Tom Edgington
BBC Verify live editor

We’ll be bringing this page to a close soon but the work of BBC Verify continues.

This afternoon we focused on the small boat crossing figures, which showed that 50,000 people have arrived since Labour came to power.

While this isn’t the highest total ever recorded for a 403-day stretch, the number of crossings in 2025 so far is higher than in the same period of any previous year.

We also looked at a several Donald Trump claims about crime levels in Washington DC. Our fact-checkers showed that crimes including carjackings and homicide had actually fallen, despite the president claiming otherwise.

Our late team is examining a video claiming to show the aftermath of an airstrike in Gaza City. Our experts have identified the video’s location based on the shape and features of the buildings in the footage.

Meanwhile, grass fires have occurred in in west and east London. Our eyewitness team is busy gathering and supplying images to teams across BBC News.

We’ll be back tomorrow, but in the meantime you can contact us with your thoughts and questions here.

Ben Chu
BBC Verify policy and analysis correspondent

The number of people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats since Labour came to office has passed 50,000.

The chart above shows the 12 month rolling total of small boat arrivals and you can see the sharp increase since Labour was elected.

The annual arrivals rate was still higher in 2022, but we may see a new record in the coming months.

Why have the numbers been rising? Experts identify push factors for people trying to make the crossing - such as conflict and instability in the country of origin of those crossing the channel - but also pull factors for the UK, such as the English language and family connections.

The government has, external also, external cited, external the UK’s shadow economy as a pull factor and is trying to clamp down on this - though experts are less sure how relatively important, external this is.

We can’t say whether the government’s policies to smash the smuggling gangs and to deport people crossing the Channel are effective because some of those policies have only recently been implemented.

But the figures suggest that bringing the numbers down sharply will not be easy.

Sherie Ryder and Benedict Garman
BBC Verify

We’ve been looking at some drone footage of a strike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, carried out by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

The IDF posted the clip on their official account on X this morning, saying it had targeted “a structure from which mortars were were launched at our forces”. We can’t independently verify the claim.

Using satellite imagery from Google Earth we were able to pinpoint the area to around 120 metres from the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s headquarters and Al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis.

Looking at the bend in the road on the left, and the cleared ground to the right, we then spotted some buildings that had matching elements on their roofs, as highlighted in the images above.

We will continue to monitor social media for any further updates.

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

The latest UK job figures were released this morning, external, showing that vacancies have fallen and the number of people on payrolls has dropped.

Typically when this sort of data is released, the government and opposition parties are keen to draw attention to different numbers in the release.

Unsurprisingly, the government focused on the fall in economic inactivity - the number of people who are neither working nor looking for work.

Minister for Employment, Alison McGovern, said: “Today’s figures show real progress with economic inactivity down, and 384,000 jobs added to the economy since last summer.”

That figure of 384,000 was previously cited by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on 9 July. It refers to the number of workforce jobs in March 2025, external compared with June 2024 - so it’s not a new figure from today’s release.

The Conservatives, on the other hand, pointed out that unemployment is up for the tenth month in a row under Labour.

And if you look at the figures, external, each month the unemployment rate has either increased or remained unchanged for 10 months.

Summarising all of this morning’s figures, the Office for National Statistics, which produces this data, said:“Taken together, these latest figures point to a continued cooling of the labour market.”

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, Shutterstock

Returning to Donald Trump’s press conference about crime in Washington DC, the US President also claimed "the number of carjackings has more than tripled" over the last five years.

But despite the president’s assertion, carjackings - like many other police recorded crimes in DC - have fallen in the past year.

So far in 2025, the Washington DC's Metropolitan Police has recorded 189 carjacking offences, , externaldown from 300 in the same period last year.

According to the legal think tank, Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ), carjacking rose markedly from 2020 onward and spiked to a monthly peak of 140 reported incidents in June 2023. Two years on, this figure has fallen and in July 2025 - which is the latest full month figure - there were 16 reported incidents.

Trump’s announcement to deploy federal troops to the capital came after a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) employee was injured in an alleged attempted carjacking in DC earlier in August.

Since July 2025, a citywide curfew has been in force for people under the age of 17 from 23:00 to 06:00 local time. It was introduced to combat juvenile crime, external - including carjacking - which often spikes in the summer months.

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

Statistics published this lunchtime, external show that the number of people detected crossing the English Channel in small boats has passed 50,000 since last year’s election.

A total of 474 people crossed yesterday, taking the total since 5 July 2024 to 50,271.

So far this year 27,029 people have crossed, which is a record going back since the first published figures in 2018.

But the 50,000 figure for a 403-day period is not a record. It was higher in September 2023, for example

Simran Sohal
BBC Verify researcher

Heat health alerts are in place for all of England as temperatures are expected to reach up to 34C.

As this hot weather across the UK continues, the Liberal Democrats have called on the government to heat-proof health care services.

Helen Morgan, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for health and social care, told the BBC: “Thousands of people have died in the last year from excessive heat in care homes and in hospitals”.

According to the heat mortality monitoring report, external, there were 496 heat-associated deaths in care homes, and 473 in hospitals last year. In total, 969 people died.

There were also 358 people estimated to have had heat-related deaths in their own residences.

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

We’re continuing to fact-check claims President Trump has made about crime in the US capital, following a major announcement on Monday to take over Washington DC’s police department and deploy National Guard troops to the city.

During the press conference yesterday, Trump claimed that "murders in 2023 reached the highest rate probably ever" in Washington DC - adding that numbers "just go back 25 years".

We started by asking the White House the source for the figures, which it said were “numbers provided by the FBI”.

But FBI data shows the 2023 homicide rate, which was at around 40 per 100,000 residents, was the highest in two decades - not the highest ever. The rate was significantly higher in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Since 2024 the homicide rate has fallen and this year it is down 12% on the same point last year, according to figures from DC’s police department., external

However, s, externaltudies have suggested, external that the capital's homicide rate is higher than average when compared to other major US cities.

Rob England
BBC Verify senior data journalist

As of 10 August, 26,555 people have crossed the English Channel in small boats in 2025, according to official figures, external.

That’s the highest number at this point in the year since records began in 2018.

​​Since last year’s general election, 49,797 people have been detected making the journey. That number could pass 50,000 when yesterday’s figures are published later today.

A Home Office spokesperson said the crossings were dangerous and undermined the UK’s border security.

The government has pledged to “smash the gangs” behind the illegal crossings and recently launched a “one in, one out” agreement with France.

Under this deal the UK returns small boat arrivals in exchange for accepting asylum seekers from France through a newly created legal route.

You can learn more about the government’s pledges on illegal migration and asylum here.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

We’re looking into reports of a drone strike against a plant - called JSC Monocrystal - in the city of Stavropol, in southern Russia.

The facility produces synthetic sapphires, which can be used to make optical fibres and other electrical equipment.

We’ve verified a video of the aftermath, which emerged on social media earlier today. It shows a plume of smoke rising from near the plant.

Another video shows an explosion, but it is dark and we’ve been unable to verify it.

Local authorities have yet to confirm that an attack took place on the facility.

Image source, Exilenova_plus

Jake Horton
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Yesterday, President Trump signed an executive order declaring “a crime emergency in the District of Columbia,” citing “rising violence in the capital.”

His administration is taking control of the city’s police department and plans to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, DC.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back against the claim, saying the city has “seen a huge decrease in crime” and is “at a 30-year violent crime low”.

So who is right?

While studies suggest the capital’s crime rate is higher than average compared with other major US cities, violent crime in 2024 fell to its lowest level in 30 years - and has continued to decline so far this year.

Read our team’s full fact-check.

Tom Edgington
BBC Verify live editor

Good morning and welcome to today's BBC Verify Live.

This is where we share the work of our verification, fact-checking and data journalists.

Our verification experts have started their day looking into reports of drone strikes in Ukraine and Russia - including one that allegedly targeted an industrial plant in southern Russia. We’ll bring you their findings shortly.

Elsewhere, the latest small boat crossing figures are expected to show 50,000 migrants have arrived since Labour took office in July last year. Our data experts will be looking at the numbers (due early in the afternoon) and asking where it leaves the government's “smash the gangs" pledge.

While we wait for those figures, you can read our overnight fact-check on President Trump’s claim that crime in Washington DC is “out of control.”

As ever - you can find more of our work on the BBC Verify section of the BBC News website.