Investigations Training for Specialists In-Person London, 26-27 May 2026 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (the Bureau) is offering a specialised and innovative two-day training seminar to help investigators uncover bribery, embezzlement, fraud and money-laundering. Investigations are about asking the right questions, spotting patterns and making smart choices with limited resources. Conventional training provides an important foundation, but practice is what sharpens your instincts. That kind of meaningful practice can be hard to find. That’s why we’ve developed simulations. Imagine an escape room or whodunit for investigators that is engaging, realistic and fun. What is a simulation game: Each simulation game is set in a fictional world where participants have to sift through many sources of information and use evidence they collect to expose crime and corruption. Even though the people, places and things in the simulation game are fictional, these are real investigations that equip learners with the skills applicable in real-world situations. How they work: Participants play the role of an investigative team whose objective is to expose acts of crime and corruption. They have access to limited resources to pursue leads and uncover evidence. Teams document their findings and discuss their findings, investigative approach, loose ends and hypothetical next steps. Bookings and queries: simulations@tbij.com

🚨 The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (@tbij.bsky.social) and Investigative Simulations Lab are running a two-day simulation game on crime, corruption and corporate enablers from 26-27 May in London.

Test your investigative skills!

For more information, contact: simulations@tbij.com

Phone tracking shows how Colombian mercenaries backed Sudan's RSF - report Phone tracking shows how Colombian mercenaries backed Sudan's RSF - report The report says more than 50 mobile phones were tracked in Sudan between April 2025 and January this year whose operators were Colombian A network of Colombian mercenaries backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) provided critical support to Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) enabling it to capture the western city of el-Fasher last year, a new report says. The investigation, by security analysis organisation the Conflict Insights Group (CIG), used data obtained from tracking the mobile phones of the Colombian fighters. The UAE has long denied supporting the RSF, which has been fighting Sudan's regular army for three years. El-Fasher's fall was one of the most brutal chapters of the conflict, which has led to the world's worst humanitarian crisis with tens of thousands killed and millions forced from their homes. The CIG has been closely following evidence of extensive Emirati military assistance to the RSF, but "this is the first research where we can prove UAE involvement with certainty", says director Justin Lynch. "We are making public what governments have long known - that there is a direct link between Abu Dhabi and the RSF." The report "shows mercenaries involved with drones travelling from a UAE base to Sudan before the RSF takeover of el-Fasher", he says. "Mercenaries involved in drone operations even named their wi-fi network their unit name - linked to a company operated out of the UAE." Colombian President Gustavo Petro was quoted last year as calling the mercenaries "spectres of death" and describing their recruitment as a "form of human trafficking". The BBC has asked for a response from the Emirati government to the latest findings. The UAE has previously issued statements rejecting what it called "false and unfounded allegations" that it backs the RSF and condemning "in the strongest terms" the atrocities committed in el-Fasher. Analysts agree that foreign support for both sides has been key to the continuation and expansion of the civil war.Tens of thousands of people have fled from their homes in el-Fasher in Darfur The CIG says it used commercially available technology designed to make advertising more personal to track more than 50 mobile phones in Sudan between April 2025 and January this year whose operators were Colombian mercenaries, including at RSF-held areas from which drones were fired. It also used flight-tracking data, satellite imagery, social media videos, news and academic articles to support its analysis. The report says its data details a pipeline that showed the mercenaries present at various regional staging grounds, most significantly a UAE military training facility in Ghayathi in Abu Dhabi. It followed one phone from Colombia to Abu Dhabi's Zayad International Airport and then to the facility, where it also found four other devices configured to Spanish, which is spoken in Colombia. Two of those phones subsequently travelled to Sudan's South Darfur state and one to the de-facto RSF capital of Nyala, where it logged into wi-fi networks named "ANTIAEREO" (meaning "anti-aircraft" in Spanish) and "AirDefense". Nyala is a prominent hub for Colombian mercenaries and RSF drone operations, the report says. The CIG has documented significant drone activity there and identified more than 40 Spanish-language devices. In another case study the CIG tracked a phone from Colombia to Nyala and then to el-Fasher, in North Darfur state, during the time last October when the RSF took over the city after an 18-month siege. While in el-Fasher, the device connected to a wi-fi network named "ATACADOR" ("attacker" in Spanish), says the report. It adds that the CIG identified other devices associated with Colombian mercenaries also present during the RSF takeover.El-Fasher was repeatedly shelled during the RSF siege - this picture from October last year shows a wrecked classroom where people had been sheltering The fall of the city was accompanied by mass atrocities assessed as war crimes and crimes against humanity by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and described by UN investigators as bearing the "hallmarks of genocide". "CIG assesses that the UAE-Colombian mercenary network bears shared responsibility for these outcomes," says the report. "The scale of atrocities and siege in el-Fasher wouldn't have happened without the drone operations the mercenaries provided," Lynch adds, noting evidence that they also helped support the RSF siege. According to the report, the mercenaries operated as part of the Desert Wolves brigade, serving as drone pilots, artillerymen and instructors. One of them connected to wi-fi networks named "DRONES" and "LOBOS DEL DISIERTO [sic]" (meaning "Desert Wolves" in Spanish), while using Spanish-language settings. The brigade is led by retired Colombian army Colonel Alvaro Quijano, according to the Colombian digital news site La Silla Vacía. He is based in the UAE and has been sanctioned by the US and UK governments for recruiting Colombians to fight in Sudan. The Desert Wolves were paid and employed by a UAE-based company with documented ties to senior Emirati government officials, according to La Silla Vacía and documents obtained by the CIG, the report says. The CIG also says it identified devices with Spanish-language settings at a port in Somalia with links to the UAE, and at a town in south-eastern Libya believed to be a logistical hub for the flow of weapons to the RSF, allegedly facilitated by the Emirates. The number of Colombian fighters in Sudan has previously been estimated in the low hundreds. The US has twice sanctioned Colombian nationals and associated companies for recruiting mercenaries to fight in Sudan, in December and again last week. The US Treasury Department has said that Colombian fighters supported the RSF capture of el-Fasher but has stopped short of making a direct connection to the UAE. Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Adblock test (Why?)

Phone tracking shows how Colombian mercenaries backed Sudan's RSF - report #BBC #Sudan #Soudan

Ouch

Living in a box by Living in a box

DOUNANA (without us) SIBA & MONKYMAN YouTube video by MONKyMAN

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdFl...

Insight: Time for Zimbabwe to Probe Kuvimba Valuation - The Sentry On February 6, 2026, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) required Zimbabwe to commit to publishing the audited accounts of all of the individual companies held by the country’s new sovereign wealth ...

The latest blog from me on an investigation which could either reveal the largest corruption scandal in Zimbabwe’s history (c5% GDP!) or see me fall flat on my face. What will it be?

thesentry.org/2026/04/15/8...

She’s married to fugitive crime boss — and selling Dubai property Caoimhe Robinson, who married Daniel Kinahan in 2017, has been dealing in high-end real estate as the authorities attempt to freeze her husband’s assets

Daniel Kinahan has (finally) been arrested in the UAE.

With @occrp.org @georgegreenwood.bsky.social and I showed how he and his wife were making millions from buying, renting and selling Dubai property, while supposedly on the run...

www.thetimes.com/article/48f2...

Very important:

I also, I’m afraid, do the slightly patronising tone that the interviewer did (“and google changed that”) when talking to both young children and a relative who sounds about at the same stage of dementia. I.e. people like her are speaking to him in a way that indicates their own suspicions…

Our evaluation of Claude Mythos Preview’s cyber capabilities | AISI Work We conducted cyber evaluations of Anthropic’s Claude Mythos Preview and found continued improvement in capture-the-flag (CTF) challenges and significant improvement on multi-step cyber-attack simulati...

This paper represents a small but deeply impressive and genuinely important achievement by the much maligned British state in what is probably the most important global issue of our era.

Hear me out ( 🧵) 1/

www.aisi.gov.uk/blog/our-eva...

Historians of BlueSky - any idea how this compares to Harold Wilson’s public pronouncements about Vietnam?

Book talk: Chasing Freedom by Simukai Chigudu Zimbabwe and Britain, did the end of colonial rule deliver true freedom for a new generation?

Londoners, this looks like a really cool event at the Frontline Club on April 21, moderated by my friend @zoeflood.bsky.social

I even liked the Collector Collector :(

Things I have seen in the rubble of Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon in the past week. More here: www.instagram.com/p/DW9f6buDhW...

15 women were willing to come to testify in court on behalf of the FT.

That included 3 whose allegations had not previously been reported.

"Super-aged' society AI dolls offer companionship to S SONG JUNG-A IN SEOUL AND PERSIS LOVE LONDON For years, whenever 78-year-old Ahn Hee-soon felt lonely, she left her tiny studio, boarded a bus with no destination in mind and roamed the streets of Seoul, the South Korean capital. These days, she rarely takes such jour-neys. She has little reason to, thanks to her artificial intelligence-powered "Hyodol", a combination of doll and the word for "filial duty" in Korean. It wakes Ahn up in the morning, greets her when she returns home from her part-time job and plays her Buddhist scriptures to go to sleep. "Hyodol has been the best gift for me. She is like a granddaughter or a friend," said Ahn, cuddling the plush, baby-like device, causing its cheeks to "blush" red. "I love these moments of talking to you," it said in the voice of a young girl. "Please remember to keep playing with me three times a day." Ahn's companion is one of thousands of Al-augmented social care robots now in service in South Korea to respond to one of the world's most severe demographic crises. South Korea is known as a "super-aged" society, with those 65 and older now accounting for about 20 percent of the country's 51mn people. One in five elderly people also lives alone, leading to some of the highest rates of senior poverty, depression and suicide in the developed world. Experts say that robots can help combat these challenges, while easing personnel demands and long-term costs for a strained public health system that is struggling to keep pace with the needs of the rapidly ageing population. "Many old adults suffer from serious psychological problems due to their deteriorating health, poverty and social isolation," said Shin Kwang-young, a sociology professor at Chung-Ang University in Seoul.

PD James’ Children of Men proving prescient yet again…

Celebration Kitchen episodes on iPlayer for Eid, Purim, Diwali, Wesak Day and Passover

(This sounds a bit horseshoe, but let me land) Saturday Kitchen does really great specials connecting food and faith celebrations but only did a regular show for Easter and I think as an increasingly secular but multifaith country we SHOULD treat Christian holidays with the same level of curiosity.

Good article - touches on the tricksiness of sources, sub sources, sub sub sources and the various incentives to puff or preen for money or fame by those in the intel trade.

Read it, then read the beginning of The Honourable Schoolboy by Le Carre.

Jfc that’s a top ten esoteric niche joke ! 10/10

#Nigeria : A new investigation led by @pplaaf.bsky.social @johndellosso.bsky.social has uncovered additional properties in the United States that had previously escaped seizure by Nigerian prosecutors. Prof Dibu is facing justice. His next hearing will be in April

Yeah maybe you’re right on the continuation, not sure. On cultural influence, I just remember being asked to transcribe /translate English rock song lyrics all the time !

I taught English in Hungary in 1991 and teenagers were chomping at the bit to ditch Russian (and Esperanto) and learn English instead. So he would have been in that wave I guess. The students who bought me a Russian-Esperanto dictionary as a goodbye gift were funny guys.

What the CIA’s “Queen of Torture” did next Alfreda Bikowsky led the CIA unit that tortured suspected terrorists and caught Bin Laden. Now, she is a life coach

This is very good by Faye Curran. Accountability journalism (in the absence of accountability):
www.newstatesman.com/world/americ...

Who are the pearly kings & queens?

www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/...

Half a million strong. Together.

The biggest march against the far-right in British history.

This Song Teaches Counting But Is INSANELY Hard To Count YouTube video by Charles Cornell

Timeline cleanse:
1) Classic Sesame St
2) This song remains a banger
3) Music theory
4) This guy is just so tickled and joyful!
youtu.be/TMtGImlEmu0?...

King Harold's Fleet - Another Major Problem A quick update about Harold Godwineson allegedly sailing his army to the Battle of Hastings. To recap: Professor Tom Licence of the Univer...

How do you get your ships through a narrow stretch of water when your enemy controls the shore?

A timely question today, and also in 1066

www.marcmorris.org.uk/2026/03/king...

Did King Harold Really Sail to the Battle of Hastings? I'm not convinced...
www.marcmorris.org.uk/2026/03/did-...

Ain't No Mountain High Enough YouTube video by Inner Life - Topic

It’s the weekend so here’s a 10 minute Salsoul version of Ain’t no mountain high enough by Inner Life. Check the spacey synths in the second half , 7 minutes in.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=BjGH...