Peter Andringa
@peter.andringa.me
Journalist/technologist, @financialtimes.com Visual Investigations 📍London ✉️ peter.andringa@ft.com 🔏 Signal: @peterandringa.01 ft.com/news-tips
The DRC is the world's richest source of cobalt, critical for batteries. But its land contains another hidden mineral: Uranium. An investigation from FT and Lighthouse Reports finds the cobalt industry often ignores radioactive material in its exports — creating both health and proliferation risks.
DR Congo’s cobalt boom carries an unwanted cargo: uranium
Radioactive ores have become a proliferation risk in the land that supplied material for second world war atomic bombs
as.ft.com
Fascinating, beautifully written magazine cover story by @samlearner.bsky.social on how vibe coding is overwhelming the unsung human caretakers who keep the web running. Your weekend must read right here as.ft.com/r/1e761e4c-c...
Who cleans up after the vibe-coding party?
Our obsession with AI code-writing tools is overwhelming the web’s unsung human caretakers
as.ft.com
Felix makes good rebuttals to the "why does no one cover this??" tweets. But also: this news broke around 1am Saturday morning in London! It's hard for anyone to do much beyond writing up Anthropic's statement at that hour.
Felix M. Simon@felixsimon.bsky.social · 2mo agoAgainst my better judgment, I wrote something short on the claim that UK news isn't paying enough attention to the Claude Fable quagmire and AI more broadly.
NEW: Xinjiang has the highest detention capacity in the world, according to FT analysis - enough space for almost 1 in 40 people in the region - more than five years after the Chinese govt announced the camps had closed.
In April, Crispin Odey dropped his £79mn #libel claim against us. This is the inside story of how Odey’s battle to reclaim his reputation backfired. It's about the brave women who spoke out against him — and the new allegations the two-year legal saga unearthed. www.ft.com/content/edbe...
Crispin Odey and the £79mn libel battle that wasn’t
A legal fight revealed the disgraced financier’s thinking — and fresh allegations of misconduct
ft.com
New FT investigation: Leaked satellite tasking records show Iran used a high-resolution Chinese satellite to surveil US bases last month. as.ft.com/r/ac8726e8-f...
Iran used Chinese spy satellite to target US bases
Leaked documents show IRGC secretly acquired system and used it to guide strikes during war in March
as.ft.com
“This is a vindication for investigative journalism and for the victims whose stories of abuse we reported,” said the FT’s editor, Roula Khalaf. “The FT was always confident in its reporting. This is a case that should have never been brought.”
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 4mo agoCrispin Odey abandons £79mn libel case against the FT over sexual misconduct claims ft.trib.al/ltCxjpR
The information available to journalists and researchers studying Iran gets narrower and narrower, as we explored in our story a few weeks ago: www.ft.com/content/c0d3...
The Iranian school bombing and the information war
Evidence suggests that the US was most likely to be behind the attack that killed over 100 children
ft.com
Eliot Higgins@eliothiggins.bsky.social · 4mo agoJust had this from Planet Labs, the US government have asked satellite imagery providers for "voluntarily" restrictions on access to satellite imagery. Given a lot of them provide satellite imagery to the USG we can probably guess the outcome of not acquiescing to that request.
The FT is hiring a correspondent for our Investigations team. Contact me if you want to discuss the role. Deadline is April 12 job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/financialtim...
One of the best journalists I have known - Najmeh Bozorgmehr - on what it is like being in Tehran at the moment and the small rituals of survival www.ft.com/content/a2b3...
Small rituals of survival in Tehran
War feels like something that should have been left behind in a more brutal century
ft.com
some interesting stuff happening lately with the truth machines as.ft.com/r/40518eb1-4...
Ultra-short-term bets add ‘even more mania’ to crypto trading
[FREE TO READ] Five and 15-minute contracts have surged in popularity as cryptocurrencies have fallen from recent peaks
as.ft.com
NEW: Our team of FT reporters across the world dug into the strike on the school in Minab. Along the way, we explored what the dearth of real-time, on-the-ground information means for open-source research in this conflict: as.ft.com/r/f29c784b-3...
The Iranian school bombing and the information war
[FREE TO READ] Evidence suggests that the US was most likely to be behind the attack that killed over 100 children
as.ft.com
It was great to work with Michela and the brilliant Behind the Money team this week to share our reporting on ICE. Find it in your podcast app below:
Michela Tindera@mtindera.ft.com · 5mo agoThis week on Behind the Money - the @financialtimes.com's @peter.andringa.me explains the months of reporting he's put into understanding: - who the private-sector businesses are that contract with US immigration agencies - and how much ($$) they are benefitting 🎧: podfollow.com/behind-the-m...
the oldest adage in journalism is “follow the money” new in the FT:
An absolutely shocking story with brilliant reporting from Jim here:
Jim Pickard@pickardje.bsky.social · 6mo agoI’ve written this lengthy FT analysis overnight about the multiple multi-thousand pound Epstein payments to Mandelson’s husband these particular paragraphs are worth reading slowly www.ft.com/content/608a...
As @washingtonpost.com international & local correspondents, we have risked our lives, side by side, because we believe reporting from the ground serves the public good. To choke that engine of brave, committed colleagues would be devastating. If you value our work, tell Jeff Bezos to #SaveThePost.
A city under siege: Minneapolis reels after another killing ft.trib.al/sdWQun9
A city under siege: Minneapolis reels after another killing
ICE could become the largest enforcement agency in the US, but critics say its behaviour is increasingly lawless
ft.trib.al
I think this is the most important article I've written for a while: a trip to Sudan to report on the UN's refugee agency. Battered by Trump's cuts and western retreat, can humanitarianism survive? as.ft.com/r/f137508d-d...
Our latest on the Epstein files (and a rare "Boston Logan airport" byline):
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 8mo agoUS justice department under fire for removing Trump image from Epstein files ft.trib.al/wAIno9H
In late 2020 a Chinese man called Guan Heng travelled to Xinjiang with our BuzzFeed map of detention facilities to provide ground truth for our work - he provided the first corroborating evidence for many sites. He escaped to the US - then ICE detained him. www.wsj.com/world/china/...
ICE Holding Chinese Man Who Documented Uyghur Camps
Heng Guan is awaiting an immigration hearing on Monday that could lead to his removal from the U.S. and ultimately land him back in China, according to his lawyer and a New York-based activist group.
wsj.com
Eye scans, licence plate readers, spyware: technology used to catch criminals and terrorists is being repurposed to fulfil Trump's pledge to deport 1mn undocumented migrants this year. Critics fear it’s the thin end of the authoritarian wedge. An #FTEdit thread on America’s new surveillance state 👇
An investigation by @peter.andringa.me worth reading that also serves as a reminder of a well-known yet always uncomfortable truth: OSINT tools used for accountability (geolocation, facial recognition, data cross-referencing) are embedded in ICE’s deportation machinery.
NEW: We took a deep dive into ICE's data dragnet: the data brokers, biometrics tools, and license plate readers powering Trump's deportation effort. Some of the contracts are for tools previous administrations deemed too intrusive.
Trump’s immigration data dragnet
The US is pulling in vast amounts of personal information in its drive to deport 1mn people this year
ig.ft.com
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled on.ft.com/47FBigb
End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled
Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance
on.ft.com
Asked whether the FT’s calculations on his family’s profits were broadly accurate, Eric Trump said the true figure was “probably more”. www.ft.com/content/2ea2...
FT Investigation: How the Trump companies made $1bn from crypto
The president and his family have built a rapidly growing digital assets empire which has been fuelled by the administration’s industry-friendly policies
ft.com
@jburnmurdoch.ft.com today on how the broader slopification of social media has led to an almost 10% drop in time spent on platforms worldwide. Except in the US, where consumption of "extreme rhetoric, engagement bait and slop" has continued to rise.
Have we passed peak social media?
As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away
ft.com
Doug Henwood@doughenwood.bsky.social · 10mo agoBrainrot! It’s huge!!
This is amongst the best reported stories about the current state of ICE Air. Must read.
Peter Andringa@peter.andringa.me · 11mo agoICE plans to 6x its current budget for immigrant transportation and deportations. The money offers a potential windfall for a few contractors and charter airlines — some with close ties to the Trump campaign. Yet the system is already under strain, with significant concerns for detainees' safety: 🧵
ICE plans to 6x its current budget for immigrant transportation and deportations. The money offers a potential windfall for a few contractors and charter airlines — some with close ties to the Trump campaign. Yet the system is already under strain, with significant concerns for detainees' safety: 🧵
The booming business of Trump’s deportation flights
Companies are jostling for billions of dollars to fly immigrant detainees out of the US
ig.ft.com
ICE plans to 6x its current budget for immigrant transportation and deportations. The money offers a potential windfall for a few contractors and charter airlines — some with close ties to the Trump campaign. Yet the system is already under strain, with significant concerns for detainees' safety: 🧵
The booming business of Trump’s deportation flights
Companies are jostling for billions of dollars to fly immigrant detainees out of the US
ig.ft.com
