Reuters World News - Bud Light truths, cemetery salads and Russia’s dragon teeth

Episode Date: April 28, 2023

In today's episode, will Russia’s dragon teeth barricades be able to withstand a Ukrainian offensive? Bud Light blows up the Internet, we dig out the facts. Sick of those high food bills? Join us on a foraging expedition to a London cemetery. There’s a good substitute for wasabi amongst the headstones. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt-out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, trenches, minefields and dragons's teeth barricades. New satellite imagery reveals how Russia is digging in ahead of the Ukrainian military's counter-offensive. Bud Light is blowing up the internet. We talk to our fact-checking team about what's real and what's not. It's Friday, April 28th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. I'm Kim Vinal in London. As we head into the weekend, we've also got you covered on the controversies of the NFL draft.

And we travel to a London cemetery to beat the salad crunch. I promise, stay with me on this one, it will be worth it. But first, the headlines. Air raid sirens Blair in Kiev as Russia attacks the capital and other cities across Ukraine, killing at least 12 people. It's the first large-scale Russian air strike, in nearly two months. Mike Pence has appeared before a grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump's role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The former vice president's appearance

comes as he's exploring a possible challenge to Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. In Sudan, fighting has spread to the Darfur region. A local rights group says at least 52 people have been killed and attacks by militias in the city of Elginina. Armed by the West, Ukraine is preparing for a counter-offensive that aims to take back control of its occupied South. Thousands of recruits are taking to the firing range in preparation. Our reporters have been pouring over satellite imagery that shows exactly how Russia will be waiting for them.

Tom Boundforth is our chief correspondent for Ukraine. He explains how both sides are gearing up for what is expected to be a fierce and critical fight. So Tom, we know this Ukrainian offensive is coming. How are the Russians preparing? Satellite imagery of the occupied areas of Ukraine show hundreds of Russian defensive positions that have appeared since late last year. They sweep all the way down Russia's western border and all the way to Crimea. That covers an area more than 1,300 kilometers.

When we talk about fortifications, what are we talking about? These Russian defensive positions are layered. In the first row, you have these anti-tank ditches, deep enough and wide enough that they would make it very difficult for an infantry fighting vehicle to advance over them without kind of bridging equipment. Then you have a second line of these dragon's teeth. So these are pyramid-shaped concrete barricades that they've laid out in rows. And then finally, after that, you have the primary defensive lines,

which is where the Russian troops are going to be deployed. Why is this counter-offensive so important for Ukraine? So it could be a crucial juncture in the war for a whole load of reasons. I mean, first of all, the South is strategically vital for Ukraine. Rest in control of the South back from Russia would also offer probably Ukraine unimpeded access to its Black Sea export routes, which are the most important export routes they have. Is this Ukraine's sort of big chance? I think this is probably Ukraine's best chance to claw back its territory in the south for a while.

If Ukraine does struggle to make any kind of major inroads into the Russian lines, you could potentially bring us to sort of a stalemate scenario, and there could be sort of an increase in pressure to enter negotiations with Russia. All right, Tom, thanks. Thanks, Kim. Chances are you've clicked on a link involving Bud Light in recent weeks. It may have been a post like this one by Kid Rock, shooting packs of beer. Grandpa's feeling a little frisky today.

The iconic bear brand ignited a popular culture frenzy when it sent trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney a can of beer. Two executives have been placed on leave, and the internet continues to explode with claims and counterclaims about how Bud and its parent company, AB and Bev, are faring. Our fact check team is busy digging into what's real and what's not. Shawna Davis joins me now for Fact Check Friday. Hey, Shauna, has this actually impacted sales and the share price of Budlite's parent company?

There are numbers flying everywhere. Exactly. When there's a fast-moving event or an event that is polarising, people sharing lots of different figures left right and center. So one such claim was that sales plummeted 80%. We managed to get a statement from the parent company Anheuser-Busch who confirmed that the sales didn't drop 80%. Another claim that they lost 800 million again from a satirical website, that was fake too. So what we're getting is like a theme that these figures are getting shared really widely without people stepping back and saying, hey, is this legitimate or it's this real? It's not just numbers. There have been images going viral too.

Let's talk about one which I thought very much looked real, the billboard. Tell us about it. Well, you definitely weren't the only one. It went really viral and it looks real. It shows what it looks like a billboard with Bud Light branding who had the Bud Light bottle to the bottom right corner. It was blue and white and it had lull cry babies across it. It got shared really widely over 6,000 likes on one particular post alone. But it wasn't real. What we did was that we called the parent company of Budweiser to check if they had built any such advert. They said they didn't. And we went to step further. We talked to the company that operates this billboard. And they said Disney is the current advertiser at that particular spot. So it wasn't real, but it got shared really

widely among those supporting it because what happens when these particular topics that are really controversial get shared online, people share things out of a place of emotion. And we saw that here. Shawna, thanks. Here in Britain, grocery inflation is stubbornly high. Figures showed this week that it remained above 17%. Ouch. Could foraging be a way to cut bills and get back to nature? Our very own Tara Oaks went to find out what's growing wild in a local cemetery park. I'm just heading now into Tower Humnet Cemetery Park,

and you can still see everywhere you turn these headstones and graves, but they're overrun now with plants and flowers. I'm going to speak to Ken Greenway, who is the manager of the cemetery park. Tara, hello, hi. How are you? So if you like wasabi, this is going to be right up your street, this plant. But we've got to be careful. We don't accidentally pick lesser selen dime,

which is in the noxious buttercup family. We don't really want to be eating those. They contain cyanide and induce vomiting. Going for it, looking forward to some wasabi flavours. Yep. Mmm. Oh, yeah, yeah, that kick. What I enjoy about foraging is the world of,

cooking that opens up, you know, from our bog standard, just cooking to survive at home, day-to-day eating, it opens up, pickling, drying, preserving, syrups, jams, jellies, sweets. Could foraging be a solution for people to save on their bells? I think so. I mean, I think foraging keeps people local. If they're eating local, they're reducing their demand on industrial food processes and food supply chains. all these bunts are not just growing in amongst each other they're also growing in and amongst these Victorian graves looming above them you know there's power in being able to feed yourselves

and having independence from shops knowing that you can go and collect a salad if that's the very least you wanted to do and you've got one you know and it's from your doorstep remember kids don't munch on a hunch seek expert advice before foraging If the NFL draft has reached maximum capacity, there is no longer entry into this area. The NFL draft kicks off in front of thousands of fans in Kansas City. It's one of the highlights of this weekend's sporting dramas. Sports reporter Amy Tennery is eyeing the moves for the best college talent. So, Amy, there was some controversy coming in.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, two of the brightest stars out of the University of Georgia, we've got defensive tackle, Jalen Carter. he had a lot of NFL executives concerned after he was involved in a deadly car crash and is facing two misdemeanor charges. There's also, of course, Stetson Bennett, an incredibly talented quarterback who was arrested on public intoxication charges. And that had some NFL executives reportedly running scared in a completely different topic is C.J. Stroud. He's the quarterback out of Ohio State. he reportedly flunked his S2 cognition test. He has been defiant against concerns over that saying,

hey, if I can run an offense on the field for Ohio State, that should be proof enough that I'm worth it to have people take a chance on me in the NFL. And a top draft pick doesn't always guarantee success, right? Absolutely. I mean, I think ESPN had a really interesting stat. They said that nearly two-thirds of the active players in the 2022 season were drafted in the third round or later weren't even drafted at all in their respective years. So it's worth sticking around for these later rounds because you may see a future Hall of Famer going in the fourth, fifth or sixth.

So take everything with a grain of salt, of course. That's it for today's edition of Reuters World News. We're back tomorrow with a special edition on China. Before you go, we'd love for you to tell us what you think about the show. There's a survey in the pod's description on the Royt's website or your preferred podcast platform.