Your weekly fact-checks
#Elections2024
This week's election: Romanian Presidential Election
Politico
Election Date: 24/11/2024
The 2024 Romanian presidential election, set for November 10 with a possible runoff on November 24, will choose the country's next president as Klaus Iohannis exits due to term limits. Leading candidates include Mircea Geoană, a centrist figure endorsed by the Social Democratic Party (PSD) and National Liberal Party (PNL); Marcel Ciolacu of PSD; and George Simion of the far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR). A controversial twist comes from the rising influence of AUR, whose nationalist and eurosceptic rhetoric has sharply divided public opinion and raised concerns about Romania's political trajectory within the European Union.
#Politics
PolitiFact
False: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was hospitalized with a “serious health issue.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Nov. 18 before a committee in the country’s Knesset. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., met with Netanyahu Nov. 16 in Jerusalem.There are no credible news reports that Netanyahu was recently hospitalized.An image that accompanied a social media post claiming Netanyahu was ill has been used to spread false claims about his health as far back as 2023.
Reuters
False: Sadiq Khan said family would leave UK after Trump win.
There is no public record of London Mayor Sadiq Khan saying he would leave the UK in the event of a Donald Trump election victory. A spokesperson for Khan also said the claim is nonsense.
Factly
False: A tweet from Delhi Chief Minister Atishi Marlena states that the people of Delhi will defeat the BJP due to the atrocities and sexual assaults against Kejriwal in Tihar Jail.
The viral tweet came from the parody account @atishi_maarlena not Delhi CM Atishi Marlena. The bio of the account clarified it was for fun and satire. The official X handle of Atishi Marlena is @AtishiAAP, and no such tweet was found on her handle.
PolitiFact
False: “Every state that does not require voter ID, Kamala won in the US Presidential election.”
Claims that Vice President Kamala Harris alone won states that do not require voter ID are wrong. President-elect Donald Trump won in such states, too, and both candidates prevailed in states with a mix of identification laws.
#Healthcare
Health Feedback
Mostly False: ACE inhibitors are snake venom and cause turbo cancer.
ACE inhibitors, a type of medication commonly used to treat high blood pressure, are manmade molecules based on one component of venom from the Brazilian viper Bothrops jararaca. They aren’t snake venom. The scientific evidence on ACE inhibitors and cancer risk is conflicting. While a few studies found an association between ACE inhibitors and increased cancer risk, others found no association or even lower cancer risk.
#Conflicts
Vox Ukraine
False: A Wounded Ukrainian Soldier Had a Healthy Kidney Illegally Removed in a Hospital.
The story claimed the organ was taken without consent while he was under anesthesia. However, the claim was debunked as false, with no evidence to support the incident. No details were provided about the hospital, the medical staff involved, or any verified soldier identity. The narrative fits the pattern of disinformation campaigns aiming to discredit Ukraine’s healthcare system and institutions. Investigations found no credible reports or documentation to substantiate the story, marking it as a deliberate fabrication.
PolitiFact
False: “NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte says that ‘if Trump surrenders Ukraine to Putin, he will personally expel the United States from the alliance.’”
This claim is unfounded. A NATO spokesperson told Lead Stories it’s "bogus."
StopFake
False: According to Fox News, graffiti with Kneeling Zelensky Appears in New York.
The American channel Fox News did not publish graffiti with Volodymyr Zelensky kneeling. Moreover, the distributed image was most likely generated by artificial intelligence. This fake is part of the Russian propaganda narrative to discredit Ukraine in connection with the 2024 US presidential elections.
Lead Stories
Mostly False: Video shows Putin asserting the right to use nuclear weapons after Biden authorized Ukraine to attack Russia with US missiles.
A viral post on X reused footage from almost two months before November 2024, when reports said the Biden administration was removing a long-standing ban on the use of U.S.-supplied missiles that could strike inside Russia from Ukraine. In the old footage, Putin discussed updates to the Russian national nuclear doctrine, not the authorization of nuclear weapons for immediate use or in response to specific missiles.
#Conflicts
Full Fact
False: A video compilation shows the damage caused by the recent floods in Spain.
This is not true. Most of the footage appeared online before the floods in Spain and was likely filmed in Poland.
#Nordics
Faktisk
Feil: Årsaken til at kronekursen blir svakere og svakere skyldes i hovedsak tre ting, ifølge OECD: Lav produktivitet, få gründere, stor offentlig sektor.
Dette er ikke riktig. OECD har laget en rapport om utviklingen i norsk økonomi, der de trekker frem flere utfordringer, men de sier ikke noe om de tre hovedårsakene til at kronekursen har blitt lavere.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: Sears' mail-order catalogues from the 1950s and 1960s offered dogs, ponies, monkeys, and other animals for purchase.
Sears used to sell animals via mail order, based on a review of catalogue archives, newspaper clippings and the book "Pets in America: A History" by historian Katherine Grier. From monkeys and donkeys to common pets like dogs, birds and fish, live pets were offered in Sears catalogues issued between 1956 and 1964. It even offered four varieties of monkeys. Of the monkeys, some catalogues said, "we include collar and chain with each monkey for easier handling.
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TwitterNo details were provided about the hospital, the medical staff involved, or any verified soldier identity