New Year's Celebrations; Farris Hassan's Journey
WHITFIELD: The top stories right now: A potential traffic nightmare in London this New Year's Eve. Subway workers started a 24- hour today strike over what they call safety issues. The walkout will be felt most dramatically tonight, as evening shift workers fail to show up and thousands of revelers pour into the city. No suspects yet in the shooting attack on rapper Obie Trice. The singer was shot and wounded earlier today in Detroit. Police say Trice was driving when someone in another car fiored at him. Trice continued to drive ubtil his girlfriend, who was also in the car, flagged down a police officer. And now to the tale of one wayward teenager who traveled all the way to Iraq unbeknownst to his panicked parents. Farris Hassan arrived in Baghdad earlier this week. His family tells CNN he's now in Kuwait and will come home sometime next week. For all the who, what and whys of this bizarre story, we turn now to CNN's Christopher King.</s>PATRICK QUINN, ASSOCIATED PRESS: A 16-year-old American high school student who doesn't speak any Arabic, it's unbelievable that he is still -- that nothing happened to him.</s>CHRISTOPHER KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Farris Hassan's odyssey begins December 11th when, unbeknownst to anyone but two friends, he flies from Miami to Amsterdam, then to Kuwait. His goal? Baghdad. The prep school junior has been fascinated by the war and deeply sympathetic with the suffering of the Iraqi people. Studying journalism in school, he has decided he must see the situation for himself. From Kuwait City, Hassan takes a taxi to the Iraqi border on December 13th, but it's closed ahead of elections. So he goes back to Kuwait City, where he finally tells his parents of his plan.</s>DR. REDHA HASSAN, FATHER: Well, he sent me an e-mail saying, I am on my way to Baghdad, don't be worried, Dad -- don't be worried.</s>KING: His father encourages his son to fly to Beirut instead, where the boy stays more than a week with family friends. They help arrange for Hassan to achieve his goal. And on Christmas Day, he flies to Baghdad. The friends in Beirut have arranged for a driver to pick him up and together they safely navigate the notoriously dangerous highway from the airport into town. Hassan checks into the Palestine Hotel, largely populated by Westerners. Hassan's parents were born in Iraq, but left for the U.S. decades ago. He looks like he could blend in, but the teen doesn't speak Arabic. And with his sneakers and jeans, he's more suited for the mall than the war-ravaged streets of the Iraqi capital. On his second day there, Hassan parents himself at the offices of the Associated Press, stunning journalists who work there.</s>QUINN: I recall telling Jason here that it was -- I would have been less surprised if little green men had walked into the office. And he actually announced to us that he wanted to join us and become a journalist.</s>JASON STRAZIUSO, ASSOCIATED PRESS: He's curious and he's courageous. Now, if he could just wait a couple more years.</s>KING: Hassan's mother says she's been extremely worried and she's eager to have her son safely home.</s>SHATHA ATIYA, MOTHER: As far as being punished for going to Iraq, I think he's going to lose some of his autonomy for a while. And he's going to lose his passport, for sure.</s>KING: Christopher King, CNN.</s>WHITFIELD: He was using money from his own savings account to finance his journey. Well,m tragedy mars New Year's Eve preparations in Indonesia. It's one of the stories making news around the globe this morning. For more, let's check in with Shanon Cook from our internationial desk. Hello, Shanon.</s>SHANON COOK, CNN INTERNATIONAL DESK: Thanks, Fredricka. A violent end to 2005 for innocent shoppers at a market in Indonesia. A nail bomb exploded in the marketplace in Palu, the capital of a province in central Indonesia, killing eight people, and wounding 45 others. The market was packed with people buying pork for New Year's Eve celebrations. Many victims believed to be Christians. Indonesian police are investigating whether the explosion is linked to attacks on Christians from earlier this year. Now, to Yemen now. We've learned a German family is taken hostage there has been freed. The family of five and their Yemeni assistants were abducted while driving in the mountains on Wednesday. Tribesmen released the hostages today, according to the German foreign minister. Now, Fredricka, I don't know if you're a fan of U.K. football star David Beckham. A lot of ladies are fans of David Beckham, must say. She's not listening to me. I'm talking to myself.</s>WHITFIELD: I'm listening! They wouldn't let me talk to you. Oh, yes I know who Beckham is.</s>COOK: I thought maybe you were sitting there daydreaming.</s>WHITFIELD: I'm not living under a rock! Who doesn't know him.</s>COOK: Listen, a Norwegian billionaire has shown interest in Beckham's feet, or more specifically, his footwear. According to the website, the tycoon paid almost $150,000 for Beckham's silver football boots. He bought them from a charity on a TV show in Norway. Who is this buyer? His name's Edar Bolbik, and he founded an Internet phone company, getting very, very rich. The money he paid for the shoes goes towards buying tents for thousands left homeless by the Pakistan earthquake that struck last October, so, going to a good cause. And it's not the first time these boots have actually raised money for a good cause. They also raised money for the Asian tsunami that struck a year ago. But, you know, it begs the question, who really wants a pair of stinky old football boots?</s>WHITFIELD: Well now, that I know where the money is going towards, then you know, major applause going to him. But at the same time, I'm thinking, initially, maybe all that money also needs a little face time. For some girl that he knows in his life who wants to meet Mr. Beckham.</s>COOK: Well, maybe -- it'll be interesting to see, though, if this billionaire passes the shoes on to another charity so it can raise more money. Already raised money for two good causes.</s>WHITFIELD: That would be nice. It's a great story, nonetheless. All right. Thanks so much, Shanon. Randi.</s>KAYE: She is one of the world's best ice-skaters and she wants to compete for the U.S. in the upcoming olympics. But there's just one small problem: she is Canadian. Thanks to high-level help, this olympic hopeful is on the fast track to getting American citizenship. CNN's Kimberly Osias has the story.</s>KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Until days ago, Tanith Belbin's hopes of competing at the Winter Games in Turin, Italy, were on thin ice.</s>TANITH BELBIN, OLYMPIC HOPEFUL: I really just want to gain maturity, experience, confidence -- all the things that teams who have been skating 20 years longer than me have.</s>OSIAS: Talent isn't the issue. Belbin and her partner, Ben Agusto, won a silver medal in the world championships this year, the highest finish for an American ice dancing team in three decades. The problem is, Belbin isn't American. She's Canadian. That would have kept her off the U.S. Olympic team, if the senator representing the state where Belbin now lives hadn't stepped in. Michigan Democrat Carl Levin pushed a measure through Congress allowing foreigners with extraordinary ability to take advantage of a streamlined naturalization process, approved in 2002. Without the law, Belbin wouldn't qualify for the fast-track program, because she first applied for citizenship in 2000. And she wouldn't have become a citizen until 2007, too late for February's Winter Games. But now, with help from Congress and the president, Belbin and Agusto appear on track to go for the gold. Kimberly Osias, CNN, Washington.</s>KAYE: Well, coming up, if you knew what your waiter was saying about you, oh, boy. You may not want to eat the foods that's served. Or better yet you may not want to know what they're saying about you!