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Iraqi shoe thrower: I did it to protest ‘occupation’

TV reporter Muntadhar al-Zaidi, shown in a file photo, appeared in court to loud applause and cheers.
The Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at then-President George W. Bush told a judge Thursday that he was protesting against the U.S. "occupation" of Iraq.

Muntadhar al-Zaidi’s hour-long appearance at the Central Criminal Court of Iraq was his first public appearance since his arrest two months ago. Al-Zaidi told the judge that he had intended to humiliate Bush in the past. As Bush listed the gains made in Iraq during the mid-December news conference, al-Zaidi said, he was thinking about the millions of civilians who had been killed, widowed or displaced. Many Iraqis call the presence of American troops in Iraq an occupation. The trial will resume March 12 while the court asks the Cabinet to clarify whether Bush’s visit was official or not. Al-Zaidi is charged with “assaulting a foreign head of state on an official visit to Iraq.” In December, al-Zaidi’s defense team filed an appeal requesting the charge be changed from “assaulting” to “insulting.” According to the Iraqi penal code, anyone who assaults a foreign head of state is punished by “imprisonment for a term of years,” with the court deciding the sentence. Lawyer Dhiyaa al-Saadi told CNN in December that his client could face 15 years in jail if convicted. On the other hand, insulting a foreign head of state is punishable by a two-year prison sentence and a fine. Dressed in an olive-green suit and black shoes, al-Zaidi entered the courthouse to loud applause and cheers. Some family members and supporters, who were waiting outside, draped an Iraqi flag around his neck. A woman in the crowd shouted, “You hero!”

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As he left, the crowd pressed forward to get close to al-Zaidi, who waved as he was led away. Earlier, lawyer al-Saadi told the al-Baghdadia television network that his client’s “morale is high.” Al-Baghdadia is the journalist’s employer and has been calling for his release. Al-Zaidi threw both of his shoes at Bush during a news conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Baghdad. Neither shoe hit the president, and other people in the room quickly knocked Al-Zaidi to the ground before security officials arrested him.

By tradition, throwing a shoe is the most insulting act in the Arab world. His angry gesture touched a defiant nerve throughout the Arab and Muslim world. He is regarded by many people as a hero, and demonstrators have taken to the streets in the Arab world demanding that he be set free.

Kyrgyzstan parliament votes to close key U.S. base

Kyrgyzstan parliament has voted to close a base the U.S. military uses as a route for troops and supplies heading into Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Thursday.

The artist, Sean Delonas, called Sharpton’s reaction “ridiculous,” and the newspaper defended its decision to run his cartoon. But other African-American leaders joined Sharpton, who has been the butt of previous Delonas panels, in attacking what they called the cartoon’s racial overtones. “Sean Delonas’ cartoon in today’s New York Post is insensitive and offensive,” National Urban League President Marc Morial said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. “Comparing President Obama and his effort to revive the economy in a manner that depicts violence and racist inferences is unacceptable.” The cartoon showed two police officers standing over the body of a chimpanzee they just shot, a reference to this week’s mauling of a Connecticut woman by a pet chimp, which police killed after the attack. In the cartoon, one of the officers tells the other, “They’ll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill.” New York Post: See cartoon The nearly $800 billion stimulus package was the priority for Obama, the first African-American U.S. president, who signed it Tuesday. Watch Sharpton raise racism concerns, and see the cartoon » “The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys,” Sharpton said. Sharpton questioned whether Delonas “is making a less-than-casual inference to this form of racism.”

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“The Post should at least clarify what point they were trying to make in this cartoon, and reprimand their cartoonist for making inferences that are offensive and divisive at a time the nation struggles to come together to stabilize the economy if, in fact, this was yet another racially charged cartoon,” he said. In a brief phone interview with CNN, Delonas called the controversy “absolutely friggin’ ridiculous.” “Do you really think I’m saying Obama should be shot I didn’t see that in the cartoon,” Delonas said. “It’s about the economic stimulus bill,” he added. “If you’re going to make that about anybody, it would be [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi, which it’s not.” Col Allan, the Post’s editor-in-chief, said the cartoon “is a clear parody of a current news event.” Watch CNN panel discuss the cartoon » “It broadly mocks Washington’s efforts to revive the economy. Again, Al Sharpton reveals himself as nothing more than a publicity opportunist,” Allan said in a written statement. But Sharpton and Morial were not alone in their criticism. Barbara Ciara, president of the National Association of Black Journalists, said the Post showed a “serious lapse in judgment” by running the cartoon. “To think that the cartoonist and the responsible editors at the paper did not see the racist overtones of the finished product should insult their intelligence,” Ciara said in a written statement. “Instead, they celebrate their own lack of perspective and criticize those who call it what it is: tone deaf at best, overtly racist at worst.” Jeff Johnson, a former activist turned Black Entertainment Television host, said provocative cartoons are good, but that “none of this is appropriate on any level.” “The Post ultimately has to answer … [for] a specific reference to the president of the United States to violence and to his connection to an animal likeness,” Johnson said.

In California, civil rights leader Earl Ofari Hutchinson called on the Post to apologize. “In times past, that depiction of African-Americans has been vigorously condemned as racially offensive,” Hutchinson said in a statement issued from his Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable. “The cartoon also subtly condones violence. We call on the Post management to issue an immediate apology and a statement that racial insults will not be tolerated by Post writers and cartoonists.”

First photos of Tiger Woods junior

Tiger Woods poses with his family including new son Charlie and dogs Yogi and Taz.
The first photos of Tiger Woods cradling his new baby boy have been released amid speculation that the injured world number one could announce a return to competitive golf "any day now."

Charlie Axel Woods was born on Sunday, February 8, and is the second child for Woods and his wife Elin. He’s pictured here with his 20-month-old sister Sam their dogs Yogi and Taz, who is seen planting a well-timed lick on Tiger’s face. Woods had been waiting for the birth of his second child before making public any decision about a return to the Tour in 2009. His long-time caddie Steve Williams told Television New Zealand an announcement could come “any day now,” and that Woods could return to competitive golf “in the next few weeks.” “He’s probably 95 percent of the way there. He was waiting for the birth of his second child which came about last week so he’s ready to go, just needs a little bit more walking,” Williams told TVNZ. “He hasn’t been able to walk too well. But anytime in the next few weeks he’s going to tee it up.” Williams said Woods “definitely” wants to play a couple of tournaments before the U.S. Masters at Augusta in early April.

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The world number one has been out of the game since winning his 14th major title at the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines last June. He underwent reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and a week later ruled himself out for the rest of the 2008 season. Williams told TVNZ that Tiger had been practicing six hours a day, and that the only concession he has made to his injury was to adjust his swing. “He’s had to modify his swing a little bit to accommodate his knee but the guy always finds a way,” Williams said. He added: “Nine months out of the game after a major operation is a long time. But he’s a hell of a competitor and one of the best we’ve ever seen in this game so I would suspect that he’ll carry right on, but time will tell that.” Last month, Tiger issued a statement saying that he was practicing and making progress towards at a return to the PGA tour. He said after January 1, he started hitting longer irons and his driver, although was not swinging as hard as he could, adding “I’m working towards that goal.” Earlier this month he predicted the new addition to the family would make it a “hectic Spring” and said that he’d be taking it “tournament-to-tournament.”

U.S. to push for more NATO help in Afghanistan

Allied defense ministers are holding informal meetings in Krakow ahead of the coming NATO summit in April.
Having just upped the ante in Afghanistan by 17,000 troops, the United States will look for greater commitments from its NATO partners this week, but isn’t expecting much of a response.

“I think the likelihood of getting the allies to commit significant numbers of additional troops is not very great,’ U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on his way to Krakow, Poland. “To give credit where credit is due, the allies have increased the number of non-U.S. troops by about 15,000 over the last year or so.” “The question is whether additional commitments beyond that can be made, and I think there will be some, but I don’t think they will be big numbers,” he added. Allied defense ministers are holding informal meetings Thursday and Friday in Krakow ahead of the coming NATO summit in April. The notion of sending more combat troops to Afghanistan is unsavory to many allies, especially in the aftermath of an unpopular war in Iraq. It’s a reality Gates recognizes. “There is a lot of talk about a comprehensive approach in Afghanistan,” Gates said. “There needs to be a civilian strengthening on the civilian side as we are strengthening on the military side. And frankly … I hope that it may be easier for our allies to do that than significant troop increases, especially for the longer term.”

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Allies could help with police training, counternarcotics, governance and corruption, Gates suggested. The defense secretary would also like at least a temporary surge in coalition forces ahead of planned August elections. The extra U.S. forces are expected to be operational ahead of those elections, Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander in Afghanistan, told reporters Wednesday. About 38,000 U.S. troops are currently serving in Afghanistan. That number will increase to 55,000 once additional forces are deployed. Coalition forces from 41 other mostly NATO countries total about 31,500. The Obama administration has been conducting several reviews of U.S. policy in Afghanistan, including a review by Gen. David Petraeus, the commander in the region. The president and the Pentagon have been considering a request from McKiernan to send as many as 30,000 additional troops. “This increase is necessary to stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, which has not received the strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires,” Obama said Tuesday of the 17,000 extra forces committed to Afghanistan.

Kyrgyztan parliament votes to close key U.S. base

Allied defense ministers are holding informal meetings in Krakow ahead of the coming NATO summit in April.
Kyrgyzstan parliament has voted to close a base the U.S. military uses as a route for troops and supplies heading into Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Thursday.

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Octuplets’ family reportedly faces foreclosure

Records show a notice of mortgage default was filed Feb. 9 against the home where the octuplets' mother is living.
The California home where Nadya Suleman plans to raise her 14 children is at risk of foreclosure, CNN affiliate KTLA reported Wednesday.

Los Angeles County property records show a notice of mortgage default was filed Feb. 9 against the home of Suleman’s mother, Angela Suleman, the station reported. Angela Suleman is $23,225 behind in her mortgage payments and the three-bedroom house could be sold at an auction beginning May 5, documents say. Suleman has said that she was raising her six children in her mother’s home and planned to raise her newborn octuplets there. News of the foreclosure is the latest twist in the tale of Suleman and her children. Suleman, 33, had the octuplets through fertility treatments, despite being single and already having six young children and no clear source of income.

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The television station could not reach Suleman or her mother for comment, because the phone number at the home had been disconnected. A spokeswoman for Suleman recently quit because she had been flooded with death threats from people angry that Suleman is receiving disability payments and food stamps to help raise her children. Watch former spokeswoman for octuplets’ mom on Larry King Live »

That spokeswoman, Joann Killeen, told CNN’s Larry King on Monday that grandmother Angela Suleman had taken care of Suleman’s six children at the home while Suleman was on bed rest for 10 weeks before giving birth to the octuplets. “Grandma is tired,” Killeen said. “Grandma and grandpa are in their 70s. You know, they’ve raised a daughter. I’m sure they didn’t think that they were going to be helping to raise six children.”

Iraqi shoe thrower’s trial begins

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Dozens missing after riverboat collision in Bangladesh

Eric Holder spoke to an overflowing crowd for Black History Month at the Justice Department Wednesday.
More than 60 passengers were missing after a riverboat collided with a trawler in southern Bangladesh Thursday, police said.

In his first major speech since being confirmed, the nation’s first black attorney general told an overflow crowd celebrating Black History Month at the Justice Department the nation remains “voluntarily socially segregated.” “Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” Holder declared. Holder urged Americans of all races to use Black History Month as a time to have a forthright national conversation between blacks and whites to discuss aspects of race which are ignored because they are uncomfortable. The attorney general said employees across the country “have done a pretty good job in melding the races in the workplace,” but he noted that “certain subjects are off limits and that to explore them risks at best embarrassment and at worst the questioning of one’s character.” Watch Holder talk about race » “On Saturdays and Sundays, America in the year 2009 does not, in some ways, differ significantly from the country that existed some 50 years ago. This is truly sad,” Holder said. Following his address, Holder declined to say whether his unexpectedly stern message would be translated into policy.

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“It’s a question of being honest with ourselves and racial issues that divide us,” Holder told reporters in a hastily arranged news conference. “It’s not easy to talk about it. We have to have the guts to be honest with each other, accept criticism, accept new proposals.” The nation’s top law enforcement official vowed to “revitalize the Civil Rights Division” at the Justice Department but offered no specifics. In a reference to the highly divisive issue of affirmative action, Holder said there can be “very legitimate debate about the question of affirmative action. This debate can and should be nuanced, principled and spirited.” Watch CNN panel discuss Holder’s remarks » The attorney general criticized past public debates on the issue as “too often simplistic and left to those on the extremes who are not hesitant to use these issues to advance nothing more than their own narrow self-interest.” President Barack Obama has not yet nominated an assistant attorney general to head the Civil Rights Division, which is charged with enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws and which helps fashion race-related policy.

Allegations of politically motivated hiring in the division and increased emphasis on combating religious discrimination and human trafficking — rather than concentration on traditional civil rights enforcement — during the Bush administration caused some dissent in the department. Holder has promised to bring order to the Civil Rights Division.

Tennis Channel won’t air Dubai tournament

The Tennis Channel has canceled plans to broadcast a tournament in Dubai because an Israeli player was banned.

Shahar Peer, the 45th-ranked women’s player according to the World Tennis Association, qualified to compete in this week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships but was denied a visa by the United Arab Emirates. Dubai is one of the seven emirates of the UAE. The cable network had planned to air parts of the tournament this weekend. “Tennis Channel recognizes that this exclusion has been made by state authorities and neither the tour nor tournament directors themselves,” said a statement posted on the channel’s Web site Wednesday. “However we also honor the role and proud tradition that tennis has always played as a driving force for inclusion both on and off the courts. “Preventing an otherwise qualified athlete from competing on the basis of anything other than merit has no place in tennis or any other sport, and has the unfortunate result of undermining the credibility of the very nature of competition itself.” The announcement comes the same day The Wall Street Journal Europe announced it is dropping its sponsorship of the tournament. “The Wall Street Journal’s editorial philosophy is free markets and free people, and this action runs counter to the Journal’s editorial direction,” the Journal said in a written statement.

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The paper also said it plans to cancel a special tennis-themed advertising section scheduled for Monday and its backing of a men’s tournament in Dubai scheduled for next week. After days of international criticism, including the WTA saying it would review whether the UAE should be allowed to host future tournaments, the event’s organizers said Peer was barred from the tournament for her own protection, apparently alluding to Israel’s recent military offensive in Gaza. “We do not wish to politicize sports, but we have to be sensitive to recent events in the region and not alienate or put at risk the players and the many tennis fans of different nationalities that we have here,” organizers said in a written statement. The statement cited anti-Israel protests before one of Peer’s matches at a recent tournament in New Zealand. But this is not the first time the UAE has barred Israeli tennis players. Last year, an Israeli men’s doubles team was denied entry. The emirate also cited security concerns then. In a statement posted on the Tennis Channel’s site, Peer thanked the cable channel for its decision. “I was very moved and excited to hear about your decision not to broadcast the Dubai tournament following their denial to allow me to participate in the event,” she wrote. “You at Tennis Channel were the first ones to add action to the words and this is leading the way to other organizations as well. “All I want is to play tennis and do well. I believe you are helping me to do exactly this.”

Drunk man run over by train awarded $2.3 million

Dustin Dibble fell on New York subway tracks, was hit by a train and had his leg severed in 2006.
A Manhattan jury awarded $2.33 million to a man who lost his leg after drunkenly stumbling onto the path of an oncoming subway train.

Dustin Dibble, 25, landed in the subway tracks after a late night watching a hockey game at a bar with friends April 23, 2006. A downtown N train ran over him, severing his right leg. According to Dibble’s lawyer, Andrew Smiley, NYC Transit rather than Dibble bore primary responsibility for the accident because the subway driver had time to stop the train but did not. Smiley added that Dibble’s drunkenness did not excuse the driver, who said in a court deposition that he mistook Dibble for an inert object. “They don’t get a free pass as to why the person was on the tracks. They are trained to be able to look out for people on the tracks … and people are known to be intoxicated by night,” the lawyer said. Dibble’s blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident was .18, according to his lawyer, more than twice the legal limit had he been behind the wheel of a car. The jury ruled Tuesday that Dibble was 35 percent responsible for the accident, so his monetary compensation was also reduced by 35 percent — from $3,594,943 to $2,336,713. The deficit-plagued MTA plans to appeal the decision, according to spokesman James Anyansi.