The Iraqi journalist who became an instant media star for hurling his shoes at US President George W. Bush appeared on Wednesday before a judge investigating the incident, his brother said.
Muntazer al-Zaidi, 29, a television reporter whom relatives and colleagues said acted because he “detested” Bush and the US, was brought before the judge in the high-security Green Zone in the heart of Baghdad, the brother said.
Durgham al-Zaidi said he and another brother were told by the investigating judge that Muntazar had “cooperated well,” but that they were unable to attend the hearing and had no further details.
PHOTO: EPA
Under Iraqi law, Zaidi risks up to seven years in jail for “offending the head of a foreign state.”
Lead lawyer Dhiya al-Saadi said he had yet to see his client, but that he would apply for permission to see him and would also lodge a bail request.
The lawyer, who heads Iraq’s bar association, said he saw no reason for the bail application to be refused.
“The investigation is virtually complete and there is no risk of his absconding,” he said.
In a solidarity demonstration on Wednesday in the western city of Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold, students hurled shoes at US marines at a local business school.
One student was hit by gunfire in the leg. It was unclear who fired the shot.
“About 200 people gathered outside the Fallujah Business School,” the US military said in a statement.
“The crowd began throwing rocks, sticks and shoes at coalition forces who were at the school for conducting a planned Economic Development-Education Development engagement with the dean,” it said.
“While leaving the school, the coalition forces heard a gunshot. They did not see who fired the shot and continued to leave the school,” it said.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Kemal Ozdemir looked up at the bare peaks of Mount Cilo in Turkey’s Kurdish majority southeast. “There were glaciers 10 years ago,” he recalled under a cloudless sky. A mountain guide for 15 years, Ozdemir then turned toward the torrent carrying dozens of blocks of ice below a slope covered with grass and rocks — a sign of glacier loss being exacerbated by global warming. “You can see that there are quite a few pieces of glacier in the water right now ... the reason why the waterfalls flow lushly actually shows us how fast the ice is melting,” he said.
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS