Lighthouse Reports

Lighthouse Reports travelled to Eastern Libya to expose the UAE supported RSF network of military training camps that enabled them to continue their war in Sudan. The shadowy role of the United Arab Emirates in fueling the war in Sudan – once a well kept secret – is now acknowledged as a key driver of Sudan’s disastrous, yearslong civil war. Still, little is known about how the UAE co-opts regional governments to achieve its aims in Sudan.

Across Europe countries are seeking ways to get tougher on asylum seekers. They also want to save money and speed up processes. AI-powered “facial age estimation” (FAE) tools have developed as a way of preventing children from accessing age-restricted goods and services, such as adult-only online content or cigarettes and alcohol.

As political leaders across Europe promise tougher measures to crack down on migration, governments have increasingly turned to artificial intelligence as a tool for managing borders, screening asylum seekers and assessing claims. Despite the increasing spread and reach of these technologies, journalists and civil society actors have often struggled to scrutinise them.

Lessons from Local News From the UK to India and the Brazilian Amazon, we spoke with journalists who are making it work. The antidote to news fatigue might be closer to home than you think. This episode dives into the strategies local outlets use to build connection with their communities and deliver journalism that truly resonates.

VFS Global is paid to process visa applications in 153 countries on behalf of 68 governments around the world. Our reporting, based on interviews with dozens of former employees and applicants around the world, suggested that VFS was coercing visa applicants to buy extra services that they didn’t need.

Most European citizens will never have heard of VFS Global. Accustomed to visa-free travel, they have probably never had to queue at one of its application centres, pay its service charges or navigate its complex appointment booking systems. But across much of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, the visa outsourcing giant has become notorious. For people in these regions seeking to travel for work, study or to unite with family, VFS is often their first encounter with the border.

Bad diets kill millions of people every year and lead to trillions of dollars in health costs. Communities who are least able to afford it bear most of the burden. The world’s largest food companies say they want to be part of the solution. But behind closed doors, they are lobbying governments to derail public health laws. Our series of investigations, with partners on five continents, reveals the global lobbying tactics of food corporations.

The city of El Fasher in North Darfur, Sudan, has been under siege for more than 1.5 years. The paramilitary troops of the Rapid Support Forces had encircled the last stronghold of the Sudanese Army in the western region and bombarded, shelled and starved the hundreds of thousands of civilians who were trapped in the city.

How can the media win back our trust? Trust in traditional media is in crisis. This is what media leaders are doing about it. In this episode of Backlight, we speak to journalists across traditional, non-profit and independent media to unpack how trust is being rebuilt from the inside out. From getting personal, to admitting mistakes, to making stories longer, we explore what it really takes to earn audience trust in 2026.

In October of 2024, a graphic designer in western Kenya found himself questioning why the government wanted to know whether the walls of his home were made of plywood or mud. He was registering for the Social Health Insurance Fund, a sweeping effort to overhaul Kenya’s reportedly strained healthcare system, and the online form presented him with a series of questions that appeared both ridiculous and irrelevant.