Richard Irvine-Brown
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richib.bsky.social
Richard Irvine-Brown
@richib.bsky.social
6K followers 670 following 2.3K posts
Portfolio: https://www.clippings.me/users/richardirvinebrown

Journo. BBC Verify.

Digital investigative journalism since 2014, cars/money data before, BBC Sport 2007-2011.
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richib.bsky.social
I mean, that’s how I watch the Winter Olympics anyway.
February 16, 2026 at 9:51 PM
richib.bsky.social
I'm making a joke* about how much Muir looks like Prof Hannah Fry.

*YMMV
February 16, 2026 at 9:21 PM
richib.bsky.social
I’m more intrigued how a time travelling professor got into winter sports between gigs hosting HIGNFY.
February 16, 2026 at 8:24 PM
richib.bsky.social
The RSF has been working to encircle el Obeid in the past few months, a city MSF said last week had become a "major refuge for displaced families fleeing violence".
prezly.msf.org.uk/msf-launches...
MSF launches emergency response in El Obeid.
As violence continues to spread across Sudan, the Kordofans, in the south-central part of the country, has remained one of the most volatile and...
prezly.msf.org.uk
February 16, 2026 at 5:58 PM
richib.bsky.social
For context, the spot of of the attack is 35 miles from Abu Zabad, which was reported as taking hundreds of refugees fleeing the conflict in December, and 55 miles southwest of el Obeid, capital of North Kordofan.
February 16, 2026 at 5:57 PM
richib.bsky.social
Whoah now, let’s not say anything we’ll regret later.
February 12, 2026 at 11:27 AM
richib.bsky.social
Not at all! I admire Dyche. He is what you need.

And given the thankless tasks he’s performed before, he deserves a crack at Europe and the comfy seats at your ground.
February 12, 2026 at 10:30 AM
richib.bsky.social
One video, posted by the Fars news agency, filmed in Ektaban, west Tehran, contained the sound of a man chanting 'Allahu Akbar,' as advised by state media, but left in the sound of a woman telling him to 'Shut up'.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c7...
February 11, 2026 at 5:35 PM
richib.bsky.social
Kay and I with another update, filling in what we know of the Aquila II, prior to its seizure in the Indian Ocean: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg...
We’ve been looking into what publicly available tracking data tells us about the recent history of Aquila II (IMO: 9281152), the sanctioned tanker seized by the US military in the Indian Ocean yesterday. According to Automatic Identification System (AIS) data, which ships use to transmit their location, the tanker was south of Sri Lanka this time last year. Continuous data shows it then sailed for four weeks to the north end of the Gulf of Oman. Satellite imagery provided by Planet Labs showed the vessel appeared to be at anchor in the Gulf of Oman on 6 March. Its last transmission from there came five days later. According to maritime intelligence company Kpler, Aquila II conducted a ship-to-ship transfer on 19 May off the coast of Venezuela - although this was “dark” meaning neither it nor the other ship was transmitting AIS data at the time. This was followed by a regular ship-to-ship transfer in the Eastern Outer Port Limits, between Singapore and Malaysia in August. It briefly broadcast a location in the Baltic Sea last November before reappearing in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. Its load condition was recorded as “in ballast,” which means it was unladen. It is currently on a north-western heading with a stated destination of the Port of Singapore, according to marine-tracking website VesselFinder.
February 10, 2026 at 6:05 PM
richib.bsky.social
With @kayleendevlin.bsky.social, whose previous tanker work you should definitely read no less than a lot of:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Dozens of sanctioned Russian tankers navigate Channel despite UK vow of 'assertive' action
Some 42 sanctioned tankers has passed through the Channel since 11 January, a BBC Verify analysis finds.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 5:56 PM
richib.bsky.social
Tuesday morning update, Aquila II bound for Singapore: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cg...
Seized tanker Aquila II heading for Singapore, tracking data says published at 11:19 11:19 Kayleen Devlin and Richard Irvine-Brown BBC Verify Aquila II, a sanctioned oil tanker that was seized by the US military in the Indian Ocean yesterday is on its way to Singapore, tracking data shows. The marine-tracking website VesselFinder reported the stated destination of the tanker around 17:00 GMT yesterday, about three hours after the US Department of Defense posted about the seizure and the ship’s tracking data showed a slight change in course. This morning, the ship is in the Indian Ocean heading north-east towards the Malay peninsula having started broadcasting its position yesterday. The US says it tracked the vessel, which is on its sanctions list, from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean. Samir Madani, one of the co-founders of maritime traffic website TankerTrackers.com, told the BBC “there will likely be more cases of boardings/seizures happening in the Indian Ocean”.
February 10, 2026 at 5:54 PM
richib.bsky.social
I am reliably informed we were sixth for about five minutes while the wailing and gnashing of VAR was done.

(Or were we never sixth as the table was pulled back?)
February 9, 2026 at 7:35 AM
richib.bsky.social
[looks around in surprise for the ‘kid’]
February 7, 2026 at 7:06 PM
richib.bsky.social
9/ Team effort, as always.

Video produced by @herdjemimah.bsky.social

Additional verification by @sryder.bsky.social

Peer review by @kayleendevlin.bsky.social

Overseen by @olgar.bsky.social
February 4, 2026 at 6:08 PM