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Annie Ernaux: ‘Uncompromising’ French author wins Nobel Literature Prize

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The Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to French author Annie Ernaux for her “uncompromising” 50-year body of work that examines “a life marked by vast discrepancies regarding gender, language, and class.”

The coveted award, which is worth 10 million Swedish kronor (£807,000), is given out by the Swedish Academy. It was “a huge honour,” she remarked.

The committee’s leader, Professor Carl-Henrik Heldin, praised the 82-year-work old’s as “admirable and enduring.”

In her semi-autobiographical works, he claimed she employed “courage and clinical clarity” to expose “the inconsistencies of social experience [and] convey shame, humiliation, jealousy, or the inability to know who you are.”

Her books, including A Man’s Place and A Woman’s Story, are considered to be contemporary classics in France.

Ernaux is the first French woman to win the literature prize, and told Swedish broadcaster SVT it was “a responsibility”.

“I was very surprised… I never thought it would be on my landscape as a writer,” she said. “It is a great responsibility… to testify, not necessarily in terms of my writing, but to testify with accuracy and justice in relation to the world.”

Over the course of her 20 novels, “she has been devoted to a single task: the excavation of her own life,” The New Yorker stated in 2020.

Since 1901, the Nobel Prizes have recognised excellence in literature, science, peace, and, more recently, economics. Abdulrazak Gurnah, a novelist from Tanzania, received the literary award the previous year.

Other winners have included playwrights Harold Pinter and Eugene O’Neill, as well as novelists Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Toni Morrison, poets Louise Gluck, Pablo Neruda, Joseph Brodsky, and Rabindranath Tagore, and novelists Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and Toni Morrison.

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Hans Niemann ‘likely cheated’ in more than 100 games

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An investigation found that a chess player at the centre of a cheating scandal “possibly” cheated in more than 100 online games.

Magnus Carlsen, the current world champion, has accused Hans Niemann of cheating, although no proof has been provided.

According to a Chess.com investigation, Niemann has probably cheated “far more often” than he has admitted.

However, it did not uncover any proof that he had cheated in his match with Carlsen or any other “over-the-board” games.

The American has admitted to cheating in casual games in his youth, but he disputes doing so in games that were intended to be competitive.

The BBC has contacted the 19-year-old for comment and he has already accused Carlsen and Chess.com of attempting to destroy his career.

The story started last month after Carlsen, who is widely regarded as the best player of all time, suffered a shocking loss to Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup.

Prior to publicly accusing Niemann of cheating last week, the Norwegian had already levelled subtle charges against him.

Now, Chess.com, where the majority of the world’s best players participate, including for cash prizes, has published a 72-page inquiry of Niemann’s games.

The website, which banned Niemann for alleged cheating, asserts that it is possible he committed fraud as recently as 2020, especially in prize money competitions and when competing against highly regarded “well recognised” figures in the game.

Niemann vigorously denied the allegations when they first surfaced earlier this month, stating he was prepared to play the game while unclothed to demonstrate that he wasn’t using any equipment to cheat.

“I don’t care, because I know I am clean. You want me to play in a closed box with zero electronic transmission, I don’t care. I’m here to win and that is my goal regardless.”

Niemann’s over-the-board games were statistically analysed by Prof. Kenneth Regan, who is widely considered as the world’s foremost authority on chess cheating, and no evidence of cheating was discovered.

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Qatar World Cup 2022: Paris joins boycott of fan zones over human rights

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The latest French city to declare that it won’t be erecting massive screens and fan zones for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar is Paris. Concerns about the host country’s ecology and human rights were mentioned.

On ethical concerns, Lille, Marseille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, and Reims are also abstaining from the competition. The event’s location in the winter, according to Pierre Rabadan, head of sport at Paris City Hall, was also taken into consideration. After the Socialist mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, criticised the Qatar World Cup as “nonsense in terms of human rights, the environment, and sport,” the movement got underway on Saturday.

She laid the blame on worries about workers’ rights in Qatar, the allegedly high number of deaths among foreign employees, and the environmental impact of the stadiums, which are all outfitted with outside air conditioning, just like other mayors on the left and right.

A massive screening that was scheduled to take place in Marseille if France advanced to the final has since been cancelled.

The competition “has gradually converted itself into a human and environmental catastrophe, incompatible with the principles which we expect sport – and especially football – to promote,” the city’s socialist mayor, Benoit Payan, said.

Uncertainty surrounded the number of French cities actually setting up outdoor locations where fans could follow the development of the French team, the 2018 world champions in Russia.

The mayor of Angoulême in southwest France stated that his choice had more to do with finances than it did with Qatar’s human rights situation.

A huge screen costs “many tens of thousands of euros,” according to Xavier Bonnefont. “It seemed paradoxical to us to risk this sort of money at a time when we are trying to find economies to bear the escalating cost of energy,” he said.

“In any case, I don’t think many people would have shown up in the cold. In a bar, customers will be just as content.”

The number of boycott requests for the World Cup, which is being held in France from November 21 to December 18, has been rising, albeit they are still not widely accepted.

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Sacheen Littlefeather: Native American activist and actor who refused Oscar for Brando dies

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Marlon Brando’s advocate Sacheen Littlefeather, who turned down the Oscar for The Godfather on his behalf in 1973, has passed away at the age of 75. The Academy reported that the actress, who had breast cancer, passed away on Sunday.

Two weeks after being honoured by the organisation at an event in Los Angeles and receiving a public apology for how she was treated at the Oscars, she passed away. At the occasion 50 years ago, Littlefeather, who is of Apache and Yaqui descent, was jeered while speaking on stage.

The Californian, born Maria Cruz, donned full Apache regalia for the first Oscars to be broadcast worldwide, and she explained on behalf of Brando that he would not accept his best actor award for the mafia movie in order to protest the mistreatment of Native Americans in the film industry and to draw attention to the Wounded Knee protests.

In order to protest government oppression, residents and radical AIM activists descended upon the nearby village of Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1973 in large numbers.

A violent standoff with federal agents ensued as a result of the demonstration and lasted 71 days.

When announcing Littlefeather’s passing online, the Academy cited her as saying: “When I am gone, always be reminded that whenever you stand for your truth, you will be keeping my voice and the voices of our nations and our people alive.” Littlefeather is the subject of the 2021 documentary Sacheen: Breaking the Silence.

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Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant chief detained by Russians – Kyiv

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The head of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility has been taken prisoner by Russian forces, according to Enerhoatom, the country’s national nuclear regulator.

It claims that at around 16:00 local time (13:00 GMT) on Friday, Ihor Murashov was detained as his automobile was travelling from the facility to the nearby town of Enerhodar.

According to the president of Enerhoatom, he was afterwards blindfolded and transferred to a detention facility in Enerhodar. Russia has made no remarks.

In March, Moscow took control of the largest nuclear power facility in Europe and retained its Ukrainian employees. In the midst of widespread worries that this could result in a significant radiation disaster in Europe, both Ukraine and Russia accuse one another of repeatedly shelling the plant.

President of Enerhoatom Petro Kotin stated that Mr. Murashov “bears major and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation safety” of the nuclear facility in a statement that was made public on Saturday.

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe and Ukraine’s operational safety, he claimed, are both at risk due to Friday’s imprisonment.

Furthermore, he informed the BBC that the arrest took place at the same time as Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, including Zaporizhzhia.

According to Mr. Kontin, Rosatom representatives paid a visit to the plant “only two days ago.” They said the power plant would be transferred from Ukrainian control to Rosatom’s control in line with the annexation of the region.

In the occupied portion of the southern Zaporizhzhia area of Ukraine, close to Enerhodar, is where the six-reactor Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility is situated.

According to Ukraine, Russian troops are utilising the station as a military base and are effectively holding the staff at gunpoint. Moscow refutes the assertion.

Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, announced the annexation of the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions on Friday. Ukraine and the West strongly denounced this action. None of the four eastern and southern areas of Ukraine are entirely under Moscow’s influence.

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Greenlandic Inuit seek explanations for Danish birth control controversy

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A formal agreement between Denmark and Greenland to begin a two-year study into historical birth control procedures used on Inuit Greenlanders by Danish doctors for many years has been reached. In the 1960s and 1970s, many of Inuit women and girls had intrauterine devices (IUDs), sometimes known as coils.

It is a method of birth control that is implanted inside the uterus to prevent conception. Naja Lyberth was one of the women and young girls who received an IUD. Following a standard school medical exam in the 1970s, a doctor instructed Naja, who she estimates to have been around 13 at the time, to go to her neighbourhood hospital to have a coil placed.

“I didn’t really know what it [was] because he never explained or got my permission,” says Naja, who at the time was living in Maniitsoq, a small town on Greenland’s west coast.

“I was afraid. I couldn’t tell my parents,” she says. “I was a virgin. I had never even kissed a boy.”

Now 60, Naja is one of the first to speak out about what happened.

“I can remember the doctors [in] white coats, and maybe there was a nurse. I saw the metal things [stirrups] where you should spread your legs. It was very frightening. The equipment the doctors used was so big for my child body – it was like having knives inside me.”

According to Naja, her parents’ consent was not obtained, and her classmates were also taken to the hospital, but they chose not to discuss it because “it was too frightening.”

To enable women to express their shared experiences and support one another in overcoming the trauma, she created a Facebook community. Over 70 ladies have already signed up.

An IUD may have been implanted in Greenland between 1966 and 1970 for up to 4,500 women and girls, or almost half of all fertile females, according to records discovered for the podcast Spiralkampagnen (“coil campaign”). But the practises persisted until the middle of the 1970s.

Unknown is how many of these cases lacked informed consent or adequate justification.

Girls as young as 12 were among those impacted, and several have made public complaints about not receiving adequate information. Some women who are unable to conceive believe the coil is to blame.

Naja says, “I get so many messages from women. “It appears that the more issues the girls have with this coil, the younger they were. It’s really sad.”

When Arnannguaq Poulsen was 16 years old, she had a coil placed on Danish soil rather than on Greenland. In 1974, she was attending a boarding school on the island of Bornholm for Greenlandic kids.

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Antonio Conte it is ’embarrassing for everybody’ after fan threw banana at Richarlison

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It is “embarrassing for everyone,” according to Tottenham manager Antonio Conte, because Richarlison was targeted by a banana during a friendly match between Brazil and Tunisia.  When the incident happened in Paris on Tuesday, the Spurs forward was celebrating a goal.

Conte demanded that the offending spectator receive a lifetime ban from football. Conte remarked, “What happened when Richy played for the national team and scored a goal is extraordinary. Being present for a situation like this in 2022 is embarrassing for everyone. The event is under investigation, and Fifa has stated that it has a “clear, zero-tolerance attitude” against racism.

Conte continued, “I hope this guy can receive a lifetime ban from playing football, but it is a circumstance that is very disappointing to make a comment about this.”

“As long as it’s ‘blah blah blah’ and they don’t punish, it will continue like this,” Richarlison tweeted after the game. “[Racism] occurs everywhere and every day. No time, buddy.

Before the game began, Brazil posed with an anti-racism flag and lined up with the words: “Without our black players, we wouldn’t have stars on our shirts.”

In a statement, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) said it “reinforced its position to combat racism” and “repudiates any display of prejudice”.

Tottenham also condemned the the abuse and offered Richarlison support: “This has no place in football, or anywhere. We stand with you, Richy.”

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Nord Stream: Sweden finds new leak in Russian gas pipeline

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The fourth leak this week has been found, this time in Sweden, in a significant undersea pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to the EU. This week, gas leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were reported by Sweden and Denmark.

The events, according to Nato, were caused by “deliberate, careless, and negligent acts of sabotage.” Suggestions that Russia had attacked its own pipelines were brushed aside as “predictable and stupid.” The explosions, according to the Russian foreign ministry, happened in “zones controlled by American intelligence.”

It was obvious that a non-state actor could not have been behind the incidents, meaning that a country must have been to blame, according to Miguel Berger, the German ambassador to the UK. The fourth leak on Nord Stream 2 was discovered, according to the Swedish coast guard, very close to an earlier, larger leak on Nord Stream 1.

In retribution for the West’s support for Ukraine, the EU has accused Russia of using gas supplies as a weapon against it on numerous occasions. Without going into any detail, Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, stated that it is “quite evident” who is responsible for the damage.

The leaks, said to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, have him “very concerned,” and he added that it was impossible to rule out a planned strike. The energy infrastructure of the continent would be subject to the “strongest possible response,” according to EU leaders.

While this was going on, Norway, a non-EU country, declared it would send troops to guard oil and gas facilities. Despite the fact that they both contain gas, Nord Stream 1 and 2 are not currently delivering any gas.

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Avicii’s family sell music rights to Abba star’s company

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The Swedish entertainment company Pophouse has purchased 75% of the master recording and publishing rights from Avicii’s family. Avicii’s parents will be able to focus on the foundation they started after his passing in 2018 thanks to the agreement.

To “maintain a respectful tone” in the way his music is utilised and promoted, they keep the remaining 25% of his rights. Björn Ulvaeus, an Abba member, founded Pophouse in 2014, which manages the London production of Abba Voyage. The business published sales data for the ground-breaking virtual concert for the first time in a press release announcing the Avicii contract, with 650,000 tickets sold and more than 160 sold out shows.

Tim Bergling, better known by his stage name Avicii, was born in 1989. He became well-known after uploading tracks he’d recorded in his Stockholm bedroom to dance music websites.

He distinguished himself from his contemporaries by crafting songs with emotive pop hooks, and Wake Me Up, a tune that fused folky, bluegrass melodies with club-ready sounds, became a massive international smash.

Bergling went on to make music for Madonna and Coldplay and to become one of the highest-paid DJs in the world, but he also battled alcoholism and despair, and at the age of 28, he committed suicide.

Since then, Klas Bergling and Anki Lidén, who are in charge of managing his estate, have organised a star-studded memorial event, obtained a video game licence based on his music, and inaugurated an interactive memorial museum in Stockholm.

The Swedish House Mafia master recordings and publishing assets were purchased by Pophouse six months prior to the Avicii agreement. There is no known cost associated with the acquisition.

Similar agreements have shown up a lot during the past five years, with musicians like Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Shakira, and Blondie selling the rights to their catalogues to businesses that pledge to protect their legacy while pocketing the profits.

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Magnus Carlsen and Hans Niemann: Chess champion accuses opponent of cheating

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Magnus Carlsen, the current world chess champion, has publicly accused Hans Niemann of cheating. He said in a statement that he thought Mr. Niemann had “cheated more—and more recently—than he has publicly admitted,” but he provided no proof. Niemann, who defeated Carlsen this month in a significant shock, had previously faced veiled charges.

The 19-year-old Niemann has accused Carlsen of attempting to destroy his career while denying cheating in chess competitions. The adolescent has twice admitted cheating online, when he was 12 and 16, but vehemently denies ever cheating at the gaming table. He even indicated he was prepared to play in the buff to demonstrate his good faith.

The controversy started earlier this month when Mr. Carlsen, widely regarded as the best player of all time, lost to Mr. Niemann at the Sinquefield Cup, snapping his 53-game streak of perfect play in classical chess.

He then withdrew from the competition despite their still being six rounds left, and he afterwards tweeted a clip of José Mourinho, the manager of Real Madrid, saying: “If I talk, I am in huge danger.”

In an online competition where the two met again the previous week, Mr. Carlsen left after only one move, ostensibly in protest of Mr. Niemann’s involvement.

After going on to win the competition, Mr. Carlsen promised to speak out more about the controversy and stated that he wanted “cheating in chess to be dealt with seriously.” The only British competitor in the world championship final, grandmaster Nigel Short, told the BBC last week that he was sceptical of the accusations of unfair play and insisted that there was no proof Niemann had cheated in his triumph over Carlsen.

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