Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2024
This week's election: 2024 Moldovan presidential election
Reuters
Election Date: 20/10/2024
Moldova will hold its presidential election on 20 October 2024, alongside a referendum on joining the European Union. Candidates must meet constitutional requirements, including being at least 40 years old, having Moldovan citizenship, and residing in the country for 10 years. They must also collect 15,000 voter signatures from multiple regions to run. If no candidate wins a majority, a second round will be held. The election is overshadowed by security concerns, with Moldovan authorities accusing Russian-trained groups of plotting to destabilize the election and influence voters with Russian funds. The EU and the U.S. have imposed sanctions in response, while Russia denies the allegations.
#Politics
PolitiFact
Half-True: Two weeks ago 100 GOP lawmakers voted against additional FEMA funding.
A stopgap funding bill passed by Congress Sept. 25 included $20 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund. But it was a much broader funding bill that also included money for many other federal programs. In the Senate, 18 Republicans voted against the bill, and in the House, 82 did. Some Republicans said they opposed the bill for reasons unrelated to FEMA funding.
PolitiFact
False: Vice President Kamala Harris’ “60 Minutes” interview may be “a major Campaign Finance Violation.”
Political experts told PolitiFact the argument that Vice President Kamala Harris’ "60 minutes" interview violated campaign finance laws is far-fetched and baseless. A video clip previewing Harris’ interview and the full-aired interview showed different responses from Harris on a question about U.S.-Israel relations. But a media ethics expert said it’s common for broadcast news outlets to edit interviews this way because of time constraints.
Reuters
False: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces UK Israel boycott.
A fabricated breaking news bulletin saying British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the UK would cease diplomatic relations with Israel is spreading on social media. There were no credible reports of Starmer saying the UK would cease relations with Israel by Oct. 14.
StopFake
False: The Ukrainian delegation walked out of the UN General Assembly during the Israeli prime minister’s speech.
During Netanyahu’s speech, several delegations from Arab countries, including Lebanon, did leave the hall in protest of his statements. However, there is no confirmation that the Ukrainian delegation was among them. Moreover, Ukraine had previously abstained from voting on a UN resolution calling for Israel to withdraw from Palestinian territories.
#Climate
PolitiFact
False: “They create hurricanes via cloud seeding” and “direct them where they want the Hurricane to go!”
Cloud seeding, used to increase rain or snow in drought-stricken areas by injecting silver iodide into clouds, is the most common weather modification program in use in the U.S. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration once used cloud seeding in a decades-long project to try to lessen the intensity of hurricanes, but the project was ended in 1983 after mixed results. There are no weather modification projects that can create or modify hurricanes, weather officials and experts said.
Check Your Fact
False: HAARP is positioned Around Florida to influence Hurricane Milton.
A video post on X claims that HAARP (High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program) is responsible for manipulating weather patterns in Florida, supposedly influencing Hurricane Milton. The video claims to show HAARP equipment is responsible for generating the hurricane that hit Florida last week. The video actually shows components are part of a coral nursery off the coast of Florida. In fact, Mote Marine Laboratory recently published research highlighting how coral reefs in Florida survived the summer’s record-high sea temperatures—yet no mention is made of any supposed weather manipulation.
#Healthcare
Reuters
Mostly false: A British city council is not spending £600,000 on private healthcare for refugees.
A city council in Britain has committed more than 600,000 pounds ($784,000) to help refugees and asylum seekers access public healthcare, not to provide them with private healthcare, contrary to online claims. Nottingham City Council (NCC) approved the expenditure on Oct. 3, 2024, and is now inviting interested parties to bid for the contract. It is seeking a provider to give public health support to refugees and asylum seekers over a five-year period, starting in 2025.
#Conflicts
Full Fact
False: IDF Chief of the General Staff Herzi Halevi has been assassinated.
There's no evidence that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi has been killed after a Hezbollah drone attack in Israel on Sunday, despite rumours spreading online.
FactCrescendo
False: Video shows an Israeli tank that had recently entered Lebanon being destroyed by Hezbollah.
The claim made along with the viral video is false. This video actually shows Ukrainian forces destroying a Russian T-90M tank, and it dates back to 2023.
#Nordics
Fatisk
Sant: Russiske Telegram-kanaler har delt personopplysninger og oppfordret til trakassering mot over 40 nordmenn.
Norske bistandsarbeidere, politikere og militært personell har vært mål for denne informasjonskrigen, som innebærer spredning av personopplysninger og oppfordring til trakassering på nett. Det dreier seg blant annet om doxing, der personlige opplysninger som personnummer, adresse eller pass lekkes, og personene mottar trusler som følge av dette. Mange av disse personene er personer som har gitt bistand til Ukraina eller kjempet på ukrainsk side. Hensikten med doxingen ser ut til å være å skremme og kneble dem som støtter Ukraina, samt å avskrekke andre fra å engasjere seg i lignende aktiviteter.
Tjekdet
Falsk: Danskernes madspild er blevet halveret på bare et år.
Ifølge HelloFresh, som er en af de største leverandører af måltidskasser i Danmark, har danskerne halveret deres madspild i løbet af det seneste år. Det skal en undersøgelse, som HelloFresh har lavet, vise. Men undersøgelsen kan kun konkludere, hvor meget danskerne selv mener, at de har reduceret deres madspild. Den siger ikke noget om det faktiske madspild.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: Humans Cannot Fully Sink in Quicksand.
Humans cannot fully sink in quicksand due to differences in density. The density of quicksand is about twice that of a human, making it physically impossible for a person to completely submerge. Quicksand acts as a trap when disturbed, becoming more fluid and causing objects to sink, but the trapped body will not go beyond a certain depth because of buoyancy. Researchers have shown through experiments that while movement may cause someone to sink partially, they won't be pulled below the surface. The quicksand becomes too dense for further sinking, and a person will float rather than fully submerge.
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