Pro-democracy leader wins seat

Pro-democracy candidate Anson Chan, a hugely popular former government official, won a seat in Hong Kong’s legislature today, a win she hailed as a victory for democracy in the southern Chinese territory.

Chan received 175,874 votes, or about 54.6 percent, of the ballots cast in Sunday’s election, according to official results announced early today. The race, billed as a referendum on democracy, was one of the most keenly watched and closest fought elections since the territory was returned to China a decade ago.

Dubbed “Hong Kong’s conscience” for her championing of civil liberties, Chan wants Hong Kong to be able to elect all its lawmakers and leader by 2012. Currently, only half the legislature is elected by voters, and Beijing has refused to set a date for full democracy.

KHARTOUM, Sudan

Britons to seek teacher’s pardon

Sudan’s president will meet a British delegation to discuss a possible pardon for a teacher imprisoned in Sudan for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammad, a presidential spokesman said Sunday.

Two Muslim members of British parliament, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Nazir Ahmed, have been in Sudan for two days trying to set up a meeting with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. He is the only one who can pardon Gillian Gibbons, the 54-year-old British teacher.

Gibbons was sentenced Thursday to 15 days in prison and deportation for insulting Islam because she allowed her students to give a teddy bear the same name as Islam’s revered prophet – a violation under Sudan’s Islamic Sharia law.

HAVANA

Castro nominated for parliament

Fidel Castro was nominated for a seat in Cuba’s parliament Sunday, leaving open the option for the ailing 81-year-old to stay on as the communist-run island’s president.

A National Assembly seat is a prerequisite for seeking the presidency, and if Castro had failed to be nominated it could have heralded a decision to remove himself from the office after almost a half century as Cuba’s undisputed leader.

There was no immediate word on whether Castro will accept the nomination.