Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

If you’re just joining us now, here’s a quick recap of what BBC Verify has been covering today.

We’ve been analysing footage released by the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF) showing the arrest of a man who BBC Verify confirmed gunned down multiple unarmed people near the city of el-Fasher. A TikTok account posting videos of the man’s activities with the paramilitary group has now been banned.

Plus, we’ve verified footage of explosions after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a power plant in Russia overnight and we reported a public spat involving the Russian Embassy in Islamabad over a misleading video of Vladimir Putin.

This page is closing now but keep an eye out this weekend for our analysis of the new tactics being used by immigration agents in the US.

This live page will be back here on Monday morning, so please do join us then for more.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

A video of a woman appearing to admit that she sells US government-issued food vouchers for profit is actually AI-generated.

In clip, which has gathered millions of views, shows a woman telling a reporter that she receives over $2,500 (£1,904) a month in food stamps and then sells from for up to $1,500 (£1,142) in cash.

The main sign that the video is fake is the blurring in the top right corner. Many text-to-video AI generators add a watermark to their output, but we’re increasingly seeing these digital signatures later being blurred or removed entirely.

In this case, later in the footage an unblurred watermark appears in the same spot with the logo for Sora, a popular AI video producer made by OpenAI.

Image source, TikTok

The video was first posted on a TikTok account that appears to regularly post AI-generated content. The captions for this video ends with “#AI” and a TikTok “AI-generated” label has been added.

Even without the watermark and other AI clues, this was a highly unlikely claim given that food assistance for a family of four totals to just $715 (£540) per month on average, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The video comes as Republicans and Democrats trade blame over the halting of funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap) during the ongoing US government shutdown. Food aid from Snap, known as food stamps, is used by more than 40 million Americans.

Emma Pengelly, Jamie Ryan and Alex Murray
BBC Verify

Image source, IDF Spokesperson

On Thursday night Israel confirmed the identities of two hostages whose remains Hamas returned to Israel via the Red Cross.

It means that the remains of 11 deceased hostages are still held inside Gaza, one of whom is an Israeli soldier whose body has been held since 2014 when he was killed in combat in the Strip.

Nine of the 11 are Israelis, one is Tanzanian and one is Thai.

Since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza, we have been part of a small team keeping track of the status of the then 255 hostages held.

This figure includes four men held by Hamas for several years earlier. As things stand:

• 160 hostages and the bodies of 25 deceased hostages have been returned in ceasefire deals or in separate releases
• The bodies of 51 hostages have been recovered in Israeli military operations
• Eight hostages have been rescued alive by Israeli soldiers

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

A video claiming to show President Vladimir Putin discussing recent tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been fiercely rejected by the Russian Embassy in Islamabad.

The heavily edited clip was shared widely by pro-Taliban and pro-Indian accounts on social media in recent days and was even aired by one Indian rolling news channel, according to our colleagues at BBC Monitoring.

Yesterday the Russian embassy in Pakistan posted to X calling the clip "100% fake" and added that the footage was taken from a meeting chaired by Putin on 23 October, in which Pakistan-Afghan tensions were not mentioned.

Footage from Russian media shows that the clip was indeed filmed at a press conference after a meeting of the Russian Geographical Society's Board of Trustees on 23 October.

Tensions have been building between Pakistan and Afghanistan in recent weeks, prompting ongoing talks between the two sides in Istanbul.

The clip claims that Putin pledged support for the Afghan Taliban and made threats against the Pakistani military.

It shows Putin speaking but his voice is not heard. The only audio is a voice-over, in Persian, claiming to provide a translation of his comments.

The clip also loops the same few seconds of footage to give a sense of a longer duration.

Emma Pengelly
BBC Verify journalist

Earlier we told you about our verification of explosions in western Russia after a Ukrainian drone attack damaged a power plant in the city of Oryol.

One of our first steps in verifying videos is to pinpoint exactly where they were filmed from. On this occasion we had two videos from different angles all appearing to show the same incident.

It was immediately clear the CCTV footage was filmed from a train station. Looking at the city’s terminal in satellite photos we could quickly match railway tracks, station buildings and green space to the same features in the video.

To find the second video's filming position we searched for a cluster of tall apartment blocks nearby in Oryol. An aerial view of the city on Yandex Maps, a Russian mapping provider, helped us geolocate the video to a building west of the power plant.

As you can see in the image below, there is an optical illusion at play. The buildings in the background appear as one solid row, but in reality they are separate neighbouring blocks.

Merlyn Thomas
BBC Verify correspondent

We’ve have just heard from TikTok, who say they have banned the account associated with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighter Abu Lulu.

As we’ve been reporting, the RSF shared footage showing the fighter’s arrest after BBC Verify identified him as being responsible for the execution of at least 10 people near the city of el-Fasher.

TikTok have confirmed BBC Verify in the last few moments that an account which has long documented Abu Lulu’s activities has been removed for violating the platform’s guidelines on violent and criminal behaviours. It is not clear whether Lulu controls the TikTok account in his name. The profile now has a disclaimer that says: “Account banned.”

The account last posted at 17:18 yesterday, about an hour after BBC Verify analysis suggests Lulu was filmed being locked in a cell at the Shala Prison on the western outskirts of el-Fasher.

Image source, TikTok

Emma Pengelly and Paul Brown
BBC Verify

We’ve just verified two videos showing explosions after a drone attack damaged a power plant in the Russian city of Oryol overnight.

The regional governor says a “drone crash” at the site meant temporary heating restrictions were being imposed in parts of the city.

In verified CCTV footage from Oryol’s train station we can see a ball of fire erupting next to a distinctive red and white tower belonging to the Oryol power station.

Another video shows the flash of an explosion next to the same chimney, followed by a loud boom. We identified the precise location from where this video was filmed by matching apartment blocks in the footage to those we can see to an aerial panoramic photo.

Elsewhere in Russia, we’ve been monitoring more accounts of Ukrainian attacks on energy infrastructure.

We’ve been able to match reports of a strike on a oil refinery in the Yaroslavl region with heat signatures detected from space by Nasa satellites.

Paul Brown and Richard Irvine-Brown
BBC Verify

One of the challenges we face when documenting airstrikes and explosions is figuring out whether footage is new or if it is just a different angle of a strike we’ve already reported.

When we spotted this dramatic video of a drone flying low over a petrol station and then crashing in a ball of fire, our first instinct is that we had seen it before.

That’s because it bears a striking resemblance to footage we verified last week of a Russian drone strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

At first, the details seemed to line up. The shape of the drone looks very similar and the location of the strike on the western edge of the city is also the same.

But then key differences started to creep in.

First we noticed that the flight paths of the two drones in the videos are different — one is flatter than the other.

Next we checked the point of impact and worked out that the drones landed about 60m apart from one another.

Soon after, local authorities in Sumy and Ukraine's emergency services confirmed our analysis. What at first seemed to be two angles on the same drone strike actually turned out to be two different attacks.

Kumar Malhotra
BBC Verify senior journalist

We’ve been checking the latest satellite imagery to find out more about what happened in el-Fasher in western Sudan after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) took control earlier this week.

Satellite images can sometimes confirm evidence from on the ground, and in this case fresh images collected on 30 October by one of our providers, Vantor, show burnt vehicles to the north-west of the city, near a sand berm.

We’d already seen videos posted on 26 and 27 October from the same location that showed a large number of blackened and burning vehicles, dead bodies on the ground and RSF fighters walking around. A raised sand embankment was also visible in part of the video.

It’s not possible to be certain who the victims are, although many of the bodies appear to be in civilian clothes.

Image source, Vantor

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We just updated you on footage purporting to show the arrest of Abu Lulu, a Sudanese man identified by BBC Verify as being involved in executions after the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) captured the city of el-Fasher.

The RSF, which has engaged in a brutal war with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) for more than two years, seized a key military base last weekend after an extended siege of the city.

Several videos have since emerged showing men wearing military fatigues and some with what appear to be RSF patches carrying out extreme acts of violence around el-Fasher.

Read back on full analysis from BBC Verify by clicking here.

Richard Irvine-Brown, Benedict Garman and Kevin Nguyen
BBC Verify

Image source, Telegram

Abu Lulu, a Sudanese man who BBC Verify confirmed had gunned down multiple unarmed people around the city of el-Fasher, has been filmed being transported to a prison.

The leader of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) announced an investigation into “violations” committed by soldiers in the wake of the paramilitary’s capture of el-Fasher.

Shortly after, the RSF media arm released a video of Abu Lulu being driven under heavy guard to the Shala Prison on the western edge of el-Fasher. The prison has a history of harsh conditions stretching back for decades and is clearly identifiable in the video from a large Ministry of the Interior sign beside its gate.

Abu Lulu, captured on video laughing at men begging for their lives before executing them, appeared relaxed throughout his journey. Using satellite imagery, we were able to determine that he was placed in a solitary block in the prison’s southern courtyard, specifically the fourth cell from the eastern end.

Based on the shadows he casts as he approaches the cell, this would have been filmed around 4pm local time. However, the last post he made on his very active TikTok profile was made at 17:18. Its unclear whether Lulu controls this account, which has long documented his brutal activities with the RSF.

You can read our report into Abu Lulu’s activities here.

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness has described the town of Black River as the country's "ground zero" of damage from Hurricane Melissa.

The port on the southwest of the island nation bore the full force of 185 mph (295km/h) winds as the storm made landfall on Tuesday. Officials said at least 19 people had died in Jamaica as a result of the hurricane, but warned search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

BBC Verify's Nick Beake has been looking at footage and photos that have emerged so far of damage to this community.

Matt Murphy
BBC Verify Live editor

Good morning and thanks for joining us. It’s been a busy week here at BBC Verify Live, where we’ve been reporting on the latest from the wars in Sudan, Gaza and Ukraine.

Today we’ll be looking at the latest from the city of el-Fasher in Sudan, where BBC Verify documented graphic scenes of executions carried out by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) earlier this week.

We’ll be looking at footage posted overnight by the RSF which purported to show the arrest of one of the perpetrators identified in our investigation.

In Ukraine we’ll be looking at footage showing a drone attack on the eastern city of Sumy. We’ll explain how we geolocate clips from conflict and signs that help us pinpoint when the video emerged.

And much of Jamaica continues to be without power after the Caribbean country was battered by Hurricane Melissa this week. Our correspondent Nick Beake analyses the latest satellite imagery to piece together what has been left standing in the aftermath of the disaster.