Nobel Peace Prize fetches record $103.5m
DMITRY Muratov, the co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize and the editor of one of Russia’s last major independent newspapers, auctioned off his Nobel medal for a record $103.5 million to aid children displaced by the war in Ukraine.
All proceeds from the auction, which coincided with the World Refugee Day on Monday, will benefit UNICEF’s humanitarian response for Ukraine’s displaced children, Heritage Auctions, which conducted the sale in New York, said in a statement.
Muratov’s Novaya Gazeta newspaper, fiercely critical of President Vladimir Putin and his government, suspended operations in Russia in March after warnings from the state over its coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Pressure against liberal Russian media outlets has been continuous under Mr Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, but it has mounted after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
Mr Muratov was attacked with red paint in April.
Russia’s mainstream media and statecontrolled organisations follow closely the language used by the Kremlin to describe the conflict with Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation” to ensure Russian security and denazify its neighbour.
Kyiv and its Western allies say it is an unprovoked war of aggression.
According to US media reports, the auction
“Mr. Muratov, with the full support of his staff at Novaya Gazeta, is allowing us to auction his medal not as a collectible but as an event that he hopes will positively impact the lives of millions of Ukrainian refugees.”
A CALIFORNIA jury has found comedian Bill Cosby was liable for sexually assaulting a woman at the Playboy Mansion in 1975 when she was a teenager.
The jury awarded Judy Huth $US500,000 ($F1.09m) in damages for emotional distress she said she suffered years later when multiple allegations against Cosby from other women helped stir up memories of her interaction with the comedian.
Ms Huth testified that the comedian invited her and a friend to the Playboy Mansion when she was 16, and he was 37, and forced her to perform a sex act on him.
Cosby, who did not appear in person at the trial, denied the allegation. In video of a deposition shown to jurors, Cosby said he did not remember Ms
Huth. But he said the incident could not have happened because he would not have pursued sexual contact at that time with someone who was under age 18.
Cosby attorney Jennifer Bonjean challenged Ms Huth’s account throughout the trial, including her revised timeline.