Merlyn Thomas
@MerlynThomas
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BBC Verify Senior Reporter @BBCNews @JSchofieldTrust / عربي / മലയാളം / français and yes like the wizard [email protected] or Signal merlynthomas.11
Joined July 2011
Saudi forces were ‘licensed to kill’ to evict villagers for NEOM - the futuristic, eco-city - an ex-intelligence officer told us. We spoke to former execs who called it a climate disaster and a UK company who pulled out of a £100m contract in The Line.
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🚨JOB NEWS🚨 Today's my first day as a journalist with the BBC's Disinformation Unit where I'll be looking at at all things climate change. Super excited to get stuck into the new job and a new beat! Email me with stories/tips merlyn.thomas@bbc.co.uk.
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Super excited to have been shortlisted as a Rising Star for @BBCNews awards alongside such talented colleagues! 🌟 . @ashnilakhani @ionewells @RunakoCelina and Oleh Chernysh
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Israel told civilians in Gaza to flee south for safety, but strikes have continued there. We have verified four attacks in areas of "safety".
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We’ve been investigating videos showing Palestinian detainees stripped, bound and blindfolded - uploaded by Israeli soldiers. Experts say this could breach international law. The IDF says it has dismissed one of the soldiers we identified. W/ @JamievRyan .
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Following our investigation, Israel’s army says it will take action against soldiers involved in the videos we identified showing Palestinian detainees . These were filmed and uploaded by Israeli soldiers, which experts say may breach international law.
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NEW: Israel's troops post footage online of Palestinian detainees despite pledges to act on our previous investigation. This may be a war crime, legal experts say. We analysed footage from the West Bank including those of detainees draped in Israeli flags.
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At least 20,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza - that's nearly 1% of its entire population. Women and children make up about 70% of the death toll. I’ve spoken to experts about what these numbers reveal about how this war is being waged.
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Climate scientists are facing abuse - sometimes death and rape threats - from those who deny the existence of climate change . We take a deep dive into the world of climate misinformation and the real harm it's causing - w/ @JordanDunbar10 . Listen now 📻.
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Police say there are at least 6000 here. Larger protests are expected in Trafalgar Square later today. #Kashmirprotests #kashmir
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My TV debut reporting on the plane crash in my hometown of Kozhikode in Kerala.
When your friend @MerlynThomas makes her debut on BBC World News just over a year since joining the beebs as a trainee 👑 #proud
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Israel is telling over 2 million Gazans to find safety in Al-Mawasi, a dusty coastal area smaller than Heathrow airport with little shelter. Mohammed fled northern Gaza after intense bombing near his home, but found Al-Mawasi neither safe nor humane.
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Kashmir protests outside Bush House in London. The rallying cry is #Azadi #Kashmirprotests
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Excited to be back investigating stories about climate mis + disinformation again - get in touch about what I should be looking into: whether that’s greenwashing, denial, delay or anything else!. My DMs open or email me merlyn.thomas@bbc.co.uk.
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At BBC Verify, we've been investigating Russian denials over hitting the biggest children's hospital in Kyiv and examining visual evidence of the strike. w/ @benedictgarman @Jacqui_Galvin @mesutersoz @HerdJemimah .
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Israel is under mounting pressure as more than 30,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Gaza. Most of them are women and children. How many Hamas fighters have been killed?. We've analysed Israeli claims + videos. @J_A_Horton @benedictgarman .
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NEW: Our investigation has prompted the UK to raise allegations with Saudi leaders that its forces were 'told to kill' to clear land for a futuristic city. Deputy PM Oliver Dowden is in Riyadh for a trade event to promote investment - including in Neom .
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An angry mob of white men surrounded and attacked a car with men of Asian heritage inside. Some threw bricks and shouted racist slurs. One performed the Nazi salute. BBC Verify has analysed the anatomy of one incident in Hull and how violence unfolded.
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📢 Bit of personal news: Excited to say I'm officially back for good with @BBCWorldatOne @BBCPM - so drop me a message or send tips to merlyn.thomas@bbc.co.uk about what you want to hear more of 📻.
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A false post claiming to be a pro-abortion 'campaign ad' by Kamala Harris has been widely shared online. BBC Verify found it was made up of an old advert for John Lewis with an AI-generated voiceover. @Shayan86 @O_Rob1nson @HerdJemimah.
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Viral posts have been circulating online falsely claiming that yesterday's detainment of Greta Thunberg was "fake" and "all set up for the cameras". I spoke to the German police who deny being "extras for Greta Thunberg" .
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We examined real and fake clips of Iran's retaliatory attack on Israel. We synched 3 different unverified videos purporting to show missiles hitting an Israeli air base. They all clearly show the same event. W/ @benedictgarman @Shayan86 @SarahGlatte .
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NEW: Weather forecasters faced ‘unprecedented’ trolling during coverage of the U.K. heatwave. Trolling aimed at meteorologists from @bbcweather, @metoffice and @RMetS to ‘get a grip’. I spoke to @MetMattTaylor @Schafernaker @JenBartram about the abuse .
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Super excited to report and present on my first documentary for BBC Trending about the truth behind Saudi Arabia’s eco-city - coming tomorrow! With producer (and photographer) extraordinaire @rehakansara
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Dead bodies and Israeli tanks are some of the things civilians fleeing northern Gaza have described seeing along a road designated “safe” by Israel. We analysed satellite imagery, witness testimony and footage to understand how safe it is.
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“Justice delayed is justice denied” that’s what those working in the criminal justice system have been saying for years. In a pandemic, they told me it’s getting much worse. I spoke to @TheCriminalBar @KateBrunnerQC @DavidLammy @EvansTheCrime for my first ever report on @BBCPM
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Glow in the dark beaches. A fake moon. Levitating trains. A car-free carbon-free city 170km long. All in Saudi Arabia. This is NEOM. Part of Saudi’s pivot to go green. But all is not as it seems. My first doc reporting and presenting for @BBCtrending .
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📣 PERSONAL NEWS 📣 unbelievably excited to say I’ve joined the @bbcworldservice as a trainee journalist!! So send any tips/stories/hellos to merlyn.thomas@bbc.co.uk or slide into my DMs.
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How this heatwave isn’t like the one in 1976. There have been lots of comparisons, so we’ve busted some myths & gathered together the facts. With @MarcoLSilva @EsmeStallard @J_A_Horton .
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We’ve examined video of Al-Ahli Arab hospital explosion to unpick what we know so far.
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The UK is encouraging investment in Neom days after our report found Saudi forces were 'told to kill' to clear land for the futuristic city. Rio Ferdinand and Jo Johnson will speak at the event starting today. But rights groups want the UK to confront SA.
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Delighted to become a @JSchofieldTrust fellow this year and very excited to learn from the inimitable @NinaNannarITV.
BBC Trending reporter @MerlynThomas, who specialises in climate change disinformation, will be mentored by @NinaNannarITV - ITV's Arts Editor & News At Ten regular!
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Colonel Rabih Alenezi told us exclusively he was supposed to lead the mission to clear land for #Neom with ‘lethal force’ but he says he dodged it. It still went ahead without him. A villager - Abdulrahim Al-Huwaiti - was subsequently shot dead
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More than 33,000 Palestinians have been reported killed in Israel’s war in Gaza. Busy cities have been left in ruins. Netanyahu says he wants to destroy Hamas, rescue hostages and keep Israel safe. But six months on, is it meeting its stated war aims?.
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Two million are at risk of starvation in Ethiopia, local officials say. We analysed satellite images and spoke to doctors to understand the crisis. “Famines are man-made, so the men who make them like to conceal the evidence," says Prof Alex de Waal.
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“My son’s life was sacrificed for BP’s record profits”. A father whose son died of cancer - which a doctor said was likely caused by gas flaring from BP’s oil fields in Iraq - challenged BP at their annual meeting. My story with @OwenPinnell @Jeky_Kelly .
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New headshot by the brilliant @_RobertTimothy . I’m still investigating stories about climate disinformation in all its forms whether that’s greenwashing, denial or delay – and plenty more. Get in touch if there’s a story I should be looking into merlyn.thomas@bbc.co.uk
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I spoke to @ChrisRogersNews about the wider significance of weather forecasters being trolled during the UK’s heatwave coverage. Read more online and get in touch if you spot climate disinformation that I can investigate:
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Pennsylvania is one of the crucial swing states in this election and where people are claiming voter fraud is rife. BBC Verify has examined the viral allegations online about non-citizens voting and more.
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What do you do when someone close to you believes climate change is a hoax? . It's hard to know what's best. We spoke to a psychologist, a climate scientist. and someone who managed to convince their dad that climate change is real. With @MarcoSilva 🧵.
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We know fossil fuel lobbyists have been at #COP27 but climate deniers were also at the world’s biggest climate conference. I wrote about one group, CFACT, who were there and how significant this is for climate policy
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Or you could just listen to what muslim women have to say about it? just a thought?
What happened when a white British woman went undercover as a Muslim - in week of the Manchester attack #Premium
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Glow-in-the dark beaches. Billions of trees planted in a desert. A fake moon. A carbon-free desert city built in a straight line over 100 miles long. Part of Saudi Arabia's pivot to go green. But how green is it really? . My latest for @bbcworldservice .
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🌎Episode 2 of Denial Files. This week, fossil fuel companies faced major questions about their alleged decades-long climate disinformation campaign. But it doesn't end there. We look at the US where states are take Big Oil to court for 'greenwashing' .
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First time I’ve baked in over a decade and I’m extremely proud - all creds to @_RosieBradbury for recipe and inspo
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If you have any information about this story, you can safely get in touch with me. Whether you work for a business involved or otherwise, your identity will 100% be protected. Message me on Signal - my name is merlynthomas.11 . #journorequest.
Saudi forces were ‘licensed to kill’ to evict villagers for NEOM - the futuristic, eco-city - an ex-intelligence officer told us. We spoke to former execs who called it a climate disaster and a UK company who pulled out of a £100m contract in The Line.
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EXCLUSIVE: Facebook is driving climate sceptics further down the conspiracy rabbit hole, according to a report by @Global_Witness .
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I cooked along with @sima_kotecha mum’s wonderful spinach pakora recipe for the sound effects for #bbcbh - all in the name of good radio (and delicious to boot)
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CLIMATE MYTHS DEBUNKED: . Is climate change natural? . This is one that comes up again and again. A short video explainer to explain that for you. With @MarcoLSilva.
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Birthday at work isn’t so bad when it looks like this (and mixing packages of Fungie, the beloved dolphin from Dingle who’s gone missing)
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Mugshots (!) of two of our biggest cheerleaders/mentors - Laura Barrow and @leguape since we started our @_CreativeAccess trainee scheme over a year ago
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At BBC Verify, we’ve been examining the dramatic footage emerging from the Moscow Crocus City Hall attack. W/ @leguape @O_Rob1nson @SarahGlatte .
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This is just a snapshot of the wider structural problem at .@Cambridge_Uni. It's not uncommon but we should all still be appalled at the lack of transparency and unequal approaches between colleges when addressing sexual 'misconduct' - which for the record is a terrible word.
“Maybe he does this to you on nights out because he feels really guilty about it”. 18 months since the launch of the Breaking the Silence campaign, one student speaks out about being dismissed and doubted by her tutor. CN: Mentions of sexual harassment.
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Guys, I'm seriously fangirling right now.
Hey everyone, @MerlynThomas has joined us on #TheNewsroom and #Globalnewspod for a while. She's marvellous. Please follow her at once.
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Travel-related problems I was NOT expecting to face this week: our flight has been delayed because the pilot managed to flick the electronic pen from his iPad into the aeroplane controls.
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See our full investigation here: . We looked at hundreds of videos openly shared by Israeli soldiers in Gaza since November 2023. We verified eight showing detainees.
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Death threats, racial abuse and harassment are what some climate scientists I spoke to say they’re facing online. This echoes new research by @Global_Witness that the majority of public-facing climate scientists are subject to abuse online. My reporting for @bbcworldservice
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CW: rape, sexual assault. This is well overdue but it was an immense privilege to produce this interview with @rowena_chiu for @BBCPM After being sexually assaulted by Weinstein at the age of 24, she was forced to sign an NDA. Decades later, she has broken her silence.
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🚩 Weather maps accused of being 'alarmist', .🚩@metoffice accused of manipulating temperatures with airport runways.🚩 'It's just summer'. I've debunked some of the most common myths around the UK's heatwave.
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At BBC Verify we’ve been examining video from Israel’s attack on Iran and how the shadow war is now out in the open.
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Turns out I now specialise in climate disinformation and partying prime ministers .
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Now we're over 11 weeks into the Israel-Gaza war. Our previous work just 4 weeks into the war: Israel told civilians in Gaza to flee south for safety, but strikes continued there. We verified four attacks in areas of "safety".
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As the heatwave hits the UK, we're looking at the disinformation around it and its links to climate change. get in touch with us with any mis/disinfo you've seen or if there's something we should be looking at!.
And on that note - I’m back from holidaying & book writing! . Very excited to be working on another podcast and more projects coming soon🎙🎥📱. And if you don’t already - follow the brilliant @MerlynThomas & @MarcoLSilva for all things climate disinformation 🌏.
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So I've only just discovered that the band I have been calling 'Tarm-ah Impala' is in fact called 'Tame Impala'. I've been saying this since I was 13.
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Merry Christmas folks - from our humble but mighty chicken biriyani/raita/pickle combo x
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Brilliant to work on this exclusive investigation with @MarcoLSilva digging into the slippery world of climate change denial, alleged manipulation and claims of trickery.
🚨🚨 New investigation alert! 🚨🚨 . A dozen scientists, politicians, and campaigners say they have been tricked into participating in online events promoting climate-change denial. (An exclusive story by me + @MerlynThomas for @BBCNews) 🧵
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Stop your doomscrolling and feast your eyes upon the Koshary from a tiny place in Willesden that’s opened up mid-pandemic
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Good morning to no one except the man in the UL who let me in even though I have a wild amount of fees because “I’m not gonna stop you from learning, so come through”.
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@HeleneMuri @lincolnalves @nihankalle @_HannahRitchie Great to see it featured in @BBCRadio4 #PickOfTheWeek from @felixwhite
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This week marks ten years since the Egyptian revolution. I spoke to @Linaattalah @khalidabdalla and @khaledfahmy11 about their reflections on Tahrir and their everyday hope in the struggle for freedom in Egypt @BBCRadio4 @BBCWorldatOne
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The set up for this Cummings presser in the Rose Garden looks like a wedding gone wrong, where the Best Man is about to make a terrible speech
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Great to speak to @AmroliwalaBBC about new @Global_Witness report about Facebook pushing climate sceptics further down the conspiracy rabbit hole. Facebook insists it has systems in place to reduce misinformation
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HSBC climate change ads banned - it marks the UK regulator's first ever action against a bank for so-called "greenwashing".
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BREAKING: New study from Imperial College London shows coronavirus cases are now doubling every seven to eight days. An estimated 13 people per 10,000 were infected in England, compared to 4 people per 10,000 between 24 July and 11 August 2020.
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We talk about everything from the agricultural lobby in Brazil to how the nationalism might affect discussions around climate change in Turkey as well as the evolution of covid denial to climate denial. Featuring @HeleneMuri @lincolnalves @nihankalle @_HannahRitchie.
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It’s been one week since rebel forces launched their largest offensive against the Syrian government in years. BBC Verify has been tracking rebel advances by analysing and tracking footage on social media. @paulybrown @benedictgarman @SarahGlatte .
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This is the best visual explanation I've seen of how infections spread. Appropriately worrying.
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Videos of Gazan detainees stripped, bound and blindfolded that were filmed and uploaded online by Israeli soldiers could breach international law, experts say. The IDF says it dismissed one soldier we identified, and videos like these do not represent its values.
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my dissertation is gonna be complex n nuanced n all that but i just wanna title it "MEN ARE TRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!".
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When I did work experience @MadaMasr they paid me and it was the first time I’d ever been paid for writing. I was shocked and my editor said “Well, you’re working. What’s the point in saying we’re here to tell the truth + have these principles if we don’t put them into action?”.
Also, shoutouts to orgs like @FT who actually pay interns enough to live on during placements!.
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Thinking especially of all the journalists in #Beirut working in the days ahead, dealing with their own trauma and grief, of houses shattered and friends and family injured or missing, while doing everything they can to report and bear witness to this unthinkable catastrophe.
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“This explosion in a way is a physical manifestation of the level of devastation that was already there in Lebanon economically and politically” @LinaKhatibUK on @BBCr4today #Beirut.
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The Israeli army said soldiers have been disciplined or suspended in the event of "unacceptable behaviour". It did not comment on the individual incidents or soldiers we identified.
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Listen here for @sima_kotecha interview with her mum with my chopping, mixing and frying make a debut.
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We showed two videos we verified that were crucial to our analysis to munitions experts. All of them said that this is not a surface-to-air defence missile - as Russia has claimed. We used quick 3D AR to visualise a model of a weapon experts suggested was used in the strike.
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For many of Gaza's children, this war is not their first. Nearly half of its population are children. Within the series of Gaza wars since 2008, the current one is "unprecedented both for the number of people killed and for the indiscriminateness of the killing" @Michael_Spagat.
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“While there is a small degree of interpretation that can be applied to face coverings, we do not believe it extends to the use of snakeskin - especially when still attached to the snake." .
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On average, nearly 300 people have been killed each day since the start of the war excluding the 7-day ceasefire. "To find a similar density of high explosives used in a small populated area, we might have to go back to the Vietnam war for a comparable example" @marcgarlasco.
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Brilliant deep-dive into the world of climate 'doomism' - a growing form of climate disinformation - by my colleague @MarcoLSilva
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A compassionate soul working tirelessly on the rehabilitation of prisoners. Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends.
"My son, Jack, who was killed in this attack, would not wish his death to be used as the pretext for more draconian sentences or for detaining people unnecessarily. R.I.P. Jack: you were a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog."
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After speaking to United Biscuits, I can confirm that Bath Oliver biscuits haven't been discontinued but production has been temporarily paused due to COVID-related pressures on factories. so COVID does not, in fact, take the biscuit.
Can our nation take any more debilitating humiliations?!?!? Bath Oliver biscuits to be discontinued because of COVID!!!!!
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Proud to call @The_Crox my friend/mentor. Her resilience and tenacity for telling important stories never diminishes, but this sort of abuse isn't something that anyone should ever have to deal with. Only solidarity and love.
In the last few weeks since the first @DailyMailUK article about me, I’ve received lots of questions from young journalists about coping with abuse online. This is one of the worst. But all you can do is keep investigating and uncovering new stories.
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BBC Verify has been studying images of the aftermath of the attack to try to piece together what we know about the incident. The three badly damaged cars were around 2.5km apart, which suggests there was more than one strike.
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