copenlu/druid huggingface dataset:
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2022-07-20): Political stalwart <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2022/07/20/ranil-wickremesinghe-is-new-president-of-sri-lanka/" target="_blank">Ranil Wickremesinghe</a> became <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/asia/2022/07/19/sri-lankas-instability-a-serious-concern-for-india/" target="_blank">Sri Lanka's</a> president on Wednesday, securing votes from 134 of 225 parliamentarians, despite his United National Party holding only one seat in the chamber. His election was a blow for many protesters at the secretariat and adjoining protest camp in the commercial capital Colombo, which has been the epicentre of nationwide demonstrations which ousted his predecessor <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/2022/07/13/sri-lanka-president-gotabaya-rajapaksa-flees-to-maldives-on-air-force-jet/" target="_blank">Gotabaya Rajapaksa</a>. Here's what you need to know about him. Mr Wickremesinghe is no stranger to <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/tags/sri-lanka/" target="_blank">Sri Lankan</a> politics. A lawyer by profession, he was first elected to the country's parliament in 1977. His constant reappearance on the political scene, despite multiple failures to be elected president, has led him being called the "eighth wonder of the world" by his fellow Sri Lankans. Mr Wickremesinghe was born into one of the country's most influential families on March 24, 1949. His uncle, Junius Jayewardene, served as the Indian Ocean island's president for 12 years until 1989. Jayewardene, who died in 1996, was the original architect of his nephew's entry into politics.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2024-09-30): Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe Has NOT Been Selected as President of ADB! [...] A claim is being widely shared on social media stating that former Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe has been selected as the next President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and will assume his duties in March 2025. We fact-checked this claim by reviewing mainstream media reports, consulting with the ADB Sri Lanka office, and verifying information from the official ADB website. [...] So, the claim that Ranil Wickremesinghe has been selected as ADB President is false. The election process is ongoing, and the winner will only be announced after November 28th.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2023-09-30): For example, a comparison of construction costs in Sri Lanka determined that highway construction costs per kilometre were three times global averages.11 The explosion of domestic and external debt since 2005 has also closely tracked actions that have restricted the independence and competency of key institutions, increased the concentration of authority among closely connected individuals, and committed the state to financing mega-projects approved at the Cabinet level using opaque processes. [...] Special Statement Delivered By President Ranil Wickremesinghe, June 1st 2023, https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/special-statement-delivered-by-president-ranil-wickremesinghe-full-text/
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2022-12-23): Sources: Asian Development Bank 2015; Board of Investment Pakistan 2021; Board of Investment, Sri Lanka 2017; and UNCTAD2021. Note: FDI = foreign direct investment; GVC = global value chain; SEZ = special economic zone.Includes zones that have a public-private partnership component. [...] Source: Asian Development Bank 2021. Note: ASEAN+6 = ASEAN (Brunei Darussalam, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Laos, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) plus six countries outside ASEAN (Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand); FTA = free trade agreement.Date the FTA was signed and entered into effect. [...] Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). 2015. Connecting South Asia and Southeast Asia. Manila, Philippines, and Tokyo, Japan: ADB and ADBI.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2024-10-08): Anura Kumara Dissanayake elected President of Sri Lanka [...] The commission said on its website that Mr. Dissanayake, 55, won the presidency with 42.31% of the vote at Saturday’s (September 21) election, pushing opposition leader Sajith Premadasa to second place and incumbent Ranil Wickremesinghe to a distant third. [...] Opposition leader Sajith Premadasa finished second while incumbent President Ranil Wickremesinghe came third and was eliminated after the first round.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2023-10-19): The agreement came almost one year after the government of Gotabaya Rajapaksa announced Sri Lanka’s imminent default on its sovereign debt, becoming the first Asia–Pacific country to do so in over two decades. This admission of inability to service external loans underlined the severity of Sri Lanka’s economic crisis that first broke in 2021 and sparked widespread and large-scale protests between March and July 2022. [...] The most obvious factor is that the country had nowhere left to turn. Sri Lanka had lost access to borrowing on the international financial market in 2021, an outcome of its sovereign credit rating being progressively downgraded from 2020 onwards, signalling international concern over likelihood of default on debt. Once a default occurs, all creditors (bilateral, multilateral, and private) freeze new lending. [...] Indeed, Sri Lanka has continued to service its multilateral debt post-default and not pressed for debt relief from those creditors, which places international financial institutions in a privileged position vis-à-vis bilateral and commercial creditors. However, China’s first claim ought to be scrutinized further, as there is domestic criticism of the return on investment of Chinese-funded projects, the "development" orientation of those projects (beyond large-scale infrastructure of limited value to the poor), and allegations of grand corruption attached to governing politicians and bureaucrats.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2022-07-22): TOKYO -- Newly appointed Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe needs to negotiate a financial lifeline from the International Monetary Fund to combat the nation's worst economic crisis since it achieved independence in 1948, but dealing with opaque major creditor China poses a difficult challenge. The veteran politician was named prime minister for the sixth time in May after Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down amid protests over his handling of Sri Lanka's economy. Wickremesinghe was nominated for the presidency this month to replace Gotabaya Rajapaksa -- the former prime minister's younger brother -- who fled the country.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2023-10-17): Addressing the recent Bar Association Convention in Nuwara-Eliya, President Ranil Wickremasinghe highlighted the need for Sri Lanka to be in readiness for the forthcoming Financial Action Task Force (FATF) assessment on Sri Lanka as its ratings on the degree of compliance by the country will be crucial for Sri Lanka to attract investors. [...] President Ranil Wickre-mesinghe on Saturday said that Sri Lanka’s next country assessment on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism will commence soon. [...] President Ranil Wickremesinghe has revealed that Sri Lanka’s next country assessment on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism is scheduled to commence soon.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2024-10-03): Masatsugu Asakawa is the President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Chairperson of ADB’s Board of Directors. He was elected President by ADB’s Board of Governors and assumed office on 17 January 2020. In August 2021, he was reelected for a 5-year term starting on 24 November 2021. [...] The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Governors elects the bank’s President. In electing a President, Article 34 of the ADB Charter requires a majority of the total number of Governors, which must represent a majority of the total voting power of ADB members. The election of ADB’s President has two stages: nomination and election. The Chair of the Board of Governors approves the schedule of the Presidential election procedure, and the Board of Directors endorses the conduct of the election in accordance with Section 3 of the By-Laws.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2023-09-21): During the post-conflict years under then-President Mahinda RAJAPAKSA, the government initiated infrastructure development projects, many of which were financed by loans from China. His regime faced allegations of human rights violations and a shrinking democratic space for civil society. In 2015, a new coalition government headed by President Maithripala SIRISENA of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and Prime Minister Ranil WICKREMESINGHE of the United National Party came to power with pledges to advance economic, political, and judicial reforms. However, implementation of these reforms was uneven. In 2019, Gotabaya RAJAPAKSA won the presidential election and appointed his brother Mahinda prime minister. Civil society raised concerns about the RAJAPAKSA administration’s commitment to pursuing justice, human rights, and accountability reforms, as well as the risks to foreign creditors that Sri Lanka faced given its ongoing economic crisis. A combination of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic; severe shortages of food, medicine, and fuel; and power outages triggered increasingly violent protests in Columbo beginning in 2022. In response, WICKREMESINGHE -- who had already served as prime minister five times -- was named to replace the prime minister, but he became president within a few months when Gotabaya RAJAPAKSA fled the country. [...] 2022: Ranil WICKREMESINGHE elected president by Parliament on 20 July 2022; Parliament vote - WICKREMESINGHE (UNP) 134, Dullas ALAHAPPERUMA (SLPP) 82
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2023-12-13): Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe, President of Sri Lanka, participating in COP28, unveiled the 'Tropical Belt Initiative.' This visionary plan aims to address the challenges of global warming and secure sustainable development for nations within the tropical belt. The Tropical Belt encompasses 134 countries and territories, covering approximately 40% of the planet’s surface area and housing around 40% of the world’s population.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2021-05-09): head of government: President Ranil WICKREMESINGHE (since 20 July 2022) [...] election results: Ranil WICKREMESINGHE elected president by Parliament on 20 July 2022; WICKREMESINGH 134 votes, Dullas ALAHAPPERUNA 82 votes Note: amid public protests which began in March 2022, President Gotabaya RAJAPAKSE fled the country on 13 July and Ranil WICKREMESINGHE became acting president; RAJAPAKSE announced his resignation on the 14th, which was accepted by the speaker of Parliament the following day; Parliament on 20 July elected WICKREMESINGHE as president; vote - Ranil WICKREMESINGHE - 134, Dullas ALAHAPPERUMA - 82
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2024-10-08): Former SJB MP Thalatha Athukorala extends support to President Ranil [...] Former Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Thalatha Athukorala, who recently resigned as a Member of Parliament, has extended her support to President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the upcoming Presidential Election.
Claim: Ranil Has Been Selected As ADB President !1 (Social Media Users, 2024-09-27)
Evidence (2021-10-13): Over the last decade, China has become far more attentive to its South Asian periphery, moving beyond commercial and development engagements to more far-reaching political and security ones.3 However, most analyses of these changing parameters of engagement have focused on the Chinese end of these relationships, and too often analytical attention is limited to examining specific infrastructure projects or investments under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This has left an incomplete picture of Chinese engagement because it misses the degree to which South Asian states are trying to manage and mitigate the impacts of Chinese influence that they view as inimical to their interests, even as they continue to develop political, military, and especially commercial ties with Chinese actors. [...] 72 "नेपालतिर नजिकिँदै चिनियाँ रेल" (Chinese Rail Nearing Nepal), Kantipur, July 30, 2014, https://ekantipur.com/printedition/2014/07/30/326419.html. [...] 138 "Rajapaksa Comeback Bid Checked by Sri Lanka Bribery Probe," Reuters, July 24, 2015, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sri-lanka-rajapaksa-idUSKCN0PY1PK20150724.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2024-07-25): Based on the evidence available and the analysis conducted, the claim that Trump plagiarized his speech from "Legally Blonde" is false. While the viral video points out some similarities, it does not provide conclusive evidence to support the plagiarism claim. The context and intent of the speeches are different, and the phrases in question are common enough to appear in various forms in many speeches.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-16): Is Donald Trump now taking his inspiration from Elle Woods? Jimmy Fallon thinks the president’s commencement speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on Saturday sounded suspiciously like the address that Reese Witherspoon’s character gave on graduating from Harvard in the hit movie "Legally Blonde." [...] It would, however, be unfair to say that Trump plagiarized Woods’ entire speech. After all, the themes of passion, courage and conviction are familiar tropes in many commencement speeches across the country.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-17): Donald Trump appeared to rip off a speech from Legally Blonde while giving a talk to university students in the US. A hilarious mash-up video, made by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, reveals striking similarities between Trump's words and the graduation speech given by Elle Woods at the end of the 2001 comedy film. [...] It's not the first time Trump has borrowed words from a film character.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-17): They both defied expectations to achieve positions of power while sporting gravity-defying blonde hair, so you can see why Donald Trump may have looked to Elle Woods, the famously ditsy-but-smart main character of 2001 proto-feminist comedy Legally Blonde, for inspiration when he was tasked with giving a commencement speech at Liberty University on Saturday.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-17): That’s set the Internet ablaze with people accusing Trump of plagiarizing the Reese Witherspoon film. You can watch the side-by-side comparison and judge for yourself. Of course, many commencement speeches are chock full of stock, cliched phrases. That’s what they are known for. [...] Daily Variety points out that the Fallon video may have been edited to place the words in different order; in other words, it’s a joke, and Trump probably didn’t plagiarize the Elle Woods speech. However, Fallon mocked the president for relying on "platitudes" in the commencement address, reports Daily Variety. Fallon said he thought the similarities were a coincidence, the Hollywood trade magazine reported. [...] Of course, the president’s wife, Melania Trump, was famously accused of cribbing a Michelle Obama speech at the Republican National Convention. But no one thinks that Trump actually stole the words of Legally Blonde on purpose.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-16): Did Donald Trump plagiarize his speech from Legally Blonde? Jimmy Fallon took to The Tonight Show last night to compare President Trump’s new commencement speech to one from the film Legally Blonde. [...] To be fair, Fallon calls it "probably just a coincidence", though still can’t help but wonder what’s going on. I guess after his wife was caught plagiarizing Michelle Obama, Trump copying a Reese Witherspoon film is entirely plausible.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-17): It seems Donald Trump may have an unlikely inspiration after Jimmy Fallon rather amazingly pointed out that the President’s recent speech at Liberty University bares striking similarities to Elle Woods' graduation speech in Legally Blonde. LOL. The 42-year-old comedian compared the two speeches in a hilarious video on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where he highlighted the fact that Trump pretty much copied the words of Reese Whitherspoon's most famous character during his visit to the Christian University last Saturday - kind of like the time his wife, Melania, gave a suspiciously similar speech to the one delivered by her predecessor, Michelle Obama, back in 2008. "I watched Trump's commencement speech and it sounded kind of familiar," he said. "I think it actually reminded me of Elle Woods' speech from Legally Blonde."
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2024-06-27): The clip attained instant notoriety, in part because it was reminiscent of a scandal that erupted during the 2016 presidential campaign when Melania Trump gave a speech that borrowed heavily from one Michelle Obama delivered in 2008. A number of media outlets joined the Occupy Democrats Facebook page (see meme above) in sharing the Fallon clip under headlines declaring, with varying degrees of sarcasm, that Trump similarly "plagiarized" from "Legally Blonde." "Trump's commencement address casts striking similarities to 'Legally Blonde,'" noted Daily Mail Online with no detectable sense of irony (nor any apparent inability to discern what color hair Trump's hair is): [...] There is no basis in reality for suggesting that Trump copied any part of his speech from "Legally Blonde," however. Albeit expertly done for comic effect, Fallon's TV montage used a very few cherry-picked moments from different parts of Trump's address to create the impression that the president echoed the Reese Witherspoon character's words:
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-09-30): Last night, Graham Norton confronted Reese Witherspoon with an unlikely idea: Did Trump plagiarize one of her most famous characters, Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods? Norton continued to show Witherspoon a video—originally compiled by Jimmy Fallon—in which a commencement speech at Liberty University given by Trump this May is compared to Elle Woods’s graduation speech, after she conquered Harvard Law School. Witherspoon’s face cringed as Trump, an unlikely blonde, was seen mirroring many a girl’s feminist idol of blonde ambition. Of course, we cannot fail to note the irony of Trump copying a pop cultural role model for female empowerment after he has repeatedly lashed out at powerful women (he just called San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz "nasty" as a retort to her pleas of help for Puerto Rico, and don’t even get us started about Hillary Clinton), nor has he demonstrated any particular sensitivity towards women in or outside the White House—including his own daughter.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2020-11-30): Elle Woods for president. President Trump is accused of copying a Legally Blonde speech, and the similarities are uncanny. In a viral TikTok video by Truth Lies Shenanigans, the account, which goes by the handle @tlsliveshow, edits one of Donald Trump‘s speeches with the speech that Reese Witherspoon‘s character, Elle Woods, gives at the end of Legally Blonde when she and the rest of her class graduate from Harvard Law School. (Watch the video here.) The speeches aren’t identical, but there are a lot of similarities between the messages and the words that both Trump and Elle use. This may be why the TikTok has been viewed more than 2 million times and has received more than 500,000 likes. Here’s how Truth Lies Shenanigans cut the TikTok to show the similarities between Trump and Elle’s speeches. [...] Legally Blonde premiered in July 2001. A sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde, premiered in July 2003. In October 2020, MGM Studios, which produced Legally Blonde, confirmed that a third film is on the way in 2022. "Elle Woods is back! Legally Blonde 3 coming May 2022. We rest our case. #LegallyBlonde3 #ElleWoods @ReeseW," the studio tweeted.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-16): Jimmy Fallon took the opportunity to joke that President Donald Trump seeks inspiration from an unlikely source: noted patriot, Elle Woods. Trump delivered his first commencement address as President on Saturday, speaking to the graduates at Liberty University, and Fallon couldn’t help but note a few (extremely common) inspirational similarities between Trump’s speech and the one delivered by Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) in Legally Blonde.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-16): However, in a recent segment, Jimmy Fallon has presented a take on the very same speech. Thanks to some clever editing, it would appear that portions of the speech were eerily similar to the commencement speech at the end of the 2001 film Legally Blonde. In a side-by-side comparison of footage from the speech and clips from the movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Fallon pointed out the overlap between the two. [...] The kicker? When Elle Woods screams, "We did it!" Trump echoes, "I did it," an aside that did indeed exist in the speech. After the clip wraps, you can see Fallon, actor Jeffrey Tambor, and the Roots' Questlove looking completely bewildered. "What is going on!?," the late-night host asks. [...] Though this specific edit is not plagiarism, it wouldn't be the first time speeches from the Trump administration have been called out. You might recall that last summer during the Republican National Convention that then-candidate Trump's wife Melania came under fire for ripping off a speech formerly given by then-FLOTUS Michelle Obama. "From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life: that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise; that you treat people with respect," said Melania.
Claim: Trump Plagiarize from “Legally Blonde” !! (Social Media Users, 2024-07-25)
Evidence (2017-05-20): Did Donald Trump Plagiarize Elle Woods? Well, It Doesn't Look Good For Him President Donald Trump recently delivered a commencement speech at Liberty University on May 13. In his keynote address, the president encouraged the soon-to-be graduates to enter the world with passion, courage, and confidence. Though, to be fair, these types of cliched inspirational speeches tend to resemble one another, Jimmy Fallon and the team at The Tonight Show realized where they had heard the president's speech before: in Legally Blonde. [...] Tonight: Trump plagiarized his commencement speech from Elle Woods in Legally Blonde pic.twitter.com/EScE4B02F8 — Fallon Tonight (@FallonTonight) May 16, 2017