Today's other stories in brief
Nobel Prize call for Chinese dissident
PRAGUE – A group of 91 Czech and Slovak lawmakers have nominated jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was inspired by Czechoslovak opposition to communism, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Mr Liu, China’s most prominent dissident, was jailed for 11 years on December 25th last year for co-authoring the Charter 08 petition which called for political reforms. The document was modelled on the Charter 77 petition which became the rallying call for the human rights movement in communist Czechoslovakia in 1977.
The Czech nomination was led by Alexandr Vondra, a Czech senator and deputy prime minister until last year, who was one of the Charter 77 spokesmen, and was jailed by the country’s communist rulers.
“Liu was inspired by the Charter 77, not only by the name but also in substance and the aims,” Mr Vondra said.
– (Reuters)
Bill Clinton to co-ordinate Haiti aid efforts
UNITED NATIONS – The UN yesterday assigned former US president Bill Clinton, now UN special envoy to Haiti, to co-ordinate international relief efforts in the earthquake-devastated country.
Mr Clinton will seek to organise the mass of aid initiatives and offers that have poured in since the 7.0-magnitude earthquake killed up to 200,000 Haitians and made up to one million homeless on January 12th, UN officials said.
Three weeks after the quake, a huge US-led international relief operation has been struggling to help survivors. The UN, whose mission chief in Haiti and almost 100 other staff were killed, has admitted early aid efforts were disorganised, but says the situation is improving daily.
Mr Clinton said he was “pleased to take on an expanded role in the recovery efforts”. – (Reuters)
Woman guilty of shooting interrogators
NEW YORK – A Pakistani woman was found guilty in a New York court yesterday of shooting at her US interrogators in Afghanistan.
Aafia Siddiqui (37), grabbed a US warrant officer’s rifle when she was being detained for questioning in July 2008 in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province, and fired at FBI agents and military personnel as she was wrestled to the ground.
None of the US agents or personnel were injured, but Siddiqui, who the US government has accused of links with al-Qaeda, was shot.
The 12-member jury deliberated for two days before reaching a unanimous verdict on seven counts, including attempted murder and assault.
Though guilty on two attempted murder counts, the jury said the crime was not premeditated. Siddiqui faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. – (Reuters)