Your weekly fact-checks
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#TrumpCheck
FactCheck.org
False: Trump said, “An Iranian regime armed with long-range missiles and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American.”
Arms control experts have disputed his claim that Iran “soon” could have missiles capable of reaching the U.S., and they say there’s a lack of evidence that the country “attempted to rebuild” nuclear enrichment facilities damaged by U.S. strikes last year.
#Politics
PolitiFact
Barely-True: NC state Sen. Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, “killed a bill banning sex-change surgeries for minors.”
In 2021, Republican state senators introduced a bill to ban sex-reassignment surgeries for minors. Shortly thereafter, Republican Sen. Phil Berger, then the Senate leader, announced that he wouldn’t hold a vote on it because it didn’t have enough support to become law. In 2023, after Republicans gained a veto-proof majority in the legislature, Berger led the GOP as it enacted a law banning the surgeries.
BOOM Live
False: "India is the Motherland, Israel is the Fatherland." Modi said at the Knesset of Israel.
A viral video of Modi's February 25, 2026, Knesset speech was taken out of context — he was referring to the Indian-origin Jewish community in Israel and their contributions to both nations. This is confirmed by both the full speech and the official MEA transcript.
Snopes
False: An image from February 2026 authentically depicts Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with the U.S. and Canadian women's Olympic hockey teams following the U.S. team's Olympic win.
A viral image claiming Canadian PM Mark Carney hosted both the U.S. and Canadian women's Olympic hockey teams was AI-generated, showing telltale signs like misspelled jerseys, warped fingers, and a figure that didn't resemble the real Carney. No credible news outlets reported such a meeting, and there is no evidence that Carney ever extended such an invitation.
#Healthcare
Snopes
Mostly False: The U.S. federal government has spent about $250 million on transgender animal testing.
While the U.S. government has funded some studies using animals to mimic gender-affirming hormone therapy — totalling around $5.6 million — claims citing $245 million for "transgender animal testing" are misleading. The vast majority of that figure, $221 million, funded HIV vaccine clinical trials that only incidentally included those search terms.
#Economy
PolitiFact
Half-True: “Nearly 27% of all homes sold in the first quarter of 2025 were bought by investors.”
This percentage is credible for new sales, but the talking point exaggerates the overall share of housing in investors’ hands and who owns them. Data shows that small-scale, "mom and pop" investors account for a far greater share of investor-owned units than Wall Street firms do, and the combination of the two remains a distinct minority of all units. And large-investor holdings are primarily an issue in about 20 large metropolitan areas, not the nation as a whole.
PolitiFact
Mostly-True: President Donald Trump’s tariff policies “have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs” since last year.
A study from Democratic members of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee showed the average U.S. household has paid about $1,745 in tariff costs from February 2025 to January. Three other groups came up with four estimates. Three of their estimates came in roughly the same or within $350 of Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s estimate. The fourth was lower than Spanberger’s figure.
#Conflicts
PolitiFact
False: “The regime in Iran has now confessed that the (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) mistakenly bombed an Iranian school yesterday.”
A Feb. 28 missile strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, killed more than 100 people, including children, according to Iran’s government. It’s not clear whether the U.S., Israel or Iran are responsible for the missile strike. Government officials for Iran’s health and foreign ministry and Iranian state media said the attack was perpetrated by the U.S. and Israel, which have not weighed in. Contrary to social media posts, Iranian officials did not "confess" it was theirs.
Lead Stories
False: John Bolton died in totalling late February 2026 after US strikes on Iran.
The claim was only made in a likely satirical social media post. There were no news reports about his passing and no mention of it on the site of his PAC or on his own social media account, and his assistant confirmed to Lead Stories he was "alive and well".
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Halvt sandt: 50.000 danske børn lever i fattigdom.
Den danske politiker Franciska Rosenkildes påstand om, at omkring 50.000 børn i Danmark lever i fattigdom, underbygges af Danmarks Statistiks definition af relativ fattigdom, hvor en rapport fra december 2025 anslår, at 48.600 børn lever i familier, der tjener mindre end halvdelen af medianindkomsten. Forskning viser, at denne fattigdom kan forårsage toksisk stress, kognitiv skade, social udstødelse og reduceret indkomst i voksenalderen – hvor hvert ekstra år med fattigdom i barndommen er forbundet med 2,2 % lavere disponibel indkomst i voksenalderen.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: Zookeepers at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan hand-reared the rescued monkey after his parents rejected him.
"Punch," a baby Japanese macaque born at Ichikawa City Zoo in Japan on July 26, 2025, is real — he was abandoned by his exhausted first-time mother and hand-reared by zookeepers who gave him an Ikea orangutan stuffed toy for comfort, which he bonded with strongly. The zoo reintroduced him to the monkey troop in January 2026, and while his integration has had challenges, staff report no serious aggression and point to a successful 2009 precedent, expressing confidence in Punch's long-term wellbeing.
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