Reuters Fact Check

U.S. President Joe Biden announced last week that the U.S. would be supplying Ukraine with 31 Abrams tanks. The move aligns with the administrations ongoing military support to Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in February 2022. Posts online comparing the move to a statement by Biden in March 2022 saying the presence of American troops and equipment in Ukraine would mean “World War Three” are missing context.

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) broadened a standard for normal heart function in pilots because medical evidence showed no symptoms or additional health risk up to the raised threshold, the agency told Reuters, adding that the change had nothing to do with COVID-19 vaccine effects.

At least several decades’ worth of data is needed to infer trends in global temperatures, climate experts told Reuters, and while short-term fluctuations might lead to several years that are cooler than a peak year preceding them, the longer-term trend is still upward.

Germany has not actually declared war on Russia, despite posts online characterizing recent German actions and a statement by its foreign minister as a declaration of war. The claim appears to stem from Germany’s recent decision to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine as well as the German foreign minister’s recent remarks at the Council of Europe that have been taken out of context, and which the Russian news agency TASS called “evidence of a premeditated war against Russia.”

Republican U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz owned corporate stock in a company that received nearly $500,000 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans forgiven in 2020, but users online are claiming that he personally received PPP loan forgiveness without owning a company.

CORRECTION: This article has been updated throughout to address the central claim that sea level rise to date has not produced catastrophic effects, and to change the verdict from “false” to “misleading.”

Side-by-side photos of Ukrainian member of parliament Kira Rudyk are being shared on social media with false claims they show Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine.

A balloon shown flying over Memphis on flight tracking site Flightradar24 was not the Chinese “airship” suspected by U.S. officials of being a spy balloon that flew over northwestern U.S. and Montana in recent days. Despite claims on social media, the balloon that flew over Memphis in fact belongs to U.S. company Aerostar.

There is no evidence a quote attributed to veteran U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger on controlling the food supply to control people is true, and it appears to have first appeared on a satirical website. A spokesperson for Kissinger told Reuters the quote is untrue.

A photograph of two men holding a rainbow flag at a pride celebration in Paris has been altered to include two children.