They are producers, directors, editors, and actors. But what they share in common is their continent of birth – Africa. Once a month, they meet to share their experiences in Hollywood and work together to raise their profile in the competitive movie industry. VOA’s Arzouma Kompaore went to Hollywood and filed this report.
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They are producers, directors, editors, and actors. But what they share in common is their continent of birth – Africa. Once a month, they meet to share their experiences in Hollywood and work together to raise their profile in the competitive movie industry. VOA’s Arzouma Kompaore went to Hollywood and filed this report.
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The movie industry must use this week’s Cannes Film Festival to “liberate and listen to women’s voices” if it is to stamp out sexual harassment, the French minister for gender equality said.
From a hotline to report harassers at the event to flyers urging participants to behave properly, Marlene Schiappa hopes to use the glitz and glamour of Cannes to ramp up the pressure.
The movie industry “has to be part of the solution”, Schiappa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in an email ahead of this year’s festival, which she said should be the “basis for liberating and listening to women’s voices.”
“The fact that the festival’s presidents decided to fight with us against sexual harassment for not just actresses but also workers and spectators at the festival … is unprecedented and a great step forward,” Schiappa said.
The 71st Cannes Film Festival will run from May 8-19 and follows allegations of sexual misconduct against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein that sparked last year’s #MeToo campaign, in which women and men shared their experiences of harassment.
Once one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures, Weinstein has been accused by more than 70 women of sexual misconduct, including rape.
He has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone. In April, Schiappa launched a campaign with the festival organizers to tackle sexual harassment.
Initiatives include a hotline and flyers reading “correct behavior required” and “don’t ruin the party, stop harassment!” with the hashtag #nerienlaisserpasser (“don’t let anything pass”).
Celebrities have used previous film awards this year including Britain’s BAFTA and the Golden Globes in Los Angeles to wear black outfits in a gesture of protest and badges name-checking the “Time’s Up” campaign against sexual harassment.
Australian movie star Cate Blanchett, who also took part in Time’s Up, will chair this year’s event, becoming the 11th woman to do so in the Cannes festival’s history.
Rachel Krys, co-director of End Violence Against Women Coalition, welcomed the Cannes hotline. But she said that “the system which supports and protects powerful men, rather than helping victims, also has to be dismantled.”
The movie industry should also “call time on films which fetishize violence against women and promote a toxic version of masculinity, and instead create art which challenges gender stereotypes and shifts social norms,” she said by email.
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When it comes to blockbusters, bigger and bolder is Hollywood’s focus for this summer as the studios count on new and improved sequels to make up for last year’s lackluster box office season. VOA’s Penelope Poulou has more.
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Originating from Mexico, Chihuahua’s are one of the smallest dog breeds. And on Saturday, 128 competed in the “Running of the Chihuahuas” to celebrate the Cinco de Mayo holiday. From Washington, VOA’s Jill Craig has more.
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A new invention is a result of a joint effort by artists and scientists. Computerized art robots can memorize artist’s strokes and effects and reproduce them as needed. They can perform at the artist’s direction, cover large surfaces and make precision painting easier and quicker. Old masters often used their students to help paint a large canvas and ease the tediousness of repetitive strokes. As VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports, that work too can now be taken over by robots.
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The first railroad appeared in the United States back in 1828. Located entirely in the state of Maryland, it was only 25 kilometers long. Today, American trains look very different — modern, fast and comfortable. VOA’s Maxim Moskalkov follows the evolution of rail travel in the U.S.
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Justify, the favored horse going into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, won the 2-kilometer race on a rain-soaked track.
Justify, ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith, held off Audible and Good Magic in the final stretch of the race.
The 144th annual Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs, the legendary Thoroughbred racetrack in the southeastern U.S. city of Louisville, Kentucky.
The race is the first leg of the Triple Crown, three races for 3-year-old horses. Following the Kentucky Derby will be the Preakness Stakes on May 19 and the Belmont Stakes on June 9. A horse must win all three to capture the Triple Crown.
The Kentucky Derby, often described as “the most exciting two minutes in sports,” is 2 kilometers, or 1¼ miles (10 furlongs), in length.
Saturday’s weather was less than ideal, as steady rain fell much of the day. The National Weather Service predicted up to one-quarter inch (6 millimeters) of rain would fall, with a high temperature near 68 F (20 C).
The Kentucky Derby has been held every year since 1875.
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Digital civil rights groups are writing to Congress next week to ask for help persuading internet giants Google and Amazon to reverse decisions they made that will make it harder for people to get around censorship controls worldwide.
At issue is the ongoing cat-and-mouse game between governments, such as Russia, Iran and China, and internet and messaging communications technology like Telegram and Signal, which are used to communicate outside of censors’ oversight.
In this case, encrypted messaging apps, such as Telegram and Signal, have been using a digital disguise known as “domain fronting.”
Disguising the final destination
As the encrypted message moves through networks, it appears to be going to an innocuous destination, such as google.com by routing through a Google server, rather than its true destination.
If a government acts against the domain google.com, it conceivably shuts down access to all services offered by the internet giant for everyone in the country.
Russia crackdown
Russia did just that in mid-April when it sought to crack down on Telegram.
But hackers can also use this disguise to mask malware, according to ZDNet.
In recent weeks, first Google and then Amazon Web Services said they would close the loopholes that allowed apps to use the disguise.
“No customer ever wants to find that someone else is masquerading as their innocent, ordinary domain,” said Amazon in a press release announcing better domain protections. Neither Google or Amazon responded for a request to comment.
Companies vote against being a disguise
Matthew Rosenfield, a co-author of the Signal protocol, said that “the idea behind domain fronting was that to block a single site, you’d have to block the rest of the internet as well. In the end, the rest of the internet didn’t like that plan.”
Amazon sent Signal an email telling it that its use of circumvention was against Amazon’s terms of service. In Middle East countries, such as Egypt, Oman and Qatar, Signal disguised itself as Souq.com, Amazon’s Arabic e-commerce platform.
Letter to Congress
The letter being sent to Congress will remind members of their stated support for encrypted communication tools and call on them to contact the technology giants to change their decision, according to sources.
Access Now, a digital-rights organization based in New York, identified about a dozen “human rights enabling technologies” that rely on domain fronting using Google.
Peter Micek, general counsel of Access Now, said in a statement that Google and Amazon have an obligation “to meet their human rights responsibilities and protect users at risk.”
“The market leaders that have the resources to fight for human rights must be just that — leaders,” he said.
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A parliamentary inquiry in Australia is investigating fake Aboriginal art and craft. The committee has heard from campaigners in Western Australia that up to 90 per cent of Indigenous art sold in souvenir shops was fake and imported from overseas.
Indigenous artists say that current laws protecting Aboriginal art in Australia are inadequate and that fines should be imposed on people selling fake art.
Campaigners in Western Australia estimate that the vast majority of the pieces sold in the state’s souvenir stores were bogus and shipped in from overseas.
They are calling for better education to help the buying public be more aware of the sensitivities surrounding fakes. Some of the copies are mass produced in Indonesia and shipped for sale, mostly to foreign tourists, in Australia. Other pieces are made in China.
Some Aboriginal artists in Australia license their work to be legitimately reproduced overseas, giving them a percentage of sales.
Gabrielle Sullivan, from the Indigenous Art Code, which works to protect the rights of artists, says licensing can be a way to make money, but it is important the artist understands the whole process.
“That can be done fairly, ethically and, you know, the artist can be part of that process,” said Sullivan. “The artist can get promotion from that, they can be attributed but that means the artist has to be, you know, taken along for the ride and understand the whole supply chain of how that product comes into being.”
The trade in imitations not only takes income away from those artists producing authentic items. Aboriginal groups insist that passing off paintings as Indigenous is disrespectful to their ancient culture. Tribal art is focused on folklore and used to chronicle Indigenous beliefs, including the sanctity of the Earth and stories of creation.
The fake art and craft trade is not against the law in Australia unless imported souvenirs falsely claim to be authentic. Many souvenir shops stock boomerangs, didgeridoos, paintings, tea towels and ashtrays that have Indigenous themes.
There are fears that the flood of counterfeit items adorned with Indigenous imagery and symbols is pricing genuine products out of the market.
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A powerful Atlas 5 rocket was poised for liftoff early Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, carrying to Mars the first robotic NASA lander designed entirely for exploring the deep interior of the red planet.
The Mars InSight probe was scheduled to blast off from the central California coast at 4:05 a.m. PDT (1105 GMT), creating a luminous predawn spectacle of the first U.S. interplanetary spacecraft to be launched over the Pacific.
The lander will be carried aloft for NASA and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) atop a two-stage, 19-story Atlas 5 rocket from the fleet of United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin Corp and Boeing Co.
The payload will be released about 90 minutes after launch on a 301-million-mile (484 million km) flight to Mars. It is scheduled to reach its destination in six months, landing on a broad, smooth plain close to the planet’s equator called the Elysium Planitia.
InSight’s mission
That will put InSight roughly 373 miles (600 km) from the 2012 landing site of the car-sized Mars rover Curiosity. The new 800-pound (360-kg) spacecraft marks the 21st U.S.-launched Martian exploration, dating to the Mariner fly-by missions of the 1960s. Nearly two dozen other Mars missions have been launched by other nations.
Once settled, the solar-powered InSight will spend two years, about one Martian year, plumbing the depths of the planet’s interior for clues to how Mars took form and, by extension, the origins of the Earth and other rocky planets.
Measuring marsquakes
InSight’s primary instrument is a French-built seismometer, designed to detect the slightest vibrations from “marsquakes” around the planet. The device, to be placed on the surface by the lander’s robot arm, is so sensitive it can measure a seismic wave just one-half the radius of a hydrogen atom.
Scientists expect to see a dozen to 100 marsquakes over the course of the mission, producing data to help them deduce the depth, density and composition of the planet’s core, the rocky mantle surrounding it and the outermost layer, the crust.
The Viking probes of the mid-1970s were equipped with seismometers, too, but they were bolted to the top of the landers, a design that proved largely ineffective.
Apollo missions to the moon brought seismometers to the lunar surface as well, detecting thousands of moonquakes and meteorite impacts. But InSight is expected to yield the first meaningful data on planetary seismic tremors beyond Earth.
Insight also will be fitted with a German-made drill to burrow as much as 16 feet (5 meters) underground, pulling behind it a rope-like thermal probe to measure heat flowing from inside the planet.
Meanwhile, a special transmitter on the lander will send radio signals back to Earth, tracking Mars’ subtle rotational wobble to reveal the size of the planet’s core and possibly whether it remains molten.
Hitching a ride aboard the same rocket that launches InSight will be a pair of miniature satellites called CubeSats, which will fly to Mars on their own paths behind the lander in a first deep-space test of that technology.
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Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and heavy rains can cause large amounts of rock and soil to collapse under their own weight and tumble down a slope. These landslides can crush everything in their path. Aided by sophisticated satellites, scientists are creating a comprehensive catalogue of landslide-prone areas, hoping it will help affected communities predict when and where they might happen. VOA’s George Putic has more.
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A Malaysian businessman and his Chinese partners have set their sights on a traditional American pastime — horse racing. As VOA’s Abby Sun reports, two horses partly owned by the China Horse Club are among the top contenders to win this weekend’s Kentucky Derby. Robert Raffaele narrates.
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A group of Cuban artists plans on Saturday to launch a biennial independent of state institutions on the Communist-run island, despite fierce opposition from the government, which has called it a “provocative maneuver.”
Organizer Luis Manuel Otero Alcantara said he came up with the idea of the “00Biennial” when the government postponed the official one by a year to 2019, saying it had to prioritize funds on rebuilding after Hurricane Irma.
His project is controversial in a country where the state dominates all aspects of society, including culture, which it has promoted heavily since Cuba’s leftist 1959 revolution. Many Cuban artists told Otero Alcantara they fear their careers could be affected if they participate, he said.
Still, more than 100 artists, including several foreign ones, have agreed to participate and will display their work in the independent studios that have flourished in Havana in recent years, said Otero Alcantara.
That so many Cuban artists are backing the 00Biennial reflects both the eagerness of those already working outside institutions for an alternative platform and the increasing independence of others.
The growth in tourism, the private sector and internet access has made it easier for them to gain visibility and make money.
“I would like… to break with the myth built over 60 years that to do something independent, separate from the state, is the devil, or counterrevolution,” said Otero Alcantara.
Cuba’s National Union of Writers and Artists issued a statement on Thursday saying the 00Biennial aimed to “create a climate propitious to promoting the interests of the enemies of the nation” using “funds of the mercenary counter-revolution.
“We will not allow the name and significance of the Biennale of Havana to be tarnished,” it said.
Cuba’s longtime foe, the United States, has in the past provided funds to promote its alternative arts scene like rap as part of efforts to foster democracy on the island.
Otero Alcantara said he aimed for the 00Biennial to be inclusive and non-political.
But Jorge Fernandez, head of Cuba’s Museum of Fine Arts and director of the last official biennial, said that was either naive or disingenuous.
“Unfortunately, everything that is done in Cuba is politicized,” he said, standing in front of a vibrant work by Cuban surrealist Wifredo Lam inside the museum. “Even if they are not trying to, it can be done from abroad.”
The most famous participant is set to be Cuban performance artist Tania Bruguera, who works in both Havana and New York and won the Tate Modern’s coveted commission for the Turbine Hall this year.
She has had several run-ins with Cuban authorities over works testing the boundaries of freedom of expression, although she still has pieces exhibited on the island. In 2015, she set up an “Institute of Artivism” in her Havana home, holding workshops to “foster civic literacy and policy change.”
Foreign artists said they had not been aware of the controversy surrounding the 00Biennial when they applied to participate.
“I just thought – this is a way to show my work,” said Diego Gil Moreno de Mora, who plans to hang rows of skinned pig heads representing the people society chooses as scapegoats.
Given the 00Biennial’s meager funds, raised mainly through crowdfunding, according to organizers, participants were told they would have to finance their own flights and accommodations, and should present a work they could easily create on site.
One reason for this, they later learned, was that their work risked being confiscated by customs officials at the airport.
Colombian artist Natalia Lopez arrived early to create thousands of cubes of dirt in Havana’s parks for an installation in which visitors would walk on them, turning them once more into part of the earth.
The underlying concept was the importance of the earth as a whole rather than divided into territories, she said.
Some artists operating outside Cuban state institutions, like Osvaldo Navarro, part of the rap group La Alianza, said there was a need for alternative platforms.
He chose to leave the state-run Cuban Rap Agency a few years ago to be more free with his lyrics, but struggled to reach his public due to the state monopoly on the media and spaces.
“I hope they understand what we want to do,” said Navarro, after filming a video for a rap song about the 00Biennial on a Havana rooftop, “which is to showcase artists who don’t have a space elsewhere but who do good, pro-social art.”
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Tesla Inc Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk acknowledged on Friday that it was “foolish” of him to snub analysts on a conference call earlier in the week, but further needled Wall Street with a series of accusatory tweets.
In a post-earnings call on Wednesday, Musk refused to answer questions from analysts on the electric vehicle maker’s capital requirements, saying “boring, bonehead questions are not cool,” before turning questions over to a little known investor who runs HyperChange, a YouTube investment channel.
The outspoken performance shocked many analysts, sparked a fall in Tesla’s share price and led some to question whether Musk’s behavior could risk the company’s ability to raise capital.
In early-morning tweets on Friday, Musk said the two analysts he cut off — RBC Capital Markets’ Joseph Spak and Bernstein’s Toni Sacconaghi — “were trying to justify their Tesla short thesis.”
‘Shorting’ means they were betting the stock would fall, but the two have ‘hold’ or ‘neutral’ ratings on the stock, according to Thomson Reuters data. “I should have answered their questions live. It was foolish of me to ignore them,” Musk tweeted.
The two analysts were not immediately available for a comment.
The spat comes at a crunch time for Tesla, when it is struggling to ramp up production of its Model 3 sedan, on which its profitability depends. It is trying to build 5,000 of the vehicles per week by the end of June and overcome manufacturing hurdles that have delayed its rollout.
Although Musk has insisted the company neither needs nor wants new funding, many believe the company will seek to raise more capital by the end of 2018.
Tesla’s stock recovered a little on Friday, up 2.4 percent at $291 in early afternoon trade. But short sellers, who shorted nearly 400,000 shares on Thursday, doubled that amount on Friday, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners.
“Musk’s meltdown will change Tesla’s ability to raise capital when he needs it with a sector of investors,” said Eric Schiffer, chief executive of the Patriarch Organization, a Los Angeles-based private-equity firm.
“At this critical point, he needs to reinforce confidence, not raise a narrative of him as unstable and whose rational side is lost in space,” said Schiffer, who does not hold Tesla shares.
Jefferies analyst Philippe Houchois said the underlying business fundamentals were more important in any capital raise, although “management credibility” was also a factor.
“That has an impact but it’s not something that will prevent them from raising capital,” Houchois said.
Nord LB analyst Frank Schwope said that Musk’s refusal to answer questions or receive criticism was “not very clever” but added that his ability to find new money was still intact.
‘Dry’ questions
The questions Musk cut short on Wednesday related to Model 3 reservations and capital requirements.
“The ‘dry’ questions were not asked by investors, but rather by two sell-side analysts who were trying to justify their Tesla short thesis. They are actually on the *opposite* side of investors,” Musk tweeted on Friday.
“HyperChange represented actual investors, so I switched to them,” he wrote. On the call, he devoted 23 minutes to 25-year-old Tesla investor, Galileo Russell, who runs HyperChange TV.
At least three brokerages cut price targets on the stock following the call.
Sacconaghi, one of the rebuffed analysts, wrote: “We do worry that such theatrics will unnecessarily undermine investor confidence in Tesla’s outlook.”
Sacconaghi has a price target of $265 on Tesla’s stock and Spak lowered his target to $280 from $305 on Thursday. Tesla’s median Wall Street price target is $317.
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Google said Friday in a blog post that it would do a better job of verifying the identity of political ad buyers in the U.S. by requiring a government-issued ID and other key information.
Google will also require ad buyers to disclose who is paying for the ad. Google executive Kent Walker repeated a pledge he made in November to create a library of such ads that will be searchable by anyone. The goal is to have this ready this summer.
Google’s blog post comes short of declaring support for the Honest Ads Act, a bill that would impose disclosure requirements on online ads, similar to what’s required for television and other media. Facebook and Twitter support that bill.
Google didn’t immediately provide details on how the ID verification would work for online ad buys.
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We’re unwrapping the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending May 5, 2018.
Last week, we had a Hot Shot Debut in the Top Five … that doesn’t happen this time, but we do get a new entry.
Number 5: Zedd, Maren Morris & Grey “The Middle”
It happens in fifth place, where Zedd, Maren Morris and the U.S. duo Grey jump a slot with “The Middle.”
Current pop songs often travel a winding road to the countdown and this is no exception. Variety magazine reports that many singers auditioned for this song before Maren got the nod … among them Charli XCX, Camila Cabello, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tove Lo, Bebe Rexha, Demi Lovato, Elle King and others.
Number 4: Post Malone & Ty Dolla $ign “Psycho”
Post Malone and Ty Dolla $ign chill in fourth place with “Psycho.” Post dropped his second album “Beerbongs & Bentleys” on April 27, and it shattered some first-day streaming records. Spotify tweeted that the album posted record numbers both domestically, with 47 million streams, and globally, with 78 million. And that was only on the first day!
Number 3: Bebe Rexha & Florida Georgia Line “Meant To Be”
Bebe Rexha and Florida Georgia Line continue to dominate the Billboard Hot Country Songs list with “Meant To Be,” while holding in third place on the Hot 100. On April 25, James Cordon’s Carpool Karaoke Twitter page posted a selfie from Bebe and Wiz Khalifa … meaning we should probably look for them both in the popular show’s upcoming season. No release date has yet been announced.
Number 2: Drake “God’s Plan”
It’s no longer your Hot 100 champ, but “God’s Plan” hasn’t fallen far, spending another week in the runner-up slot. Drake’s next album “Scorpion” won’t appear for another month, but the roll-out points to an even bigger opening than “Views” in 2016. Forbes magazine writer Bryan Rolli credits Drake with using his stature to build up others through his music on this album cycle … which benefits everyone.
Number 1: Drake “Nice For What”
We’re not done with Drake yet: “Nice For What” spends a second week atop the Hot 100. Along with debuting atop the Hot 100, it also opened at No. 1 on the Streaming Songs Chart. It’s Drake’s fourth Streaming champ – tying him with Justin Bieber for the most victories on this list.
Will Drake keep his streak alive next week? We’ll find out in seven days.
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A prosecutor says more people will be charged in the criminal investigation of a cult-like group that included former “Smallville” actress Allison Mack.
At a court hearing on Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Moira Penza told a judge the government plans to file a new indictment naming more defendants, but he didn’t go into specifics.
Mack appeared at the hearing along with Keith Raniere, the leader of the group NXIVM. Both are charged with coercing women who joined the organization into becoming sex slaves.
Some of the women were branded with a symbol that prosecutors said contained Raniere’s initials.
Mack and Raniere have pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking. They have denied wrongdoing.
Raniere has been held without bail. Mack was freed with restrictions after a court appearance last month.
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Meghan Markle’s divorced parents will meet with Queen Elizabeth II and other royals before her May 19 wedding to Prince Harry and will have special roles in their daughter’s wedding, a palace spokesman said Friday.
At the wedding, the royal couple also plan to honor the memory of the late Princess Diana, Harry’s mother, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997.
Officials didn’t predict the weather — springtime in England can be glorious or horrid, sometimes on the same day — but they outlined plans for a celebration designed to spread from the privileged environs of Windsor Castle throughout Britain and the world, via television and the internet.
Here are some of the plans disclosed by Harry’s press secretary, Jason Knauf, during a briefing at Buckingham Palace:
Meghan’s parents to meet the queen, take part in wedding
Markle’s parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, will arrive during the week before the May 19 wedding so they have time to meet Harry’s family.
Knauf says they will visit with the queen, her husband Prince Philip, Harry’s father Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, and with Harry’s brother Prince William and his sister-in-law Kate.
Ragland will travel with her daughter by car to Windsor Castle on May 19 and Thomas Markle will walk his daughter down the aisle of St. George’s Chapel for the ceremony.
Knauf says Markle is “delighted” that her parents will be by her side. He did not say whether Markle’s half brother and half sister will attend the wedding.
Princess Diana’s family will have a role as well
The press secretary says Harry is “keen to involve his mother’s family in the wedding” and that all three of Diana’s siblings will be present. One of Diana’s two older sisters, Jane Fellowes, will give a reading during the ceremony to represent Diana’s family.
No Maid of Honor
Markle, an American actress who came to prominence in the TV series “Suits,” will not have a maid of honor during the ceremony.
Harry has chosen William as his best man.
Young bridesmaids and page boys
Knauf says all the bridesmaids and page boys will be children. That may mean a role for Prince George, 4, and Princess Charlotte, 3, the children of Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. But don’t bother looking for Prince Louis — born in late April — as the youngest prince will not attend the wedding.
Don’t ask about the dress
Palace officials are determined that the style and designer of Markle’s wedding gown will be kept secret until the moment she gets out of the car to walk into the chapel. They say this tradition is very important — but that won’t keep speculators from trying to guess who has received the most important dressmaking assignment of the year.
Separated the night before
The press secretary says Harry and Markle will spend the night before the wedding apart. They have been living together in recent months since announcing their engagement. They will spend their first night as a married couple in Windsor Castle.
Good wishes for Prince Philip’s health
Palace officials say they’re hopeful that 96-year-old Prince Philip, Harry’s grandfather, will be well enough to attend the wedding festivities . The queen’s husband has been recovering from hip replacement surgery and has not participated in any public events since being discharged from the hospital in mid-April.
Follow the wedding at home
The palace plans to publish the Order of Service on its website the morning of the wedding so people watching it on television will be better able to follow what’s taking place inside the church.
Delayed honeymoon
Knauf would not reveal where the newest royal couple will spend their honeymoon, but he said they won’t be leaving right after the wedding. Instead they plan to make their first public appearance as a married couple during the week following the ceremony. In the past, they have traveled in Africa together.
The Nobel Prize in literature will not be awarded this year following sex-abuse allegations and other issues that have damaged the public image of the Swedish Academy that selects the winner.
The academy said Friday the 2018 prize will be given in 2019. The decision was made at a weekly meeting in Stockholm a day earlier, on the grounds that the academy is in no shape to pick a winner after a string of sex abuse allegations and financial crimes scandals.
“We find it necessary to commit time to recovering public confidence in the Academy before the next laureate can be announced,” Anders Olsson, the academy’s permanent secretary, said in a statement. He said the academy was acting “out of respect for previous and future literature laureates, the Nobel Foundation and the general public.”
It will be the first time since World War II that the prestigious award is not handed out. Last year, Japanese-born British novelist Kazuo Ishiguro won the prize.
Sexual abuse scandal
The Swedish Academy’s internal feud was triggered by an abuse scandal linked to Jean-Claude Arnault, a major cultural figure in Sweden who is also the husband of poet Katarina Frostenson, an academy member.
The academy later admitted in a report that “unacceptable behavior in the form of unwanted intimacy” took place within its ranks, but its handling of the allegations shredded the body’s credibility, called into question its judgment and forced its first female leader to resign.
A debate over how to face up to its flaws also divided its 18 members, who are appointed for life, into hostile camps and prompted seven members of the prestigious institution to leave or disassociate themselves from the secretive group.
At this week’s meeting, members agreed to review the academy’s operating practices, according to a statement released by the body.
The academy said that “work on the selection of a laureate is at an advanced stage and will continue as usual in the months ahead but the Academy needs time to regain its full complement.”
Nobel Foundation
The Nobel Foundation reacted promptly, saying it presumes that the academy “will now put all its efforts into the task of restoring its credibility as a prize-awarding institution and that the Academy will report the concrete actions that are undertaken.”
“We also assume that all members of the Academy realise that both its extensive reform efforts and its future organizational structure must be characterized by greater openness toward the outside world,” Carl-Henrik Heldin, the chairman of the Nobel Foundation Board said in a separate statement.
Allegations denied
Last fall, Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, published sexual misconduct claims from 18 women against Arnault, who runs a cultural center the academy used to help fund.
Arnault also has been suspected of violating century-old Nobel rules by leaking names of winners of the prestigious award, allegedly seven times, starting in 1996. It was not clear to whom the names were allegedly disclosed.
Bjorn Hurtig, the lawyer for the 71-year-old Arnault, has denied the allegations, telling The Associated Press that his client is the victim of “a witch hunt” and the claims “may only have the purpose of harming” him.
Other missed years
The world’s most prestigious prizes in science, medicine, literature and peacemaking have been withheld 49 times in all since the honors based on the will of Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel began in 1901.
No Nobel prizes at all were awarded during the World War II years of 1940-42. The Nobel literature prize has not been given out on seven occasions so far: 1914, 1918, 1935 and 1940-43 — in 1935 because no literature candidate was deemed worthy of the prize.
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