UNESCO drops prize sponsored by E.Guinea's Obiang

AFP reports today that the UNESCO Executive Board has decided to put a controversial science award on hold "and continue consultations among all parties concerned, in a spirit of mutual respect and until a consensus is reached."

The award which was made possible by a donation of $3 million, was to be named after the President of Equatorial Guinea. When the award was announced, a firestorm of protest came from human rights organizations and intellectual leaders dismayed by the potential of naming a prize after a man most known as a dictator of a country with a poor human rights record.

Read the UNESCO announcement of the decision!