Summary

  1. Thursday on BBC Verify Livepublished at 17:46 BST 18 September

    Adam Durbin
    BBC Verify live editor

    Today’s BBC Verify Live coverage for the day will be closing soon, thanks for joining us.

    Here's an at-a-glance summary of what the team have been verifying and fact-checking.

    This afternoon we've been examining a variety of claims made by US President Donald Trump during his state visit, including whether he was right to say inflation in the US is virtually "non-existent".

    The team also examined what the antifa movement is, after Trump said yesterday he wants to ban it, plus speaking to experts about whether he even has the legal authority to do so.

    Away from US political coverage, we've examined the pace of UK house building - which the new housing minister has described as "unacceptable".

    And we've been continuing to look at the situation on the ground in Gaza, where an ongoing internet outage has been hampering the ability to get information out of the territory as Israel continues its assault on Gaza City.

    For more BBC Verify coverage, analysis editor Ros Atkins has been looking at what the suspension of late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel means for free speech in the US - it’ll be available on the BBC website and app later.

  2. Verified image shows flooded road during India floodspublished at 17:29 BST 18 September

    Shruti Menon
    BBC Verify senior journalist

    I’ve been verifying footage showing damage from flooding and landslides caused by heavy rain in the Chamoli region of Uttarakhand in north India.

    One verified image, taken in the Dhurma area of Chamoli, shows river water taking over the roads and the playground near the Government inter College. Some buildings in the area appear to be damaged.

    I’ve reviewed several other videos showing flood-related damage in the region, including some filmed this morning, but verification has been challenging due to limitations with open-source reference material.

    Many of these affected areas are remote and the region has been experiencing rain-related flooding and damage from landslides for several days.

    Without Google Street View and with many buildings buried under rubble by landslides it is harder to confirm precise locations.

    Satellite imagery remains partly obscured by cloud which also means confirming the full extent of the damage will take more time.

    A village in India being overtaken by floodwatersImage source, X
  3. Trump did not inherit ‘worst ever’ inflation from Bidenpublished at 17:17 BST 18 September

    Lucy Gilder
    BBC Verify journalist

    Speaking earlier about the state of the US economy when Joe Biden left office in January, Donald Trump said he “inherited the worst inflation in the history of our country”.

    This isn’t true. When Trump returned to office in January inflation in the US was at 3%.

    That is not the worst inflation rate, which is the measure economists to use track price rises over time, by a long stretch. In 1920, for example, inflation in the US reached 23.7%, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics., external

    Inflation did rise significantly during the first two years of the Biden administration, hitting a peak of 9.1% in the year to June 2022.

    This was comparable with many other Western countries, which experienced high inflation rates in 2021 and 2022.

    These significant rises prices internationally were principally caused by two factors - global supply chain issues as a consequence of the Covid pandemic and a spike in energy costs brought on by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

  4. Is Donald Trump right about UK energy?published at 17:07 BST 18 September

    Ben Chu
    BBC Verify policy and analysis correspondent

    Donald Trump was asked in the presser about UK energy production and stated that renewable wind power was “a disaster - a very expensive joke.”

    The president also described the UK’s North Sea oil and gas reserves as “a great asset”.

    BBC Verify has previously analysed the impact of offshore wind power on UK energy bills.

    We concluded that the UK roll-out of wind power has certainly contributed to the rise in household bills in recent years but that the biggest driver of soaring bills in 2022 was the spiking pan-European cost of natural gas after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    Further, many energy experts argue wind power is still cost competitive with power generated by natural gas and will ultimately bring household bills down.

    In terms of North Sea fossil fuel reserves, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) estimated in 2023 that it had a maximum remaining potential of around 14 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe).

    The total energy extracted to date from the North Sea stands at around 47 billion boe, implying that at most about 20% of its capacity remains.

    NSTA also projected a steady decline in oil and gas extraction over the next 25 years., external

    Watch our BBC Verify explainer on offshore wind costs below:

    Media caption,

    Is Trump right about the cost of wind power in the UK?

  5. Videos show aftermath of apparent Israeli attack in busy Gaza Port areapublished at 16:55 BST 18 September

    Benedict Garman & Emma Pengelly
    BBC Verify

    A screengrab from one of the videos showing the aftermath of the attack on Gaza PortImage source, Instagram

    We’ve been verifying a number of videos on social media showing the immediate aftermath of what local reports say was an Israeli attack on the busy area around Gaza Port.

    It’s unclear from the videos we’ve seen so far what exactly happened but they show blood on the floor around three motionless people. Local media have reported that three people were killed.

    Crews from the Hamas-run Gaza civil defence service can be seen bringing a stretcher from a nearby ambulance. Nearby, crowds of people look on as others shout for assistance. One man is seen holding a baby.

    Satellite images captured yesterday morning show that despite Israel’s evacuation orders hundreds of tents for displaced people remain in this area.

    The position of the bodies is adjacent to al-Rashid road - one of two evacuation routes designated by Israel. We’ve approached the Israel Defense Forces for comment.

  6. Has Trump 'solved' seven wars?published at 16:44 BST 18 September

    Tom Edgington
    BBC Verify senior journalist

    During the news conference with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, US President Donald Trump was keen to set out his record on solving conflicts, claiming: “We’ve solved seven wars, seven wars, wars that were unsolvable.”

    It’s not the first time Trump has made this claim.

    It’s correct that the Trump administration has played a role in negotiating deals to end or pause conflicts but exactly how much credit the president can take is subjective.

    For example, June’s conflict between Israel and Iran ended after 12 days.

    The US carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites - a move widely seen as making a contribution to bringing the conflict towards a swift end.

    However, experts have argued that while Trump deserves some credit, the current situation is more of a de facto ceasefire rather a than lasting peace.

    Similarly, following hostilities between Pakistan and India in May, Trump claimed that a ceasefire was a result of "a long night of talks mediated by the United States".

    However, India played down talk of US involvement and insisted the deal came from existing military channels.

    You can read more about Trump’s claim of ending seven wars here

  7. Watch: TV host Jimmy Kimmel indefinitely suspended over Charlie Kirk commentspublished at 16:27 BST 18 September

    Rob Corp
    BBC Verify Live editor

    Late-night US chat show host Jimmy Kimmel has been taken off air indefinitely over comments he made about the shooting of right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk.

    Kimmel said on Monday night the "Maga gang" was "desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and doing everything they can to score political points from it”.

    His comments were criticised by the Trump-appointed chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, but leading Democrats have accused the US broadcast regulator of “bullying” Kimmel.

    BBC Verify’s Merlyn Thomas has been looking into the story.

    Media caption,

    The US late-night show presenter was suspended over remarks about the the right-wing influencer

  8. Data indicates Trump’s tariffs have not generated ‘trillions’ for US Treasurypublished at 15:53 BST 18 September

    Tom Edgington
    BBC Verify senior journalist

    During the Chequers event with business leaders earlier this afternoon, Donald Trump also talked about the success of his tariff regime, which he called “Liberation Day” when announced back in April.

    He claimed the US has “taken in trillions of dollars from tariffs and they've been so incredible for our country, so incredible”.

    The Bipartisan Policy Centre - a Washington DC based think-thank - has been tracking revenue generated from tariffs and certain other excise duties, external this year, based on US Treasury data.

    Its analysis shows that from 1 January to 16 September $163.5bn (£120.5bn) has been generated. Compared with recent years, this figure is significantly above trend, but it is far short of the “trillions” claimed by Trump.

    It could be that Trump was referring to a Congressional Budget Office estimate form last month.

    The US government agency, external suggested the tariffs could reduce the US deficit by $3.3tn over the next 10 years. However, it added that the changes in tariffs “will reduce the size” of the US economy.

  9. Get involved with BBC Verifypublished at 15:37 BST 18 September

    Rob Corp
    BBC Verify Live editor

    BBC Verify is dedicated to examining the facts and claims behind a story to try to determine whether or not it is true - whether that’s a political statement, a video shared on social media, or images from a war zone.

    And we’re also keen to hear from you - is there something you think we should investigate? We're particularly interested in claims you have heard or seen that maybe don’t seem right.

    Or perhaps you’ve come across something online and want to know if it was created using AI or even a deepfake.

    You can send your suggestions to the team here.

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  10. Was Donald Trump right to say US inflation is ‘virtually non-existent’?published at 15:00 BST 18 September

    Tom Edgington
    BBC Verify senior journalist

    President Donald Trump has been speaking to business leaders at a joint event with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in which he made several claims about the US economy.

    Among them was that inflation - a measure of prices of goods rising over time - was “virtually non-existent” in the US.

    This isn’t true. Official figures provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, external , external(BLS), external showed, external prices rose 2.9% over the 12 months to August - the fastest pace since January and above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

    Food in particular rose above the headline rate last month. It was 3.2% compared with 2.9% in July.

    Trump has previously attacked the BLS and last month fired its head, saying - without evidence - that she rigged job numbers to make him look bad.

    A line chart titled “US inflation at 2.9% in August”, showing US inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index, from January 2015 to August 2025. In the year to January 2015, prices fell by 0.2% on average. The annual rate then rose gradually to a peak of 2.9% in mid-2018, before starting to gradually fall, hitting 0.2% in May 2020, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. From there, it rose sharply over the next two years, hitting 9.0% in the year to June 2022, before falling sharply back to 3.1% by June 2023. The latest figures show prices rose by 2.9% in the year to August 2025, up from 2.7% the previous month. The source is the US Bureau of Labor Statistics
  11. Why did the internet go down in Gaza yesterday?published at 14:39 BST 18 September

    Richard Irvine-Brown
    BBC Verify journalist

    As we reported yesterday on BBC Verify Live the Gaza Strip has been affected by a significant telecommunications outage which is limiting what we’re seeing being posted online today. With international journalists barred from Gaza, finding and verifying footage on social media and messaging apps is a key way we can report what’s happening there.

    This morning we checked social and local media sources but saw very little from overnight. Among the last things we saw posted late yesterday was a video showing an apparent strike on Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital, at dusk, in which 12 people were reportedly killed.

    Isik Mater, director of research at NetBlocks - an organisation that monitors internet access around the world - said the disruption was "severe but not unique" and on a par with some previous outages in the Strip.

    NetBlocks believes it was caused by damage to a main fibre link which runs through Israel to international exchanges.

    The local telecoms firm PalTel told NetBlocks that neither planned engineering works nor international shutdowns were to blame.

    We’re in touch with PalTel and waiting for their comments on what’s happening. Local media report engineers are trying to repair the lines.

    Netblocks’ Mater says that after almost two years of war the infrastructure is so damaged that connectivity in Gaza is now a quarter of what it was previously.

    A screengrab of a Mastodon post by NetBlocks showing an almost 50% drop in connectivity yesterdayImage source, NetBlocks
  12. Does Trump have the power to designate antifa a ‘terrorist organization’?published at 14:11 BST 18 September

    Lucy Gilder
    BBC Verify journalist

    Donald Trump at the UK prime minister's country residence, Chequers, on ThursdayImage source, EPA

    We’ve been speaking to legal experts who have called into question US President Donald Trump’s legal authority to designate antifa as a “major terrorist organization”.

    The existing rules do allow the government, specifically the State Department, to make a list of “foreign terrorist organizations” which makes it a crime to give funds or other “material support” to those groups.

    But the key word here is “foreign” - and those experts we have spoken to pointed out that free speech rights under the US constitution’s first amendment would limit Trump’s ability to ban - or restrict funding for - domestic movements like antifa.

    “Under the First Amendment, no one can be punished for joining a group or giving money to a group,” Professor David Schanzer, director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University, told BBC Verify.

    Prof Schanzer added that a president designating an organisation a “major terrorist organization” has no effect on “those fundamental rights”.

    Rumen Cholakov, an expert in US constitutional law at King's College London, also said first amendment rights could protect antifa activists against government action.

    He told us that if the government were to use its powers against them in the US their actions would be “potentially susceptible to constitutional challenges” in court for violating these rights.

  13. Verified footage shows al-Qaeda affiliate destroying fuel convoy in Malipublished at 13:37 BST 18 September

    Sebastian Vandermeersch and Peter Mwai
    BBC Verify

    A grab from the verified video shows a fighter watching as lorry burns
    Image caption,

    A grab from the verified video shows a fighter watching as lorry burns

    An al-Qaeda linked group in Mali has attacked and destroyed many vehicles in a large convoy of about 80 fuel tankers being escorted by the Malian military, according to footage circulating online.

    The lorries were travelling from the capital Bamako towards Senegal on 14 September when they were hit by fighters from Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), a militant group which operates in the region.

    Videos of the attack show JNIM fighters approaching several ablaze trucks, which are throwing up enormous plumes of smoke. Extensive gunfire can be heard in the background.

    Aftermath footage, seemingly filmed by civilians using the road, shows dozens of burnt out trucks lined up on the dirt road. Nasa’s Firms fire-detection data allowed us to geolocate the footage by cross-checking the co-ordinates with Google Earth satellite imagery to identify a telecommunications mast visible in one of the videos.

    Satellite imagery from Planet Labs captured on Tuesday also shows burn scars, smoke plumes, and rows of destroyed lorries – consistent with the footage. It also showed a long line of of stuck vehicles seen stretching back for about 3km (1.8 miles) towards Senegal.

    The attack is part of a new JNIM campaign to blockade Kayes, one of Mali’s most strategically important regions connecting Mali to Senegal and Mauritania.Along these roads, JNIM has restricted the flow of goods by extorting traders, abducting foreign drivers and attacking convoys - including torching fuel tankers, lorries and buses.

    A video posted online today appears to show JNIM fighters back at the site riding motorcycles past a large number of burnt fuel tankers while some traffic can be seen moving again along the road.

  14. Pace of house building ‘unacceptable’, says new ministerpublished at 13:06 BST 18 September

    Daniel Wainwright
    BBC Verify senior data journalist

    The number of planning applications granted in England has fallen to another record low, according to figures out this morning, which the new housing secretary Steve Reed has called “unacceptable”.

    Data showed just over 7,000 applications for housing were granted permission between April and June 2025 - the lowest three-month figure since records began in 1979 and an 8% fall on the same three months of 2024.

    An application can be either “minor” for fewer than 10 homes or “major” for 10 or more.

    Separate data from housing contractor Glenigan, external suggests 221,000 individual homes were granted permission in the year to June, down from 237,000 in the year to June 2024.

    Reed said: “Fixing the archaic planning system won’t happen overnight. But because of the reforms we have introduced, we will see the biggest era of housebuilding in our country’s history.”

    Conservative shadow housing secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “[Labour] promised to ‘build, build, build’ but their flagship planning reforms clearly aren't working.”

    Two lines show the number of planning applications for housing decided and granted in England since 1979.  The peak was 33,000 decisions in the three months to December 1988. As of June 2025, they’re at a record low of 9,294. Grants peaked at 20,548 in the three months to December 1988. As of June 2025, they’re at a record low of 7,017.
  15. More verified footage shows fire at plant deep inside Russiapublished at 12:27 BST 18 September

    Emma Pengelly
    BBC Verify journalist

    Following reports of a Ukrainian attack more than 1,000km (620 miles) inside Russia, we’ve now verified new video which gives us a closer view of the apparent target in Salavat, Bashkortostan.

    Filmed from a busy roadside the clip shows a structure alight at the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat plant and a black smoke plume billows over the area.

    We’ve confirmed the location by matching chimneys and pylons visible in street-level images to those seen in the video.

    It’s overcast and cloudy in the footage which is consistent with multiple weather reports for Salavat today and other verified material of the same incident.

    As we mentioned earlier, the head of Bashkortostan confirmed an attack and a fire at the site too.You can watch the full video showing the fire in Salavat below.

    Meanwhile Ukraine has also reported strikes by Russia. Its air force reported 75 drones were launched overnight.

    Media caption,

    Salavat plant fire after reported Ukrainian attack

  16. Who are antifa?published at 11:52 BST 18 September

    Shayan Sardarizadeh and Kayleen Devlin
    BBC Verify

    Around 5 Antifa and far-right protesters fighting. They are wearing gas masks and other protective gear like body armour, helmets, ski goggles and shields. One man is swinging a large stick at another who is holding a shield up, while someone further back fires some kind of pepper spray or tear gas. tear gas clouds are visitibeImage source, MATHIEU LEWIS-ROLLAND/AFP via Getty Images
    Image caption,

    Antifa and far-right activists clashing at protests in Portland, Oregon in 2021

    Donald Trump has announced that he plans to designate antifa as a “major terrorist organization” in a post on his Truth Social platform.

    This isn’t the first time the US president has made such an announcement. During his first term in May 2020, he tweeted, external plans to designate the far-left movement a terrorist organisation following protests over the murder of George Floyd.

    It’s a movement we’ve looked at before, but unlike a political party or organisation antifa isn’t an organised or structured group. It is usually identified more of a loose, leaderless movement of protesters and activists whose name stands for “anti-fascist”.

    In the US, the movement saw a surge of interest after the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Since then, antifa activists have routinely clashed with far-right demonstrators and police, both in heated arguments online and also in violent protests across the US - in particular during 2017 counter-protests in Charlottesville and following Floyd’s killing by a police officer.

    Critics of the movement say what sets antifa apart from those on the mainstream left is the willingness among some activists to use violence to further their cause. Antifa supporters, in turn, say the use of force is in self-defence or to defend their communities.

  17. Reported Ukrainian strike on petrochemical plant deep inside Russiapublished at 10:51 BST 18 September

    Paul Brown and Emma Pengelly
    BBC Verify

    We’re investigating reports of a Ukrainian drone attack on a petrochemical facility deep inside Russia, after new videos and photos of smoke rising into the sky were shared on Telegram this morning.

    We’ve confirmed one video - showing a long plume of smoke - was filmed more than 1,000km (620 miles) away from Ukraine’s border in Salavat, a city in western Russia’s Bashkortostan republic.

    The smoke in the footage is rising from the direction of the Gazprom Neftekhim Salavat plant, which this morning the head of Bashkortostan said had been attacked.

    Radiy Khabirov added a fire at the site, which processes a variety of petrochemical products like refining oil and producing fertilisers, was being extinguished.

    A plume of smoke rises high into the skyImage source, Telegram

    We’re also seeing unconfirmed reports of a Ukrainian attack on an oil refinery in the Volgograd region, further west of Salavat.

    Volgograd’s regional governor Andrei Bocharov said a “massive drone attack” was “repelled” overnight. We’re looking for new satellite imagery and videos to get a better picture of what happened - currently we’re only seeing grainy videos filmed in the dark that aren’t possible to geolocate.

  18. Welcome to BBC Verify Livepublished at 10:25 BST 18 September

    Rob Corp
    BBC Verify Live editor

    As US President Donald Trump’s UK state visit continues for its second and final day we’re examining his announcement - posted on the Truth Social platform last night - that he wants to designate the so-called “antifa” anti-fascist movement in the US as a “terrorist organisation”.

    We’ll look at what the term antifa means in the US and how any move to outlaw it would sit with the constitutional right to free speech.

    We’re investigating a widespread communications outage in the Gaza Strip which the internet monitoring group Netblocks says has been caused by a break in a fibre optic connection.

    We touched on this briefly yesterday but with the internet still down in Gaza we’re trying to find out how widespread the problem is and what may have caused it.

    Our verification team is also looking through images from Ukraine and Russia as further strikes have been reported on both sides of the border overnight. The head of Russia’s Bashkorostan Republic has said an oil refinery was attacked in the city of Salavat - more than 1,000km from the Ukrainian border. We’re looking to verify his claim.

    More on those stories to come plus we’re monitoring further monsoon flooding in India using footage posted online.

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