Conspiracy theorists have managed to go viral after spreading false claims that the devastating wildfires that have torn through the island of Maui in Hawaii were started by a 'space laser.' 93 people have died as a result of the fires making it the deadliest in modern US history and destroying most of the beautiful island's natural habitat. Yet, whenever the climate is related to a tragic story it doesn't take long for conspiracy theorists to try and spin the narrative to make others think what they are seeing isn't really about the state of the planet. One of the most farfetched theories doing the rounds in connection to the Hawaii fires is that they were caused by a space laser aimed at Maui, as noted by Forbes. A verified account on Elon Musk's X website, formerly known as Twitter, asked its followers: "This photo is circulating social media. Apparently, this beam was captured before the Hawaii fires. Can anyone confirm?" The post has been liked more than 6000 times and had more than 300 shares. The image does appear to show a beam of light hitting a leafy hillside next to a coast but it's not in Hawaii. In fact, it does have a connection to Elon Musk as the community note that has been added to the post declares that it is actually an image of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force base in California. This isn't the only laser-related image that has circulated about Hawaii either. Another Twitter account asked: "If the fires in Hawaii were natural, what in the h is this?" The picture showed a large explosion at night in a non-specific location which resulted in the tweet getting 19,000 likes and more than 500 shares. Once again, this was not in Hawaii at all but in Michigan in 2018, as fact-checked by Snopes. Finally, another account this time on TikTok has suggested that 'direct energy weapons' have been used on Hawaii with suggestions that it has been deployed by either the Chinese government or by the Joe Biden administration. @mrmclark the directed energy weapon is getting it's use this week In Hawaii I see!!! This is insane , we know they're doing it still nothing happened? #hawaii #fire #directedenergyweapons #military #attack #information #prophecy #truth Once again there is no evidence to suggest that the Maui fires were caused by the US or Chinese governments or were started by a giant laser beam from space. In fact, the fires were probably started by an 'abnormally dry' period for Maui in August making the area more prone to wildfires. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

By Scott Murdoch SYDNEY Asian stocks were mostly higher on Tuesday as investors cheered the prospect that the

Bill Barr is open to testifying in Donald Trump’s upcoming criminal trial should he be asked, the former attorney general revealed on Sunday. Mr Barr was speaking with CBS’s Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation when he was asked the same question that Mike Pence was asked on NBC — would he testify in Mr Trump’s January 6 trial when it goes to court? And while the former vice president hemmed and hawed before indicating that he wouldn’t try and dodge a subpoena for his testimony, Mr Barr got straight to the point. “Of course,” he responded. He also reinforced during the same interview that he had told the president multiple times before the attack on the Capitol that the claims of widespread election fraud being pushed by his campaign were false. The federal government is planning to argue that Mr Trump ignored the reality of the situation and pushed forward with a plan to interfere in the election’s certification despite having been advised his efforts were unconstitutional and not backed up by the facts surrounding the election. Mr Barr is one of a number of ex-Trump administration officials who have come forward and said that government agencies never saw any convincing evidence to support the Trump campaign’s claims of a stolen election; he, in particular, has referred to the conspiracies spread by Rudy Giuliani et al as “bulls***”. But the Trump circle continues to insist that long-debunked claims of phantom ballots and votes from dead people are legitimate, while also making the bizarre insistence that the Trump-controlled federal government’s warnings to social media companies about potential Russian disinformation efforts led to the unfair suppression of stories in conservative media about Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s adult son. Republicans have argued that emails sent by the younger Biden indicate an influence-trading scheme involving foreign interests and now-President Joe Biden, though this remains wholly unproven. Former President Trump is now facing 78 criminal charges spread across state and federal jurisdictions, including four relating to his campaign to overturn the lawful and valid results of the 2020 election. The federal government argues that Mr Trump’s efforts to block Mr Biden from being certified as the winner of the election on January 6 after his failure to prove fraud in the courts constituted an effort to deprive millions of Americans of their right to a duly-elected leader. He has denied wrongdoing in all of his criminal matters. The ex-president is expected to face more charges, according to his own legal team, in Georgia’s ongoing grand jury investigation into Mr Trump’s efforts to change the election results in that state. A decision on that matter is expected this month. Read More DeSantis won’t rule out national abortion ban but suggests there’s no ‘mileage’ left in Congress Trump has meltdown attacking Biden, Megan Rapinoe and ‘wokeness’ for US Women’s World Cup loss – latest news DeSantis finally acknowledges the truth about Trump's 2020 election lies: 'Of course he lost'

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