A round-up of today's other world news in brief.
Top lawyer in Chechnya case shot dead
MOSCOW – A prominent Russian lawyer who had fought against the early release of an army colonel convicted of murdering a Chechen girl was shot dead along with a journalist on a Moscow street yesterday.
Stanislav Markelov acted for the family of 18-year-old Elza Kungayeva, whose murder in 2000 became a symbol of human rights abuses in war-ravaged Chechnya.
Markelov (34) had led legal attempts to block the early release of Russian colonel Yuri Budanov, who was convicted of her murder. Mostly Muslim Chechnya was rocked by protests last month when a court ruled Budanov should be released.
Prosecutors said Markelov’s body was found with several gunshot wounds on one of Moscows main streets. He had just given a briefing to reporters. – (Reuters)
Third bird flu victim confirmed
BEIJING – Chinese health authorities said yesterday a 16-year-old boy in central Hunan province is seriously ill after contracting the H5N1 bird-flu virus, the third case reported in as many days as the Lunar New Year holiday looms.
The Ministry of Health said on its website that the teenage student entered hospital in Hunan on January 16th and the province disease control centre confirmed he was infected with the H5N1 virus. He came from Guizhou province, next to Hunan. – (Reuters)
Russian military aid for Afghans
KABUL – Russia has accepted a request from President Hamid Karzai to provide military aid to Afghanistan, the Afghan government said yesterday.
The move comes amid complaints by many Afghans that Nato and the United States, who have thousands of troops in Afghanistan, have been slow to equip Afghan national forces to fight the Taliban. – (Reuters)
Seven dead in church collapse
SÃO PAULO – At least seven people were killed and more than 50 were injured on Sunday after the ceiling of an evangelical church in São Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, collapsed, fire officials said.
Television footage showed firemen and emergency workers sifting through a vast pile of rubble and broken rafters. Two rescue workers pulled a corpse on a stretcher from beneath a tangle of wooden beams.
The O Globo newspaper website quoted fire officials as saying between 400 and 500 people had been worshipping at the Igreja Renascer em Cristo (Reborn in Christ Church) when the structure collapsed. – (Reuters)
Lifetime honour for photographer
LONDON – Veteran French photographer Marc Riboud, whose pictures captured everything from the Vietnam war to everyday scenes of Parisian life, will be honoured with a lifetime achievement prize at the Sony World Photography Awards today.
The 85-year-old is probably best known for his 1967 image of a girl, Jane Rose Kasmir, holding a flower in her hand and standing in front of a row of soldiers whose rifles are raised during a US demonstration against the war in Vietnam. – (Reuters)
Policeman dies after bear attack
BUCHAREST – A Romanian policeman has died after being attacked by a brown bear on Sunday when he took a stroll outside a mountaintop village in central Romania, a local official said.
The 30-year-old died in hospital from his injuries.
“The village is isolated on the top of a mountain,” said Andrea Buzsi, spokeswoman for Covasna county police. – (Reuters)