BAGHDAD – Iraqi police have taken apart a sculpture honoring the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at former President George W. Bush.
The sculpture's base at an orphanage in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit was demolished by policemen.
The sofa-sized copper-colored shoe itself had become a plaything for local children by Sunday.
The sculpture was unveiled last week but Iraqi police demanded it be removed because they said the state-run orphanage site could not be used for works with a political bias.
Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes during a Dec. 14 news conference in Baghdad.
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Thursday, February 12, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Grandma: Octuplets mom obsessed with having kids
LOS ANGELES – The woman who gave birth to octuplets this week conceived all 14 of her children through in vitro fertilization, is not married and has been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, her mother said.
Angela Suleman told The Associated Press she was not supportive when her daughter, Nadya Suleman, decided to have more embryos implanted last year.
"It can't go on any longer," she said in a phone interview Friday. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."
Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth Monday in nearby Bellflower. She was expected to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days, and her newborns for at least a month.
A spokeswoman at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center said the babies were were progressing daily, with all eight breathing unassisted and being tube-fed.
While her daughter recovers, Angela Suleman is taking care of the other six children, ages 2 through 7, at the family home in Whittier, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
She said she warned her daughter that when she gets home from the hospital, "I'm going to be gone." read more...
Angela Suleman told The Associated Press she was not supportive when her daughter, Nadya Suleman, decided to have more embryos implanted last year.
"It can't go on any longer," she said in a phone interview Friday. "She's got six children and no husband. I was brought up the traditional way. I firmly believe in marriage. But she didn't want to get married."
Nadya Suleman, 33, gave birth Monday in nearby Bellflower. She was expected to remain in the hospital for at least a few more days, and her newborns for at least a month.
A spokeswoman at Kaiser Permanente Bellflower Medical Center said the babies were were progressing daily, with all eight breathing unassisted and being tube-fed.
While her daughter recovers, Angela Suleman is taking care of the other six children, ages 2 through 7, at the family home in Whittier, about 15 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
She said she warned her daughter that when she gets home from the hospital, "I'm going to be gone." read more...
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Lawyer: US cop who killed man pulled wrong gun
OAKLAND, California — The transit officer who shot and killed an unarmed man may have mistakenly pulled his service pistol instead of a stun gun, according to documents filed by his lawyer Friday.
Attorney Michael Rains made the argument in urging a judge to grant bail for 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson later set bail at $3 million.
Jacobson said he set the high amount in part because he considered Mehserle a flight risk after the former officer fled to Nevada during the initial investigation.
It was not immediately clear if Mehserle would be able to post bail.
Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder in the death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was killed early New Year's Day. Cell phone videos of the incident, widely viewed on the Internet, showed the officer standing over Grant as he was lying facedown on an Oakland train platform and firing one shot into the man's back.
Grant died of the gunshot wound to his torso. read more...
Attorney Michael Rains made the argument in urging a judge to grant bail for 27-year-old Johannes Mehserle. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson later set bail at $3 million.
Jacobson said he set the high amount in part because he considered Mehserle a flight risk after the former officer fled to Nevada during the initial investigation.
It was not immediately clear if Mehserle would be able to post bail.
Mehserle has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder in the death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was killed early New Year's Day. Cell phone videos of the incident, widely viewed on the Internet, showed the officer standing over Grant as he was lying facedown on an Oakland train platform and firing one shot into the man's back.
Grant died of the gunshot wound to his torso. read more...
Monday, February 9, 2009
Bollywood promoter sentenced in bank fraud scam
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia — A well-known Bollywood promoter and film producer from northern Virginia was sentenced to seven years in prison Friday for one of the largest bank fraud scams in the state's history.
Vijay K. Taneja, 48, of Fairfax, Virginia, was also ordered to pay $33 million in restitution to the four banks he swindled in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme.
Taneja pleaded guilty in November in US District Court in Alexandria to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
While US District Court Judge Claude Hilton could have imposed a higher sentence, he accepted the recommended .
Prosecutor Stephen Learned said Taneja's fraud — in which four banks lost a combined $33 million — was the largest bank fraud scheme prosecuted at the courthouse in at least 20 years.
"It's a very significant sentence," Learned said of the seven years.
Taneja owned his own mortgage loan business since 1990, focusing on the South Asian community. He was better known in northern Virginia's large Indian community, though, as a concert promoter and producer of Bollywood films. He also donated large amounts to Hindu temples in the region. read more...
Vijay K. Taneja, 48, of Fairfax, Virginia, was also ordered to pay $33 million in restitution to the four banks he swindled in a complicated mortgage fraud scheme.
Taneja pleaded guilty in November in US District Court in Alexandria to conspiracy to commit money laundering.
While US District Court Judge Claude Hilton could have imposed a higher sentence, he accepted the recommended .
Prosecutor Stephen Learned said Taneja's fraud — in which four banks lost a combined $33 million — was the largest bank fraud scheme prosecuted at the courthouse in at least 20 years.
"It's a very significant sentence," Learned said of the seven years.
Taneja owned his own mortgage loan business since 1990, focusing on the South Asian community. He was better known in northern Virginia's large Indian community, though, as a concert promoter and producer of Bollywood films. He also donated large amounts to Hindu temples in the region. read more...
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Make that 14: Octuplet mom already had 6 kids
WHITTIER, California — How in the world does a woman with six children get a fertility doctor to help her have more — eight more?
An ethical debate erupted Friday after it was learned that the Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets this week had six children already.
Large multiple births "are presented on TV shows as a 'Brady Bunch' moment. They're not," fumed Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. He noted the serious and sometimes lethal complications and crushing medical costs that often come with high-multiple births.
But Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who has fertility clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, countered: "Who am I to say that six is the limit? There are people who like to have big families."
Kaiser Permanente announced the mega-delivery Monday, with delighted doctors saying they had initially expected seven babies and were surprised when the cesarean section yielded an eighth.
Multiple births this big are considered impossible without fertility treatment, but the doctors who delivered the babies would not say whether the 33-year-old woman had used fertility drugs or had embryos implanted in her womb. read more...
An ethical debate erupted Friday after it was learned that the Southern California woman who gave birth to octuplets this week had six children already.
Large multiple births "are presented on TV shows as a 'Brady Bunch' moment. They're not," fumed Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. He noted the serious and sometimes lethal complications and crushing medical costs that often come with high-multiple births.
But Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, who has fertility clinics in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, countered: "Who am I to say that six is the limit? There are people who like to have big families."
Kaiser Permanente announced the mega-delivery Monday, with delighted doctors saying they had initially expected seven babies and were surprised when the cesarean section yielded an eighth.
Multiple births this big are considered impossible without fertility treatment, but the doctors who delivered the babies would not say whether the 33-year-old woman had used fertility drugs or had embryos implanted in her womb. read more...
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