| | | | | | | Hello. Joe Biden faces his first ballot in his bid to be re-elected US president this weekend. Brandon Drenon is in South Carolina to hear from the black voters who - analysts say - will be key to his hopes of a second term. In Ukraine, Sarah Rainsford hears how schools are being set up below ground to keep children safe from Russian attack. And, for something lighter, scroll down for nature photos and super furry animals. |
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| | | | | | Questions Answered | | Are black voters losing faith in Biden? | | | | Black voters were a key part of the coalition that helped Joe Biden win in 2020. Credit: BBC |
| | Democratic voters in South Carolina go to the polls this weekend to choose their candidate for the White House. Incumbent Joe Biden is the overwhelming favourite to win the primary but it will test his support among the black voters he needs to secure a second term as president. | | | | Brandon Drennon, BBC News in South Carolina |
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| | How important are black voters to Biden? | | His 2020 win over Mr Trump was in part driven by black voters. They helped him win in critical swing states and in deep red (ie: strongly Republican) Georgia, where a historic black voter turnout made Mr Biden the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state since 1992. | | And why South Carolina in particular? | | Over a quarter of the state's population is black. And it was South Carolina's black voters who saved Mr Biden's lacklustre bid for the Democratic nomination in 2020 by handing him his first win. Todd Shaw, a University of South Carolina political science professor, told the BBC: "Black voters in South Carolina mirror trends among black voters nationally. So, what happens here could be an indicator of what's to come." | | But what does the polling say? | | A recent New York Times and Sienna College poll found that in six key swing states 71% of black voters would back Mr Biden in 2024, a steep drop from the 92% in those states that helped him into office last election. Other surveys suggest black voters are warming to Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner and President Biden's likely November opponent. | | | | • | Biden v Trump: Our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher looks ahead to where the election could be won and lost. | | • | US Election Unspun: Have you signed up yet? Anthony’s weekly newsletter keeps you informed of what really matters in the race for the White House. Subscribe here. |
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| AT THE SCENE | Kharkiv, Ukraine | | How war is changing childhood in Ukraine | | | | The city’s school and kindergarten buildings have been closed for almost two years. | | Ukraine’s second city is so close to the Russian border that when Moscow’s forces launch missiles, it takes a matter of seconds for them to reach their targets. Now, as the full-scale war heads towards its third year, parts of life in Kharkiv are moving underground to stay safe. | | | | Sarah Rainsford, Eastern Europe correspondent |
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| Deep down in the metro, specially built classrooms run parallel to the platform at five stations. The local authorities began offering school lessons beneath the city streets several months ago. They've just added preschool classes on the weekends. For six-year-old Nika Bondarenko, it's a chance to mix with other children again. After two years studying online, she skips to her local metro station in bright pink wellies.
Her route passes the bombed-out ruins of military offices destroyed at the start of the invasion, opposite her home. There's more smashed glass and shrapnel-battered buildings all around. But once Nika is on the train, heading for class, her mother can stop worrying. "Parents can be confident nothing's going to happen to their child and a child can continue their more-or-less normal life," Olha Bondarenko explains. "The enemy can't get us here." |
| | | | • | Changing tactics: Russia has recently stepped up the number of air strikes on cities in Ukraine. From Kyiv, James Waterhouse and Toby Luckhurst examined what was behind the escalation. | | • | Drone attack: Two French aid workers were killed in a Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian town of Beryslav, French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed. |
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| | The big picture | | A flight of fancy | | | | Other category honours went to pictures of flowers, slime mould and underwater leaves. Credit: June Sharpe/International Garden Photographer of the Year. |
| | Do you see birds in the image above? Photographer June Sharpe was reminded of “dancing cranes often featured in Japanese woodcuts" when she saw the scene. But, in fact, it’s an illusion created by the layered branches of a conifer. And the image won her the International Garden Photographer of the Year competition, ahead of some other evocative entries. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Happy Grundsaudaag! | | The centuries-old Germanic roots of an all-American holiday. | | |
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| | And finally... | | Oh, to be a guinea pig fed luxurious plates of vegetables in a custom-built facility. That’s the dream life lived by dozens of rodents in Lincolnshire, east of England. They experience a dolce vita lifestyle in an air-conditioned, full-option shed - and they are now part of a viral reality show. Take a look. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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