International Emmy nods: Haiti orphans, refugees

Television productions that explored the children orphaned by Haiti's devastating earthquake and took viewers aboard a boat smuggling refugees from North Africa to the Italian island of Lampedusa are among the nominees for International Emmy awards in the current affairs and news categories.

The eight nominees from seven countries include "Haiti's Orphans: One Year After the Earthquake" on Canada's CBC Television and "Extra: The RTL Magazine - The Merciless Traffic in the Flight From Africa" from Germany's infoNetwork GmbH in the current affairs category.

Brazil's TV Globo had two nominations for "Profession: Reporter - Children and Drugs: A Childhood Overtaken by Addiction" in current affairs and "Jornal Nacional - Rains in the Mountain Region of Rio" in news on the heavy rains and landslides in January 2011 that caused the worst natural disaster in Brazil's history.

The other nominees in the news category were Japan's NHK for its coverage of the March 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami; Qatar's Al Jazeera for its reporting on the Libyan uprising and fall of Tripoli and Russia's RT Channel for its reports on the global Occupy Movement that began in New York's financial district.

The other current affairs nominee was "China Dolls - Fragile Bodies, Strong Minds" from Hong Kong's Phoenix Satellite Television Co. Ltd. about the struggles of two Chinese families afflicted by the rare brittle bone disease.

"The 2012 nominees present a powerful showcase of the human, political and socio-economic drama unfolding daily around the world," said Bruce L. Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, in a news release.

The winners will be announced at an Oct. 1 ceremony in New York.