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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn’t happen this week

A roundup of a number of the hottest however fully unfaithful tales and visuals of the week. None of those are legit, regardless that they have been shared broadly on social media. The Related Press checked them out. Listed below are the details:

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Advert misleads on treaty regulating world arms commerce

CLAIM: President Joe Biden simply introduced that he’s including the U.S. as a signatory to the United Nations “Small Arms Treaty,” which might “set up a world gun management registry” wherein different nations can “observe the ‘finish consumer’ of each rifle, shotgun, and handgun offered on this planet.”

THE FACTS: There is no such thing as a “U.N. Small Arms Treaty.” A separate U.N. settlement, the Arms Commerce Treaty, regulates the worldwide commerce of a variety of weapons, however doesn’t observe home gun gross sales. The false declare about an “worldwide gun management registry” was shared in a Fb commercial by a gun rights group stoking fears about threats to the Second Modification. The group, the “American Firearms Affiliation,” claims in its Fb advert that Biden “has simply introduced that he’s including America as a signatory to the U.N. Small Arms Treaty, setting the stage for a full ratification vote within the U.S. Senate.” “The U.N. Small Arms Treaty would set up a world gun management registry, permitting Communist China, European socialists, and third World dictators to trace the ‘finish consumer’ of each rifle, shotgun, and handgun offered on this planet,” continues the publish, which hyperlinks to a petition asking for customers’ contact info. The publish calls on supporters of the Second Modification to oppose the treaty. However there isn’t any treaty known as the “U.N. Small Arms Treaty,” and the treaty that’s being referenced doesn’t report non-public gun gross sales in any nation, consultants say. The precise treaty, the U.N. Arms Commerce Treaty, offers not solely with small arms equivalent to rifles and pistols, however battle tanks, armored fight autos, large-caliber artillery programs, fight plane, assault helicopters, warships and extra, the AP has reported. The U.N. in 2013 adopted the treaty to maintain weapons from falling into the palms of terrorists and human rights violators. The treaty prohibits nations that ratify it from exporting standard weapons in the event that they violate arms embargoes, or in the event that they promote acts of genocide, crimes towards humanity or conflict crimes. It does encourage its events to keep up nationwide data relating to exports of standard arms and says such data ought to embrace the “finish consumer.” However that’s a suggestion about recording exports {that a} nation makes to a different nation, not gun gross sales to people inside a rustic, stated Jennifer Erickson, an affiliate professor of political science and worldwide research at Boston School. Consultants be aware that the treaty was written to explicitly clarify it has no bearing on home gun rights or gross sales. The treaty’s preamble, for instance, states that the settlement is “Reaffirming the sovereign proper of any State to manage and management standard arms completely inside its territory, pursuant to its personal authorized or constitutional system.” The U.N. has “no gun management registry when it comes to non-public possession, in anyway,” Erickson stated. Erickson stated the U.S. authorities already makes use of “end-use” monitoring by recording the place it sends weapons. “There’s solely within the Arms Commerce Treaty a concentrate on cross-border transfers, so not home gross sales or possession,” stated Rachel Stohl, vp of analysis packages on the Stimson Middle, a nonpartisan suppose tank targeted on worldwide safety. “It’s actually gross sales between governments. And it applies to the whole vary of standard weapons, not simply small arms and light-weight weapons.” The U.S. signed the treaty in 2013, although the Senate by no means ratified it — which suggests the nation is a signatory of the settlement, however not an official social gathering and sure by it. In 2019, Trump introduced that he was revoking the nation’s standing as a signatory, although that transfer was symbolic. The U.N. nonetheless lists the U.S. as a signatory to the treaty, although in a footnote on-line it acknowledges that, in a July 2019 communication, the U.S. stated it didn’t intend to turn into a celebration to the treaty and that it has no authorized obligations in relation to it. Opposite to the advert’s declare, Biden has not but taken any motion to reverse the U.S.’s public place on the treaty, Stohl stated. An inquiry to one of many administrators of the American Firearms Affiliation was not instantly returned.

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— Related Press author Angelo Fichera in Philadelphia contributed this report.

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Baseless claims about security of mRNA vaccines flow into on-line

CLAIM: People and different mammals injected with an mRNA vaccine die inside 5 years.

THE FACTS: There is no such thing as a scientific proof to recommend people or different mammals given an mRNA vaccine die inside 5 years, consultants informed the AP. Social media customers are reviving issues that mRNA-based vaccines, together with these which are used to fight COVID-19, are extraordinarily lethal. “No mammal injected with mRNA has ever survived longer than 5 years. The die-off has begun,” one consumer on Twitter wrote in a publish that’s been appreciated or shared greater than 17,000 instances. However there’s no scientific proof that the mRNA vaccination shortens life expectancy or has led to mass die offs in people or different mammals since analysis started on them a long time in the past, consultants informed the AP “Nothing of the size prompt has occurred,” Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of infectious illnesses at Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital in Boston, informed the AP. “The overwhelming majority of the hundreds of thousands who’ve been injected are doing simply superb.” Vaccines using messenger RNA, or mRNA, educate cells how one can make a protein that can set off an immune response that protects an individual from turning into significantly in poor health from a illness, in keeping with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention. The molecule was first found within the early Nineteen Sixties and analysis into its makes use of in medical therapy progressed into the Nineteen Seventies and Eighties, in keeping with Johns Hopkins College’s Faculty of Public Well being. A flu vaccine based mostly on mRNA was examined on mice within the Nineteen Nineties, however the first vaccines for rabies and influenza weren’t examined on people till not too long ago. Kuritzkes stated no deaths from these vaccines have been reported in these trials. In the meantime, lots of of hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide have been inoculated towards COVID-19 within the final couple of years and reviews of loss of life after vaccination stay uncommon. Healthcare suppliers are required to report any loss of life after a COVID-19 shot to the federal authorities’s Vaccine Hostile Occasion Reporting System (VAERS), even when it’s unclear whether or not the vaccine was the trigger. Greater than 600 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered within the U.S. from December 2020 by way of final week, in keeping with the CDC. Throughout that point, there have been greater than 16,500 preliminary reviews of loss of life, or 0.0027% of people who have acquired a COVID-19 vaccine. Of these, the CDC has recognized simply 9 deaths causally related to uncommon blood clots brought on by the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which isn’t mRNA based mostly like these produced by Pfizer and Moderna. Kuritzkes additionally notes that mRNA solely lasts within the physique for a brief time frame earlier than quickly degrading, making it unlikely that it might trigger long run results. “The truth that we’re simply now attending to the five-year mark for a number of the earliest research shouldn’t be proof that folks die from the vaccines,” he stated. “Simply proof that 5 years have but to elapse for a lot of trials. Type of like saying no one who voted within the 2020 presidential election has lived greater than 5 years.”

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— Related Press author Philip Marcelo in New York contributed this report.

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Video of site visitors on the Finnish-Russian border misrepresented

CLAIM: Video exhibits strains of vehicles ready on the Russian-Finnish border after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists on Wednesday amid the conflict in Ukraine.

THE FACTS: The video was filmed on the Vaalimaa border crossing level between Russia and Finland on Aug. 29, weeks earlier than Putin introduced the partial mobilization of Russian reservists to Ukraine. Following Putin’s announcement, social media customers misrepresented a video exhibiting site visitors on the border crossing level in Finland, a couple of three hour drive from St. Petersburg, Russia. The unique video, which was posted to YouTube and TikTok on Sept. 19, exhibits a protracted line of vehicles on the border crossing level. Social media customers then took the clip out of context, falsely claiming that it captured Russians fleeing to Finland. “#Breaking: simply in – The site visitors jam on the border with#Russia/#Finland has pilled as much as 35KM and is rising by the hour, it’s the solely border who remains to be open for Russian civilians with shengen visas, after#Putin introduced he’ll ship 300.000 new troops to#Ukraine,” a tweet with greater than 2.7 million views falsely claimed. Igor Parri, the TikTok consumer who posted the unique video confirmed to The Related Press in an e mail that he filmed it on Aug. 29. He despatched the AP the unique video to confirm that he filmed it and famous that the video “was simply depicting the fairly typical line” on the border. The End border authority on Wednesday publicly responded to the claims circulating broadly on social media, noting that site visitors situations on the border remained regular. “State of affairs at Finnish Russian border is regular, each at inexperienced border and in border site visitors,” Matti Pitkäniitty, a senior official with the Finnish border authority wrote in a press release posted to Twitter. “Simply talked to our officers in cost. There’s regular queuing in border site visitors…” Pitkäniitty then tweeted on Thursday that site visitors from Russia was at a “greater degree than standard,” however was akin to weekend site visitors. In a press release to reporters on Thursday, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin stated that the nation was contemplating methods to cut back Russian transit to Finland, after Putin’s announcement. Putin’s announcement on Wednesday sparked anti-war demonstrations throughout the nation that resulted in nearly 1,200 arrests, the AP reported. Some Russians rushed to purchase airplane tickets to flee the nation.

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Florida ranks forty eighth in trainer pay, not Ninth

CLAIM: When the Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took workplace, Florida ranked twenty sixth within the nation for trainer pay. Right this moment the state ranks Ninth in trainer pay.

THE FACTS: Florida most not too long ago ranked forty eighth within the nation in common public college trainer pay and was ranked forty seventh when DeSantis took workplace, in keeping with the Nationwide Training Affiliation, which compiles the info yearly. The Florida Republican Social gathering misled social media customers this month when it posted on its verified Twitter and Fb accounts that the state was among the many greatest within the nation for trainer pay. “When Governor DeSantis took workplace Florida ranked twenty sixth within the nation for trainer pay, right now we’re Ninth,” the social gathering wrote. “Yearly he fights to make sure Florida academics get the help and funding they want.” Nevertheless, nationwide wage knowledge contradicts these numbers. The Nationwide Middle for Training Statistics and several other different on-line sources for such knowledge get their wage info from the NEA, the nation’s largest trainer’s union, which compiles most of its knowledge from state training departments. NEA knowledge exhibits that within the 2018-2019 college 12 months, when DeSantis entered workplace, Florida ranked forty seventh within the nation for common public college trainer pay, giving academics a median annual wage of $48,314. It ranked forty eighth within the 2020-2021 college 12 months, giving academics a median of $51,009. The state is estimated to proceed to rank forty eighth for the 2021-2022 college 12 months, in keeping with Staci Maiers, an NEA spokesperson. The governor’s press workplace in a information launch in March touted the Ninth-in-the-nation rating, however referred to beginning wage, relatively than common trainer wage. “In 2020, the typical beginning wage for a trainer in Florida was $40,000 (twenty sixth within the nation), and with right now’s funding, it should now be not less than $47,000 (Ninth within the nation),” the discharge stated. These numbers additionally aren’t a precise match for the NEA’s knowledge, which present that within the 2019-2020 college 12 months, Florida ranked twenty ninth within the nation for common public college trainer beginning wage, in keeping with Maiers. Estimates for the 2020-2021 college 12 months present Florida rating sixteenth within the nation on this benchmark. And based mostly on the info from that college 12 months, which is the newest knowledge out there, a $47,000 beginning wage would place Florida at eleventh within the nation, not Ninth. Cassandra Palelis, press secretary for the Florida Division of Training, defined that the press launch from March featured earlier knowledge from the NEA, which was later up to date. She stated Florida’s estimated beginning wage for the 2022-2023 college 12 months is greater than $48,000 per 12 months, which might rank Ninth within the nation in keeping with NEA knowledge. The Florida Republican Social gathering didn’t reply to emailed requests for remark.

— Related Press author Ali Swenson in New York contributed this report.

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Discover AP Reality Checks right here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck

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Comply with @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck

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What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry

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What a merger between Nissan and Honda means for the automakers and the industry

BANGKOK (AP) — Japanese automakers Honda and Nissan will attempt to merge and create the world’s third-largest automaker by sales as the industry undergoes dramatic changes in its transition away from fossil fuels.

The two companies said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on Monday and that smaller Nissan alliance member Mitsubishi Motors also had agreed to join the talks on integrating their businesses. Honda will initially lead the new management, retaining the principles and brands of each company.

Following is a quick look at what a combined Honda and Nissan would mean for the companies, and for the auto industry.

An industry shakeup

The ascent of Chinese automakers is rattling the industry at a time when manufacturers are struggling to shift from fossil fuel-driven vehicles to electrics. Relatively inexpensive EVs from China’s BYD, Great Wall and Nio are eating into the market shares of U.S. and Japanese car companies in China and elsewhere.

Japanese automakers have lagged behind big rivals in EVs and are now trying to cut costs and make up for lost time.

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Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi announced in August that they will share components for electric vehicles like batteries and jointly research software for autonomous driving to adapt better to dramatic changes in the auto industry centered around electrification. A preliminary agreement between Honda, Japan’s second-largest automaker, and Nissan, third largest, was announced in March.

A merger could result in a behemoth worth about $55 billion based on the market capitalization of all three automakers.

Joining forces would help the smaller Japanese automakers add scale to compete with Japan’s market leader Toyota Motor Corp. and with Germany’s Volkswagen AG. Toyota itself has technology partnerships with Japan’s Mazda Motor Corp. and Subaru Corp.

What would Honda need from Nissan?

Nissan has truck-based body-on-frame large SUVs such as the Armada and Infiniti QX80 that Honda doesn’t have, with large towing capacities and good off-road performance, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of AutoForecast Solutions.

Nissan also has years of experience building batteries and electric vehicles, and gas-electric hybird powertrains that could help Honda in developing its own EVs and next generation of hybrids, he said.

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“Nissan does have some product segments where Honda doesn’t currently play,” that a merger or partnership could help, said Sam Abuelsamid, a Detroit-area automotive industry analsyt.

While Nissan’s electric Leaf and Ariya haven’t sold well in the U.S., they’re solid vehicles, Fiorani said. “They haven’t been resting on their laurels, and they have been developing this technology,” he said. “They have new products coming that could provide a good platform for Honda for its next generation.”

Why now?

Nissan said last month that it was slashing 9,000 jobs, or about 6% of its global work force, and reducing global production capacity by 20% after reporting a quarterly loss of 9.3 billion yen ($61 million).

Earlier this month it reshuffled its management and its chief executive, Makoto Uchida, took a 50% pay cut to take responsibility for the financial woes, saying Nissan needed to become more efficient and respond better to market tastes, rising costs and other global changes.

Fitch Ratings recently downgraded Nissan’s credit outlook to “negative,” citing worsening profitability, partly due to price cuts in the North American market. But it noted that it has a strong financial structure and solid cash reserves that amounted to 1.44 trillion yen ($9.4 billion).

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Nissan’s share price has fallen to the point where it is considered something of a bargain. A report in the Japanese financial magazine Diamond said talks with Honda gained urgency after the Taiwan maker of iPhones Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, began exploring a possible acquisition of Nissan as part of its push into the EV sector.

The company has struggled for years following a scandal that began with the arrest of its former chairman Carlos Ghosn in late 2018 on charges of fraud and misuse of company assets, allegations that he denies. He eventually was released on bail and fled to Lebanon.

Honda reported its profits slipped nearly 20% in the first half of the April-March fiscal year from a year earlier, as sales suffered in China.

More headwinds

Toyota made 11.5 million vehicles in 2023, while Honda rolled out 4 million and Nissan produced 3.4 million. Mitsubishi Motors made just over 1 million. Even after a merger Toyota would remain the leading Japanese automaker.

All the global automakers are facing potential shocks if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on threats to raise or impose tariffs on imports of foreign products, even from allies like Japan and neighboring countries like Canada and Mexico. Nissan is among the major car companies that have adjusted their supply chains to include vehicles assembled in Mexico.

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Meanwhile, analysts say there is an “affordability shift” taking place across the industry, led by people who feel they cannot afford to pay nearly $50,000 for a new vehicle. In American, a vital market for companies like Nissan, Honda and Toyota, that’s forcing automakers to consider lower pricing, which will eat further into industry profits.

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AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this report from Detroit.

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US military conducts successful airstrikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen

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US military conducts successful airstrikes on Houthi rebel forces in Yemen

The U.S. military confirmed it conducted airstrikes in Yemen, saying it targeted a missile storage site and a command-and-control center operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced the successful strikes in a release Saturday, saying they were meant to “disrupt and degrade” Houthi operations.

“CENTCOM forces conducted the deliberate strikes to disrupt and degrade Houthi operations, such as attacks against U.S. Navy warships and merchant vessels in the Southern Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb and Gulf of Aden,” CENTCOM said in a news release.

DISAPPROVAL MOUNTS BOTH AT HOME AND ABROAD AS US AVOIDS DIRECT ACTION AGAINST HOUTHI REBELS

The U.S. military successfully conducted airstrikes in Yemen, saying it targeted a missile storage site and a command-and-control site operated by Iran-backed Houthi rebels. (CENTCOM via X)

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Footage from CENTCOM showed F/A-18’s taking off. The agency said it also used assets from the Navy and the Air Force.

US NAVY SHIPS REPEL ATTACK FROM HOUTHIS IN GULF OF ADEN 

“The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect U.S. and coalition personnel, regional partners and international shipping,” it said.

Houthi rebels

Houthi followers burn the Israeli and American flags on the outskirts of Sana’a, Yemen. (Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images)

The attacks against shipping are ongoing, and Houthi militants have vowed to continue until Israel ends its campaign in Gaza.

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The terrorist group has targeted more than 100 merchant vessels since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.

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Fact check: How deadly was 2024 for journalists?

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Fact check: How deadly was 2024 for journalists?

An estimated 104 journalists lost their lives in 2024, with Palestine the most dangerous territory.

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An estimated 104 journalists were killed worldwide over the past year, according to data shared earlier this month by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ).

Another report by NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) puts the figure at 54, but its methodology means it only includes killings that are considered “directly related” to journalists’ professional activity.

Both organisations say that Palestine is the deadliest place on earth for journalists. More than half (55) of the 104 killings reported by IFJ were Palestinian media professionals in Gaza, while a further six were killed in Lebanon.

At least 138 journalists have been killed in Gaza since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on 7 October 2023, making the country one of the “most dangerous in the history of modern journalism, behind Iraq, the Philippines and Mexico,” according to the IFJ.

Reporters without Borders has described the number of killings in Gaza as “an unprecedented bloodbath”.

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Israel firmly denies it has intentionally targeted any journalists, but has recognised some that have been killed in its airstrikes on Gaza.

The 104 total killings reported by the IFJ is a slight decrease on the 129 they reported on in 2023, which is considered the bloodiest year for journalists since 1990.

How do other world regions fare?

Asia Pacific is the world’s second most dangerous region for journalists, after the Middle East, according to the IFJ.

It recorded 20 deaths in the region in 2024, of which 70% happened in the southern Asian countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.

The region has seen an “upsurge” in violence, according to the IFJ, with deaths increasing sharply from the 12 recorded in 2023.

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Africa was the third most dangerous region for journalists at eight deaths, five of them in war-torn Sudan.

The number of journalists killed in south, central and north America has dropped sharply over the past two years, from 30 in 2022 to six in 2023, and another six in 2024. Mexico, considered to be one of the deadliest places in the world to do journalism, continues to see “threats, intimidation, kidnappings and murders” against journalists, particularly due to reporting on drug trafficking.

Number of journalists behind bars on the rise

According to IFJ estimates on 10 December, there were 520 journalists in prison across the world, considerably more than in 2023 (427) and 2022 (375).

China, including Hong Kong, accounts for most of journalists behind bars, followed by Israel and Myanmar.

The IFJ says the figures show how “fragile” the independent press is and how “risky and dangerous” the profession of journalism has become.

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