Your weekly fact-checks
#Ukraine
True: Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy said that "we are ready to exchange Belgorod for Ukraine's membership in NATO."
Meant as a thinly-veiled joke, Zelenskyy's proposed option was exchanging the city of Belgorod for NATO membership. Belgorod is a Russian city, and has been for over a century. (Source: Snopes)
#Nordics
Ikke Dokumenteret: 43 procent af franskmændene og 35 procent af tyskere har en ‘ret positiv’ holdning til den russiske præsident, Vladimir Putin
Sådan kan man læse i et opslag på det sociale medie X af den russiske oppositionspolitiker Aleksej Navalnyjs stabschef, Leonid Volkov. Men ifølge forskere er undersøgelsen ikke repræsentativ, og derfor kan man ikke stole på dens resultater. Kigger man på andre undersøgelser, er flertallet af befolkningen i Frankrig og Tyskland imod den russiske præsident. (Source: Tjekdet)
#Other
Half-True: Under then-President Donald Trump, the U.S. achieved energy independence in three short years
Indeed the U.S. became a net energy exporter and began producing more energy than it consumed. However, this didn’t happen "in three short years," as Mike Pence claimed. The achievement built on more than a decade of improvements in shale oil and gas production, as well as renewables. (Source: PolitiFact)
True: Hippopotamuses are too dense to swim or float.
Their bodies are far too dense to float, so they move around by pushing off from the bottom of the river or simply walking along the riverbed in a slow-motion gallop, lightly touching the bottom with their toes, which are slightly webbed. (Source: Snopes)
False: Canada has more lakes than all other countries combined.
While Canada is not home to "more lakes than the rest of the world combined" like some social media posts claim, it has more lakes than any other individual country. (Source: Snopes)
Misleading: Gandhi used to receive allowance of Rs. 100 monthly by the British government
The allowance is allocated for the upkeep of Gandhi, who was held in custody as a state prisoner. This was a prevailing custom in accordance with the prevailing regulations during that period. Notably, Gandhi refused to accept the stipend. (Source: Factly)
False: Using mobile phones during thunderstorms will attract lightning.
Scientists and engineers have debunked Facebook posts that warn using mobile phones during thunderstorms could "attract lightning". The posts surfaced in the Philippines following a powerful typhoon that brought strong winds and heavy rains to the northern part of the archipelago. Experts dismissed the claim and said lightning tended to strike tall, isolated objects. (Source: Agence France-Presse - AFP)
#WTF?! What The Fact?! of the week
True: A bite from a Brazilian wandering spider can cause an erection that lasts up to four hours.
While far from an exclusive — or even a remotely new — finding, the claim in the tweet was factual. However the toxicity and high risk of death posed by the chemical makes its use as a potential erectile dysfunction (ED) therapy challenging, if not literally impossible. (Source: Snopes)
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