From AP via CTV.ca:

The trial of an Iraqi journalist who gained cult status for throwing his shoes at former U.S. President George W. Bush was adjourned Thursday until next month as supporters said he should be praised for standing up to the U.S. "occupier," not punished.

Muntadhar al-Zeidi walked into the courtroom in western Baghdad and was handed a scarf printed with a red, black and green Iraqi flag, which he kissed. Relatives and supporters applauded and chanted "Imam Ali is with you hero," in reference to a revered Shiite Muslim saint. ...

Judge Abdul-Amir al-Rubaie then held a closed session before announcing the trial was postponed until March 12 because the court needs time to ask the Iraqi Cabinet whether Bush's visit was "formal or informal."

Legendary writer Gay Talese, writing on nytimes.com's City Room blog (posted Feb. 17), on how he helped some homeless panhandlers update their sales pitches: (thanks, GuyNick!)

Brennan Cavanaugh Jimmy Roberts, who collects money for the homeless, and the writer Gay Talese, whose idea for a new sign — including the words “Obama’s Stimulus Plan” — encourages passers-by to give.

From the Toronto Star:

"Toronto Wins" trumpets the front cover of the March issue of The Atlantic, the victorious headline set against a panoramic, lakefront shot of the Rogers Centre, the CN Tower and the skyscrapers of the King-Bay financial nexus.

But before we descend into an orgy of self-congratulation, consider that Toronto is one of four cities touted as a potentially strengthened survivor of the current financial crisis – along with New York, Chicago and San Francisco. And each has its own cover.

Al-Jazeera English hopes to do what its big brother was essentially denied in 2004 -- appear on Canadians' television sets via cable and satellite.

Jonathan Rosenberg, senior vice president of product development at Google, posted the following to the Google blog. It doesn't excerpt very easily, but I'll try to pick out some samples of the key concepts as it applies to online journalism and releated topics. However, I would encourage you to read the whole thing.

In the Swat valley, Pakistan has signed a peace deal with the Taliban that will lead to the imposition of Sharia law -- exactly what the Taliban was fighting for.

On Valentine's Day, tech thingee Cali Lewis of Dallas, Texas wrote the following on Twitter:

It's so sad that smart people don't pay attention to the science that proves global warming is a hoax.

Alas, she doesn't appear to be willing to publish the comment I left on her blog. So I'll publish it.

Update: Sometime before 3 p.m. (and after I Twittered about it), the comment was approved -- more than 14 hours after I left it, and long after other, later ones were approved.

I missed this at the time (lazy blogger me), but here was the prediction of the UK's Met Office for global temperatures in 2009: (posted Dec. 30, 2008)

2009 is expected to be one of the top-five warmest years on record, despite continued cooling of huge areas of the tropical Pacific Ocean, a phenomenon known as La Niña.

According to climate scientists at the Met Office and the University of East Anglia the global temperature is forecast to be more than 0.4 °C above the long-term average. This would make 2009 warmer than the year just gone and the warmest since 2005.

During La Niña, cold waters rise to the surface to cool the ocean and land surface temperatures. The 2009 forecast includes an updated decadal forecast using a Met Office climate model. This indicates a rapid return of global temperature to the long-term warming trend, with an increasing probability of record temperatures after 2009.

From the UK's Met Office (posted Feb. 11):

Dr Vicky Pope, Met Office Head of Climate Change, calls on scientists and the media to ‘rein in’ some of their assertions about climate change.

She says: “News headlines vie for attention and it is easy for scientists to grab this attention by linking climate change to the latest extreme weather event or apocalyptic prediction. But in doing so, the public perception of climate change can be distorted. The reality is that extreme events arise when natural variations in the weather and climate combine with long-term climate change. This message is more difficult to get heard. Scientists and journalists need to find ways to help to make this clear without the wider audience switching off. ...

“For climate scientists, having to continually rein in extraordinary claims that the latest extreme is all due to climate change is, at best, hugely frustrating and, at worst, enormously distracting. Overplaying natural variations in the weather as climate change is just as much a distortion of the science as underplaying them to claim that climate change has stopped or is not happening. Both undermine the basic facts that the implications of climate change are profound and will be severe if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut drastically and swiftly over the coming decades.

“When climate scientists like me explain to people what we do for a living we are increasingly asked whether we “believe in climate change”. Quite simply it is not a matter of belief. Our concerns about climate change arise from the scientific evidence that humanity’s activities are leading to changes in our climate. The scientific evidence is overwhelming.”

As jobless rates rise, so do signs of social instability around the globe, including protests and strikes.

From the BBC:

The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned.

Toronto Star public editor Kathy English muses about how wouldn't it be luverly to charge for online news content.

The small irony of that is I read the column after getting the Saturday Star for free when I got a LT bagel combo at the Spadina/Queen West Mickey D's (they forgot to put the bacon in).

The Globe and Mail has done much to shine a spotlight on the issue of mental health with its series Breakdown.

Unfortunately, editor-in-chief Edward Greenspson found himself to be uttering these words today:

"I want to know if there were cracks in the system that led to this. All of us need to be concerned with the public safety aspect of this. I have questions about that which I hope will be answered as the investigation continues."

Greenspon's son Jacob was one of two youths pushed to track level at Dufferin station on Friday afternoon in an unprovoked assault.

Their accused assailant has been held in custody and ordered to be given a psychiatric evaluation.

The Toronto Star reported the following:

Duty counsel Al Hart asked that (the accused) be given access to three prescription drugs: Effexor, used to treat anxiety and depression; Lorazepam, used to relieve the short-term symptoms of anxiety; and Seroquel, used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia as well as acute manic episodes associated with bipolar disorder.

Some early reports indicated the accused said he had been waiting 12 hours in a hospital but didn't receive any assistance. The subway incident allegedly occurred after he had left hospital without getting any help.

If true, that sounds like a breakdown to me. :(

Thank God no one died or was seriously injured in this near-tragedy.

From the Feb. 12 Globe and Mail:

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has a message for reporters who have a habit of going nose-to-nose with him as they compete for his attention: Don't stand so close to me.

From the Feb. 11 BBC:

Calcutta Muslims in a 2006 protest against Prophet Muhammad cartoons

The editor and publisher of a top English-language Indian daily have been arrested on charges of "hurting the religious feelings" of Muslims.

The Statesman's editor Ravindra Kumar and publisher Anand Sinha were detained in Calcutta after complaints.

Muslims said they were upset with the Statesman for reproducing an article from the UK's Independent daily in its 5 February edition.

The article was entitled: "Why should I respect these oppressive religions?"*

* Published in the Independent on Jan. 28.

It concerns the erosion of the right to criticise religions.

In it, the author, Johann Hari, writes: "I don't respect the idea that we should follow a 'Prophet' who at the age of 53 had sex with a nine-year old girl, and ordered the murder of whole villages of Jews because they wouldn't follow him."

The article has triggered protests by Muslims in front of the newspaper's offices.

Kumar told the BBC he has apologized for running the commentary.

From the Feb. 11 Globe and Mail:

The federal Heritage Minister says he'd consider allowing advertising on CBC Radio to help the broadcaster deal with revenue issues, but the CBC itself denies it has plans to place commercials on its radio services.

"Airing ads on CBC Radio is not being currently considered," CBC corporate spokesman Marco Dubé said yesterday, adding the CBC expects to have a balanced budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year ending March 31.

However, speaking to the Heritage Subcommittee on Monday, Heritage Minister James Moore acknowledged during questioning that he isn't ruling out any option that could help the CBC or any other broadcasters, all of which are facing challenging economic times.

From the Globe and Mail:

A group of Manitoba native chiefs is urging that hate charges be filed against the CBC for what it called “racist and hateful” comments posted on the broadcaster's website.

The Southern Chiefs Organization, which represents dozens of bands in Manitoba, made the allegations yesterday after a year-long study of several online news sites.

While the chiefs are targeting CBC, their charges have potentially far-reaching implications.

The issue of who is responsible for comments posted on online message boards remains a legal grey area in Canada and affects virtually every media outlet in the country.

Toronto Star publisher John Cruickshank has turned to a trusted associated to head Canada's largest newspaper newsroom -- Michael Cooke, currently the editor of the Chicago Sun-Times, but whose professional relationship with Cruickshank stretches back a long ways.

A few thoughts on how Twitter helped distribute information about the flooding at Union station on Wednesday night -- and how it didn't. Where it fell down was in the absence of citizen reportage.