25-07-2025
Inside BBC Verify - Satellite view of Cyprus fires and analysing doctors' pay row
Update:
Date: 10:25 BST
Title: Cyprus wildfires visible from space
Content: Paul BrownBBC Verify senior journalist
Satellite imagery taken yesterday over Cyprus has offered us our first aerial glimpse of wildfires in the south which killed two people.
In low-resolution imagery provided by Planet, smoke can be seen rising from at least three spots in a mountainous area of the Limassol district.
Planet routinely provides this kind of image quality, which allow us to monitor large-scale incidents like wildfires. While it's not detailed enough to examine close-up damage or individual structures, it does allow us to monitor broader changes over time. Higher-resolution imagery is also released but not as often.
A spokesman for the fire service posted on X yesterday that there were "no active fronts" in the fire but intense "flare-ups" continued in the area, with inland temperatures forecast to hit 44 degrees.
Photographs from the ground also show burned out buildings and charred land in the affected areas.
The UK Foreign Office has advised tourists due to travel to Limassol or Paphos districts to ensure they have suitable insurance and contact their travel operators for advice.
Update:
Date: 09:45 BST
Title: Good morning
Content: Matt MurphyBBC Verify senior journalist
Thanks for joining us at BBC Verify Live, its a busy morning here at our London newsroom. Our fact-checkers, verification experts and data journalists are looking at a wide variety of stories.
Authorities in Cyprus continued to fight fires on Thursday which have so far ravaged 100 sq km (40 sq m) of land and killed several people. We've been examining the latest satellite imagery from the island.
Last night President Emmanuel Macron announced that France will recognise Palestinian statehood at the UN. We will look at what that means, and how many other countries have already done so.
And our policy and analysis correspondent Ben Chu has been looking at the claims from the British Medical Association (BMA), which has vowed to push ahead with strike action over resident doctors' pay.
