Vid The BBC has apologised after criticising a fictional space empire from the 22nd century for not intervening against ongoing atrocities in Syria.

In a News at One telly segment reporting Amnesty International's disapproval of the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC) lack of action in the blood-soaked nation, the Beeb mistakenly broadcast a United Nations Space Command (UNSC) emblem from the smash-hit computer game series Halo. The real security council uses the UN's famous blue globe design.

The incorrect insignia could be seen behind anchorwoman Sophie Raworth as she introduced a piece about the Bashar al-Assad-led regime. A clip of the gaffe has appeared on YouTube.

The blunder appears to be the result of a botched Google image search: a quick hunt for "UNSC" pulls up a lot of pictures from the interplanetary epic, but not many of the real security council. It is possible that the BBC image researcher has not played Halo.

The BBC told Eurogamer in a statement:

BBC News makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all images broadcast, however very occasionally mistakes do happen. Unfortunately an incorrect logo was used during a segment on last week's News at One bulletin and we apologise to viewers for the mistake. The image was not broadcast in our later bulletins.

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