So strange

I've about gotten used to headlines like France troops sent to Ivory Coast, though they still sound awkward (and Google hates the search, assuming I meant "France's").

But this is so odd sounding:

What Happened to My Bahrain Friend

Especially since in the first sentence of the column, Kristoff writes:

I wrote recently about an old friend, Hasan al-Sahaf, a Bahraini artist who had been imprisoned –nominally for economic offenses, but in reality for standing up to the regime.

I can't imagine a headline writer changing "What happened to my German friend" to "my Germany friend," or "my French friend" to "my France friend".