Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

BBC Verify Live will be back with you tomorrow morning, so do take a few moment now to scroll down and read about what the team have been covering today.

We started in Ukraine, where a crowded passenger train was hit by a Russian drone strike. We verified dramatic footage showing a carriage set ablaze while passengers, including one woman carrying a baby, are evacuated to safety.

At lunchtime we moved to domestic politics, examining the UK’s trade relationship with China following Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing and digging into the data behind a Conservative claim that unemployment always rises under Labour. Click here to see what we found.

And this afternoon we’ve been debunking misinformation spreading online about Alex Pretti, the man killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. We tracked a false allegation that Pretti had been fired as a nurse back to a fake news website and exposed two pictures claiming to show Pretti in drag as fakes.

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

After BBC Verify analysed the shooting of Alex Pretti frame by frame earlier this week, we showed our findings to Joshua Ederheimer, a former US government official who oversaw training policy for the Department of Homeland Security.

Ederheimer, who was also a senior officer with the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department, talked us through how he would have expected the officers to react in that situation, based on their training.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

When Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis three weeks ago, false information spread about her online, too.

One image that was widely shared on social media claimed that Good had an extensive criminal record that included charges of “battery of a police officer” and “interfering with medical treatment”. But there were several incorrect details in the image of the document, including her supposed date of birth.

BBC Verify searched US public records databases and found one just profile that matched Good’s details. It lists one offence, “fail to have vehicle inspected”, allegedly committed in Virginia in 2017. But there was no publicly available evidence that she committed, or was even accused of committing, the crimes listed in the supposed criminal record that had been shared.

A picture claiming to be of Good was posted hundreds of times in the days after her death as well, but it was actually of an unrelated individual.

The photo of the woman who was not involved and a real picture of Good both appear in a 2020 Facebook post by the English Department of Old Dominion University in Virginia congratulating the winners of a poetry competition.

Tom Edgington
BBC Verify senior journalist

Trump returned to one his regular topics during his speech in Iowa: the price of gasoline.

He said: “I was told it[gas prices] was one dollar and 85 cents… in Iowa.”

BBC Verify cannot find evidence that the price has fallen to $1.85 in Iowa.

Data from the American Automobile Association (AAA), external show the average price for a gallon of regular gas in Iowa is currently $2.55.

On a national level, the AAA reports the price of a gallon of gas is currently $2.88.

That’s a big fall from the the record high of $5.02 a gallon in June 2022 (under Biden). However, the price is still short of Trump’s campaign pledge to get gasoline to under $2 a gallon.

Image source, Reuters

Nicholas Barrett
BBC Verify researcher

Labour has posted a video , externalon social media of Matt Goodwin - the Reform Party’s candidate for the forthcoming Gorton and Denton by-election - with the caption: “This is what Reform’s latest candidate thinks about where he’s standing to represent”.

It features a clip of Goodwin saying: “I was lucky enough or unfortunate enough to be in Manchester a few days ago and the energy in this room was 10 times what it was in Manchester, so congratulations.”

The clip Labour has used is real but it has been taken out of context.

It comes from his opening remarks in a speech to the Reform Party conference in London on 7 October 2023.

Goodwin has responded to Labour’s post on X, saying: “I was referring to the dying Tory Party conference that was held in Manchester - as you know”.

In the Reform speech, he did not mention the Tory Party conference specifically but he had indeed attended it days earlier.

We found video of him speaking at a fringe event , externalat the conference in Manchester on 1 October. BBC Verify has contacted the Labour Party for comment. Goodwin says he has now reported the Labour Party to the police.

Tom Edgington
BBC Verify senior journalist

We've been looking at more claims made by Trump during his speech on the economy, specifically about eggs.

He said: “We got eggs down very quickly”

It is true egg prices have come down after soaring in 2024 and 2025 - under Biden - following a widespread outbreak of bird flu.

The latest data , externalshow eggs prices fell 20.9% over the 12 months to December 2025.

Trump went on to say his administration had rapidly brought down prices.

However, while official data shows some other items fell in price (butter, potatoes and tomatoes), overall grocery prices have increased 2.4% over the same period.

Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We’ve been telling you today about some of the viral misinformation we’ve been tracking about Alex Pretti, the man shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

These two images have spread to millions online, claiming to show Pretti dressed in drag and in a pink dress, but neither of them are real pictures of the ICU nurse.

The image in drag is actually of a Minneapolis man called Kyle Wagner, a self-described supporter of Antifa - a leftist movement that has been designated as a "domestic terrorist organisation" by the Trump administration.

The image was first posted on Facebook by Wagner himself in July 2022 and reverse image searches show it was circulating online in the days before Pretti was killed.

The picture of the man in a pink dress and tiara appear to be an edited image of the comedian Ben Taylor on a reality show he co-created called Fishtank. The staircase, door, tiling and doormat precisely match footage from the show and the show’s X account has jokingly reposted the picture and referenced Taylor.

Tom Edgington
BBC Verify senior journalist

While much of the focus in the US has been on ICE’s operation in Minneapolis, President Trump focused on the economy last night as he kicked off the run-up to November’s midterm elections. Speaking in Iowa, he made a series of claims about his administration’s record over the last 12 months, which we have been fact-checking.

He said: “They[the Democrats] caused tremendous price increases, it was caused by the worst inflation we’ve ever had.”

Trump regularly criticises President Biden for having the “worst” inflation in US history.

Prices did rise sharply during Biden's first two years in office, but it wasn’t the worst on record.

Under Biden, inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022. This was shortly after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine which contributed to inflation in other countries.

But the highest ever inflation occurred in 1920, when it reached 23.7%. It was also higher at points in the 1970s and 1980s.

Image source, MATTHEW PUTNEY/EPA/Shutterstock

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify journalist

A false claim has been spreading online about Alex Pretti, the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurse shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis on Saturday.

An X post viewed nearly two million times, external alleges that Pretti had been fired from his hospital job “amid multiple complaints of inappropriate behavior”.

The claim appears to have originated from a report on a site called Buzzreport247, which alleges that Pretti was fired from a hospital called “Lakeshore Medical Center” in October 2025 over misconduct allegations, including accusations of “unwanted physical contact”.

There are several signs that stories on the site may have been AI-generated, including the frequent use of hyphens and the same stories being repeated as you scroll down the front page.

The article contains several factual errors, including wrongly stating Pretti was 42, when the authorities have confirmed that he was 37.

We could not find any reference to a “Lakeshore Medical Center” in the United States. We did find one in Abu Dhabi and there’s no evidence that Pretti ever worked there.

An official statement from a member of the US Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, external states that Pretti was employed at a veterans hospital in Minneapolis.

A December 2024 video obtained by the Associated Press, external shows Pretti stood in a corridor in the hospital paying tribute to a deceased veteran.

False information similarly spread online about Renee Good, also killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, in the form of a fake criminal record that we debunked a few weeks ago.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

Earlier today a plane crash in India killed five people, including Ajit Pawar, a senior minister in the country’s Maharashtra state.

The crash took place near Baramati airport. The cause of the crash is not yet known.

To understand more about the causes of a plane crash, we can often listen to recordings of communications between pilots and air traffic controllers on sites like LiveATC.net. But Indian law forbids the sharing of these recorded communications.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Instead, we can look at flight tracking data on FlightRadar24 to undcover some details about the journey. It shows that the plane tried to make two attempts at landing before the crash.

During the first landing attempt, at around 08:30 local time, as it neared the runway it suddenly sped up and began to ascend, and then circled back. Its signal cuts out just as it began a second approach to the airport.

Image source, FlightRadar24

Matt Murphy
BBC Verify senior journalist

Turning back to Iran, President Donald Trump has that a US naval "armada" is heading towards the country and is ready to "fulfil its mission with speed and violence if necessary".

Trump's statement comes after a US defence official confirmed to BBC Verify on Tuesday that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has now entered the Middle East.

While the Lincoln has not publicly broadcasted its location for over a week, on Monday an Osprey aircraft's tracker was seen on FlightRadar24 landing in Oman after leaving an offshore location in the Gulf, suggesting that the Lincoln could be operating somewhere near Oman.

Image source, US Navy

The aircraft carrier sails as part of a strike group and is accompanied by the USS Spruance, USS Frank Petersen Jr and the USS Michael Murphy. Satellite images show that at least two American guided missile destroyers and three combat ships have also been docked in Bahrain for several months.

US spy planes and drones were also tracked on FlightRadar24 flying over the Gulf and near the edge of Iranian airspace on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, satellite images reviewed by BBC Verify show that Tehran has deployed the IRIS Shahid Bagheri - a drone carrier ship which entered service last year - just off the Iranian coast.

Aisha Sembhi
BBC Verify Live video journalist

Our verification team is monitoring videos slowly emerging from Iran, where anti-government protests have been taking place in the midst of a near-total internet blackout.

The internet blackout means most people in the country are shut off from the outside world, making it extremely difficult to track any recent developments there. So, how can our team of journalists paint an accurate picture of what life is actually like in Iran? Our correspondent Merlyn Thomas talked us through how we used videos from the last month to track the protests.

Have a watch below and read more on the security forces’ brutal crackdown on protesters here.

Matt Murphy and Barbara Metzler

The US is in the process of installing new air defences at one of its key bases in the Middle East, satellite images appear to show, as speculation mounts over possible strikes by the White House on Iran.

Photos taken of al-Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar - the largest American facility in the Middle East - on Sunday show a number of new structures appearing at a site on the periphery of the base.

Three analysts told BBC Verify the structures were likely air defence related. Justin Crump - an ex-British army officer and CEO of the Sibylline risk consultancy - identified them as Patriot batteries, an advanced surface-to-air missile system.

Image source, PanetLabs PBC

"It's important to note the compound itself isn't new, it's a prepared position once again being populated as part of the force build-up in the region," he added.

Last year Tehran struck al-Udeid as part of retaliatory attacks following US strikes on Iranian nuclear complexes.

The UK has also deployed fighters to the base, with Crump suggesting that the deployments showed "lessons being learned from previous exchanges with Iran".

Anthony Reuben
BBC Verify senior journalist

At Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions, Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: "Every Labour government leaves office with unemployment higher than when they arrived."

This claim has been made by Conservative MPs before. Labour denies it, pointing to the first Labour government, which lasted from January to November 1924 under the premiership of Ramsay Macdonald.

There are clearly caveats about the reliability of 100-year-old statistics, but according to this handy representation of long-term Bank of England figures, external, unemployment was 7.50% in January 1924 and 7.18% in November 1924, which is a fall.

This report from the National Archives, external suggests falls in both the number unemployed and the unemployment rate.

For the five Labour governments that have followed, unemployment rates were higher at the end of the Labour terms than at the beginning.

Ben Chu
BBC Verify policy and analysis correspondent

Outside of Ukraine, the Verify team has been examining the UK’s trade relationship with China following Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing.

The Prime Minister says the UK cannot afford to ignore the economic opportunities presented by China. But he insisted Britain will maintain “close ties” with the US on business and will not be forced to choose between America and China.

So who does the UK trade more with - the US or China?

The UK, externalexported £30bn worth of goods and services to China and imported £72bn worth of goods in the year to June 2025 - so £103bn in total. That makes China the UK’s fourth largest trading partner.

But the UK’s total imports and exports from the US over the same period were £330bn, so triple the trade with China.

China is the second largest economy in the world after the US, and its growing more rapidly than most of the UK’s other trading partners. But the US still matters more economically to the UK than China does. So it’s reasonable to argue there are considerable opportunities for for trading with the US in the future, particularly in areas of UK export strength, such as professional and business services.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, Reuters

Pictures and videos of the aftermath of yesterday's drone strike show a fire burning inside a damaged carriage, with firefighters carrying hoses as they tackle the blaze.

Other photos shared later in the evening by the Kharkiv Prosecutor's office show blistered paint and smoke pluming at one end of the carriage, an indication of the extreme temperatures caused by the blaze, while a war crimes prosecutor attends the scene.

President Zelensky said there three drones were involved in the attack. Ukraine’s national broadcaster Suspilne reported that one drone hit a carriage of the train and two strikes were recorded nearby, according to investigators.

The train was a long-distance service, originating in Chop near Ukraine's western borders, towards the town of Barvinkove, which is around 65km from the front line.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Sherie Ryder
BBC Verify journalist

Dramatic footage of the crowded passenger train hit by a Russian drone strike in the Kharkiv region yesterday shows a carriage set ablaze as some passengers, including one woman carrying a baby, are helped to safety in a nearby wooded area.

President Zelensky said 18 people were in the carriage at the time and there was no "military justification" in targeting civilians. At least five people were killed and around 200 people were on the train, which was operating on the Barvinkove–Lviv–Chop route, according to officials.

Image source, X

The logo on the carriage seen in the footage shows us the train belongs to Ukrzaliznytsia - Ukrainian Railways. While the exact location where the train came to a halt is unclear, we can see passengers disembarking and walking in the snow away from the track.

After carrying out Reverse Image Searches on screenshots we confirmed that the footage surfaced online yesterday, and was not created using AI tools.

Russia has not commented on the strike, however drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy and transport infrastructure has intensified recently.

Paul Brown
BBC Verify senior journalist

This morning our team is analysing dramatic footage that surfaced late last night of a Russian drone strike on a crowded passenger train in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. At least five people were killed and several left injured in the attack yesterday, which President Zelensky has called an act of "terrorism", and videos we’ve verified show the train on fire as people escape, including a woman with a baby. We'll bring you updates throughout the morning.

We’re verifying videos from Iran of a deadly market fire in the city of Rasht, where eyewitnesses told us security forces fired on people as they tried to escape the blaze. The footage, which emerged as people briefly gained access to the internet, is yet more evidence of the brutal crackdown by authorities against anti-government protesters in the country.

We’re also tracking the build-up of military assets around the Gulf amid speculation of US operations against Iran, which President Trump has threatened in response to the crackdown on anti-regime protests.