July 10, 2018
Trump Nominates Brett Kavanaugh for the U.S. Supreme Court
President Donald Trump announced Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee Monday night, in a primetime televised event. Judge Kavanaugh, a U.S. Circuit Court judge for Washington, D.C., would fill the vacant seat left by retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his departure in late June.
Calling Trump’s Supreme Court nomination an “honor and privilege,” Kavanaugh addressed a crowd in the White House’s East Room alongside his wife and two daughters. “A judge must interpret the law, not make the law,” Kavanaugh said. If approved by the Senate, he would become the fifth conservative justice on the nation’s highest court.
On the issues, Kavanaugh seems to tick many of the boxes of interest to Trump, who included him on a list of potential Supreme Court picks published by the White House in November 2017.
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
Tonight, it was my honor and privilege to nominate Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the United States Supreme Court. #SCOTUS
12:54 PM - Jul 10, 2018
Age was an important factor in making Trump’s Supreme Court list; Kavanaugh is 53 years old, which would guarantee a measure of longevity on the court, if he is approved by Congress.
Kavanaugh’s views on impeachment could be controversial and of interest to Trump. The Supreme Court nominee argued in the past that President Bill Clinton could have been impeached for lying to and misleading both his staff and the public at large. But after working in the George W. Bush administration, Kavanaugh’s stance has softened, reports The Washington Post. Kavanaugh now reportedly believes court proceedings against a sitting president should be deferred until after he or she is out of office.
“The indictment and trial of a sitting President, moreover, would cripple the federal government, rendering it unable to function with credibility in either the international or domestic arenas,” Kavanaugh wrote in a 2012 piece titled “Separation of Powers During the FortyFourth Presidency and Beyond” for the Minnesota Law Review.
In addition to opposing abortion rights, Kavanaugh is also reportedly against net neutrality, according to an article from Motherboard.
If confirmed, Kavanaugh will become Trump’s second Supreme Court appointment. Justice Neil Gorsuch was Trump’s Supreme Court pick in 2017.
Kavanaugh was among four potential nominees Trump interviewed for the lifetime appointment. The list also included Amy Coney Barrett, Amul Thapar and Raymond Kethledge. Thomas Hardiman, a runner up for Gorsuch’s seat, also reportedly met with Trump, reports TIME.
Tuesday, July 10, 2018
One Thing Trump Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Won't Change Is the Supreme Court's Harvard-Yale Monopoly - Fortune
One Thing Trump Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Won't Change Is the Supreme Court's Harvard-Yale Monopoly
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire
Effective July 31, 2018.
Brett Kavanaugh is officially President Trump’s Supreme Court Justice nominee, and he’s a fairly conventional pick for a very unconventional president.
Tather than pivoting away from the establishment as he has sought to do in other political matters, Trump has chosen a nominee that has Ivy League establishment credentials—like every other Justice currently on the bench.
Nine of the nine Justices, including outgoing Justice Kennedy, received their law degree from an Ivy League school. Five of the Justices went to Harvard, three to Yale, and Justice Ginsburg attended Harvard before transferring to and graduating from Columbia Law School. Kavanaugh, who received his degree from Yale Law, will continue this trend, albeit rebalancing the distribution between Harvard and Yale on the bench.
This is not simply a trend of the current Supreme Court bench: Every Supreme Court Justice appointed since the ‘80s has attended an Ivy League law school, and all of them went to Harvard or Yale—with the exception of Justice Ginsburg.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was appointed by then-President Reagan in 1981, received her law degree from Stanford University. She was the last Justice appointed who did not go to an Ivy League school, and was also the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She retired in 2006.
Justice William Rehnquist who served on the Supreme Court from 1972 until his death in 2005, also received his law degree from Stanford University. And Justice John Paul Stevens, who served from 1975 until his retirement in 2010, graduated from Northwestern University School of Law.
Of the 114 Justices who have served on the Supreme Court to date, more than half have attended an Ivy League school at the undergraduate, graduate, or law school level. Between 1950 and 2009, 70% of the Justices fell into this category.
While Harvard and Yale (and Columbia) are undoubtedly some of the most well-regarded and prestigious universities in the country, many have expressed concern about the homogeneity of the Court’s makeup.
Dan Glickman, the Vice President of the Aspen Institute and a former Congressman and Secretary of Agriculture, summed up the critical view in a 2016 article:
“When an individual is able to, through force of intellect, matriculate and excel at Harvard or Yale Law they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt they are among the top minds in America’s legal community. However, there is a certain cloistered nature to joining this elite community. People of this pedigree often live in a world that does not necessarily parallel the life experiences of most Americans. And that is where more diversity is needed.”
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy to Retire
Effective July 31, 2018.
Brett Kavanaugh is officially President Trump’s Supreme Court Justice nominee, and he’s a fairly conventional pick for a very unconventional president.
Tather than pivoting away from the establishment as he has sought to do in other political matters, Trump has chosen a nominee that has Ivy League establishment credentials—like every other Justice currently on the bench.
Nine of the nine Justices, including outgoing Justice Kennedy, received their law degree from an Ivy League school. Five of the Justices went to Harvard, three to Yale, and Justice Ginsburg attended Harvard before transferring to and graduating from Columbia Law School. Kavanaugh, who received his degree from Yale Law, will continue this trend, albeit rebalancing the distribution between Harvard and Yale on the bench.
This is not simply a trend of the current Supreme Court bench: Every Supreme Court Justice appointed since the ‘80s has attended an Ivy League law school, and all of them went to Harvard or Yale—with the exception of Justice Ginsburg.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who was appointed by then-President Reagan in 1981, received her law degree from Stanford University. She was the last Justice appointed who did not go to an Ivy League school, and was also the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She retired in 2006.
Justice William Rehnquist who served on the Supreme Court from 1972 until his death in 2005, also received his law degree from Stanford University. And Justice John Paul Stevens, who served from 1975 until his retirement in 2010, graduated from Northwestern University School of Law.
Of the 114 Justices who have served on the Supreme Court to date, more than half have attended an Ivy League school at the undergraduate, graduate, or law school level. Between 1950 and 2009, 70% of the Justices fell into this category.
While Harvard and Yale (and Columbia) are undoubtedly some of the most well-regarded and prestigious universities in the country, many have expressed concern about the homogeneity of the Court’s makeup.
Dan Glickman, the Vice President of the Aspen Institute and a former Congressman and Secretary of Agriculture, summed up the critical view in a 2016 article:
“When an individual is able to, through force of intellect, matriculate and excel at Harvard or Yale Law they prove beyond a shadow of a doubt they are among the top minds in America’s legal community. However, there is a certain cloistered nature to joining this elite community. People of this pedigree often live in a world that does not necessarily parallel the life experiences of most Americans. And that is where more diversity is needed.”
Donald Trump's Personal Driver For 25 Years Sues For Unpaid Overtime - NDTV
Donald Trump's Personal Driver For 25 Years Sues For Unpaid Overtime
Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 hours of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years.
World | (c) 2018 Bloomberg | Christie Smythe and Chris Dolmetsch, Bloomberg | Updated: July 10, 2018 16:50 IST
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Donald Trump's Personal Driver For 25 Years Sues For Unpaid Overtime
Noel Cintron said that Donald Trump hadn't given him a "meaningful raise" in 12 years (Reuters)
Donald Trump's personal driver for more than 25 years says the billionaire real estate developer didn't pay him overtime and raised his salary only twice in 15 years, clawing back the second raise by cutting off his health benefits.
Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 hours of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years. He's not allowed to sue for overtime prior to that due to the statute of limitations.
"In an utterly callous display of unwarranted privilege and entitlement and without even a minimal sense of noblesse oblige," Trump and his businesses exploited the driver, Cintron says in the complaint.
The driver's allegations echo those of other Trump employees or contractors who have sued the president or his businesses over the years claiming he has underpaid them or failed to honor promises to compensate them for their work. They have included mortgage brokers, landscapers and electricians who say they were stiffed on commissions or fees.
Last year, one of Trump's luxury golf resorts in Florida was ordered by an appeals court to pay more than $32,000 to a supply company that claimed it wasn't paid for paint that was used to spruce up the property.
"Mr. Cintron was at all times paid generously and in accordance with the law," Trump Organization spokeswoman Amanda Miller said in a statement. "Once the facts come out we expect to be fully vindicated in court."
DONALD TRUMP WILL SEE YOU IN COURT
Cintron says he was required to be on duty for Trump starting at 7 a.m. each day until whenever Trump, his family or business associates no longer required his services. He worked as long as 55 hours per week, but was paid a fixed salary of $62,700 in 2003, $68,000 in 2006, and $75,000 in 2010, according to the complaint.
The wage bump in 2010 came with a catch, Cintron said. He was induced to surrender his health insurance, saving Trump approximately $17,866 per year in premiums, according to the lawsuit.
"President Trump's further callousness and cupidity is further demonstrated by the fact that while he is purportedly a billionaire, he has not given his personal driver a meaningful raise in over 12 years!" Cintron said.
Cintron, 59, lives in Queens, New York, his lawyer, Larry Hutcher, said in a phone interview. The driver started working for the Trump Organization about 30 years ago, and worked his way up to chauffeuring the president-to-be. He declined to comment to reporters outside his home.
Cintron said he was Trump's personal driver until the Secret Service took over.
In addition to the unpaid overtime, Cintron claims the Trump Organization failed to provide annual wage notices as required by New York law. Cintron is seeking about $200,000 in damages, Hutcher said.
COMMENT
The case is Cintron v. Trump Organization LLC, Supreme Court, State of New York (Manhattan).
Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 hours of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years.
World | (c) 2018 Bloomberg | Christie Smythe and Chris Dolmetsch, Bloomberg | Updated: July 10, 2018 16:50 IST
by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored
Shark Tank Cancelled After This (Viral Bee)
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Donald Trump's Personal Driver For 25 Years Sues For Unpaid Overtime
Noel Cintron said that Donald Trump hadn't given him a "meaningful raise" in 12 years (Reuters)
Donald Trump's personal driver for more than 25 years says the billionaire real estate developer didn't pay him overtime and raised his salary only twice in 15 years, clawing back the second raise by cutting off his health benefits.
Noel Cintron, who is listed in public records as a registered Republican, sued the Trump Organization for about 3,300 hours of overtime that he says he worked in the past six years. He's not allowed to sue for overtime prior to that due to the statute of limitations.
"In an utterly callous display of unwarranted privilege and entitlement and without even a minimal sense of noblesse oblige," Trump and his businesses exploited the driver, Cintron says in the complaint.
The driver's allegations echo those of other Trump employees or contractors who have sued the president or his businesses over the years claiming he has underpaid them or failed to honor promises to compensate them for their work. They have included mortgage brokers, landscapers and electricians who say they were stiffed on commissions or fees.
Last year, one of Trump's luxury golf resorts in Florida was ordered by an appeals court to pay more than $32,000 to a supply company that claimed it wasn't paid for paint that was used to spruce up the property.
"Mr. Cintron was at all times paid generously and in accordance with the law," Trump Organization spokeswoman Amanda Miller said in a statement. "Once the facts come out we expect to be fully vindicated in court."
DONALD TRUMP WILL SEE YOU IN COURT
Cintron says he was required to be on duty for Trump starting at 7 a.m. each day until whenever Trump, his family or business associates no longer required his services. He worked as long as 55 hours per week, but was paid a fixed salary of $62,700 in 2003, $68,000 in 2006, and $75,000 in 2010, according to the complaint.
The wage bump in 2010 came with a catch, Cintron said. He was induced to surrender his health insurance, saving Trump approximately $17,866 per year in premiums, according to the lawsuit.
"President Trump's further callousness and cupidity is further demonstrated by the fact that while he is purportedly a billionaire, he has not given his personal driver a meaningful raise in over 12 years!" Cintron said.
Cintron, 59, lives in Queens, New York, his lawyer, Larry Hutcher, said in a phone interview. The driver started working for the Trump Organization about 30 years ago, and worked his way up to chauffeuring the president-to-be. He declined to comment to reporters outside his home.
Cintron said he was Trump's personal driver until the Secret Service took over.
In addition to the unpaid overtime, Cintron claims the Trump Organization failed to provide annual wage notices as required by New York law. Cintron is seeking about $200,000 in damages, Hutcher said.
COMMENT
The case is Cintron v. Trump Organization LLC, Supreme Court, State of New York (Manhattan).
An Israeli shell killed Amr Samour in Gaza, even though he wasn't a protester - NBC News
An Israeli shell killed Amr Samour in Gaza, even though he wasn't a protester
The life and death of a Palestinian parsley farmer illustrates why so many in Gaza risk their lives to protest Israel's blockade.
by F. Brinley Bruton and Wajjeh Abu Zarifa / Jul.09.2018 / 5:44 PM ET / Updated Jul.09.2018 / 5:47 PM ET
Image: Dunya Samour
Dunya Samour's husband Amr Samour was killed on March 30, the first day of the Great March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip. She sits with daughters Seema, 3, and Rawya, 7 months.F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News
BANI SUHEILA, Gaza Strip — Bright green stained what was left of parsley farmer Amr Samour’s body: The Israeli tank shell that blew off much of his torso had embedded the plant onto his skin and guts, according to his father.
“I recognized him through one side of his face,” said Wahid Samour, covering the left side of his own face with the palm of his hand.
Image: Wahid SamourWahid Samour, father of Amr Samour — a farmer who was killed on March 30, the first day of the Great March of Return protests.David Copeland / NBC News
“I cried and cried — we all did,” Wahid said, sitting in his living room in the southern Gaza Strip.
Soon after his oldest son’s death on March 30, the 55-year-old Wahid was rushed to the hospital with dangerously high blood pressure.
Even though he wasn't a protester, Amr was the first Palestinian killed during the months-long Great March of Return demonstrations shaking the Gaza Strip and Israel. Demonstrations turned violent, and at least 142 protesters have been killed by Israeli troops, according to Gaza's health ministry. Israel has been widely criticized for using lethal force against largely unarmed protesters.
The rallies in Gaza are aimed in part at drawing attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade first imposed when Hamas, the militant group that governs the enclave and is sworn to Israel’s destruction, came to power in 2007. More than 13,000 protesters have been injured.
Israeli officials accuse Hamas of encouraging civilians to put themselves in harm’s way and then used them as cover to commit violence. Israel is also battling large fires caused by the flaming kites and arson balloons launched from Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.
Drones combat flaming kites launched from Gaza
JUN.09.201801:05
But the 27-year-old Amr's death in a field near the fence with Israel illustrates why tens of thousands of fellow Palestinians have for months risked bullets and tear gas to protest the blockade of the enclave. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment and information for this article.
Wahid said he believes soldiers guarding the 40-mile fence from what officials dubbed Palestinian “swarming attacks” should have known that his son was no threat.
“That area is very open area — they can see everything,” Wahid said. “They are shelling and shooting all the time, but this time it hit us.”
There is a growing sense that Israel and Hamas, which have fought three conflicts in the last 12 years, are headed toward another war. Meanwhile, the lives of ordinary Gazans are getting worse.
Gaza militants, Israel exchange fire as tensions increase
JUN.21.201801:16
Nearly half of the 2 million residents of the strip are out of work — 65 percent of those aged 30 and under. Some 70 percent of the population depends on humanitarian aid — similar to the proportion of those who are refugees or descendants of refugees driven from their homes after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
Almost none of the water is clean, raw sewage is pumped straight into the sea and worsening power shortages mean Gazans have electricity for only around four hours a day.
Amr’s death means his widow and two children, as well as his extended family, can no longer depend on around 150 shekels ($40) a week he used to earn as a contract farmer. Now the burden of supporting the family of ten has fallen entirely onto Wahid, who has seen his salary from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ rival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, cut to around $300 a month. Some 60,000 fellow PA workers have had their salaries slashed in recent months.
Perversely, Amr’s death provided a lifeline for Wahid — a $3,000 payment from organizers of the March.
Despite his personal loss, Wahid said he supports the ongoing protests on the border fence, calling them “a good action.”
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“Israel closed everything, the sea links and air links,” he said. “In your country, you can drive from area to area — nobody stops you. Here we are in a cage.”
Cages come in different sizes. The cage Amr's widow Dunya Samour inhabits is smaller, but no less restrictive.
“I cannot taste anything,” she said, sitting in her one-bedroom unfinished apartment above her father-in-law’s house. “I am hating my life.”
Dunya, the mother of a seven-month-old and a three-year-old, remembered Amr as a “good husband who wanted a simple life,” but he left her deeply in debt after buying doors, windows and a bed for the young family's apartment.
“He promised he would improve the house,” Dunya, 23, said as she sat surrounded by her mother, two sisters and a phalanx of children. “He promised he would buy us a refrigerator.”
Image: PalestineWomen wave Palestinian flags and flash the victory gesture during a protest near the fence with Israel in the Gaza Strip on March 30.Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images file
Despite the hardship and grief that blanket the household, guests were served glasses of orange fizzy drink on a plastic tray covered in pink roses, hospitality being de rigueur in households here. Everybody sat on cushions on lined up on the sides of the room.
Dunya’s future is uncertain. As the widow of a martyr, or “shahid,” she is ostensibly honored. But she has no source of income aside from her father-in-law, and the “martyr payment” did not come to her. While Dunya could in theory remarry, this is difficult, as taking the widow of a shahid as a bride is widely seen as a dishonoring a martyr’s memory.
While Dunya spends a lot of time thinking about the bare basics — milk, diapers, rice and meat once a week — her eyes flashed in anger when she talked about Israeli soldiers encamped on the fence around Gaza.
“They never respect the law,” she said. “They kill people who don't have weapons.”
Why protesters put their lives on the line by approaching Gaza fence
An end to this violent impasse looks far off, as Israel and much of the world have refused to deal with Hamas. Meanwhile, long-term talks aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state, including Gaza, the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967, have stalled.
Unlike his daughter-in-law, Wahid said he does not blame soldiers themselves for the death that beset his family.
“They are soldiers, and young boys — they don’t understand,” he said. “They don’t know the story of the Palestinians. They tell them we are all terrorists.”
The life and death of a Palestinian parsley farmer illustrates why so many in Gaza risk their lives to protest Israel's blockade.
by F. Brinley Bruton and Wajjeh Abu Zarifa / Jul.09.2018 / 5:44 PM ET / Updated Jul.09.2018 / 5:47 PM ET
Image: Dunya Samour
Dunya Samour's husband Amr Samour was killed on March 30, the first day of the Great March of Return protests in the Gaza Strip. She sits with daughters Seema, 3, and Rawya, 7 months.F. Brinley Bruton / NBC News
BANI SUHEILA, Gaza Strip — Bright green stained what was left of parsley farmer Amr Samour’s body: The Israeli tank shell that blew off much of his torso had embedded the plant onto his skin and guts, according to his father.
“I recognized him through one side of his face,” said Wahid Samour, covering the left side of his own face with the palm of his hand.
Image: Wahid SamourWahid Samour, father of Amr Samour — a farmer who was killed on March 30, the first day of the Great March of Return protests.David Copeland / NBC News
“I cried and cried — we all did,” Wahid said, sitting in his living room in the southern Gaza Strip.
Soon after his oldest son’s death on March 30, the 55-year-old Wahid was rushed to the hospital with dangerously high blood pressure.
Even though he wasn't a protester, Amr was the first Palestinian killed during the months-long Great March of Return demonstrations shaking the Gaza Strip and Israel. Demonstrations turned violent, and at least 142 protesters have been killed by Israeli troops, according to Gaza's health ministry. Israel has been widely criticized for using lethal force against largely unarmed protesters.
The rallies in Gaza are aimed in part at drawing attention to the Israeli-Egyptian blockade first imposed when Hamas, the militant group that governs the enclave and is sworn to Israel’s destruction, came to power in 2007. More than 13,000 protesters have been injured.
Israeli officials accuse Hamas of encouraging civilians to put themselves in harm’s way and then used them as cover to commit violence. Israel is also battling large fires caused by the flaming kites and arson balloons launched from Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.
Drones combat flaming kites launched from Gaza
JUN.09.201801:05
But the 27-year-old Amr's death in a field near the fence with Israel illustrates why tens of thousands of fellow Palestinians have for months risked bullets and tear gas to protest the blockade of the enclave. Israeli officials did not respond to requests for comment and information for this article.
Wahid said he believes soldiers guarding the 40-mile fence from what officials dubbed Palestinian “swarming attacks” should have known that his son was no threat.
“That area is very open area — they can see everything,” Wahid said. “They are shelling and shooting all the time, but this time it hit us.”
There is a growing sense that Israel and Hamas, which have fought three conflicts in the last 12 years, are headed toward another war. Meanwhile, the lives of ordinary Gazans are getting worse.
Gaza militants, Israel exchange fire as tensions increase
JUN.21.201801:16
Nearly half of the 2 million residents of the strip are out of work — 65 percent of those aged 30 and under. Some 70 percent of the population depends on humanitarian aid — similar to the proportion of those who are refugees or descendants of refugees driven from their homes after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
Almost none of the water is clean, raw sewage is pumped straight into the sea and worsening power shortages mean Gazans have electricity for only around four hours a day.
Amr’s death means his widow and two children, as well as his extended family, can no longer depend on around 150 shekels ($40) a week he used to earn as a contract farmer. Now the burden of supporting the family of ten has fallen entirely onto Wahid, who has seen his salary from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas’ rival in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, cut to around $300 a month. Some 60,000 fellow PA workers have had their salaries slashed in recent months.
Perversely, Amr’s death provided a lifeline for Wahid — a $3,000 payment from organizers of the March.
Despite his personal loss, Wahid said he supports the ongoing protests on the border fence, calling them “a good action.”
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“Israel closed everything, the sea links and air links,” he said. “In your country, you can drive from area to area — nobody stops you. Here we are in a cage.”
Cages come in different sizes. The cage Amr's widow Dunya Samour inhabits is smaller, but no less restrictive.
“I cannot taste anything,” she said, sitting in her one-bedroom unfinished apartment above her father-in-law’s house. “I am hating my life.”
Dunya, the mother of a seven-month-old and a three-year-old, remembered Amr as a “good husband who wanted a simple life,” but he left her deeply in debt after buying doors, windows and a bed for the young family's apartment.
“He promised he would improve the house,” Dunya, 23, said as she sat surrounded by her mother, two sisters and a phalanx of children. “He promised he would buy us a refrigerator.”
Image: PalestineWomen wave Palestinian flags and flash the victory gesture during a protest near the fence with Israel in the Gaza Strip on March 30.Mohammed Abed / AFP - Getty Images file
Despite the hardship and grief that blanket the household, guests were served glasses of orange fizzy drink on a plastic tray covered in pink roses, hospitality being de rigueur in households here. Everybody sat on cushions on lined up on the sides of the room.
Dunya’s future is uncertain. As the widow of a martyr, or “shahid,” she is ostensibly honored. But she has no source of income aside from her father-in-law, and the “martyr payment” did not come to her. While Dunya could in theory remarry, this is difficult, as taking the widow of a shahid as a bride is widely seen as a dishonoring a martyr’s memory.
While Dunya spends a lot of time thinking about the bare basics — milk, diapers, rice and meat once a week — her eyes flashed in anger when she talked about Israeli soldiers encamped on the fence around Gaza.
“They never respect the law,” she said. “They kill people who don't have weapons.”
Why protesters put their lives on the line by approaching Gaza fence
An end to this violent impasse looks far off, as Israel and much of the world have refused to deal with Hamas. Meanwhile, long-term talks aimed at creating an independent Palestinian state, including Gaza, the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967, have stalled.
Unlike his daughter-in-law, Wahid said he does not blame soldiers themselves for the death that beset his family.
“They are soldiers, and young boys — they don’t understand,” he said. “They don’t know the story of the Palestinians. They tell them we are all terrorists.”
Dissident Liu Xiaobo's widow Liu Xia 'allowed to leave China' - BBC News
July 10, 2018
Dissident Liu Xiaobo's widow Liu Xia 'allowed to leave China'
Liu Xia (right) with Liu Xiaobo in 2002
The widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has been allowed to leave the country, boarding a flight for Germany, reports say.
Liu Xia, who had been under house arrest since her husband won the prize in 2010, took a plane to Berlin, family friends told the BBC.
Her husband, a university professor turned human rights campaigner, was jailed in 2009 for inciting subversion.
He died of liver cancer last year and his ashes were scattered at sea.
Liu Xia, a poet, has never been charged with any crime but said in May she was ready to die in protest at her continued detention.
A love that survived a labour camp
Liu Xiaobo in his own words
Obituary: Liu Xiaobo
Missing lawyer's wife speaks out
She is said to have suffered from depression after spending years under heavy surveillance.
How did she leave?
She took a Finnair flight from Beijing to Berlin at 11:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday, a friend, Ye Du, told news agencies.
While there was no immediate comment from its embassy, Germany had been urging China to allow Mrs Liu to leave.
Liu Xiaobo: China's most influential dissident
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Germany this week.
Western diplomats reportedly tried to visit Mrs Liu at her Beijing flat in May but were refused entry.
News of her departure comes three days before the anniversary of her husband's death.
How desperate had her situation become?
In May, she told her friend Liao Yiwu by phone that it was "easier to die than live".
"I've got nothing to be afraid of," she was quoted as saying. "If I can't leave, I'll die in my home. Xiaobo is gone, and there's nothing in the world for me now."
Liu Xia with a picture of her husband last year
Mr Liao also uploaded a recording of a phone conversation he had had in April with Mrs Liu, where she can be heard crying and saying: "I'm ready to die here."
Chinese authorities had maintained the dissident's widow was a free citizen but she had faced restrictions on her movements and had been kept under surveillance.
Patrick Poon, China Researcher at the human rights groups Amnesty International, said it was "wonderful news that Liu Xia is finally free and that her persecution and illegal detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities has come to an end".
He added: "The Chinese authorities tried to silence her, but she stood tall for human rights."
Amnesty further called for an end to the harassment of Liu Xia's family who remained in China.
"It would be most callous of the Chinese authorities to use Liu Xia's relatives to put pressure on Liu Xia to prevent her from speaking out in future," its researcher added.
Dissident Liu Xiaobo's widow Liu Xia 'allowed to leave China'
Liu Xia (right) with Liu Xiaobo in 2002
The widow of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has been allowed to leave the country, boarding a flight for Germany, reports say.
Liu Xia, who had been under house arrest since her husband won the prize in 2010, took a plane to Berlin, family friends told the BBC.
Her husband, a university professor turned human rights campaigner, was jailed in 2009 for inciting subversion.
He died of liver cancer last year and his ashes were scattered at sea.
Liu Xia, a poet, has never been charged with any crime but said in May she was ready to die in protest at her continued detention.
A love that survived a labour camp
Liu Xiaobo in his own words
Obituary: Liu Xiaobo
Missing lawyer's wife speaks out
She is said to have suffered from depression after spending years under heavy surveillance.
How did she leave?
She took a Finnair flight from Beijing to Berlin at 11:00 local time (03:00 GMT) on Tuesday, a friend, Ye Du, told news agencies.
While there was no immediate comment from its embassy, Germany had been urging China to allow Mrs Liu to leave.
Liu Xiaobo: China's most influential dissident
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is in Germany this week.
Western diplomats reportedly tried to visit Mrs Liu at her Beijing flat in May but were refused entry.
News of her departure comes three days before the anniversary of her husband's death.
How desperate had her situation become?
In May, she told her friend Liao Yiwu by phone that it was "easier to die than live".
"I've got nothing to be afraid of," she was quoted as saying. "If I can't leave, I'll die in my home. Xiaobo is gone, and there's nothing in the world for me now."
Liu Xia with a picture of her husband last year
Mr Liao also uploaded a recording of a phone conversation he had had in April with Mrs Liu, where she can be heard crying and saying: "I'm ready to die here."
Chinese authorities had maintained the dissident's widow was a free citizen but she had faced restrictions on her movements and had been kept under surveillance.
Patrick Poon, China Researcher at the human rights groups Amnesty International, said it was "wonderful news that Liu Xia is finally free and that her persecution and illegal detention at the hands of the Chinese authorities has come to an end".
He added: "The Chinese authorities tried to silence her, but she stood tall for human rights."
Amnesty further called for an end to the harassment of Liu Xia's family who remained in China.
"It would be most callous of the Chinese authorities to use Liu Xia's relatives to put pressure on Liu Xia to prevent her from speaking out in future," its researcher added.
World's 'oldest coloured molecules' are bright pink - BBC News
July 10, 2018
World's 'oldest coloured molecules' are bright pink
The pink pigments are the fossilised molecules of ancient sea organisms
Scientists have discovered what they say are the world's oldest surviving biological colours, from ancient rocks beneath the Sahara desert.
The 1.1 billion-year-old pigments have a bright pink hue, but range from blood red to deep purple in their concentrated form.
The pigments are fossilised molecules of chlorophyll produced by sea organisms, Australian scientists said.
Researchers ground shale rocks into powder to extract the pigment.
"Imagine you could find a fossilised dinosaur skin that still has its original colour, green or blue... that is exactly the type of discovery that we've made," Associate Prof Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University (ANU) told the BBC.
"These are actual molecules, the oldest coloured molecules in the world.
"When held against the sunlight, they are actually a neon pink."
'Amazing that colour can survive'
ANU PhD student, Dr Nur Gueneli, discovered the pigments after running an organic solvent through the powdered rock. Mr Brocks said the extraction process was "similar to a coffee machine".
Colours in nature - and how we see them
"I heard her screaming in the lab when it came out, and she ran into my office," Asst Prof Brocks said.
"At first I thought it had been contaminated. It is just amazing that something with a biological colour can survive for such a long time."
Scientists extracted the molecules from ancient shale rock
A mining company had found the rocks in a marine shale deposit in the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania, West Africa about 10 years ago, after drilling a hole several hundred metres deep, he said.
An analysis of the pigments found they had been produced by cyanobacteria in the seas at the time. Prof Brocks said this contributed to understanding on the evolution of life forms on Earth.
The toxic colour from volcanoes
The pigment made of human remains
World's first colour film viewed
"Tiny cyanobacteria dominated the base of the food chain in the oceans a billion years ago, which helps to explain why animals did not exist at the time," he said.
"Life only became bigger about 600 million years ago because before that there was no sufficient food source."
The research, which also involved scientists in the US and Japan, has been published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.
World's 'oldest coloured molecules' are bright pink
The pink pigments are the fossilised molecules of ancient sea organisms
Scientists have discovered what they say are the world's oldest surviving biological colours, from ancient rocks beneath the Sahara desert.
The 1.1 billion-year-old pigments have a bright pink hue, but range from blood red to deep purple in their concentrated form.
The pigments are fossilised molecules of chlorophyll produced by sea organisms, Australian scientists said.
Researchers ground shale rocks into powder to extract the pigment.
"Imagine you could find a fossilised dinosaur skin that still has its original colour, green or blue... that is exactly the type of discovery that we've made," Associate Prof Jochen Brocks from the Australian National University (ANU) told the BBC.
"These are actual molecules, the oldest coloured molecules in the world.
"When held against the sunlight, they are actually a neon pink."
'Amazing that colour can survive'
ANU PhD student, Dr Nur Gueneli, discovered the pigments after running an organic solvent through the powdered rock. Mr Brocks said the extraction process was "similar to a coffee machine".
Colours in nature - and how we see them
"I heard her screaming in the lab when it came out, and she ran into my office," Asst Prof Brocks said.
"At first I thought it had been contaminated. It is just amazing that something with a biological colour can survive for such a long time."
Scientists extracted the molecules from ancient shale rock
A mining company had found the rocks in a marine shale deposit in the Taoudeni Basin in Mauritania, West Africa about 10 years ago, after drilling a hole several hundred metres deep, he said.
An analysis of the pigments found they had been produced by cyanobacteria in the seas at the time. Prof Brocks said this contributed to understanding on the evolution of life forms on Earth.
The toxic colour from volcanoes
The pigment made of human remains
World's first colour film viewed
"Tiny cyanobacteria dominated the base of the food chain in the oceans a billion years ago, which helps to explain why animals did not exist at the time," he said.
"Life only became bigger about 600 million years ago because before that there was no sufficient food source."
The research, which also involved scientists in the US and Japan, has been published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.
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