‘Publicly glowing, privately embarrassed’ Putin faces snub by Xi Jinping | Defence in Depth with Dom Nicholls

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T17:46:16+00:00

From The Telegraph:

The English countryside will be studied by hate crime experts to establish whether it harbours "rural racism".

Academics specialising in British colonialism and “hate studies” have been commissioned to record the “lived realities” of ethnic minorities living, working, or hiking in the country.

The study will gather evidence of “rural racism" in villages in England and the great outdoors, establishing how minorities might be excluded, and which policies could prevent this in future.

The project is funded by the Leverhulme Trust, a charity established by a plantation-owning soap magnate behind Unilever, which vowed following Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 to help “rid the world of the systemic injustices of racism”.

A statement on the new “Rural Racism Project” from the Trust says that it will “explore the lived realities of those encountering racism within the English countryside whose experiences are routinely overlooked, minimised and unchallenged”.

It adds that this will "play a key role in uncovering the nature, extent and impacts of racism experienced in rural towns and villages across the country”.

It is understood the project will examine how ethnic minority hikers may face open hostility when out walking, and how other visitors and recreational groups might feel excluded from enjoying the countryside.

The study will also canvas ethnic minority residents to see how those living and working in rural England may be made to feel unwelcome, in what ways this “rural racism is expressed”, and how this might differ from place to place.

The project launching in October 2023 will be led by criminology expert Prof Neil Chakraborti, director of the University of Leicester's Centre for Hate Studies, along with fellow hate crime specialist Dr Amy Clarke, and colonialism expert Prof Corinne Fowler.

Prof Fowler's recent work has included contributions to the National Trust’s survey of stately homes linked to colonialism and empire, including Winston Churchill's residence at Chartwell, and a book on imperialism’s legacy in the countryside, titled Green Unpleasant Land.

Plans for the study come after a 2019 report from Campaign to Protect Rural England which found that people from ethnic minority backgrounds account for around one per cent of visitors to England’s national parks.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has previously reported that minority groups often view the countryside as an “exclusively English environment”, concerns echoed on the BBC’s Countryfile.

Groups such as Black Girls Hike and Muslim Hikers have attempted to increase interest in the countryside among minority counties, including in the latter’s case by placing signs pointing to Mecca in sites across the Peak District.

How these groups, and those living in the countryside, are treated will be the focus of the planned “Rural Racism Project” financially backed by the Leverhulme Trust, a charity boasting a £4 billion endowment which was founded by soap magnate and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme.

In 2021, the Trust commissioned research into Lord Lever’s company, Lever Brothers, which used subsidiary organisations to manage palm oil plantations in the Belgian Congo and Solomon Islands in the early 20th century, before it merged with Dutch concern Margarine Unie to form Unilever in 1929.

The research documented “the distressing labour practices in the …. plantations owned by Lever, including mistreatment, forced labour and abusive practices”.

The Trust vowed to address the legacies of exploitation raised in the research, stating: “In the work of the Trust, particularly through our scholarships and research, we have funded many independent studies of the legacy of colonialism, racism and other forms of [related] injustices.

“As well as reflecting on our own past, we will continue to fund important research that can help us understand such wrongs.”

The research and subsequent commitment followed a promise following Black LIves Matter protests in 2020 to “continue to offer Leverhulme grants to study these and other social inequalities and in this way help rid the world of the systemic injustices of racism”.

The Trust has been contacted for comment.

Find the article here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/29/hate-crime-academics-study-english-countryside-evidence-rural/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T16:42:36+00:00

From The Telegraph:

Fresh clashes erupted in France on Tuesday as tens of thousands vented their anger against President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reforms.

The day of nationwide protests and strikes was the tenth since mid-January, presenting Mr Macron with the worst crisis since his re-election last year.

Henry Samuel, The Telegraph's France correspondent, followed the Parisian march from République to Nation and spoke to young and old alike about what was so awful about working until the age of 64.

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T16:38:17+00:00

From The Telegraph's Nataliya Vasilyeva, Russia Correspondent:

Vladimir Putin is a “dwarf” and a “wimp” who is ruining Russia, according to a leaked phone conversation between two prominent society figures.

The unusually frank call purportedly involves Iosif Prigozhin, a music producer, and Farkhad Akhmedov, an Azerbaijan-born energy billionaire, and has exposed deep resentment towards the Kremlin among the country’s overtly pro-regime elite.

In the 35-minute conversation, Mr Akhmedov calls Putin “Satan”, a “wimp” and a “dwarf” who “doesn’t give a damn about anything and doesn't give a f--- about the people”.

“They f----- us over, f----- over children, their future, do you get it?” he adds.Mr Prigozhin replies: “They’re criminals, to be honest, criminals of the worst kind. He [Putin] squandered the country away … There won’t be any future for us.”

Mr Akhmedov later says: “He has buried the entire Russian nation... How are we going to wash this off? This is a war between f------ brothers. There will be fascism there, that’s what’s going to happen... a military dictatorship. You will see. It’s going to end like this.”

Read the full article here ⤵️

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/29/vadimir-putin-described-as-dwarf-and-wimp-leaked-call/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T16:17:49+00:00

From The Telegraph's Senior Foreign Correspondent, Roland Oliphant:

Ukraine struck a railway depot with Himars and knocked out power supplies in a Russian-occupied city deep behind the front line in what appeared to be preparation for a much-anticipated counter offensive.

Melitopol, with a pre-war population of 150,000, was captured by Russia on the first days of the invasion last year.

It is the base of the Russian-controlled administration of Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia claims to have annexed, and a key logistics node for the Russian forces fighting in southern Ukraine.

The strike may have been designed to disrupt Russian lines of communication ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Russian Telegram channels shared images of smoke rising over the rail depot and the wreckage of electrical equipment at a substation after the overnight strike on the city. No casualties were immediately reported.

Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-installed regional official, said on Telegram that Ukrainians had used US high-precision Himars rockets.The city is roughly 80km (55 miles) behind Russian lines.

The GMLRS rockets Ukraine fires from its Himars and M270 precision artillery systems are usually described as having a range of about 50 miles.

Read the full article here ⤵️

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/29/ukraine-himars-strike-melitopol-counter-offensive/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T16:13:09+00:00

From The Telegraph's Senior Foreign Correspondent, Roland Oliphant:

Ukraine struck a railway depot with Himars and knocked out power supplies in a Russian-occupied city deep behind the front line in what appeared to be preparation for a much-anticipated counter offensive.

Melitopol, with a pre-war population of 150,000, was captured by Russia on the first days of the invasion last year.

It is the base of the Russian-controlled administration of Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia claims to have annexed, and a key logistics node for the Russian forces fighting in southern Ukraine.

The strike may have been designed to disrupt Russian lines of communication ahead of a much-anticipated Ukrainian counter-offensive.

Russian Telegram channels shared images of smoke rising over the rail depot and the wreckage of electrical equipment at a substation after the overnight strike on the city. No casualties were immediately reported.Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-installed regional official, said on Telegram that Ukrainians had used US high-precision Himars rockets.

The city is roughly 80km (55 miles) behind Russian lines. The GMLRS rockets Ukraine fires from its Himars and M270 precision artillery systems are usually described as having a range of about 50 miles.

Read the full article here ⤵️

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/29/ukraine-himars-strike-melitopol-counter-offensive/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T14:55:08+00:00

From The Telegraph:

Scientists have created an app that can detect depression in less than a minute by listening to a person’s voice.

An algorithm combines information on a speaker’s tone of voice, their volume and how often they pause in speech to make a conclusion.

Researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest built the technology, which is not yet available to download, that requires a participant to read aloud a passage of Aesop's fable "The North Wind and the Sun".

It was found to be able to detect depression accurately on up to 84 per cent of occasions.

Experts believe the condition is widely undiagnosed and the new tool could be used on smartphones to quickly and easily detect depression.

"For a long time, researchers have been trying to define non-invasive biomarkers - objectively measurable characteristics - that can help recognise depression earlier and speed up diagnosis,” said Dr Bálint Hajduska-Dér, the app's developer.

"There now is a consensus that patients' altered speech could be one of these biomarkers."

Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/29/depression-speech-app-can-diagnose-condition-60-seconds/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T14:54:36+00:00

From The Telegraph:

Scientists have created an app that can detect depression in less than a minute by listening to a person’s voice.

An algorithm combines information on a speaker’s tone of voice, their volume and how often they pause in speech to make a conclusion.

Researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest built the technology, which is not yet available to download, that requires a participant to read aloud a passage of Aesop's fable "The North Wind and the Sun".

It was found to be able to detect depression accurately on up to 84 per cent of occasions.

Experts believe the condition is widely undiagnosed and the new tool could be used on smartphones to quickly and easily detect depression.

"For a long time, researchers have been trying to define non-invasive biomarkers - objectively measurable characteristics - that can help recognise depression earlier and speed up diagnosis,” said Dr Bálint Hajduska-Dér, the app's developer.

"There now is a consensus that patients' altered speech could be one of these biomarkers."

Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/29/depression-speech-app-can-diagnose-condition-60-seconds/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T14:44:40+00:00

From The Telegraph's Deputy Political Editor, Daniel Martin:

Liz Truss hit back at Jeremy Hunt after he criticised her mini-Budget and accused her of making “mistakes”.

A spokesman for Ms Truss, the former prime minister, responded by saying that the Chancellor’s decision to press ahead with an increase in corporation tax “looks like a pretty bad mistake right now”.

In his Budget earlier this month, Mr Hunt said corporation tax that the levy will go up from 19 per cent to 25 per cent in April – months after Ms Truss announced that she was scrapping the increase.

Appearing before the Treasury select committee on Tuesday morning, the Chancellor took aim at Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-Budget in September, which sparked meltdown on the financial markets.

“Yes, there were some mistakes in the mini-Budget, which we had to reverse, and in particular I think it is clear you can’t fund tax cuts through increased borrowing,” he said. “That is a clear thing that we changed course on.”

Read the full story here ⤵️

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/03/29/liz-truss-lashes-out-jeremy-hunt-criticism-mini-budget/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T12:25:19+00:00

From The Telegraph's Joe Wallen:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued an alert over an Indian-manufactured cancer drug circulating in Lebanon and Yemen which was found to contain life-threatening levels of toxic bacteria.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa was discovered in an injectable chemotherapy agent and immune system suppressant called methotrexate, which is manufactured by Celon Labs, a biopharmaceutical company based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

India is known as the “pharmacy of the world” as its factories manufacture 20 percent of the globe’s generic drugs and 50 percent of vaccines. However, the sector has long been plagued by safety concerns and regulation breaches.

Read more for free: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/alert-cancer-drug-containing-life-threatening-bacteria/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T12:22:32+00:00

From The Telegraph's Joe Wallen:

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued an alert over an Indian-manufactured cancer drug circulating in Lebanon and Yemen which was found to contain life-threatening levels of toxic bacteria.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa was discovered in an injectable chemotherapy agent and immune system suppressant called methotrexate, which is manufactured by Celon Labs, a biopharmaceutical company based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

India is known as the “pharmacy of the world” as its factories manufacture 20 percent of the globe’s generic drugs and 50 percent of vaccines. However, the sector has long been plagued by safety concerns and regulation breaches.

Read more for free: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/alert-cancer-drug-containing-life-threatening-bacteria/

TheTelegraph · 2023-03-29T11:44:55+00:00

From The Telegraph's Nick Squires, in Rome:

A leading food expert prompted outrage in Italy by claiming that many of the country’s most revered gastronomic offerings are based on myths and falsehoods.

Spaghetti carbonara is an American creation, parmigiano cheese from Italy is inferior to its closely related cousin in Wisconsin and tiramisu is a recent invention, Alberto Grandi said.

Mr Grandi, a food historian at the University of Parma, the home of parmesan cheese, accused Italians of clinging to “fairy tales” about their cuisine as a way of reinforcing their national identity.

Pizza was unknown in Italy outside the country’s south until after the Second World War and panettone, the beloved "traditional" cake served at Christmas, was invented by an Italian food brand in the 1920s, he pointed out.

Carbonara was invented in 1944 using the bacon, cheese and powdered eggs that only American troops had access to in a country that had been brought to its knees by years of war.

Parmesan made in Wisconsin by the descendants of Italian immigrants is truer to the original cheese than the stuff produced in Italy, he insists.

Pizzerias were invented by Italians who migrated to the US, rather than in Italy, he added.

Writing a full page article in one of Italy’s leading newspapers, Mr Grandi said the idea that Italians have taught the rest of the world how to eat and cook is “offensive” and wrong from a historical point of view.

Read more: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/03/28/historian-provokes-fury-calling-authentic-italian-food-offensive/

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