Norway: Norway to broadcast 100 hours of chess
Norwegian broadcaster NRK has decided to broadcast every single move of Magnus Carlsen’s battle to become the world’s chess champion -- a massive 100 hours of coverage -- on its top channel NRK1, a move influenced by its latest string of ’slow-TV' successes.
The 22-year-old Norwegian prodigy will this Saturday begin playing reigning champion Viswanathan “Vishy” Anand in the Indian city of Chennai, in a contest that will continue over 19 days.
“It’s a little crazy to broadcast nearly 100 hours of chess on the country’s largest TV channel, but we think the Norwegian people would like to finally be able to follow Magnus Carlsen’s outstanding achievements up close,” Rune Haug, NRK’s head of sports said. ...
The Local
Canada: What’s going on in B.C.’s weird ocean waters?
Sea stars from California to Alaska are dying. A tropical turtle was found in Prince Rupert last week. And just this weekend, hundreds of dolphins were spotted in the Straight of Georgia.
So what is going on? The CBC’s Belle Puri set out to find out -- and discovered scientists are just as puzzled as the rest of us. ...
CBC
Sweden: Sweden film fest keeps chair for China’s Weiwei
World-famous Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei will be represented by an empty chair when the Stockholm Film Festival opens on Wednesday, as the jury member has been prevented from travelling by the Chinese government.
The 56-year-old Ai was deliberately chosen for the film fest - where the theme this year is “freedom” - even though he was never likely to attend.
“I feel very good about being part of the jury because for me it’s always important to get involved,” he told AFP by telephone.
And “I still can make an object which expresses my anxiety and frustration,” he added.
His chair, which was shipped from Beijing for the 12-day event, is an ironic commentary on his absence, the artist said. ...
The Local
Indonesia: North Sumatra’s Mount Toba may erupt again, at any time
Geologists and geophysicists say that Mount Toba, which erupted thousands of years ago, turning into Lake Toba, still contains a dangerous magma chamber and its activity needs further study.
Indonesia Geological Experts Association president Rovicky Dwi Putrohari said the magma chamber could be observed in a study conducted by researchers recently. Rovicky added that researchers used the tomography method to detect the magma chamber.
Researchers said the Mount Toba magma chamber was located at a depth of between 20 kilometers and 100 kilometers. ...
The Jakarta Post
South Australia: Publican fights to save huge outback desert etching of the Marree Man
An outback publican says there may be just months left to preserve the Marree Man, an image bulldozed into the desert sands of South Australia 15 years ago.
Marree publican Phil Turner has met various government department officials to discuss ways to restore the desert artwork which many think is of an Indigenous man hunting with a throwing stick.
Mr Turner said there was plenty of support for the idea of preserving the image for its tourism benefits, but some form of funding needed to be agreed on.
“It’s probably about half-a-million dollars, which I think is chicken feed compared to the expected returns over perhaps a three- to five-year period of anywhere from $20-22 million a year,” he said. ...
ABC
Germany: Nazi Plunder - 1,500 Modern Artworks Found in Munich Flat
The spectacular discovery of modernist masterpieces in a squalid Munich apartment is the latest twist in a story that began almost 80 years ago. Many of the works appear to be among those confiscated by the Nazis as “degenerate art,” and it remains unclear what will become of them.
The scene sounds like something out of a crime novel. Surrounded by piles of rotten food stacked up on homemade furniture, missing art works worth around €1 billion ($1.35 billion) have been discovered in a grubby Munich apartment. And it appears that the story, broken by German news magazine Focus on Sunday, has only just begun. ...
Der Spiegel
United Arab Emirates: World’s largest floating book fair returns to the UAE
MV Logos Hope, the world’s largest floating book fair, is returning to the UAE for a month-long stay in the capital till Nov. 24 and RAK port till Dec. 9.
In cooperation with the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority and with the support of Abu Dhabi Ports Company, the ship and the fair will be open to the public at Freeport Abu Dhabi, berth 40, from tomorrow to November 24, then move to Ras Al Khaimah’s port, where people can visit it from November 27 till December 9.
On board the Logos Hope will be over 5,000 book titles, largely in English and Arabic, for sale at lower prices than bookshops offer.
“Most of our books are donated by USA and UK publishers, but we also purchase some at very cheap prices through agreements we have with certain publishers,” said Katrina Lynch, project manager of MV Logos Hope. ...
Khaleej Times
