Europe

Did a Delta Force strike team arrest 86-year-old World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab on April 12, 2024? No, that's not true: There is no credible evidence that this happened. In addition, the website where this claim appeared has a rrecord of publishing fabricated content. The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on April 15, 2024,…

Is the world's first permanent electrified road open in Sweden as of April 2024? No, that's not true: Several short sections of prototype electrified roadway in Sweden have been used to test various charging methods for electric cars and trucks. But the first large-scale, permanent and open-for-public-use electrified road has not been constructed. A 13-mile pilot project was to be…

Is the "Budwig Diet" -- a diet rich in low-fat cottage cheese and organic flaxseed oil -- a scientifically proven treatment or preventative for cancer? No, that's not true: Oncological experts agree that there is "no reliable evidence to show that the Budwig diet can treat or prevent cancer" in humans, writes Cancer Research UK. The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer…

Do photos document archaeologists found tombs in Crimea containing the remains of giants? No, that's not true: This clickbait story is made up and it uses fake images of giant skeletons to drive traffic to a website with potentially malicious ads. The fake images used in the post on Facebook do not even appear in the recycled article on the…

Did Russia's President Vladimir Putin publicly announce after Iran's aerial strike on Israel that Moscow will back Iran if the U.S. attacks "Iran's soil" in U.S. support of Israel? No, that's not true: As of this writing, Putin has not made this public statement or any others directly referring to the Iranian attack or potential further developments in the region.…

Was World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab hospitalized as of mid-April 2024? No, that's not true: An organization representative told Lead Stories on April 15, 2024, that the organization has been "targeted by conspiracy narratives," adding, "Professor Schwab's health is excellent." Additionally, no evidence or reporting supports the claim. The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on X…

Did online talk show host Tucker Carlson release a photo of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "captured" and being sent to a high-security prison in Russia? No, that's not true: The image posted on social media is a screenshot from the Ukrainian sitcom series "Servant of the People" that Zelenskyy starred in before becoming president of Ukraine. The show's production company…

Are officials in London legally prohibited from removing bat boxes that protesters place on the city's traffic surveillance cameras? No, that's not true: It's illegal to install anything over these traffic cameras, which monitor vehicles entering and exiting the Ultra Low Emission Zone in and around the British capital. A spokesperson for Transport for London, which runs the city's transportation…

Does a photo of a toddler walking past the debris of burned village homes portray the damage caused by foreign mercenaries in Ukraine? No, that's not true: The image is a screenshot of a 2015 staged music video. In 2024, the picture was reused by the resources formerly controlled by now-deceased Russian mercenary boss Evgeny Prigozhin. The claim appeared in…

Did the World Economic Forum declare that "pedophilia 'sexual orientation' must be added to LGBTQ+," as an article published by The People's Voice reported? No, that's not true: A representative of the international non-governmental organization told Lead Stories that "such claims are completely unfounded and do not reflect the values, goals, or activities of the World Economic Forum." A spokesperson…

Did environmental activists protesting against the use of oil and gas in the U.K. glue themselves to a container transporting cooking oil? No, that's not true: The labels on the tank excluded the possibility that it contained vegetable oil, two independent sources confirmed to Lead Stories. That was consistent with publicly available information found on credible resources. A social media…

Does an image posted on social media show the April 8, 2024, solar eclipse setting behind a coastal mountain town in Portugal? No, that's not true: This image is fake, and it's old. The April 8, 2024, eclipse did not pass over Portugal. This composite image was circulating in July 2021 and was made with elements merged using a digital…

Did Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy buy the Highgrove mansion from the United Kingdom's King Charles III? No, that's not true: A representative of Grant Harrold, a former royal butler who was cited as the main source in an online article making the claim, told Lead Stories that the claim is "completely false." Lead Stories found several signs pointing to AI-generated…

Does a meme about mail-in voting correctly describe which countries forbid it? No, the list is misleading regarding some countries, lacks context in some cases and is inaccurate in at least one case by including Japan, which does allow mail-in voting as of April 2024. Many of the countries listed allow absentee or mail-in ballots for citizens who are living…

Is lab-grown meat being sold in Aldi stores as of April 2024? No, that's not true: Aldi told Lead Stories that the grocery store chain does not sell cultivated meat products. Cultivated meat products are deemed safe for consumption by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service. The government agency also told Lead Stories that only two…

Did Australian science communicator Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki promote a blood vessel cleaning remedy on Facebook? No, that's not true: Kruszelnicki has made clear statements that he is not affiliated with this product or any other. In a post to his account on X, Kruszelnicki wrote, "I never endorse any commercial product." He also thanked people "for reporting these fraudulent 'wellness'…

Did the U.S. Embassy in Russia issue a security alert 48 hours before the Moscow terror attack on March 22, 2024? No, that's not true: The sole security alert posted by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow for the month was on March 7, 2024. That was 15 days before gunmen stormed Moscow's Crocus City Hall and killed more than 140…

Was the captain of the Dali cargo vessel that hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on March 24, 2024, Ukrainian? No, that's not true: A representative of the company operating the ship confirmed to Lead Stories that all 22 crew members on board were Indian nationals. The claim about the Ukrainian captain purportedly being in charge of Dali…

Does a video show an explosion on the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, that collapsed on March 26, 2024? No, that's not true: The video shows an explosion on a bridge over the Kerch Strait between Russia and Crimea in October 2022. At the time of writing there is no evidence that an explosion was involved in the…

Did Vladimir Putin proclaim that Russia will embrace "the guidance of Black Jesus"? No, that's not true: A video claiming to be an authentic fragment of a Sky News live broadcast of an address by Putin was digitally doctored. The original sound was replaced by an AI-generated voice reading an AI-generated text. The claim appeared in a video (archived here)…