Richard Irvine-Brown

Radio! | Richard Irvine-Brown Radio! World Service! A two-minute live interview with Mark Lowen on Outside Source on the Russian earthquake and prospective tsunami, turned into an almost five-minute chat getting into the history o...

Russian earthquake & tsunami. Case study and primer on OSint.

Two-minutes on Outside Source, BBC radio World Service, turned into a five-minute chat about the short history of BBC Verify, and the longer history of the BBC UGC Hub before it.

Here it is on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/posts/richar...

Apparently, three million views and counting on Instagram and TikTok, for our video on the Russian earthquake and the tsunami which, thankfully, never came to be. | Richard Irvine-Brown Apparently, three million views and counting on Instagram and TikTok, for our video on the Russian earthquake and the tsunami which, thankfully, never came to be. Still a very busy day sorting real, ...

Apologies, again. No CC on the video up there.

Here's a captioned version on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/posts/richar...

Waves reach US west coast after Russian earthquake as Japan lifts warnings Two million people are told to evacuate in Japan after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the strongest ever, hits Russia's eastern coast.

Video produced by Catherine Karelli, and further verification work by Peter Mwai.

BBC News live page entry, here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c3...

Sorting real, contemporary images from the old and fake, during yesterday's earthquake in Russia and the tsunami which, thankfully, didn't happen.

With @paulybrown.bsky.social, @shayan86.bsky.social, @biancabritton.bsky.social.

Paris Olympics, and the possible sabotage of France's railway network. | Richard Irvine-Brown Paris Olympics, and the possible sabotage of France's railway network. A year ago this past weekend. Under the guidance of Bianca Britton, graphics by Mesut Ersöz, produced by Sarah Glatte, classic U...

Apologies, no CC on the video. My fault.

Captioned version here: www.linkedin.com/posts/richar...

Paris Olympics and possible sabotage of France's railway network. A year ago this past weekend.

Under the guidance of @biancabritton.bsky.social, graphics by @mesutersoz.com, produced by @sarahglatte.bsky.social and people affected found by @emmapengelly.bsky.social.

Kenya protests: IPOA police watchdog blames deaths on 'disproportionate force' The Ipoa links most of the 65 deaths over four days of demonstrations to actions by the police.

#BBCNews - Watchdog blames 'disproportionate force' by Kenya police for protest deaths
www.bbc.com/news/article...

A year ago this month, four schools damaged in Gaza in four days by Israeli airstrikes, and what we could say about the munitions used. | Richard Irvine-Brown A year ago this month, four schools damaged in Gaza in four days by Israeli airstrikes, and what we could say about the munitions used. Research with Paul Brown, produced by Jemimah Herd.

A year ago this month: Four schools damaged in Gaza in four days by Israeli airstrikes, and what we could say about the munitions used.

@paulybrown.bsky.social and I on the research, produced by @herdjemimah.bsky.social.

www.linkedin.com/posts/richar...

Boniface Mwangi: Kenya U-turn over charging prominent activist with terror offences The police had earlier said that Boniface Mwangi would be charged with treason, sparking a huge outcry.

#BBCNews - Kenya U-turn over charging prominent activist with terror offences
www.bbc.com/news/article...
#BonifaceMwangi

South Africa solar power: Pay-as-you-go system helps save lives The medical equipment keeping Mark Moodley's mother alive no longer relies on an erratic power supply.

#BBCNews - 'It's a lifesaver': Making solar power affordable in South Africa
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Some key findings from our regular report the Jihadist Africa Quarterly for BBC Monitoring. Each quarter we look at the key developments in the five main African conflict zones where jihadist groups operate

To mark the start of BBC Proms 2025, here’s my version of the Postman Pat theme tune in the style of a tango.

My piece for BBC Wales Today last night on the full reopening of Holyhead Port.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I saw the Travel Man ep.
(Trade secret.)

Geolocated: Madeira.

Houthis in Yemen, who twice recently attacked ships in the Red Sea, have a history of these attacks, and of releasing video later.

Our report from July 2024 on the attack on the Chios Lion.

Produced by @sarahglatte.bsky.social, research by me, @paulybrown.bsky.social and @jcheetham.bsky.social.

Are there rules about auctioning it at an agreed time and place?

You don’t remember the concert?

Also, the answer is more of a no, but yeah, actually.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Dune 4: The Search For Dune 3

BBC Verify Live: Digging into Channel migrants deal and image shows damage at US base hit by Iran Latest updates from the BBC's specialists in fact-checking, verifying video and tackling disinformation.

Remember Lady Gaga's concert on Copacabana Beach in May? Were there 2m people there? Could you even get 2m people on the beach?

We got into the numbers.

Video on the Verify live page: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...

Or on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/posts/richar...

BBC Verify Live: Digging into Channel migrants deal and image shows damage at US base hit by Iran Latest updates from the BBC's specialists in fact-checking, verifying video and tackling disinformation.

My BBC Verify colleague @richib.bsky.social has been investigating whether it's possible that two million people could've been on Copacabana Beach to see Lady Gaga: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cx...

7/ As part of our process at BBC Verify, everything is peer-reviewed.

Emma had separately estimated the crater was within the footprint of the north side of the cafe.

It also matched eyewitness testimony.

Rough panorama from Google Maps / Photos photosphere of al-Baqa cafe, Gaza City, with section to the right-hand side marked with pink box and cross.

Screengrab from Google Maps satellite image of al-Baqa cafe, Gaza City, taken December 2024, marked with a red box in one spot.

6/ So, roughly, to me, it looks like this section of the cafe is gone, entirely.

And from the many Getty stills at the scene, the crater looked in line with the surviving concrete structure of the cafe (by Google satellite pics, the part with the terracotta roof).

Which I estimated at the red box.

Screengrab from video by al Jazeera journalist Anas al Sharif, showing remains of al-Baqa cafe, Gaza City, 30 June 2025. A row of pillars has been marked by a red line, another pillar highlighted in blue, and a third pillar highlighted in green.

Rough panorama constructed from two screengrabs from Google Maps / Photos photosphere taken inside al-Baqa cafe, Gaza City.

5/ Adjacent to the north stairs in the al Sharif video, moving across, we see a parallel row of pillars (red), another pillar (blue) and a third pillar (green).

From this rough panorama from the photosphere, we know we should see four (sets of) pillars, and then the north wall / fifth pillars.

Screengrab from video by al Jazeera journalist Anas al Sharif, at al-Baqa cafe, Gaza City, 30 June 2025. Two sets of stairs have been highlighted in red and marked N and S.

Screengrab from photosphere of the al-Baqa cafe, Gaza City, on Google Maps / Photos. Two sets of stairs have been highlighted and marked with an N and an S.

4/ For example, in this video filmed by al Jazeera journalist Anas al Sharif, which we verified on the day, following the blast, we can see two sets of stairs behind him. Here, I've labelled them as north and south.

We can see both in the photosphere.

Screengrab from Google Maps satellite image, of al-Baqa beach cafe, Gaza City, taken December 2024

3/ Taking the crater seen in the lead image on the story as the spot the bomb dropped, this is how we could establish it was within the footprint of the cafe.

(As an example of verification work. Call it OSint if you like.)

Here's the al-Baqa cafe structure, intact, December 2024 on Google Maps.

2/ In the piece you'll see grabs from several photos taken inside the cafe, before the conflict, available by clicking on the site on Google Maps.

The main reference point for us was this 360-photosphere: www.google.com/maps/place/%...

Gaza beach cafe: Strike on al-Baqa killed a Hamas operative, but many more people were killed The attack raises more questions over whether Israel’s use of force is proportionate, as required by international law.

1/ THREAD

A week ago today, at least 26 people were killed, including a Hamas operative, when a Gaza City beach cafe was bombed.

@emmapengelly.bsky.social, Sebastian Vandermeersch and I verified seven videos from the day, and reviewed more, for Alice Cuddy's piece: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Get to the end credits, they’re amazing.

And you overlooked Peter Weller in your cast list.

Robocop!