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Politics / United Kingdom

UK police declare incident at air base used by US

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TerrorismDefence and National SecurityWar

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  • UK police arrest several men at an RAF base on suspicion of offences under Britain's Explosives Act, police say.
  • Several men have been arrested on suspicion of explosives offences after a security scare at a British air base used by the US Air Force in south-west England.
  • An eyewitness said armed police were blocking access to the main gate of the base.
  • The base has been used to deploy US bombers since the conflict in Iran began on February 28.

4 sentences from our version of the report, chosen to cover it. Nothing here is written; every line is in the article below. How

Headline check

Headline as published: UK police declare major incident at air base used by US

There is nothing in this headline a machine can check against the report: no figure, no name and no quotation.

Nothing was measured here, so nothing is claimed. How this is checked

UK police arrest several men at an RAF base on suspicion of offences under Britain's Explosives Act, police say.

Since the start of the Iranian war, the US military has used the base to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites.

An incident was declared with homes evacuated and residents moved to a nearby leisure centre.

Several men have been arrested on suspicion of explosives offences after a security scare at a British air base used by the US Air Force in south-west England.

An incident was declared and homes were evacuated in a village near an RAF Fairford, with residents moved to a nearby leisure centre on Sunday.

It comes after the British government gave authorisation to the US to use RAF Fairford to carry out strikes on Iranian missile sites that are attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

An eyewitness said armed police were blocking access to the main gate of the base.

About 30 emergency vehicles, including police cars, ambulances and fire engines, were stationed in the village of Fairford.

"A number of properties are currently being evacuated following the declaration of a major incident," Gloucestershire police said in a statement.

Police said the men were taken into custody on Sunday morning.

The base has been used to deploy US bombers since the conflict in Iran began on February 28.

On Saturday, US President Donald Trump rejected an Iranian plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days, while threatening the possibility of further bombing.

You are reading our version, not theirs. This is ABC News's report with its verdicts and loaded words taken out. Plain description stays, and so do adjectives that carry a fact, such as "former" or "federal". The reporting, the facts and the quotations are theirs — quotations are never edited — and the indicators beside it measure this version. Hover or tap Adjectives to see every one left in the text.

How outlets headlined it

Each outlet's own headline. Struck through: the loaded words our version leaves out. Plainest first.

  • WAtoday ‘Major incident’ declared after explosives arrests near UK air force base plain
  • ABC News UK police declare major incident at air base used by US 1 change
  • The West Australian Major Incident at UK air base used by US air forces 1 change
  • WAtoday Men arrested in major incident at UK air base used by US 1 change

How this outlet filed it, and how we rewrote it

No other newsroom we read has filed on this event, so there is nothing to compare it with yet.

Also covered by The West Australian, WAtoday, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Brisbane Times. We hold only their summary of it, not the report, so there is nothing of theirs to measure here.

Outlet Niral ScoreAdjectivesSourcingSentimentHappiness
ABC Newsas they published this story 10.7 6 70 -0.2 25.2
Mundane Readneutralized from ABC News 6.6 3 70 -0.2 25.2

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The same event elsewhere

8 other outlets filed this story. The scoreboard above is what they did differently.