Mostly true: four in ten young people fear having children due to climate crisis

The British news service The Guardian claimed that “Four in 10 young people fear having children due to climate crisis“. The news service is referring to an international study that surveyed young people in 10 countries. The claim came out to be mostly true. For the article The Guardian used findings from a study that…

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Mostly true: “Asylum seekers massively fleeing from Croatia, just a little bit over 10 percent remain”

An article titled “Asylum seekers massively fleeing from Croatia” published in Croatian news outlet Večernji list made a claim referring to the refugees who come to this country, saying that: ”Just little bit over than 10 percent of them remain in Croatia.” The claim turns out to be mostly true. Croatia has come to be…

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Mostly true: “After about five years, approximately half of refugees are employed”

In an interview with the German newspaper Handelsblatt, that was published on 7 October 2020 on the website of the Düsseldorfer media outlet, Daniel Terzenbach, board member of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit), claimed, that after about five years, approximately half of refugees are employed. The claim turns out to be mostly true.…

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fact checking

Mostly false: Bitcoin’s “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels”

Elon Musk criticises Bitcoin for its enormous energy consumption of fossil fuels. Without further ado, he drops it as a payment option at Tesla, whereupon the Bitcoin price falls rapidly. Musk is mostly right about the greenhouse gas emissions involved in Bitcoin mining, but he is mostly wrong about the trend. Creating and destroying values…

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fact-check uncheckable

Uncheckable: ‘In Belgium, hundreds of radicalized prisoners can walk around freely’

On March 22nd 2021, the news site Nieuws365 published an official statement of the right-wing populist political party Vlaams Belang. According to their chairman of the department of Brussels and senator Bob de Brabandere, 398 prisoners who were classified as radicalised were released in the past five years, which he claims is problematic.This statement turns…

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Mostly true: “More than 80% of COVID19 vaccines have been given in higher-income countries compared with just 0,3% in lower-income countries”

On May 8th 2021 Melissa Fleming, who works at the UN as Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, tweeted about a great inequality between the distribution of COVID-19 vaccinations. She claimed that high income countries have received more than 80% of the vaccinations in comparison to low income countries who obtained only 0.3%. The claim turns out…

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Mostly true: “Belgium is one of the European countries contributing most to tropical deforestation”

On Wednesday 14 April, an article (pay wall, Dutch) appeared on the website of Flemish newspaper De Morgen on a WWF report (Dutch) on tropical deforestation. It states that Belgium is one of the largest deforesters in Europe, per capita. The claim turns out to be mostly true. Belgium is indeed one of the European…

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Mostly true: Unauthorized refugees in need of protection are receiving rejections in the EU

The refugee policies within EU states are struggling with transparency and consistency. According to a Deutsche Welle article, Catherine Woolard (director of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles) said that asylum decision-making in Europe even resembles a lottery game, meaning that people often end up being rejected even though they need protection. By researching…

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True: “The roar of traffic and aircraft are linked to negative health effects”

On 16 March 2021, BBC Online reported on negative health effects linked to noise pollution. The article claims that living near an airport or motorway has been shown to have a negative impact on our health. This is also confirmed by scientists who point to the effects of noise on humans. This claim is true.…

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Mostly true: “Without immigration, economic growth risks being undermined”

“The corona crisis has reduced migration flows worldwide. That has implications for prosperity. In rich countries, economic growth without immigration risks being undermined.” This claim from the German statistical bureau Destatis, published in Belgian newspaper De Standaard from 10 February 2021, turns out to be mostly true. Immigration is a global phenomenon with Europe as…

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