Latin leaders joke about Bush shoe attack

Latin American leaders meeting in Brazil this week couldn't resist poking fun at U.S. President George W. Bush over his recent shoe-throwing incident in Iraq.

"Please, nobody take off your shoes," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva joked to reporters at the start of a news conference on Wednesday.

An Iraqi journalist had hurled his shoes at Bush at a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday, calling him a dog.

"In this heat, if anybody takes off their shoes, we'll know right away because of the smell," quipped Lula, reaping laughter from reporters and politicians alike.

Earlier in the day, Lula threatened to throw a shoe at Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Bush's fiercest critic in Latin America, if the long-winded leftist leader spoke beyond his allotted time.

Iraqi parliament erupts in chaos over Bush shoe tosser

Chaos erupted in Iraq's parliament yesterday over the jailing of a reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush, with lawmakers loyal to a radical anti-American cleric demanding his freedom. The parliament Speaker responded by threatening to resign.

The Sadrists particularly hope to exploit public sympathy for the reporter, Muntader al-Zaidi, a correspondent for an Iraqi-owned television station based in Cairo, to regain political momentum they lost after their failure to stop the U.S.-Iraq security agreement, which parliament approved last month. The deal allows U.S. troops to remain in Iraq until 2012.

Bush 'shoe attack' leads to explosion of online games

Online games inspired by the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at U.S. President George Bush in Baghdad have taken the Internet by storm.

Ever since Muntazer al-Zaidi, a correspondent for the Cairo-based al-Baghdadiya TV, threw both his shoes at the outgoing U.S. leader on Sunday, online games have begun to spring up giving players the chance to succeed where the Iraqi journalists failed. (Bush comes under Iraqi "shoe attack"- Video)

From the relatively sophisticated to the simple, the games have proven a worldwide hit. One of the most popular is called "Sock and Awe" a pun on the U.S. "Shock and Awe" military doctrine.

Sole-searching in China after shoe attack on Bush

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman said he would be watching out for journalists taking off their shoes in news conferences after an Iraqi reporter threw a pair at outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad.

Liu Jianchao was asked what he thought of Sunday's incident, when the television journalist also called the American leader a "dog," and replied all leaders deserved respect.

"I believe we should have basic respect for the leader of a country," he told a media briefing, before adding that the attack had given him pause for thought."Maybe I need to watch out not just for who is raising their hands but who is taking off their shoes," said Liu, who then faced a volley of tough questions, but no hurtling objects.