Europe

Does a viral image prove that U.K. Labour Party leader Keir Starmer socialized with Jimmy Savile, a British TV personality accused of dozens of sexual offenses? No, that's not true: The image was digitally altered to place Savile in the room with Starmer. The original photo showed Starmer sitting next to Gordon Brown. The image appeared in a post (archived…

Can the European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association, or EISCAT Scientific Association, use its technologies for mind control, as a video on social media claims? No, that's not true: EISCAT Scientific Association Director Axel Steuwer told Lead Stories that there is "absolutely no mind control possible" with the program's systems, which primarily measure physical elements of the upper atmosphere using the…

Does a social media video show an incident on May 21, 2024, in which a Boeing Singapore Airlines plane hit extremely rough air? No, that's not true: The clip is from nearly five years earlier. Instead of the Singapore Airlines flight, the video shows another case of heavy turbulence from June 2019, involving an ALK Airlines plane over Europe. The…

Was there a debate that took place in the UK in May 2024 about removing the Holocaust from school curricula? No, that's not true: A social media post making the claim in May 2024 began circulating in 2019. Years earlier, a 2007 report circulated about one UK school where the Holocaust was not taught as an optional topic. The British…

Is the wife of the suspect in the attempted assassination of Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico a Ukrainian refugee? No, that's not true: The head of the country's national police said that such speculations on social media are "definitely a hoax." Lead Stories found no credible news reporting corroborating the claim. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on…

Does a video show French prisoners celebrating the killing of two police officers in an ambush in May 2024? No, that's not true: The video predates the attack by almost a year. The ambush happened as a prisoner named Mohamed Amra rode in a prison van; a car struck the van and gunmen shot the two officers, allowing Amra to…

Is a man suspected of shooting Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico a member of the Progressive party opposing Fico's policies? No, that's not true: Both Progressive Slovakia's chairman and the interior minister rejected such claims. As of this writing, no credible media reports corroborated the claim. The story appeared in a post (archived here) on X, formerly known as Twitter,…

Does video show Irish police walking with schoolchildren in Dublin to protect them from asylum-seekers living in a tent camp? No, that's not true: The police told Lead Stories that the videos shared on social media showed a routine practice of community units helping local schools navigate field trips. The statement "categorically rejected" the connection between camps and law enforcement's…

Was German politician Björn Höcke fined in May 2024 for simply using a patriotic phrase in a speech three years earlier? No, that's not true: His conviction and fine were related to a phrase deemed to violate German laws regarding Nazi propaganda and slogans. The German Criminal Code is particularly strict about language that could be interpreted as promoting Nazi…

Did Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico "formally and publicly" reject the World Health Organization Global Pandemic Accord "only days" before an assassination attempt on May 15, 2024, as a post on X claimed? No, that's not true: The pandemic accord has not been finalized, a World Health Organization spokesperson told Lead Stories on May 15, 2024. Although Fico had voiced…

Was an approximately 2-year-old-child, who was never reported missing, found in a town -- and are police keeping the child safe while looking for the child's guardian? No, that's not true: While this situation may have occurred somewhere at some point in time, posts circulating on Facebook in May 2024 are part of a scam and are not true. The…

Does the "real" story of Pinocchio include the details that Gepetto was a slave master who made a puppet from the skin and hair of human slaves? No, that's not true: The fictional story is about a puppet made from an enchanted piece of wood. Gepetto was not a slave master. The story was written by Carlo Collodi in installments…

Did Belgian public broadcaster VRT make an editorial decision to intentionally interrupt Eurovision song contest coverage to express its protest against Israel's actions in Gaza? No, that's not true: The message that appeared on the TV screens was posted by VRT unions, not VRT, a spokesperson for the TV channel confirmed to Lead Stories. One union openly wrote about that…

Did King Frederik X of Denmark wave a Palestinian flag from a balcony in Copenhagen as a crowd of protesters were passing below? No, that's not true: This video was filmed in Malmo, Sweden, about 17 miles away and across the Øresund strait from the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark. The man on the balcony waving the flag is not…

Does a video in a social media post show "Muslim migrants" destroying public property because an Israeli singer was featured in the Eurovision song contest? No, that's not true: The footage shows a 2009 anti-Israel demonstration in Sweden that turned violent. That 2009 demonstration occurred during a tennis tournament and was not related to that year's Eurovision contest, which was…

Did French Air Force aerobatic jets accidentally emit smoke that displayed the Russian flag to mark the May 8, 2024, arrival of the Olympic flame in the French city of Marseille? No, that's not true: The eight Alpha Jets left smoke trails in the colors and order of France's tricolor -- blue, white and red. Russia's tricolor is white, blue…

Did White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre field a question on the topic of alleged Ukrainian manifestations of Nazism from a reporter during a press briefing? No, that's not true on both counts: The reporter did not ask this question, and Jean-Pierre did not respond to such a question. An AI-generated voiceover has been added to authentic video footage from…

Was German politician Marie-Thérèse Kaiser convicted and fined in May 2024 solely for sharing statistics regarding sexual assaults committed by Afghan immigrants? No, that's not true: Kaiser was found guilty of "incitement to hatred" under the German Criminal Code, not merely posting government figures. The law stipulates that individuals who incite hatred against specific groups based on nationality, race, religion…

Did Germany pass a law that includes fines of up to 10,000 euros for using a wrong pronoun while referring to a transgender person? No, that's not true: The law specifically says that what is punishable is a malicious disclosure of that person's birth gender or of their deadname (the name they used prior to transition) without their consent. It…

Does a social media post from April 2024 show a "current" cover of German news magazine Der Spiegel, featuring Donald Trump with a lit match and a headline that calls him a "Fire Devil"? No, that's not true: The Der Spiegel edition shown was published in 2020, not 2024. Additionally, according to a Lead Stories translator, the headline more appropriately…