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#Ukraine
False: Sweden confirmed the loss of all tanks donated to Ukraine
When reached for comment, a Swedish Armed Forces spokesperson said in an email that it had made no statement confirming the loss of all donated tanks but declined to comment further. On Sept. 23, Forbes reported that Russian drone strikes damaged two of the 10 Swedish tanks. (Source: Reuters)
False: In early October 2023, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers surrendered to Russia.
No evidence has come to light, nor have reputable news sources or Ukrainian officials issued statements, confirming the claim spread by Russian propaganda outlets that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers surrendered. (Source: Snopes)
Half True: Julian Assange said the goal of the Ukraine-Russia conflict was to launder money from the United States and Europe through Ukraine.
The quote is old. Assange made the statement in 2011 in the context of the US-Afghanistan war, and the word "Afghanistan" was replaced with "Ukraine" in the viral quote. (Source: India Today)
#Nordics
Falsk: Long covid kan påvises ved blodprøve.
En ny studie fant forskjeller i blodprøvene til et utvalg personer med og uten «long covid», men det betyr ikke at tilstanden kan påvises bare ved en blodprøve. (Source: Faktisk)
#Other
Half True: One in five children have used vapes [in the UK]
This is correct for children over the age of 11, but it includes all children who have ever tried vaping, as well as those who currently use electronic cigarettes. Around 4% of children are regular users who vape more than once a week. (Source: Full Fact)
Half True: Albert Einstein warned that the time would come when the very rich so controlled the means of communication that it would be almost impossible for ordinary people to make informed decisions.
Many social media posts have paraphrased what Einstein wrote in an essay that was published by the independent socialist magazine “Monthly Review" in May 1949. While the passage Einstein wrote did amount to the same thing as the various paraphrases, he was not writing of something that would happen in the future, but what was happening in 1949. (Source: Snopes)
False: India receives £2.3 billion in overseas aid from the UK and is using the money to fund its lunar mission.
The UK money paid to India is invested in businesses and other projects of benefit to both countries. None of the money is spent on the space programme. (Source: Full Fact)
Half True: The Berlin government was "offering children a pro-prostitution picture book" to teach them about sex work.
The book was issued exclusively to adults, who can decide for themselves how and whether they want to use it. The book attempts to provide a guide for parents who are faced with the question of how to explain to their children why there are sex workers on Kurfürstenstrasse (and elsewhere in the city). (Source: Snopes)
#WTF?! What The Fact?! of the week
False: Disney changed the name of its 2013 movie “Frozen” from “The Snow Queen” to keep people from seeing articles about Walt Disney’s cryogenically frozen head when they Googled "Disney Frozen."
The claim that Walt Disney was "cryogenically frozen" after his death is a long-standing urban legend and was fact-checked by Snopes nearly 30 years ago. It is false, of course, given that his death certificate showed he was cremated two days after his death. (Source: Snopes)
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