The X Effect.

Sky's data and forensics team investigates how Elon Musk is boosting the British right

Israeli authorities detained Dr Adnan Al-Bursh in December 2023. His family never saw him again.

Sky’s @sparkomat has spent months investigating the life and unexplained death of the much-loved Gazan surgeon.

What happened? 🧵⬇️ In the immediate weeks after October 7, Dr Al-Bursh spent his days in the operating room and sleeping in the staff room at Al-Shifa Hospital in the Gaza Strip.

For the first time, Sky News has mapped the far-right ecosystem behind it.

It is a global network of influencers and followers on encrypted messaging platform Telegram and X working together to stir up trouble The majority of the most influential messages were coming from accounts based in the US and Europe, our investigation with open-source intelligence firm @ProseLtd found.

Out of the top 20 most influential accounts, in terms of reach, views and interaction, only six were from the UK 🇬🇧

UK fertility rates are dropping faster than any G7 country, with a staggering 18.8% decline since 2010. What’s behind this trend? @SkyNewsAdele spoke to Emily-Kate Day, a mother of one, who faces tough choices due to rising costs, reflecting the challenges many parents face. Ben Franklin, interim CEO at the Centre for Progressive Policy (CPP), points to austerity as the main driver behind the falling fertility rates. He says cuts to social security have hit the UK harder than other G7 countries.

Are the Taylor Swift Wembley shows safe?

[THREAD] 🧵
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Taylor Swift will return to London this week for her sold out Wembley Stadium shows.

Swift's concerts are due to run for five nights starting on Thursday at Wembley and will mark the last time she comes to the UK for her Eras tour

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"We have a growing number of young people in this country who do not subscribe to British values... We see them on the streets of London every Saturday" - @Nigel_Farage

"Are we talking about Muslims here?" - @TrevorPTweets

"We are" - @Nigel_Farage

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"Can you imagine how offensive that is a British Muslim?"

Sky's @TrevorPTweets challenges comments made by @Nigel_Farage.

#TrevorPhillips

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Would you want to live forever online? 💻 One technology entrepreneur has made this a reality.

Sky’s Arthi Nachiappan tries out the AI technology which reimagines our relationship with the dead 👇 When his father was diagnosed with cancer, tech entrepreneur Artur Sychov was inspired to create a virtual reality tool which would allow him to live forever online

'Social media has taken control of children's lives.'

George Nicolaou lost his son Christoforos to suicide, related to online bullying.

He talks about running school trips for children, where they cannot bring their phones.

#SJUK

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Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK

On 15 December 2023 Israeli Defence Forces stormed the home of Ahmad, Buthaina and Mu’min in a suburb of Khan Younis, in Gaza.

The children tell Sky News they witnessed their parents being killed. @sparkomat reports Five-year-old Mu’min has cerebral palsy.

He was hit by a grenade during the IDF raid. A fragment passed through his eye and lodged in his brain. He’s been left blind in one eye

Hearings have taken place today at the International Court of Justice, where Israel stands accused of committing genocide in Gaza.

But what is genocide and why is South Africa taking Israel to court? 🧵👇 South Africa is arguing Israel is breaching the UN convention on genocide by "killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction"

Israel said Gazans could flee to this neighbourhood - then it was hit.

Using on-the-ground footage, satellite imagery and mapping software, Sky News found that a building in Deir al Balah was hit on 5 December, one day after Israel told civilians they could flee to the city. Responding to our findings, the IDF did not deny it was responsible for the blast.

Two independent experts told Sky that the extent of the damage, size of the rubble, lack of burn damage and apparent precision of the strike were consistent with an airstrike, not a misfired rocket.

🇺🇦 When #Kherson was liberated in November 2022, people came out on the streets to celebrate. It was the most significant city to be recaptured by Ukraine.

But Sky News has uncovered some of the horrors revealed by liberation from the Russian occupation 👇 Olga Cherniak and Svitlana Shukailo are civil servants accused by the Russians of handing intelligence to the Ukrainian authorities

Sky's Europe correspondent @adamparsons has exclusive access to the Geo Barents, an MSF-operated search and rescue ship.

Whilst on board he witnessed 606 migrants being rescued in the middle of the Mediterranean.

Here is what he experienced 👇 After 30 minutes of training on the boat the team were called in because there was a real rescue underway. The PA announcement told them to get ready

Why is it so hard to get a GP appointment? 🩺

Doctors say that primary care is at “breaking point”. 

Here are four charts to understand why 👇 There are five million more patients today than there were in 2015, but 2,000 fewer fully-qualified GPs available to see them.

That means the number of patients per GP has shot up - from 2,014 seven years ago to 2,337 today

Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran’s so-called Morality Police on 16 September 2022, 3 days after being arrested for not adhering to the country’s strict rules on how women should cover their hair.

Here’s a timeline of the unrest that has followed 🇮🇷 ⬇️ Following the 22-year-old's death people across the country began protesting

This image is from 19 September 2022

More than 500 people have been killed in response to the unrest. Around 70 of those are children

📸 West Asia News Agency

Gwyneth Paltrow has been accused of a ski slope hit-and-run.

Here’s a look at what has been said so far in the lawsuit and the accusations from both sides 👇 The Oscar-winning actress is being sued by retired optometrist Terry Sanderson in a civil case for $300,000 (£244,000) over a ski crash incident at Deer Valley Resort in Utah in 2016

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A school attacker killed six people - including three children and three adults- at a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee on Monday.

Who was the attacker? And what was the motive behind the tragic shooting - Sky News takes a look 👇 Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender male (a biological woman), was a former student at the school and a Nashville resident who lived with their parents

Prince Harry is among a group of claimants including Sir Elton John, Elizabeth Hurley and Sadie Frost, accusing the publisher of the Daily Mail newspaper of phone-tapping and other breaches of privacy.

Here's everything you need to know 👇 The Duke of Sussex v Associated Newspapers Ltd will take place at the High Court in London and is expected to last four days.

Associated Newspapers deny the allegations and a preliminary High Court hearing will consider legal arguments and a judge will decide if it goes further

Boris Johnson’s defence against claims that he misled parliament over parties in Downing Street during COVID lockdowns has been published.

Here are the key points from his evidence 👇 1⃣ Boris Johnson accepts the Commons was misled but says that he made his statements “in good faith”

💰The financial system is having another big wobble, which begs the question…how close are we to a full-blown crisis?

Here is a five-stop tour of the banking panic of 2023 ⏬ 🔴1) Interest rates

They’re probably the simplest common factor behind much of what's currently going on.

Interest rates are going up everywhere as central banks, like the Bank of England, seek to clamp down on rising inflation

The Met Police is ‘institutionally racist, sexist and homophobic’, a review into Britain's biggest force has found.

The damning report by Baroness Louise Casey was commissioned in the wake of Sarah Everard's murder by former Met officer Wayne Couzens ⬇️ One finding from the report revealed staff were told that rape cases had been dropped due to a broken Met Police freezer that contained evidence from alleged victims