Those shoes
They were the shoes heard round the world, as their short flight toward (but past) President George W. Bush made their owner a folk hero to many Arabs. What’s next: Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi faces years in prison, and a judge is probing whether the barefoot pundit was beaten in custody.
Motown funk
Citing imminent danger to the national economy, Bush ordered an emergency bailout of the U.S. auto industry, offering $17.4 billion in rescue loans and demanding tough concessions from autoworkers and carmakers, which announced extended holiday shutdowns.
Karzai’s lament
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a onetime darling of the West who has fallen from favor as his country loses ground to a Taliban-led insurgency, defended his record to the Tribune while criticizing how the U.S. plans to deploy more soldiers in Afghanistan.
Cheney says ‘I do’
Vice President Dick Cheney said he was directly involved in approving severe interrogation methods used by the CIA, and that the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should remain open indefinitely. “I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared,” Cheney said in an interview on ABC News. Asked whether he believes it was appropriate to use waterboarding on terrorism suspects, Cheney said: “I do.”
Party like it’s 1939
Russia may redefine treason to include passing state secrets to watchdog groups and damaging the “constitutional order” — moves critics likened to Josef Stalin’s. But that barb is losing its sting as the Kremlin works to remake the dictator’s image into that of a strong leader who made hard decisions for the greater good. Those hard decisions included the deaths of up to 20 million Soviet citizens.
Winter’s howl
As wintry weather swept much of the U.S., tens of thousands of New Englanders remained without power in freezing weather more than a week after ice storms battered the region.
Zimbabwe epidemic
Declaring “Zimbabwe is mine,” President Robert Mugabe defied international pressure to cede power even as the death toll from a cholera outbreak passed 1,000 in his ravaged country. Reversing weeks of denial, Mugabe’s regime blamed the epidemic on a Western plot.
Catch what you missed
Find the top national and international news stories of the past week at chicagotribune.com/newsrecap
