Bosnian groups have nominated former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad for the Nobel Peace Prize for helping the country after its bloody civil war, the Star newspaper reported yesterday.
It said that he was nominated by four civil groups in Bosnia spearheaded by former president Ejup Ganic.
Mahathir was described in their nomination paper as the developing world's "most courageous advocate," the newspaper said.
Under Mahathir, Malaysia provided economic, political and humanitarian aid for Bosnia while it reeled from the trauma of conflict and ethnic cleansing in the 1992 to 1995 civil war.
Mahathir will this week host a conference on exposing war crimes, which he hopes will encourage governments to criminalize war.
When asked to comment on his nomination at a press conference yesterday, Mahathir simply laughed and tried to brush the question aside.
"I don't know about these things. I don't know if I will be asked to accept it or not ... can we have some other more interesting questions?" the former prime minister told reporters.
The deadline for nominations to the Nobel Institute in Oslo closed on Thursday. The winner will be announced in October and the prize will be awarded on Dec. 10. Last year, Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank were selected from a list of 191 nominees.
Mahathir, 81, who stepped down in 2003, has seized on the issue of conflict in the Middle East during his retirement.
He launched an unofficial war crimes tribunal last week to focus on victims of abuse in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories.
Mahathir said the international war crimes conference, which will be held in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, from today until Sunday, would highlight testimonies from people tortured and abused in war.
"What we are trying to correct is the thinking of people, the mindset of people ... and spread ideas and perceptions to support what we are subscribing to, which is the criminalization of war," Mahathir said.
The war crimes tribunal would begin its preliminary proceedings with testimonies from witnesses, victims and a panel of expert judges, he said.
"We may not get the accused to come to the court, but trials in absentia have been done before. We think this court will make real, fair decisions," Mahathir said.
READINESS: According to a survey of 2,000 people, 86 percent of Swedes believe the country is worth defending in the event of a military attack Swedes are stocking up on food items in case of war, as more conflict in Europe no longer feels like a distant possibility, and authorities encourage measures to boost readiness. At a civil preparedness fair in southwest Stockholm, 71-year-old Sirkka Petrykowska said that she is taking the prospect of hostilities seriously and preparing as much as she can. “I have bought a camping stove. I have taken a course on preservation in an old-fashioned way, where you can preserve vegetables, meat and fruit that lasts for 30 years without a refrigerator,” Petrykowska said. “I’ve set aside blankets for warmth, I
FRUSTRATIONS: One in seven youths in China and Indonesia are unemployed, and many in the region are stuck in low-productivity jobs, the World Bank said Young people across Asia are struggling to find good jobs, with many stuck in low-productivity work that the World Bank said could strain social stability as frustrations fuel a global wave of youth-led protests. The bank highlighted a persistent gap between younger and more experienced workers across several Asian economies in a regional economic update released yesterday, noting that one in seven young people in China and Indonesia are unemployed. The share of people now vulnerable to falling into poverty is now larger than the middle class in most countries, it said. “The employment rate is generally high, but the young struggle to
ENERGY SHIFT: A report by Ember suggests it is possible for the world to wean off polluting sources of power, such as coal and gas, even as demand for electricity surges Worldwide solar and wind power generation has outpaced electricity demand this year, and for the first time on record, renewable energies combined generated more power than coal, a new analysis said. Global solar generation grew by a record 31 percent in the first half of the year, while wind generation grew 7.7 percent, according to the report by the energy think tank Ember, which was released after midnight yesterday. Solar and wind generation combined grew by more than 400 terawatt hours, which was more than the increase in overall global demand during the same period, it said. The findings suggest it is
‘ARMED CONFLICT’: At least 21 people have died in such US attacks, while experts say the summary killings are illegal even if they target confirmed narcotics traffickers US forces on Friday carried out a strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat off the coast of Venezuela, killing four people, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said. The latest strike, which Hegseth announced in a post on X, brings the number of such US attacks to at least four, leaving at least 21 people dead. An accompanying video shared by Hegseth showed a boat speeding across the waves before being engulfed in smoke and flames. “Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed,” the Pentagon chief wrote. He said the strike “was conducted in international waters just off the
RSS