Latest news with #Vanya
Time of India
21-06-2025
- Time of India
Two women duped in online job scams
Udupi: Two women from Udupi fell victim to separate online job scams, collectively losing more than Rs 14 lakh. Bharathi,48, a resident of Hiriyadka, in a complaint, stated that she was searching for employment when she came across an Instagram advertisement offering work-from-home opportunities. After clicking the ad, she was contacted by a person named Nisha, who claimed the job involved boosting product ratings for Flipkart traders in exchange for a 20%-30% commission. To register, Bharathi was sent a link and instructed to pay Rs 200 via UPI. The transaction, made on June 15, reflected the name Neeraj Kumar Singh. Subsequently, a tutor named Vaishali Raj shared another link through which Bharathi completed a task and received Rs 300 as a reward. Later, she was added to a WhatsApp group named 'VIP Investment Members Only,' where she was shown a list of investment options with attractive commissions. Trusting the offer, she initially invested Rs 20,000. After completing additional tasks, she was told she could only withdraw her earnings if she deposited another Rs 40,000. Over time, the complainant allegedly transferred a total of Rs 5.6 lakh to various bank accounts, expecting returns that never came. Instead, she continued to receive messages demanding more payments. A case was registered at Hiriyadka police station under Section 66(D) of the Information Technology Act. In another case, Sushma,31, a resident of Marne village, received a Telegram message on June 10 from a user named Vanya, offering a part-time job. After she accepted, she received further instructions from Vanya and mentor Kuldeep, also on Telegram. Her task involved sending screenshots of hotel listings, and she was assured payment after every three tasks. Once the tasks were completed, Sushma encountered an error while trying to withdraw her earnings. She was informed that 30% of the displayed amount had to be deposited to release the funds. Believing this, she allegedly transferred a total of Rs 8.5 lakh to various accounts provided by the scammers. Based on her complaint, a case was filed at Ajekar police station under sections 319(2) (cheating by personation) and 318(4) (cheating) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and Section 66(D) of the IT Act.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ukraine is losing its drone supremacy
Credit: Social Media In an undisclosed location near the front line, Vanya, a Ukrainian soldier, traverses through a field covered in the traces of a deadly Russian weapon. It's not unexploded ordnance or landmines beneath his boots, however, but an endless stream of razor-thin fibre-optic cables, glistening in the sun while spooled out across the landscape. These are the lifelines of Russia's most effective weapon – fibre-optic guided FPV drones. Once an obscure experiment, these drones have become one of the defining weapons of the battlefield in recent months, impervious to jamming and able to strike targets far behind enemy lines with chilling precision. X/@GrandpaRoy2 What's more, while Ukraine first pioneered drone warfare, it's Russia that appears to have mastered this next phase. 'Our advantage in drones, which we have held since 2023, has been surpassed by the Russians,' a senior non-commissioned officer with Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, call sign 'Jackie', told The Telegraph. 'We did all the work of innovating drones as a weapon, but we did not scale this weapon fast enough on an industrial level for it to have a meaningful strategic effect. We were too slow.' The dominance of fibre-optic drones marks a pivot in drone warfare. In 2024, Ukrainian and Russian production of traditional, radio-controlled FPV drones surged. But these drones relied on radio frequencies, meaning they increasingly fell prey to electronic warfare (EW) jamming. In fact, by the end of last year, up to 75 per cent of drones fired by Russia and Ukraine were being knocked out by jamming, according to military expert Pavlo Narozhny. Enter the fibre-optic drone – a wired throwback to Cold War-era anti-tank missiles like the US-made TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided), but refashioned for modern aerial warfare. The drones themselves appear unremarkable – quadcopters rigged with explosive payloads – except for a large, cylindrical spool mounted underneath, feeding out a strand of fibre-optic cable as they fly. This physical tether between pilot and drone makes them impossible to knock out using jamming. The tactical implications are vast. Fibre-optic drones can fly into hangars, bunkers, dense urban terrain or tree cover with no loss of signal. Their camera feed is clearer. They don't emit detectable signals, meaning typical radio frequency detectors can't pick them up. And they don't expose the operator's location. 'They're really great when you need to fly into some kind of building, like a large shed or hangar, to have a look inside if there is something there with the ability to strike it straight away,' Oleksandr 'Skhid,' an FPV drone team commander in Ukraine's Achilles Strike Drone Regiment, told the Kyiv Independent. 'The same goes for other types of cover, and flying in forested areas.' The drones can typically travel up to 25km, comparable to the range of the most commonly used radio controlled FPVs, with a prototype developed by Ukraine's '414th Strike UAV Battalion' reaching up to 41km. The technology itself isn't new. In fact, Russia began deploying these makeshift drones after Ukraine launched its daring incursion into Kursk last August. But what makes the Russian deployment of these drones so dangerous is the recent increase in scale. Once seen as clunky and niche, they are now being mass-produced and have been deployed along key front lines. 'You can barely walk through the fields after fibre optic drones have flown through,' Pasha, a senior instructor at Kyiv's Dragon Sky UAV training centre, told the Telegraph. Russia's ruthless deployment of the drones was on full display during the recent intensive push to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk in an effort led by Russia's elite 'Rubicon' drone unit. Footage captured in March showed a Ukrainian vehicle packed with soldiers hurtling along the R200 road, which linked Ukraine to the town of Sudzha, its last remaining stronghold inside the Russian border region. Credit: Telegram/@Brigada83 It was hunted down and destroyed by a Russian fibre-optic drone, which was lying in wait on the side of the road. Within weeks, that same road was littered with the carcasses of vehicles destroyed in a similar fashion. The drones have also been responsible for the destruction of Ukrainian armoured vehicles and key weapons – often deep behind the front line in locations radio-controlled drones would struggle to reach because of jamming and radio horizon. In Chasiv Yar, for example, the Rubicon unit destroyed one of Ukraine's precious US-made Himars using a fibre-optic drone 10km behind the front line. 'They have pushed the safe zone to 10-15 km away from the front line, have made logistics and troop rotation more complicated and forced us to double down on digging deep down and disguising the locations and bunkers,' a spokesperson for the Khartia Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard said. 'They're a game changer,' agreed 'Uncle Sasha', a front-line FPV instructor and officer in Ukraine's National Police Aviation Division. 'Everyone is trying to find countermeasures to fibre-optic drones – we don't have them, and neither do the Russians.' Credit: Russian Ministry of Defence / 'Rubicon' drone unit Despite their battlefield success, fibre-optic drones are no silver bullet. They're expensive – just one fibre spool can cost $700 (£520), enough to buy two conventional drones – and their range is limited by the cable length. They are also heavier, and therefore often slower. To achieve the same speeds as a radio-controlled drone, a heavier fibre-optic drone must expend more battery power, limiting its range. As a result, most pilots flying fibre drones typically fly them at much slower speeds. They also have much lower manoeuvrability, due to the trailing cable, which must be precisely spooled to avoid tangles, and a strong wind can upend a stationary drone hunting its prey mid-mission. 'Fibre optic drones are very, very, very slow,' explained Mr Narozhy, whose Reactive Post NGO provides spare parts to the Ukrainian military. 'At the start of the flight, the weight is well-centred, but by the end, it's often off-balance.' There are signs that both sides are developing countermeasures, however rudimentary. 'In one case, a group of Ukrainian soldiers saw a Russian drone fly past them,' recalled Pasha. 'They realised it was a Russian drone so just went out and snapped the cable.' Ukraine is also experimenting with drone-catching fishing nets, wooden decoys, and even placing soldiers with shotguns near artillery systems, a solution so manpower-intensive it is near impossible to sustain. High-tech radar systems that can detect fibre-optic drones up to 20km away do exist but cost over a million euros each. 'Ukraine cannot afford to put this on every artillery station,' Mr Narozhy said. Such systems also produce emissions that are easily detected by Russian radar detectors. Credit: Telegram/@Brigada83 Ironically, Ukraine may have had the head start. Fibre-optic drones were reportedly first conceived by Ukrainian engineers but shelved early on due to the effectiveness of cheaper, more agile FPV drones, and the absence of effective Russian jamming. Now, at least on the fibre optic front, Kyiv is playing catch-up. 'While Ukrainian drone teams and innovators have achieved great success at the tactical level, we have failed to leverage our tactical advantage into strategic success,' said 'Jackie' of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. 'The window of time we held this tactical advantage has now closed.' 'It's possible we will achieve another level of technological innovation during this war,' he added. 'But it's not important that it works. It's important that we can scale it up so fast that the enemy cannot react to it.' For Russia, the Rubicon-led development of fibre-optic drones is part of the Kremlin's wider push to gain the upper hand in the battle for drone supremacy. Following the successful Kursk counter-offensive, Rubucion's drone pilots now operate in at least seven specialist detachments across eastern Ukraine, carrying out complex, decentralised missions. The Russian defence ministry has also established its own version of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces to boost the use of all types of drones by Russia's armed forces, with Andrei Belousov, the Russian defence minister, announcing the creation of a new military unit planned to be completed by July 1 this year. It is also worth noting that Ukrainian drones, both radio-controlled and fibre-optic, still retain their brutal effectiveness. With Russia currently on the offensive, Ukrainian drone pilots have an easier time striking infantry and armoured vehicles, while Ukraine's own elite drone teams regularly strike Russian logistics vehicles, air defence systems, and artillery pieces deep behind the front line. In any case, the implications, as with many new developments in the war, extend beyond Ukraine. Western militaries, reliant on jamming and electronic warfare to counter drones, would be 'completely and totally vulnerable to fibre optic FPV drones,' one Ukrainian source warned. 'All current counter-measures used by Western militaries, such as electronic warfare systems, are useless against such drones, and they have no experience operating in an environment where FPVs saturate the battlefield.' In the meantime, Ukraine is racing to find an effective countermeasure that extends beyond using wooden decoys and shooting drones down with shotguns. This is a technological arms race and Russia, even if temporarily, has the lead. 'We were laughing at them before,' said Pasha. 'But now it's not funny.' Still, hope persists. 'This is a big problem for us,' said Uncle Sasha. 'But it's a problem for the Russians too, and I think we will solve it. We will find a solution to protect us from this technology.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Ukraine is losing its drone supremacy
In an undisclosed location near the front line, Vanya, a Ukrainian soldier, traverses through a field covered in the traces of a deadly Russian weapon. It's not unexploded ordnance or landmines beneath his boots, however, but an endless stream of razor-thin fibre-optic cables, glistening in the sun while spooled out across the landscape. These are the lifelines of Russia's most effective weapon – fibre-optic guided FPV drones. Once an obscure experiment, these drones have become one of the defining weapons of the battlefield in recent months, impervious to jamming and able to strike targets far behind enemy lines with chilling precision. What's more, while Ukraine first pioneered drone warfare, it's Russia that appears to have mastered this next phase. 'Our advantage in drones, which we have held since 2023, has been surpassed by the Russians,' a senior non-commissioned officer with Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, call sign 'Jackie', told The Telegraph. 'We did all the work of innovating drones as a weapon, but we did not scale this weapon fast enough on an industrial level for it to have a meaningful strategic effect. We were too slow.' Pivot in drone warfare The dominance of fibre-optic drones marks a pivot in drone warfare. In 2024, Ukrainian and Russian production of traditional, radio-controlled FPV drones surged. But these drones relied on radio frequencies, meaning they increasingly fell prey to electronic warfare (EW) jamming. In fact, by the end of last year, up to 75 per cent of drones fired by Russia and Ukraine were being knocked out by jamming, according to military expert Pavlo Narozhny. Enter the fibre-optic drone – a wired throwback to Cold War-era anti-tank missiles like the US-made TOW (Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided), but refashioned for modern aerial warfare. The drones themselves appear unremarkable – quadcopters rigged with explosive payloads – except for a large, cylindrical spool mounted underneath, feeding out a strand of fibre-optic cable as they fly. This physical tether between pilot and drone makes them impossible to knock out using jamming. The tactical implications are vast. Fibre-optic drones can fly into hangars, bunkers, dense urban terrain or tree cover with no loss of signal. Their camera feed is clearer. They don't emit detectable signals, meaning typical radio frequency detectors can't pick them up. And they don't expose the operator's location. 'They're really great when you need to fly into some kind of building, like a large shed or hangar, to have a look inside if there is something there with the ability to strike it straight away,' Oleksandr 'Skhid,' an FPV drone team commander in Ukraine's Achilles Strike Drone Regiment, told the Kyiv Independent. 'The same goes for other types of cover, and flying in forested areas.' Technology isn't new The drones can typically travel up to 25km, comparable to the range of the most commonly used radio controlled FPVs, with a prototype developed by Ukraine's '414th Strike UAV Battalion' reaching up to 41km. The technology itself isn't new. In fact, Russia began deploying these makeshift drones after Ukraine launched its daring incursion into Kursk last August. But what makes the Russian deployment of these drones so dangerous is the recent increase in scale. Once seen as clunky and niche, they are now being mass-produced and have been deployed along key front lines. 'You can barely walk through the fields after fibre optic drones have flown through,' Pasha, a senior instructor at Kyiv's Dragon Sky UAV training centre, told the Telegraph. Russia's ruthless deployment of the drones was on full display during the recent intensive push to drive Ukrainian forces out of Kursk in an effort led by Russia's elite 'Rubicon' drone unit. Footage captured in March showed a Ukrainian vehicle packed with soldiers hurtling along the R200 road, which linked Ukraine to the town of Sudzha, its last remaining stronghold inside the Russian border region. It was hunted down and destroyed by a Russian fibre-optic drone, which was lying in wait on the side of the road. Within weeks, that same road was littered with the carcasses of vehicles destroyed in a similar fashion. The drones have also been responsible for the destruction of Ukrainian armoured vehicles and key weapons – often deep behind the front line in locations radio-controlled drones would struggle to reach because of jamming and radio horizon. In Chasiv Yar, for example, the Rubicon unit destroyed one of Ukraine's precious US-made Himars using a fibre-optic drone 10km behind the front line. 'They have pushed the safe zone to 10-15 km away from the front line, have made logistics and troop rotation more complicated and forced us to double down on digging deep down and disguising the locations and bunkers,' a spokesperson for the Khartia Brigade of the Ukrainian National Guard said. 'They're a game changer,' agreed 'Uncle Sasha', a front-line FPV instructor and officer in Ukraine's National Police Aviation Division. 'Everyone is trying to find countermeasures to fibre-optic drones – we don't have them, and neither do the Russians.' No silver bullet Despite their battlefield success, fibre-optic drones are no silver bullet. They're expensive – just one fibre spool can cost $700 (£520), enough to buy two conventional drones – and their range is limited by the cable length. They are also heavier, and therefore often slower. To achieve the same speeds as a radio controlled drone, a heavier fibre-optic drone must expend more battery power, limiting its range. As a result, most pilots flying fibre drones typically fly them at much slower speeds. They also have much lower manoeuvrability, due to the trailing cable, which must be precisely spooled to avoid tangles, and a strong wind can upend a stationary drone hunting its prey mid-mission. 'Fibre optic drones are very, very, very slow,' explained Mr Narozhy, whose Reactive Post NGO provides spare parts to the Ukrainian military. 'At the start of the flight, the weight is well centred, but by the end, it's often off-balance.' There are signs that both sides are developing countermeasures, however rudimentary. 'In one case, a group of Ukrainian soldiers saw a Russian drone fly past them,' recalled Pasha. 'They realised it was a Russian drone so just went out and snapped the cable.' Ukraine is also experimenting with drone-catching fishing nets, wooden decoys, and even placing soldiers with shotguns near artillery systems, a solution so manpower-intensive it is near impossible to sustain. High-tech radar systems that can detect fibre-optic drones up to 20km away do exist but cost over a million euros each. 'Ukraine cannot afford to put this on every artillery station,' Mr Narozhy said. Such systems also produce emissions that are easily detected by Russian radar detectors. Ironically, Ukraine may have had the head start. Fibre-optic drones were reportedly first conceived by Ukrainian engineers but shelved early on due to the effectiveness of cheaper, more agile FPV drones, and the absence of effective Russian jamming. Now, at least on the fibre optic front, Kyiv is playing catch-up. 'While Ukrainian drone teams and innovators have achieved great success at the tactical level, we have failed to leverage our tactical advantage into strategic success,' said 'Jackie' of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. 'The window of time we held this tactical advantage has now closed.' 'It's possible we will achieve another level of technological innovation during this war,' he added. 'But it's not important that it works. It's important that we can scale it up so fast that the enemy cannot react to it.' For Russia, the Rubicon-led development of fibre-optic drones is part of the Kremlin's wider push to gain the upper hand in the battle for drone supremacy. Following the successful Kursk counter-offensive, Rubucion's drone pilots now operate in at least seven specialist detachments across eastern Ukraine, carrying out complex, decentralised missions. The Russian defence ministry has also established its own version of Ukraine's unmanned systems forces to boost the use of all types of drones by Russia's armed forces, with Andrei Belousov, the Russian defence minister, announcing the creation of a new military unit planned to be completed by July 1 this year. It is also worth noting that Ukrainian drones, both radio-controlled and fibre optic, still retain their brutal effectiveness. With Russia currently on the offensive, Ukrainian drone pilots have an easier time striking infantry and armoured vehicles, while Ukraine's own elite drone teams regularly strike Russian logistics vehicles, air defence systems, and artillery pieces deep behind the front line. Warning for the West In any case, the implications – as with many new developments in the war – extend beyond Ukraine. Western militaries, reliant on jamming and electronic warfare to counter drones, would be 'completely and totally vulnerable to fibre optic FPV drones,' one Ukrainian source warned. 'All current counter-measures used by Western militaries such as electronic warfare systems are useless against such drones, and they have no experience operating in an environment where FPVs saturate the battlefield.' In the meantime, Ukraine is racing to find an effective countermeasure that extends beyond using wooden decoys and shooting drones down with shotguns. This is a technological arms race and Russia, even if temporarily, has the lead. 'We were laughing at them before,' said Pasha. 'But now it's not funny.' Still, hope persists. 'This is a big problem for us,' said Uncle Sasha. 'But it's a problem for the Russians too; and I think we will solve it. We will find a solution to protect us from this technology.'
Time of India
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Filmmakers stand as voices for the oppressed: Badiger Devendra
After Rudri and IN, director Badiger Devendra returns with his third film, Vanya, inspired by a 2010 magazine article. 'Vanya tells the story of a father and daughter who fight against all odds to protect the forest from the timber mafia and corrupt politicians,' Devendra explains. 'The film stars National Award-winner Vaijanath Biradar as the father and Meghana Belawadi as the daughter. At its core, the film addresses the theme of oppression. If you've seen the 1997 Kannada film Bhoomigeetha, it explores the struggles of Adivasis. Dweepa, directed by Kasaravalli Sir, also tackled similar issues. Filmmakers have long stood with the oppressed, and in Vanya, we delve into what happens when people already facing injustice are forcibly evicted from their homes. ' 'Another highlight is the sync sound. The film will have a festival run for the next six months, followed by a release in December,' he added. 'We need to acknowledge that we are not delivering good films, today' Commenting on the current state of the industry, including the decline in footfalls in theatres, Badiger said, 'Kannada audiences watch good films anywhere and everywhere. We must first acknowledge that we are not delivering good films. We need to sit down and discuss how to make better films, but that acknowledgement should come first. If we offer good films, why would our audience reject them?' The film explores the contrast between life in a city and life in a forest dwelling. It also delves into the themese of belonging, the power of money, and so much more Devendra Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . Don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
Mint
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
Julianne Moore's net worth: From luxury cars, properties, and endorsements - A look at the Siren star's earnings
Julianne Moore, the acclaimed American-British actress, is making headlines with her portrayal of Michaela Kell aka Kiki in the new Netflix show Sirens. Julianne has carved out a remarkable career in Hollywood, amassing a net worth of $55 million. She rose to fame in the early 1990s, recognised for her emotionally rich performances, particularly portraying women in distress. In 2020, she was ranked 11th in The New York Times' list of the 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century. Julianne Moore made a name for herself with a series of strong supporting roles during the '90s. Her breakthrough came with Robert Altman's Short Cuts in 1993, followed by impressive turns in Vanya on 42nd Street and Safe. By the mid-1990s, starring roles in blockbusters such as Nine Months and The Lost World: Jurassic Park made her a global name. Oscar nominations poured in for her performances in Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, Far from Heaven, and The Hours. Other standout roles include appearances in The Big Lebowski, Magnolia, Hannibal, and Children of Men. In the 2010s, she continued to shine with The Kids Are Alright and her award-winning portrayal of Sarah Palin in Game Change. Her 2014 performance in Still Alice, where she played a linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, earned her the Golden Globe, BAFTA, SAG Award, and ultimately, her first Academy Award. That same year, she starred in Maps to the Stars and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. She followed this with more strong roles, including appearances in Wonderstruck, Suburbicon, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle in 2017. Moore's success in film translated into an impressive property portfolio. In 1999, she purchased a duplex loft in New York's West Village for $911,500, later selling it for $1.95 million in 2002. In 2003, she acquired a townhouse in the same area for $3.5 million, which she attempted to sell for up to $12.5 million. She still owns this property. She also owns a home in the Hamptons, purchased in 2007 for $1.05 million. Although she listed it for sale in 2015, she later removed it from the market. During the 2020 pandemic, she and her family stayed there frequently, though they eventually moved to a nearby 10-acre property with enhanced security after an unexpected and unsettling incident involving a drunken intruder. Julianne Moore's car collection reflects a mix of practicality and opulence. Her most modest vehicle is a Toyota Prius, priced at approximately $24,525. She also owns a luxurious Mercedes-Benz S-Class worth $112,150, and the pinnacle of her collection is the Lexus LS 600hL, valued at $113,150.
