Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist

We started today by looking into what US President Donald Trump has said about releasing the footage of an attack on a Venezuelan boat where a second strike was ordered that killed two people who’d survived.

Last week Trump said there was “no problem” with the footage being released. But when asked it about it yesterday he denied he’d ever said it. Click here to read our fact check from BBC Verify’s team in Washington DC.

Here in the UK, the Liberal Democrats have called for the country to join a customs union with the EU. We’ve broken down the pros and cons of that plan for you and looked at whether such a move would boost the UK economy as the Lib Dems say.

Then we shifted our focus to south-east Asia as border clashes between Thailand and Cambodia continued for a second day. You can read about two dramatic ground attacks in a Cambodia border town here.

BBC Verify Live will be back tomorrow but our teams in London and Washington DC will be carrying out verification and listening out for fact checks through the rest of the day.

As we’ve been reporting, President Donald Trump falsely denied saying he had “no problem” with his administration releasing a video of a US strike on a Venezuela boat that Washington alleges was carrying drugs.

But he actually said that last week.

BBC Verify’s Jake Horton sets out what the president said and looks at why the footage in question matters.

Shruti Menon
BBC Verify senior journalist

Heavy rain is causing significant flooding in Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah.

I’ve verified one video that shows vehicles partially submerged by floodwater.

Commercial areas and car parks are also inundated as traffic on the main road moves slowly.

Using Google Earth, I identified the location on al-Madinah al-Munawarah road in Jeddah, near the ministry of interior public security.

Reverse image searching suggests this video is from today and not older.

The National Centre for Meteorology in Saudi Arabia has issued red and orange alerts for several regions and said that heavy rain with accompanying high wind speeds and thunderstorms are expected to continue till Wednesday.

Image source, X

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.

Kayleen Devlin and Farzad Seifikaran
BBC Verify

More videos have emerged overnight and this morning showing clashes on the border between Thailand and Cambodia.

Images and a video posted online show damage to a customs and excise building just 350 metres into the Cambodian border town of Boeung Trakoun.

We matched features in the video with satellite pictures and confirmed this was the same building by reviewing newer imagery that shows recent building work on the roof.

We’ve also verified some dramatic aerial footage of two tanks believed to be from the Thai army just across the road from the Cambodian customs building.

The video show the two tanks moving alongside a long driveway leading to a large casino. Another shot from the footage shows smoke coming from the casino.

This is the third attack on a casino we have verified in recent days.

Thai forces claim these buildings are being used to host Cambodian military units - but that hasn’t been independently verified.

Joshua Cheetham
BBC Verify journalist

Speaking at the White House event where US President Donald Trump was asked about strikes against alleged drug boats, he again claimed that "every single boat we shoot out, on average, we save 25,000 American lives".

The White House has not explained how it arrived at this figure but Trump has repeatedly claimed that each boat targeted in the Caribbean carries enough drugs to kill 25,000 people. Trump has previously said some boats were carrying fentanyl and other narcotics including cocaine.

The White House has only released grainy videos of the strikes making it difficult to determine whether the boats carried illegal drugs and in what quantity.

The number of deaths in the US caused by drug overdose reached 73,690 in the year to April 2024, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The majority of these deaths were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

That would be equivalent to three “drug boats”, using Trump’s figure.

Chelsea Shover, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of California Los Angeles, said “I don’t see a universe in which [Trump’s claim] could be possibly be true.”

She also pointed out that most of the fentanyl smuggled into the US comes overland from Mexico, rather than in boats from Venezuela.

Ben Chu
BBC Verify policy and analysis correspondent

As we reported earlier, the Liberal Democrats are today calling for the UK to join a customs union with the EU.

A customs union is where two territories sign an agreement to charge the same taxes on imports (tariffs) for goods from everywhere else in the world.

What are the advantages of a customs union?

Being in a customs union means the parties can then send on those goods without certain checks which is called “free circulation”.

The UK has a tariff-free post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. However, as it’s not in a customs union, goods are still checked at the border to ensure they are genuinely from the UK.

Joining a customs union with the EU would reduce the need for those checks meaning less red tape and costs for British businesses.

However, other post-Brexit non-tariff barrier checks such as safety and security declarations would remain.

And the disadvantages to the UK?

To some extent joining a customs union would limit the UK’s ability to run an independent trade policy - its import tariffs would need to match the EU’s.

It might have to revise post-Brexit free trade agreements with other nations if they face lower UK tariffs than those levied by the EU.

However, trade experts say there’s a difference between the UK joining “a” customs union with the European Union like Turkey has and rejoining “the” EU customs union.

The former would give the UK more freedom to trade but lower benefits. The latter would mean the EU negotiating future trade deals with other countries on the UK’s behalf.

Tamara Kovacevic
BBC Verify senior journalist

Image source, PA Media

The Liberal Democrats have called for the UK to return to a customs union with the EU so that British firms can trade goods without any checks or tariffs.

MP Layla Moran said, external rejoining a customs union “would make a palpable difference to the UK economy to the tune of circa £25bn".

Where does this figure come from and is it reliable?

The Lib Dems said in a press release in May, external, when they first published this figure, that it was based on House of Commons Library analysis, commissioned by the party, but acknowledged the figure is “a rule of thumb” based on some broad assumptions.

The figure is based on an assumption that the UK economy will be 2.2% larger , externalafter rejoining the EU’s customs union.

This 2.2% figure is the best-case scenario for the positive long term GDP impact for the UK of being more closely aligned with the EU. It comes from research by think tank Frontier Economics, external which was commissioned by think tank Best for Britain, external.The £25bn refers not to additional GDP, but additional tax revenues.

“The £25bn per year is not an estimate of the additional revenues that would be generated from deep alignment on goods and services with the EU. It is a rough estimate of the additional revenues from an economy that is 2.2% larger,” the party said, external.

It’s also important to note that the scenario modelled by Frontier Economics was not specifically a customs union but “deep regulatory alignment in goods and services”.

Fridon Kiria and Richard Irvine-Brown
BBC Monitoring and BBC Verify

Image source, Telegram

At least 14 people have been injured in an overnight drone attack in the central Russian city of Cheboksary, in the Republic of Chuvashia, according to the region’s deputy prime minister.

A video shared on Telegram shows the moment of an explosion at an apartment building in the city. We were able to locate it on publicly available online mapping by matching the buildings in the footage and a car park close to a six-lane road running north-south through the city.

Two photographs show the aftermath of damage to windows and balconies of two buildings that we have verified as being close to the original blast.

It’s not known what the intended target was for the strike but Russian social media has said a power plant lies 3.5km (2 miles) to the north-east. However, a site belonging to the firm ABS Electro - which has been sanctioned by the US - is only 450m north of where last night’s attack happened.

We previously verified an attack on the city in November and a drone strike in June at the ABS Electro site.

Aisha Sembhi
BBC Verify Live video journalist

We’ve fact-checked US President Donald Trump’s claim that he hadn’t said previously he would have “no problem” releasing video showing a US attack on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat in September.

The incident is at the centre of a political row in the US over allegations the boat was attacked a second time, killing two survivors of the first strike.

Click play below to watch yesterday’s exchange in the White House.

Lucy Gilder
BBC Verify senior journalist, reporting from Washington

Image source, Reuters

On Monday, President Donald Trump was asked by an ABC News reporter whether he would release footage of a Venezuelan boat being hit by a second US strike on 2 September.

The reporter started by saying “you said you would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd off the coast of Venezuela. Secretary Hegseth now says” - before she was cut off by Trump.

“I didn’t say that. This is ABC fake news,” he said.

But just a few days before, on 3 December, when asked whether he would release footage of the second strike, Trump DID say he would have “no problem” with this, saying: “I don’t know what they have, but whatever they have, we’d certainly release - no problem.”

This time he said, external , external“whatever, external he, external , external[Hegseth], external decides is okay with me”, external, and later described the reporter as “obnoxious”.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Saturday that officials were “reviewing” whether to release the footage. A video purportedly showing the first strike was posted by Trump on his Truth Social platform shortly after the operation ended.

There has been rising pressure on the administration to release footage of the second strike, which reportedly killed two survivors of the initial blast.

Several legal experts have told BBC Verify the so-called “double tap” attack likely violated international law.

Rob Corp
BBC Verify Live editor

US President Donald Trump was hosting an event at the White House yesterday when he opened the floor to questions from journalists. One asked about releasing footage of a controversial air strike on an alleged Venezuelan drug boat from September, which Trump previously said he would have “no problem” doing. Trump accused the reporter of spreading fake news, so we’ve fact checked what he actually said.

We’re verifying material from Thailand and Cambodia after fighting on the border carried into a second day. Cambodia says seven people were killed in the overnight attacks by Thai forces as part of a renewed dispute that has left thousands displaced. Thailand says at least three of its soldiers were killed. There’s full live coverage here.

BBC Verify is checking footage and images following a reported Ukrainian drone attack in the Russian city of Cheboksary, some 600km (400 miles) east of Moscow. The regional governor says at least seven people were injured when a residential building was hit.

And in the UK, the Liberal Democrats are calling for the country to enter a joint customs union with the EU. BBC Verify’s Ben Chu is looking into what that would look like, and the pros and cons of such an arrangement.