user: Problem: Texans RB Arian Foster returns to practice

The Houston Texans welcomed running back Arian Foster back to practice Thursday, more than a month after the Pro Bowler underwent surgery to repair a torn groin muscle.

According to Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle, Foster took part in drills on his first day back, but isn't expected to play in the Texans' Week 2 game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Foster hurt his groin at the beginning of training camp and underwent surgery Aug. 7.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in the rehab of my injury, and we’re excited about that,” Foster told reporters last week, per the Chronicle. “I’m not happy because I would rather be out there with my teammates, but life happens and you got to roll with it. As far as being where I’m at, at this point, we’re ahead of schedule and the doctors are pleased with it and so are the trainers.

“I think this is going to be my best year. I still feel like it will be. It’s going to be tough because I have some ground to make up. I was feeling the best, feeling the quickest that I’ve felt.”

The four-time Pro Bowler ran for 1,246 yards and eight touchdowns last season. Second-year player Alfred Blue has been starting at running back in his absence.

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Summary: Texans RB Arian Foster returns to practice


Problem: Here's What We Know About the Creator of 'Innocence of Muslims'

New details about the mysterious creator of “Innocence of Muslims,” the YouTube film trailer that’s contributing to protests across the Middle East, are emerging on Thursday.

Initial reports pegged the filmmaker as “Sam Bacile,” a supposedly Israeli-American real estate developer living in California. However, certain details didn’t add up: There’s no licensed real estate developer in California with that name and Israeli officials denied his existence.

Add to that the shoddy quality of the video and the actors involved in its production claiming to have been duped into making a film far removed from the original script, and it’s a recipe for an odd story indeed.

On Wednesday afternoon, reporters from the Associated Press tracked down Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a man who claimed to have a minor role in the film’s production. The AP suggested that Nakoula was the real person hiding behind the “Sam Bacile” alias — note the similar middle and last names, for example — but he didn’t admit the ruse.

Thursday, a law enforcement officer speaking on background seems to have unmasked the filmmaker, telling the AP that Nakoula is indeed “Sam Bacile” and was the primary force responsible for the film.

So, what do we know about Nakoula?

According to the AP, he’s a 55-year-old Coptic Christian who has “supported the concerns of Christian Copts,” a minority group in Egypt that’s the target of persecution in the country.

He also apparently has a political agenda: one actress in the film, originally titled Desert Warriors, said that the original script wasn’t offensive to Islam and suggested it was edited in post-production. When she complained to Sam Bacile/Nakoula, he reportedly told her to “tell the world that it wasn’t you that did it, it was me, the one who wrote the script, because I’m tired of the radical Muslims running around killing everyone.”

Additionally, Nakoula pleaded no contest in 2010 to federal charges of bank fraud, and paid $790,000 in fines alongside a 21-month jail sentence. On top of that, he was barred from use of computers or the Internet for five years without first asking permission from a probation officer.

The details of Nakoula’s crime? An assistant U.S. attorney told the AP that Nakoula started fake bank accounts with stolen personal identification, then deposited checks from those accounts into other ersatz accounts from which he would take money via ATMs.

Before the federal charges against him, Nakoula had previously struggled with his personal finances — he’s had separate tax liens of $191,000 and $106,000 filed against him in two California counties.

Beyond that, details about Nakoula and his intentions remain scant. Meanwhile, the video continues to contribute to protests at American diplomatic posts in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere. It was also originally blamed for inciting a deadly attack on the American consolate in Benghazi, Libya. However, the State Department now believes that incident to have been pre-planned, with assailants using video-related protests as cover or a distraction.

YouTube has since blocked the footage in Egypt and Libya, and some countries have taken steps to ban YouTube entirely.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, jcarillet

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Summary: Here's what we know about the man reportedly behind the YouTube clip stirring up controversy around the world.


Problem: Liu Xiaobo to seek retrial

The lawyer of jailed Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo has said the dissident intends to ask for a retrial.

Next month marks the fifth anniversary of the Chinese writer and critic's detention, on the eve of publication of a call for democratic reforms that he co-authored. He was subsequently jailed for 11 years for subversion and his appeal dismissed.

Liu's lawyer, Mo Shaoping, said he agreed to a legal challenge during a prison visit by his wife, Liu Xia.

"Liu Xia came to our law firm in October and formally authorised us to take this case. Last week, we submitted an application to Jinzhou prison requesting a visit to Liu Xiaobo," he added.

"We need to meet Liu to discuss details with him before we formally lodge a request for him with the Beijing high court. If Beijing high court rejects our appeal, we will appeal to the supreme court."

Joshua Rosenzweig, a human rights scholar based in Hong Kong, said courts had discretion as to whether to grant a retrial. That was one reason why such hearings were uncommon, he said.

"Another is that, even though prisons are not supposed to use the fact you are trying to reopen the case against you, in practice it is not seen as good behaviour, which has an impact on your eligibility for things like sentence reductions. There are built-in incentives against pursuing it," he added.

"In this case, frankly, he probably has very little to lose. I don't foresee that the authorities are terribly interested in giving him a sentence reduction … In practice, I would be very surprised were this case to be reopened. Politically, authorities don't have much reason to; it just reopens a big, festering wound."

Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch said the chances of winning a retrial were small but nonetheless worth a shot, given that a new leadership was in place.

"It's worth offering an opportunity to the leadership to change its mind. There are not many avenues to do that, the other being probably medical parole," he said.

"This is going to be decided at the highest level of authority – I assume the Politburo – as will any decision about him … It was a political decision to put him in jail in the first place; it will be a political decision to do anything with him."

He added that there was little international pressure, with most western countries proving extremely shy on the subject.

"If Beijing is not paying a price for putting him in jail … they have no incentive to release him," Bequelin said.

Liu Xia herself has been under house arrest since shortly after the announcement that her husband had won the Nobel peace prize, in October 2010.

She has never been accused of an offence and supporters say her family is suffering retaliation for her support for her husband. Her brother was jailed this year for fraud over a property dispute. His lawyers claimed the case was politically motivated.

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Summary:

assistant: Nobel peace prize winner and dissident is serving an 11-year jail sentence in China for subversion