030 and smart cities.”
Officials have not determined what caused the California wildfires that have killed at least five people, but there’s no public evidence that they were set intentionally to advance "smart cities" or the 2030 Agenda. The United Nations 2030 agenda includes building sustainable cities as a goal. These include "smart cities," which add technology and ways to improve quality of life. The SmartLA 2028 initiative doesn’t propose destroying and rebuilding the city but rather adding technology to improve residents’ lives.
Snopes
True: Meta removed a guideline from its hateful-conduct policies on Jan. 7, 2025, that previously prohibited users from comparing women to "household objects."
On January 7, 2025, Meta ended its U.S. third-party fact-checking program and removed policies prohibiting certain dehumanizing language, including comparisons of women to "household objects" and derogatory references to transgender and non-binary people. The changes, made shortly before Donald Trump's second inauguration, have been criticized as aligning with "free expression" rhetoric and potentially appeasing conservative voices.
#Healthcare
Africa Check
False: 'Katakiti herbal capsules' can cure sickle cell disease.
Several Facebook posts encourage people diagnosed with sickle cell disease to take “Katakiti herbal capsules” and “say goodbye to endless hospital visits”. But the disease can only be cured through gene therapy or stem cell transplant.
Snopes
True: Studies have found that cola drinks may negatively impact bone health.
While some peer-reviewed research has shown a link between drinking cola and lower bone mineral density, other studies have shown mixed results. Drinking soda has also been linked to other negative lifestyle factors that may in turn affect bone health, such as weight or activity level.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Falsk: SF's udenrigsordfører, Karsten Hønge, vil have Ruslands hjælp til at holde Grønland på danske hænder.
Hundredvis af indlæg på sociale medier hævder, at SF's udenrigsordfører, Karsten Hønge, vil have Ruslands hjælp til at bevare dansk kontrol over Grønland. Men indlæggene er fabrikerede, siger Karsten Hønge, og ifølge militæranalytikere taler de klart for en russisk dagsorden.
Faktisk
Falsk: Lederne i LAFD er DEI-ansatte fordi de både er kvinner og LHBTQ.
Dette er feil. De ti gjenværende sjefene i Los Angeles brannvesen er menn. Sammen med de elleve andre lederne har Crowley i LAFDs strategiske plan for 2023-2026 understreket at DEI ikke skal gå på bekostning av beredskapen. Men heller være et supplement til å levere "eksepsjonelle offentlige sikkerhets- og beredskapstjenester".
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: A turtle shell is not a shell at all but is made up of specially evolved ribs.
Turtle shells are unique among animals, consisting of modified ribs, vertebrae, and shoulder girdle bones fused into an external shell, a process that began around 250 million years ago. Fossil discoveries, such as the 220-million-year-old Odontochelys semitestacea and the older Eunotosaurus africanus, reveal how broadened ribs evolved into the modern turtle shell, filling significant gaps in the evolutionary record. Scientists consider Eunotosaurus a key transitional species, bridging the gap between turtles and other reptiles.
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