Does of sanity from @covertshores.bsky.social - I initially got excited too. Consulted experts, got told could be fishing or smuggling. Certainly dramatic, but good example of why important to check context of "exciting" images

Less than four years ago, Russian forces in the Mediterranean were capable of troubling NATO and creating multiple challenges for Western navies. Today, by contrast, the Russian presence in the Mediterranean is largely irrelevant, purely symbolic. www.itamilradar.com/2026/04/01/r...

"Oh baby, baby, it's a wild world..."

Tehran metropolitan area is nearly 16m people, living under "black rain" & smoke from strikes on oil facilities. After 1991 Gulf War, US military was so concerned about effects of oil fires, it health checked service personnel. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sobering to think that 4 years Ukraine has engaged in full scale war for survival is roughly same amount of time as from Nazi invasion of Poland to start of Allied liberation of Italy.

In Scotland, no patches of snow from winter 2024/2025 survived to winter 2025/2026 - This is the fourth year in a row that all snow has completely disappeared I miss snow #climatecrisis HT @carbonbrief.org rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

A lot of this might be me, @danict89.bsky.social and @leguape.bsky.social.

From the start of the week, Janes military intelligence told BBC Verify the US could be preparing for 'direct action'. Part of ongoing work with @leguape.bsky.social, for the live page: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...

Hello, sailor! Fairly confident this is USS Gerald R Ford is off coast of Morocco, heading towards Gibraltar Strait at speed. Have called Centcom (spoke to very polite woman), awaiting their reply www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr...

Olympics Dog was chasing the motorized camera they have to capture the competitors at the finish line, then decided to chase some competitors instead

Epic verification skillz in this thread (ht @richib.bsky.social)

And our eventual piece, with @leguape.bsky.social providing most of the verification of assets in play, plus the work of @thomascopeland.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Looking at US military ships and planes moving to the Middle East, around Iran. What makes this build up different from Venezuela or Operation Midnight Hammer?

Significant that the High Court ruling is still, in places, quite damning of Palestine Action. It emphatically rejects that the group is engaged in "civil disobediance", for example. It just finds (compellingly) that proscription was still wrong, despite that.

Wow! Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report. This is a *big* legal win. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

What can we see from satellite imagery over Iran’s nuclear facilities? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Before everyone gets excited, second Carrier Strike Group that's being deployed will take at least fortnight to reach Gulf, even if it goes today. HW Bush is out on pre-deployment exercise, so can probably stick another week on that for good measure

Good luck to them. When we tested it last year, it couldn't correctly identify Binley Mega Chippy. It might face same fate as Geofeedia when it turned out cops were using that.

idk how widely this article has been shared, but it is extremely irresponsible and inaccurate in many different ways. it states as fact and with no reporting that things *are happening now* that *may eventually be possible*. it is shocking that this was published newrepublic.com/article/2059...

An incredible, heartbreaking piece of work by BBC Persian Forensics to tell stories of more than 200 of those killed in Iran protests www.bbc.com/persian/reso...

USAF F-15s in Jordan part of “defensive backstop” in event of Iran retaliatory action (been there since 20 Jan, A10s since last year) www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...

For everyone trying to located USS Abraham Lincoln, Bell's own website proves quite useful in narrowing down how far out it could be at furthest... www.bellflight.com/products/bel...

'Soon, the French far right will come to power for the first time since the end of the Second World War....' (Philippe Marliere in Literary Review on Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe) - literaryreview.co.uk/normal-circu...

🚨🚨French diplomats are taking on #MAGA — one meme at a time: #Paris is rolling out a great confrontational online strategy to counter #disinformation from the #US and beyond. 🧵 www.politico.eu/article/fran...

Some of this work reported here www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... "Using open-source tools, BBC Verify has been able to track some of the recent US deployments to region, satellite images showing at least 15 fighter jets arrived at Jordan's Muwaffaq Air Force Base." (also used elsewhere)

Is Trump's "armada" to Iran bigger than Venezuela? Not sure. Last summer looks like two CSGs in Centcom at same time (Vinson & Nimitz), so smaller than what deployed last year? news.usni.org/2025/07/14/c... (love @usni.org for their attention to USN deployments)

How did these US F-15s end up at al Muwaffaq Salti, Jordan (OJMS) on satellite images? Reasonably confident these are one Centcom announced as in theatre on 20/01/26 of 494th Squadron USAF ("Panthers") x.com/CENTCOM/stat... Fighters rarely disclose tracking publicly, here's my workings...

Out of the 2159 Jews who lived in my Zayde's village before the war, 20 survived. The Germans, with assistance from Lithuanian police, shot 2000 people in two days. The rest were sent to ghettos, or hid in the forest. My Zayde hid, and I get to be here today. I can't forget, I hope you won't either.

Asked to visually locate USS Abraham Lincoln with satellite imagery, I referred to leading US miltary analyst, Ms Taylor Swift: "I've got a blank space." Sadly did not make edit www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cy...

A loooong time ago when we got to speak to the weather bods more frequently, I was v cheeky and asked for a forecast ahead of a Big Trip. Carol provided it. I took a packet of jaffa cakes down to her and the weather bods in thanks - and she made a "we love sam!" weather slate in return for that.

Carol Kirkwood just announced on Breakfast she’s leaving BBC. Proper ravens leaving the tower moment. She is absolutely the loveliest of colleagues, endlessly cheerful and friendly to everyone

This is BBC’s documentation of all 456 UK military deaths in Afghanistan www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-1062...

In 2011, BBC published this documentation of UK troops killed in Afghanistan. Insulting & false to claim they weren’t frontline of an US-led war news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7616...

As I've written before, people don’t trust institutions because institutions aren't doing the job. Democracy rests on three pillars: Verification, Deliberation, Accountability, which can be understood as being substantial, performative, and simulated. demos.co.uk/research/ver...

🧵 @jburnmurdoch.ft.com is spot on about the conditions in his FT piece. Liberal democracy held it together thanks to growth, good demographics, and the promise of a better future. Those days are gone, and that’s the "why" behind the erosion. However...

How long before & how likely UK will try to interdict vessel in very busy shipping lane? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.

Scotch Mist? globalenergymonitor.org/projects/glo...

Fact-check, even though it is no longer my job: China is the world leader in wind power

“One of the hecklers was Al Gore, the former US vice-president, according to two executives present.”

Google & X Corp, ad revenue payments from YouTube and X profiles? That Cameo revenue is pretty chunky

FT Exclusive: Howard Lutnick was heckled at a World Economic Forum dinner in Davos hosted by BlackRock’s Larry Fink, according to people at the event ft.trib.al/N8IBIvT

huh, turns out that all those medieval alchemists needed to turn lead into gold was a large hadron collider www.independent.co.uk/news/science...

One of first live-streamed events (Macca at Cavern Club) was in 90s (December 99).

Pleasing to see that marking up aerial imagery for analysis hasn't really changed since 1940s airphotofinder.ncap.org/image/121013

I hear Chania is lovely at this time of year/USAF doing school run on a Sunday? www.flightradar24.com/multiview/20...

So very Dansk: "When you pack 15 large Greenland sled dogs together in a small plane on their first flight, it is important to make sure that they do not start fighting while the plane is in the air. This can threaten flight safety." www.forsvaret.dk/da/nyheder/2...

Detailed work by @benedictgarman.com & Emma examining the “yellow line” boundary in Gaza www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Surely the purpose of @starsandstripes.bsky.social is to be something other than the Pentagon's line & relevant to wants & needs of those serving?