China may free second dissident

Beijing - China hinted yesterday that a second leading dissident, student leader Wang Dan, would be released soon, following the parole on health grounds of Mr Wei Jingsheng on Sunday and his exile to the US, writes Conor O'Clery. Further evidence of a softening in China's prison policy came with news that a former Chinese interpreter at the Washington Post's Beijing bureau, Ms Lily Zhao, was released 18 months early on October 20th for good behaviour. She was jailed in 1993 for "illegally providing national secrets to a foreigner".