World news
AP PHOTO/DITA ALANGKARADirector forced
out of flagship
Florence gallery
in ‘nativist’ move
By Nick Squires in Rome
THE German head of the Accademia
Gallery in Florence, home to Michelan-
gelo’s statue of the boy warrior David,
has expressed anger and surprise after
being forced out under reforms by
Italy’s populist coalition.
Cecilie Hollberg was one of seven
foreign directors of museums and gal-
leries appointed in 2015 under the pre-
vious, centre-Left government.
Of the seven, four are now leaving
amid what critics call a “nativist back-
lash” by the now faltering populist gov-
ernment, which consists of the
anti-establishment Five Star Move-
ment and the hard-Right League.
Dr Hollberg’s time at the Accademia
has been acclaimed as a success, with
visitor numbers up by 22 per cent and
revenues up by nearly 15 per cent.
However, under changes to Italy’s
cultural heritage sector implemented
by Alberto Bonisoli, the culture minis-
ter, the gallery has lost its autonomy
and will now be run by another Floren-
tine institution, the Uffizi Galleries.
Dr Hollberg has been told her ser-
vices are no longer needed, despite the
successes she has achieved and despite
the fact her contract is due to run until
Nov 30. She said she was informed of
the changes to the Accademia’s status
by email from the culture ministry. No
explanation was given for the move,
which she called “absurd”.
Mr Bonisoli has said centralising
decision-making would mean greater
oversight of works on loan abroad – a
reference to a row over the previous
government’s promise to lend works by
Leonardo da Vinci to France for the
500th anniversary of his death this year.
Dr Hollberg could not be reached at
the Accademia yesterday. But in an
interview with an Italian newspaper on
the eve of her departure, she lambasted
the changes introduced by the populist
government – now in shreds after Mat-
teo Salvini of the League pulled the
plug on the fractious coalition earlier
this month – as a “counter reform”.
“I’ve had solidarity from Spanish,
Austrian, British, American and Italian
colleagues. They are all stunned by the
decision to scrap the Accademia’s
autonomy and the way in which I’ve
been treated. Italy is going backwards
by 30 years,” she said.
She accused the coalition of using
Italy’s cultural heritage sector for
political gain. That chimes with the
judgment of her fellow German Eike
Schmidt, the director of the Uffizi Gal-
lery, who is also leaving his job this
year for a post in Vienna.
He thinks clawing back autonomy
from museums is a way for the culture
minister, who is from Five Star, to score
points against the League, Dr Schmidt
told The Daily Telegraph last week.
The gallery is renowned for several
sculptures by Michelangelo as well as
paintings by Italian masters such as
Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghir-
landaio, and musical instruments made
by Stradivari.Saudi and UAE ‘refusing to pay’ aid money to Yemen
By Josie Ensor
Middle east Correspondent
SAUDI Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates have been accused of “leav-
ing Yemenis to die” after the United
Nations revealed they have paid only a
fraction of the £1.2 billion promised in
aid to the war-torn country.
At a UN conference in February, do-
nors pledged $2.6 billion, including
$1.5 billion (£1.2 billion) by Saudi Arabia
and the UAE, but to date less than half
the amount has been received.
The UN said nearly all donors had
paid most or all of their pledges, while
some had paid even more.
But the largest donors – Yemen’s
neighbours in the coalition and the big-
gest players in the conflict – had paid
only a modest share of what they prom-ised. A spokesman said Abu Dhabi had
paid only $16 million and Riyadh
$127 million. “When money doesn’t
come, people die,” the UN said.
The Saudi funding pledge was made
to great fanfare at a press conference in
Saudi Arabia. PR advisers to the king-
dom had told The Telegraph, which was
in attendance, that they hoped it would
garner much-needed good publicity.
Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the Labour MP
who sits on the Commons’ arms con-
trols committee, said: “Saudi Arabia
spends $50 billion every year on turn-ing Yemen into a moonscape and creat-
ing millions of refugees in the process.
“But they refuse to spend a fraction
of that figure on ensuring the survivors
of their air campaign and blockade
don’t starve to death. Some ally.”
The UN warned that unless signifi-
cant new funding was received in
the coming weeks, food rations for
12 million people in the war-torn
country would be reduced, and at
least 2.5 million malnourished chil-
dren would be cut off from life-sav-
ing services. The organisation wasalready forced to suspend most vac-
cination campaigns in May, and
without new money 22 life-saving
programs in Yemen will close.
The Saudi government did not im-
mediately respond to The Telegraph’s
request for comment.
The conflict in Yemen began with
the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa,
by Iran-backed Houthi Shia rebels who
control much of the country’s north.
A Saudi-led coalition that includes
the UAE allied with Yemen’s interna-
tionally recognised government hasbeen fighting the Houthis since 2015.
The air and sea blockade helped cre-
ate the world’s worst humanitarian cri-
sis, leaving millions suffering food and
medical care shortages and pushing
the country to the brink of famine.
“Millions of people in Yemen, who
through no fault of their own are the
victims of this conflict, depend on us to
survive,” Lisa Grande, UN humanitar-
ian chief in Yemen, said.
“All of us are ashamed. It’s heart-
breaking to look a family in the eye and
say we have no money to help.”EU set to curb
‘epidemic’ face
recognition
By Tom HogginsTHE European Commission is to put
restrictions on facial recognition tech-
nology to curb its increasing use to
monitor citizens.
Senior officials told the Financial
Times that new regulations would give
European Union citizens more rights
over the use of facial recognition data.
According to the official, the aim is to
“limit the indiscriminate use of facial
recognition technology by companies
and public authorities”.
The plan will reportedly give EU citi-
zens the right to know when facial rec-
ognition data is being used, and any
exceptions will be under tight scrutiny.
The use of “biometric data” such as
facial recognition and fingerprints is
already covered by the EU’s General
Data Protection Regulations. New
rules would give citizens rights above
and beyond existing limits.
The UK has pledged to launch an
investigation into the technology. Eliz-
abeth Denham, the Information Com-
missioner, said that “scanning people’s
faces as they lawfully go about their
daily lives ... is a potential threat to pri-
vacy that should concern us all”.
Civil liberty campaigner Silkie Carlo
of Big Brother Watch urged the gov-
ernment to “get a grip on the epidemic”.Villagers dig
trench to halt
violent suspect
By Saptarshi Ray in Delhi
INDIAN villagers in the state of West
Bengal came up with a novel form of
punishment for a suspected criminal
who was terrorising their neighbour-
hood – dig a trench around his house.
Mafizul Haq, the son of a village
council leader from the Trinamool
Congress party, is accused of violent
crimes including rape and bullying.
Tired of his reign of terror and the
lack of action by local officials, residents
of Balabhut in the district of Cooch
Behar found an original way to put him
in his place and keep him there.
They worked through the night to
dig a deep trench around his house,
marooning him from the rest of the vil-
lage population and forcing him to
plead for food and fresh water.
Locals claim that allegations against
Mr Haq are not being investigated
because he is protected by his father’s
political influence, reported the Zee
News television channel.
He is the younger son of Ainul Haq, a
panchayat, or council leader. In rural
parts of India the panchayat system
often takes the place of police, courts
and jailers simultaneously.
Accusations had been registered
against Mafizul Haq in the Tufanganj
police station, but no action was taken.
Dressed
to impress
Model and
actress
Cara
Delevingne
arrives at
the TCL
Chinese
Theatre in
Los
Angeles for
the
premiere
of her
Amazon
Original
series
Carnival
Row, a
Victorian
fantasy
co-starring
Orlando
Bloom.VALERIE MACON/AFP/GETTY IMAGESPeople being ‘left to die’ as
Gulf nations have handed
out almost none of the
$1.5 billion they promised
16 ***^ Friday 23 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
RELEASED BY "What's News" VK.COM/WSNWS TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws