On this day in conspiracies

Father Nicholas Gruner, founder of the Fatima Center and the most persistent campaigner for release of what he called the “full” secret, dies. His organization continues to press the claim that a portion of the text remains hidden.

Iran's Intelligence Ministry concludes there was no actual poisoning by toxic substances, attributing the cases to stress, mass hysteria, and malingering, and again blaming enemies for stoking fear. The reversal, from arrests over an attack to a declaration that no attack occurred, satisfies almost no one.

The European Court of Human Rights issues an interim measure in Dorovic and Others v. Serbia, telling the state to prevent any crowd-control use of sound devices. The Court stresses it takes no position on whether a weapon was actually used on March 15.

Portuguese officials attribute the event to a problem on the transmission network originating in Spain, pushing back on the idea that Portugal was the source or that a hostile actor was involved.

Fact-checkers at PBS NewsHour, NBC News, and Euronews take the staged narrative apart point by point, reporting that there is no evidence the event was faked and that authorities have released ample evidence of a real attack.