Plus: When there's something unreal about reality TV, and the uncertainty around Venezuela's election ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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| Hello. It can be hard to imagine just how frightening it must be on the front line of a war. Quentin Sommerville's report from Ukraine - and the videos on our website - capture the new kind of terror brought to the battlefield by drones. From Venezuela, BBC Mundo's Norberto Paredes explains why this year's election presents a different challenge to President Nicolás Maduro. Your newsletter also contains reality TV, Olympic housing and a massive diamond. | |
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| | | Lyptsi, north-eastern Ukraine |
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| How drones open a new battlefront | | One commander says Ukraine has better technology, but Russia has greater numbers. Credit: BBC | Over the past year, the war in Ukraine has evolved so that drones - once peripheral to the action - have become a central component. Within minutes individual soldiers, fast-moving vehicles and trench positions can be precisely targeted, as our reporting team discovered. |
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| | Quentin Sommerville, BBC News |
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| | The last images from drone cameras are usually of men panicking, their arms flailing, weapons firing before they are killed. The Khartia Brigade's 37-year-old drone commander, who goes by the call sign Aeneas, says that without shelter in a building there is little chance of survival - for Russians, and his men too. "It's the new way or a new path in modern war," he says.
Aeneas takes us on a tour of his drone teams, embedded along the front line in Lyptsi, just six miles (10km) from the Russian border. Every vehicle we encountered near there was fitted with drone-jamming equipment; but the jammer's protection ends when you exit the vehicle. It's dangerous to be caught out in the open, so we follow Aeneas running across the rubble for cover. All the while the BBC's own drone detector calls out calmly into an earpiece: "Detection: multiple drones, multiple pilots. High signal strength." |
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| | | In Russia: Growing numbers are being detained under laws designed to smother dissent, with one man fined for wearing blue and yellow shoes - the colours of the Ukrainian flag. | | Strained relations: For 20 years, Moscow's Europe Square was a symbol of unity on the continent - flying dozens of European nations' flags. Now it has been renamed, as Steve Rosenberg reports. | | On manoeuvres: Russia and China have staged a first joint bomber patrol near the coast of Alaska. |
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QUESTIONS ANSWERED | Maduro's toughest election yet |
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| | President Maduro came to power following the death of populist leader Hugo Chavez. Credit: Getty Images | Thursday marks the last day of campaigning in Venezuela ahead of Sunday's presidential election, in which Nicolás Maduro is seeking a third six-year term. The vote represents the toughest electoral challenge to date not just for Mr Maduro, but for the socialist Chavismo movement built by his predecessor. |
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| | Norberto Paredes, BBC Mundo |
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| What is the opposition's strategy to defeat President Maduro? | The main opposition leaders have united behind one candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, a man who until two months ago was an unknown retired diplomat. And they have decided to participate in an election that, they claim, will be neither entirely free nor fair. Most opposition parties boycotted the last one with the same argument, which made Mr Maduro’s victory easier. | What do the polls say? | The latest polls indicate that Mr González Urrutia has about a 40-point lead over his rival, who seems to be having a hard time getting his own supporters to attend his rallies. | What caused the loss of support? | One reason could be that, since Mr Maduro became president in 2013, the country’s GDP has shrunk almost 80%. Most Venezuelans have felt the pain and seen their quality of life and their incomes collapse. In recent weeks, Mr Maduro has warned of the risk of a "civil war" and a "bloodbath" should he lose. Uncertainty is the word most commonly used these days to talk about what could happen on Sunday. | | | Opposition candidate: Despite the attacks from Mr Maduro's campaign, Mr González's tone and rhetoric have been calm and measured, in keeping with his past as an ambassador. Cost of living: In 2023, Norberto Paredes visited one of Caracas's poorest neighbourhoods to hear how some people were struggling to feel the impact of the seemingly rebounding economy. The background: Online regional editor Vanessa Buschschlüter explains how oil-rich Venezuela became so troubled. And here's our essential info about the country's history and society. | |
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THE BIG PICTURE | Reality TV wannabes 'not looking real' |
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| | | Love Island USA producer Valerie Penso-Cuculich says applicants alter how they look in photos. Credit: Valerie Penso-Cuculich | Reality TV may seldom resemble real life for most of us. But even casting directors are finding it hard to believe what they see from would-be contestants. Doctoring of images is just one of a number of problems the genre is encountering at the hands of artificial intelligence, writes Susan Hornik. |
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FOR YOUR DOWNTIME | It takes a village | Olympic host cities build hundreds of dwellings for athletes. | |
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And finally... in India | If you're anything like me, then finding a long-forgotten banknote in a trouser pocket will feel like a massive win. So imagine how debt-ridden Indian labourer Raju Gound felt when he unearthed a 19.22-carat diamond in a mine in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. It's expected to fetch about 8m rupees ($95,570; £74,000). Take a look. | |
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Medal Moments | Your daily newsletter guide to the Paris Olympics, from global highlights to heroic stories, throughout the Games. | |
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MORE BBC NEWSLETTERS | | The Essential List: The week's best stories, handpicked by BBC editors, in your inbox twice a week. Subscribe. | | In History: The past comes to life through the BBC's unique audio, video and written archive, each Thursday. Subscribe. | | US Election Unspun: Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday. Subscribe. | |
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