What Caught My Eye Today

Uganda - Olivia Nabulwala says her family in Uganda was so angry and ashamed to learn she was a lesbian that her relatives hurled insults at her, pummeled her and, finally, stripped her and held her down while a stranger raped her. The African immigrant is asking for asylum in the U.S. on the grounds she was persecuted over her sexual orientation. To qualify for asylum, applicants must demonstrate past persecution or well-founded fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular group, which now includes gays. Asylum-seekers must also show, among other things, that the government was unable or unwilling to protect them. An immigration judge in Minnesota said he didn't doubt Nabulwala had suffered in Uganda because of her sexual orientation. But he ruled that the rape was a "private family mistreatment," and not sponsored or authorized by the government. However, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the judge used the wrong legal standard, and ordered the case sent back for further proceedings on whether the Ugandan government was unwilling or unable to control the abuse, as Nabulwala contends. I'm not saying that homophobia is non-existent in the U.S., but it sure sound like a much better alternative than going back to Uganda.

Iraq - The radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr issued a scathing attack on the United States on Friday, following one of the country's bloodiest days, blaming Washington for Iraq's troubles. Al-Sadr blamed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq for the rising violence, lack of services and sectarian bloodshed. At least 181 people were killed or found dead Thursday as Sunni insurgents apparently stepped up their campaign of bombings to derail the seven-week-old security sweep in Baghdad. Violence has increasingly erupted outside the capital in recent weeks, as insurgent fighters take their fight to regions where U.S. and Iraqi forces are thinly deployed. Well, gee whiz. If al-Sahr says we're doing a bad job, I guess we had better listen up and shape up. Dude, if you have a better plan for securing the peace, let's here it.

Somalia - Insurgents shot an Ethiopian helicopter gunship out of the sky Friday and mortar shells slammed into a hospital during the worst fighting in the capital in more than 15 years, leaving corpses in the streets and wounding hundreds of civilians. The violence came on the second day of an offensive in Mogadishu by Somali government troops and their Ethiopian allies to quash an increasingly lethal insurgency. The insurgents are linked to the Council of Islamic Courts, which was driven from power in December by Somali and Ethiopian soldiers, accompanied by U.S. special forces. With all of our attention being focused on Islamic extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan, it's easy forget that they have a pretty good establishment in Africa as well. Kind of depressing isn't it?

Greece - Greek authorities have cancelled all team sports matches for two weeks after a mass brawl between rival women's volleyball fans left one man dead. The Greek decision to suspend team sports until 13 April echoes similar moves in Italy in February after a policeman was killed in rioting at a football match in Sicily.
All football in Italy's top divisions was suspended for a week and stadiums not meeting safety standards were closed. Hooliganism mainly affects football and basketball but also breaks out occasionally at other sports such as volleyball and water polo. I don't want to make light of this, but volleyball and water polo hooligans? That's a little fun, don't you think?

Paris Hilton - Enough of those fluff pieces. Here's a real headline that we can sink our teeth into. Prosecutors asked a judge on Thursday to revoke Paris Hilton's probation for reckless driving, which could lead to jail time for the celebrity socialite. A hearing has been set for April 17 for prosecutors to argue that Hilton, 26, violated the terms of her probation by knowingly driving with a suspended license. If found to have breached the terms of her probation, Hilton could be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail. So if this goes down, I'm betting the TV rights for her stint in jail will be snatched up in a heartbeat.