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Lighthouse Reports

@lighthousereports.com

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Radically collaborative journalism. Working with the world’s leading media on deeply reported, public interest investigations. http://bit.ly/LHR-newsletter

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · Sep 11

When Assad’s security state collapsed, locked doors opened, spilling decades of secrets.

Among them: 100s of stolen children, hidden in orphanages & used to blackmail parents. We’ve done the deepest dive yet into this cruel system. Here’s what we found 🧵

www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Syria’s Stolen Children

Under the Assad regime, hundreds of Syrian children were hidden in orphanages to extort their parents. Families still have few answers from the new government or the international charity that kept it...

www.lighthousereports.com

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

Read more, plus links to further reporting and credits, here www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

Blair and the Billionaire

Insiders reveal how Larry Ellison’s money turned Blair’s institute into a tech sales and lobbying operation for Oracle

www.lighthousereports.com

Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

Another, Martin Akuagwuagwu, said TBI would push technology & AI solutions on countries with more fundamental issues to contend with

‘They have issues around hunger, poverty, mass unemployment – & we’re getting them to commit towards some fancy projects like using drones and AI’

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

Beyond Britain, ex TBI staff described a sea change in culture following Ellison's cash injection, w/ AI boosterism that silenced nuance & forced them to engage in ‘tech sales’ for Oracle

‘It felt icky,’ said one. Another said the focus became 'more tech, big tech, all the time’

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

Critics say this 'major influence operation' could culminate in US tech firms taking control of UK's most valuable data, the NHS

'This govt has failed to understand the value of Britain’s data.. they listen to what TBI says - and what Oracle wants,’ says Baroness Beeban Kidron

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

TBI staff have been brought into govt. Tom Westgarth was seconded to Dsit to work on the AI Opportunities Action Plan, with his salary paid by TBI

More recently, Kirsty Innes, who worked for TBI for 4 years, has been appointed special advisor for new tech secretary Liz Kendall

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

We reveal how TBI privately lobbied UK ministers for Oracle & had its policy proposals taken up by the govt

Correspondence obtained via FOI show meetings in which ministers seek advice on tech & AI from TBI staff, who in turn push Oracle’s interests

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

TBI has ballooned in recent yrs to 900+ staff across the globe, coinciding w/ a surge in funding from Ellison

TBI insists it operates separately from Oracle – but we found the 2 entities share board members & hold joint retreats. Ex TBI staff characterise the 2 as ‘inseparable’

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

Ellison, 81, described by Trump as ‘CEO of everything’, co-founded cloud computing giant Oracle & is now the world's 2nd richest man after only his friend Elon Musk

Since 2021, Ellison has donated or pledged £257m to the TBI

We spent months trying to find out what it bought him

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

By speaking to 29 Tony Blair Institute insiders & obtaining FOI docs, @lighthousereports.com & Democracy for Sale provide 1st insider account of TBI’s symbiotic relationship w/ Ellison & his firm Oracle – & how this has transformed Blair’s org into a vehicle for AI boosterism & ‘tech sales’

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 17d

Revealed: How Tony Blair is lobbying on behalf of tech billionaire Larry Ellison

We expose former PM’s unprecedented influence over the UK govt & how this is shaped by the interests of his Institute’s largest donor & one of the world’s richest men www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

Thread

Inside the Tony Blair Institute

Who really benefits from the former PM’s tech evangelism?

www.newstatesman.com

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Reposted by Lighthouse Reports

Fundación porCausa @porcausa.org · 25d

La policía francesa provocó decenas de ahogamientos al interceptar violentamente pequeñas embarcaciones que intentaban llegar al territorio de ultramar de Mayotte.
Nueva investigación coordinada por @lighthousereports.com
www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

“They hit us and watched us drown”

French police cause dozens of drownings with violent tactics against small boats trying to reach overseas territory Mayotte. Similar tactics are being proposed for the Channel.

www.lighthousereports.com

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Read the story in English in the @thetimes.com www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

French police ‘illegally’ ram migrant boats in overseas territory

France has said it can’t intervene in the Channel but police routinely use deadly tactics to stop boats reaching the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, an investigation found

www.thetimes.com

Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Watch the documentary on @artefr.bsky.social www.arte.tv/fr/videos/12...

Mayotte, la mer de tous les dangers - Une enquête en partenariat avec Lighthouse reports - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE

Le média d'investigation Lighthouse reports et un consortium de 5 médias européens - dont ARTE est partenaire - révèlent aujourd'hui les méthodes dangereuses et illégales de la police française au lar...

www.arte.tv

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Read the story in French in @lemonde.fr www.lemonde.fr/societe/arti...

A Mayotte, la police aux frontières accusée de provoquer des naufrages de bateaux et la mort de migrants venus des Comores

Depuis 2010, plusieurs centaines de Comoriens sont morts en mer en tentant de rallier l’archipel français. L’enquête menée conjointement par « Le Monde » et le média d’investigation « Lighthouse Repor...

www.lemonde.fr

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Watch the documentary on @Artefr www.arte.tv/fr/videos/12...

Mayotte, la mer de tous les dangers - Une enquête en partenariat avec Lighthouse reports - Regarder le documentaire complet | ARTE

www.arte.tv

Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

The revelations come as Paris, under pressure from London, has announced that French forces will soon be allowed to intercept small boats in the English Channel.

The move has raised concern among French search & rescue authorities, police unions & govt ministers.

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Together, our findings reveal a consistent pattern: while authorities publicly frame operations as rescue missions, evidence from witnesses, documents & insiders show that dangerous interception practices by French police are commonplace.

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

31-year-old Farid Djassadi lost both his legs during an interception.

Court documents we obtained show he fell into the sea as the police were pursuing his boat, causing his legs to be severed by the police boat’s motor

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

We found training videos demonstrating the dangerous interception tactics described by the officers we spoke to

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

To cross-check these accounts, We obtained case files documenting 4 deadly incidents, as well as police & gendarmerie reports.

We interviewed 6 serving & former French officials who had been posted to Mayotte.

They confirmed aggressive tactics were part of routine practice

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Officially, French police are only allowed to rescue people at sea, and not to intercept them b/c it’s too risky.

But 20 survivors from 17 different incidents told us the police had circled or collided with their boats, sometimes causing them to capsize

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

An investigation w/ Le Monde, @spiegel.de, @thetimes.com & @artefr.bsky.social found French police caused the deaths or disappearances of at least 24 people – including pregnant women & children – during violent interceptions at sea off Mayotte b/t 2007-25

www.lighthousereports.com/investigatio...

“They hit us and watched us drown”

French police cause dozens of drownings with violent tactics against small boats trying to reach overseas territory Mayotte. Similar tactics are being proposed for the Channel.

www.lighthousereports.com

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

Tens of 1000s of people attempt the crossing to the French island of Mayotte, off the east coast of Africa, each year in search of better work opportunities, healthcare & education.

It’s estimated 10,000 people have drowned while trying to make this journey since 1995.

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · 25d

REVEALED: French police have caused dozens of drownings by violently intercepting small boats trying to reach overseas territory Mayotte.

Similar tactics are being proposed for the Channel, to try to stop people from reaching the UK.

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Lighthouse Reports @lighthousereports.com · Sep 11

We couldn’t have done this without partners the BBC, @theobserveruk.bsky.social, Women who Won the War, Siraj, @spiegel.de and @trouw.nl who spent 9 months verifying 1000s of documents with us, conducting 100+ interviews with families, ex-orphanage staff, officials, lawyers & whistleblowers