Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

If you’re just joining us on BBC Verify Live here’s a rundown of what we’ve been covering today.

We began the day verifying footage of an overnight explosion at an apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Odesa and the aftermath of a deadly building collapse in Lebanon. We’ve also tracked oil tankers intercepted by the Indian authorities.

This afternoon we’ve turned to the US. After yesterday’s Super Bowl half-time performance by singer Bad Bunny we’ve been debunking false claims that the Puerto Rican isn’t a US citizen and that his show featured a child who had been detained by US immigration officers.

We also heard from a US civil rights lawyer and activist who told BBC Verify she was left “disgusted” after the White House shared a fake image of her arrest. Watch our coverage of that story here.

We'll be back tomorrow with more live reporting from the BBC Verify team.

Aisha Sembhi
BBC Verify journalist

An image claiming to show singer Bad Bunny burning the US flag while wearing a dress and makeup is AI-generated.

Reverse image searches show the fake picture was first posted by a Facebook account called Qbanguy that describes itself as “Ai funny Content & Master Meme Maker - 100% Not Real everything is Satire”.

Despite that the AI image has been shared and liked thousands of times since Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl half-time show yesterday.

Google’s own SynthID tool also detected invisible watermarks in the image which suggests it was generated or edited using a Google AI generator.

Aidan McNamee
BBC Verify data journalist

Two hundred and 19 people crossed the English Channel in three boats on Sunday, according to the latest figures.

That comes after 56 people crossed earlier in the week, taking the total so far this year to 1,208.

This is down by 19% compared with the same point last year and is the lowest number recorded by this stage of the year since 2021.

Fewer people typically cross in January and February with the highest average monthly totals usually seen in August and September.

Experts say a range of factors can affect crossing patterns, including law enforcement activity, smuggler networks, conditions in migrants’ countries of origin and the weather.

So far this year, crossings have been reported on seven days, compared with 12 days by the same point in 2025.

For more on migration, small boats and asylum see the BBC’s migration tracker.

Richard Irvine-Brown
BBC Verify journalist

A sanctioned oil tanker, Aquila II, has been seized in the Indian Ocean, the US Department of Defense has announced.

Images posted by the Pentagon show a ship consistent with the size and colour scheme of the Aquila II.

We’ve also matched the windows on the tanker’s bridge with other images of the ship on the internet.

We can’t be certain when the pictures posted by the US military were taken but a reverse-search shows they were not publicly online before today.

The US says it tracked the vessel, which is on its sanctions list, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean.

The tanker appears not to have been transmitting its location data for months. It suddenly appeared early on Sunday morning in the Indian Ocean between Australia and Madagascar heading north-east at 10 knots.

It’s currently 170 nautical miles further north-east than it was yesterday and while it’s still heading in the same direction its speed has slowed to about 5 knots.

Image source, MarineTraffic

Shruti Menon, Barbara Metzler and Kayleen Devlin
BBC Verify

We’ve analysed satellite imagery that shows one of the oil tankers detained by the Indian Coast Guard over the weekend was involved in a ship-to-ship transfer last month. Both vessels are sanctioned by the US, according to MarineTraffic.

We identified two tankers in the imagery as the Nicaragua-flagged Chiltern, which has now been detained, and the Gambia-flagged Global Peak.

Imagery captured by the Sentinel-2 satellite on 12 January near the port of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates shows three ships positioned next to each other, a formation commonly associated with ship-to-ship transfers.

The dimensions and appearance of the grey tanker and the larger of the two red ships in the satellite imagery are consistent with those of the Global Peak and Chiltern respectively.

Tracking data provided by MarineTraffic indicates both these sanctioned vessels were broadcasting their position at this location at the time.

We have not yet been able to identify the third vessel seen in the satellite image.

Although not illegal themselves, ship-to-ship transfers are commonly used by sanctioned and so-called “shadow fleet” tankers to disguise where the oil they’re carrying originated.

Kumar Malhotra
BBC Verify senior journalist

We’ve been tracking attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine as Russia continues to strike at power stations and distribution networks.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said in a post on X he now considers energy plants in Russia to be a, external, external“legitimate, external target.”, external

His comments came after local officials in Russia’s Belgorod region reported facilities in Belgorod city and elsewhere had been hit on Friday, affecting local power supplies.

Data collated by Acled, an organisation that monitors conflicts around the world, has been tracking attacks on Ukraine’s energy system. Its data suggests many of the attacks have affected infrastructure near the front line and the border with Russia.

One of Ukraine’s largest private energy suppliers, DTEK, posted a video showing extensive damage to its facilities. It said Russia had attacked its thermal power plants more than 220 times, external since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Aisha Sembhi
BBC Verify journalist

Image source, Getty

During his Super Bowl half-time show last night Puerto Rican star Bad Bunny handed his Grammy award to a child - leading to a viral claim on X the recipient was a boy who’d been detained by US immigration agents last month.

The post - which has been seen 10 million times - said it was Liam Ramos, a five-year-old who was held along with his father by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Minnesota.

However, the boy was later revealed to be a child actor called Lincoln Fox. A video, posted to his Instagram account, showed the Grammy award moment being broadcast on a big screen inside the stadium.

The NFL’s choice to use Bad Bunny for the half-time show generated widespread complaints from supporters of US President Donald Trump - particularly after he called for “ICE out” in a victory speech at the Grammy Awards.

Trump, who did not attend this year's Super Bowl, called Bad Bunny's set "absolutely terrible, one of the worst, EVER!" on his social media platform Truth Social.

Aisha Sembhi
BBC Verify journalist

Last night saw the biggest game in the American football calendar when the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks played in the Super Bowl. You can read the match report here.

One of the traditional highlights is the Super Bowl half-time show which this year featured Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny.

I’ve been debunking viral claims that the 31-year-old isn’t really a US citizen. Click below to watch now.

Yi Ma
BBC Verify researcher

I’ve been looking into footage from northern Lebanon showing the aftermath of the deadly collapse of two adjacent residential buildings in Tripoli.

According to Lebanese state media, the incident occured on Sunday in the Bab al-Tabbaneh neighbourhood, killing at least 15 people, with eight others injured.

I’ve verified a video, filmed from a high-rise building overlooking the site and shared on Instagram, which shows only rubble and debris remaining where the multi-storey buildings once stood.

Local authorities say an investigation into the cause of the collapse is underway.

Image source, Telegram

The incident is the latest in a series of building collapses in other neighbourhoods of Tripoli in the last month.

Following a previous collapse in late January, Lebanese MP Ashraf Rifi warned that 105 buildings in the city were at risk of collapse, with around 600 additional homes failing to meet basic safety standards.

Shruti Menon and Kumar Malhotra
BBC Verify

We’ve been tracking the movements of three vessels which India’s coast guard announced on Saturday it had intercepted in an effort to break up what it called “an, external international oil-smuggling racket”, external and that they were being escorted to Mumbai.

The vessels weren’t named by the Indian authorities and the pictures they posted had the ships' names erased. However, searching for the images online enabled us to identify the three ships concerned.

All of them are listed as sanctioned by the US and can currently be seen on MarineTraffic off the western coast of India heading towards Mumbai.

According to tracking data, one of the vessels - Stellar Ruby - is an oil products tanker that had travelled from the Gulf in December, approaching waters off three large oil refineries in Gujarat state and entering the port of Kandla on 1 January.

It then travelled south, arriving at the port of Karwar in Karnataka state on 31 January. It was intercepted by the Indian authorities on its journey north near Mumbai over the weekend.

The Stellar Ruby has been sailing under an Iranian flag since the start of this year according to Marine Traffic. Prior to this it had been sailing under a Cook Islands flag.

Image source, MarineTraffic

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

We’re keen to hear what you think the BBC Verify team should be looking into.

We're interested in investigating claims you may've seen online in your social feeds. We're also keen to know if you've think an image may have been made using artificial intelligence to spread disinformation.

You can also get in touch with BBC Verify if you've got a question about how we verify video posted online or work with satellite imagery.

You can send your suggestions to the team here.

Jake Horton
BBC Verify journalist

US civil rights lawyer and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong says she was "disgusted" after the White House posted an image of her arrest which was edited to show her in tears.

She was detained for organising a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a Minnesota church last month.

I spoke to Levy Armstrong about the manipulated image and the backlash she has faced.

Produced by Tom Joyner. Graphics by Mark Edwards.

Emma Pengelly & Fridon Kiria
BBC Verify and BBC Monitoring

Image source, Telegram

We’ve been verifying footage showing an explosion at an apartment complex in the southern port city of Odesa overnight.

One person was killed and two were injured in a “massive” Russian drone attack, Odesa’s governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram, external. According to him a high-rise building, a gas pipeline and multiple vehicles were damaged in the attack.

The video - apparently taken from a different high-rise block - focuses on one apartment block in the complex before we hear the sound of an explosion and the camera pans up to capture what appears to be flames from the blast.

We confirmed where the video was filmed by matching the parking area and exterior of high-rise apartment blocks in central Odesa to satellite images of the location. Aftermath photos show several apartments have shattered windows. News agency pictures also show debris on the ground at the complex and a number of damaged cars.

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Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

At least three people were killed overnight by Russian strikes on Ukraine, according to regional officials, while there have been further strikes on the country’s energy networks.

We’ve verified footage showing an apparent drone strike on a high-rise block in the southern city of Odesa and are looking into reports of a deadly strike on Kharkiv in the northeast.

The team is also looking into reports that India has intercepted three tankers it said were involved in “international oil smuggling”. Our journalists in Delhi and London are tracking the ships’ movements after the Indian Coast Guard said they were intercepted in international waters and are being escorted to Mumbai.

Elsewhere we’re continuing to see examples of AI fakery and disinformation following the latest release of US government files about the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. We’re working to debunk those and will bring you more here this morning.

If you want to get in touch with BBC Verify then contact us via this link.