Your weekly fact-checks
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#Politics
PolitiFact
False: President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social that, “After I’ve annexed Greenland and making it the 52nd State, I will annexe Alaska.”
Records of President Donald Trump's social media posts show no evidence that he stated on Truth Social that he would annex Alaska after making Greenland the 52nd state.
India Today
False: RSS leader Indresh Kumar attended an Iftar party on the night of the Nagpur violence.
This video of RSS leader Indresh Kumar attending an Iftar party in Delhi is from March 15 — two days before the Nagpur violence.
Snopes
True: The Trump administration removed Navajo Code Talker history from some government websites in accordance with President Donald Trump's anti-DEI orders.
An indispensable asset of the Allied military effort in World War II, Navajo Code Talkers communicated military intel over radio using a modified version of the Navajo language (also known as Diné bizaad). As of this writing, there were at least a few U.S. government webpages that still included information on Navajo Code Talker history, but this history had been erased from other pages and at least one revised URL began with "dei." The Department of Defense has reportedly said the deleted pages will be restored.
PolitiFact
False: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “engaged in election interference by campaigning” in Pennsylvania for former Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
On Sept. 22, 2024, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited a Scranton, Pennsylvania, ammunition plant to thank its workers, with Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was a surrogate for vice president and then-Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris. Legal experts said that doesn’t constitute "foreign election interference," which typically includes "covert, fraudulent or deceptive acts." Zelenskyy’s meeting with Shapiro was not a campaign event for either the governor or Harris.
Euronews
False: Canada can join the EU.
Social media discussions have sparked debate over whether Canada could join the EU, especially amid strained US-Canada relations under Donald Trump. While many Canadians support the idea, EU law under Article 49 states that only "European states" can apply, though the definition of "European" remains somewhat open. Experts note that Canada's lack of geographical proximity, non-membership in the Council of Europe, and limited historical influence on European culture make EU membership highly unlikely, unlike exceptions such as Cyprus and Turkey.
#Healthcare
PolitiFact
False: A $600,000 federal grant went to study “menstrual cycles in transgender men.”
The grant funded research into the use of natural fibers, such as wool and cotton, in menstrual hygiene products. The grant mentioned transgender men once, saying they may also menstruate. The grant’s education component sought to offer workshops about menstruation to young girls and women.
Africa Check
False: Nigeria has the world's second-highest number of people living with HIV.
Aproko Doctor claimed that Nigeria had the second-highest number of people living with HIV in the world, but in raw numbers the country comes fourth, after South Africa, India and Mozambique. The United Nations’ HIV/Aids programme estimated 2 million Nigerians were infected with HIV in 2023. It does not collect estimates for 29 countries worldwide, including China and the US. The social media influencer also said 200,000 Nigerians were newly infected with HIV annually, but this stat is a decade out of date. Figures from 2023 showed that new infections had more than halved.
Africa Check
False: Baking soda is a cure for cancer, with or without cannabis oil.
A video circulating online claims that drinking baking soda water after meals and consuming honey and cannabis oil can cure late-stage pancreatic cancer. But there is no evidence that these treatments work. If you want to add non-conventional treatments to your care, talk to your doctor first to ensure they’re safe.
#Economy
Check Your Fact
False: Warren Buffett said ‘Trump Is Making The Best Financial Decisions In 50 Years’.
A post shared on Facebook claims Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, purportedly said, “President Trump is making the best financial decisions in 50 years.” There is no evidence that Buffet praised Trump saying he was making stellar financial decisions in March 2025. A Google search did not return any credible news stories matching that statement. Buffett did blast Trump's tariffs on an interview with CBS News show Sunday Morning, calling them "an act of war to some degree."
StopFake
False: Zelenskyy Secretly Signed 100-year Resource Deal with UK, Deceived US.
The 100-year partnership agreement between Ukraine and the UK was never “secret”. The text of this document is easily available in open sources. Moreover, there is nothing in it that contradicts the agreement between Ukraine and the US on rare earth metals. Additionally, it was the US and the Trump administration, not Ukraine, that initiated the signing of the bilateral metals agreement, several weeks after the deal between Kyiv and London. Thus, neither Ukraine nor Zelenskyy “deceived” America; rather, the United States itself proposed such a deal and its terms to Ukraine.
#Climate
Climate Fact-Checks
False: The hottest day ever reported was based on a device installed next to a solar farm in Chertsey.
Incorrect, as the UK’s highest temperature was recorded in Lincolnshire, not Chertsey. Investigations have revealed that the Chertsey weather station is situated amid a field of solar panels, which could potentially influence temperature readings due to localized heating effects. The UK’s highest recorded temperature occurred on July 19, 2022, when the Met Office verified a temperature of 40.3°C (104.5°F) at Coningsby, Lincolnshire. There is no official record indicating that this measurement was taken near a solar farm in Chertsey.
#Nordics
Tjekdet
Falsk: Giv din baby en god klat råt smør inden sengetid. Det vil få din baby til at sove godt hele natten.
Det er tanken bag en trend på TikTok, hvor håbefulde forældre deler erfaringer med at servere smør for deres børn inden sengetid. Men eksperter advarer mod tendensen. Der er ingen beviser for, at smør giver babyer og småbørn en bedre nattesøvn. En ernæringsekspert kalder trenden »trist og fuldstændig vanvittig«.
#WTF?! What The Fact of the week
Snopes
True: Uppercase and lowercase letters get their names from where they were stored in traditional printing trays.
The terms "uppercase" and "lowercase" originate from traditional typesetting, where capital letters were stored in the upper case of a type tray, while smaller letters were kept in the lower case for easier access. Historical sources, including Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, and print historian Howard Hatch, confirm that this storage method was designed for efficiency in printing. The terminology emerged in the 18th century, centuries after the invention of the printing press, and has been widely documented in books and archives on typography.
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