Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing By Many Means

Ilan Pappé and Samer Jaber Mondoweiss
Pine trees, brought to Palestine with the establishment of the State of Israel, symbolize the varied means of “ethnic cleansing” directed at the Palestinian population. Used to cover-up the past destruction of Palestinian villages and neighborhoods, and the present displacement of Bedouins, these pine forests are now presented as Israel’s “green lungs.”

Will Obama Follow Bush Down the Phony Torture Loophole?

Jamil Dakwar ACLU
Last week the New York Times reported the Obama Administration is considering reaffirming the Bush-era position that the ban on cruel treatment doesn't apply when the United States is operating abroad. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demanded the Obama Administration "close the oversees torture loophole." The ACLU said the ban on torture and ill-treatment is universal and applies everywhere the U.S. is holding people in detention.

Talks Fail to Narrow Gap Between Student Leaders and Hong Kong Government

Staff Reports South China Morning Post
The Hong Kong government and student protest leaders remain far apart following the first face to face talks between protesters and government officials over demands to democratize the process for the 2017 election of the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. No date has as yet been fixed for future talks, and student protest leaders resisted government calls for an end to the mass sit-ins.

What Cuba Can Teach the World About Disease Control

Conner Gorry The Guardian
Cuba’s commitment of 461 doctors and nurses to combat Ebola in West Africa is the largest single-country offer of healthcare workers to date to combat the crisis. But, this is not the first example of Cuba’s “unprecedented medical solidarity.” Cuba has also sent medical teams to assist the peoples of Guatemala, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Haiti in this past decade. And Cuba has a lot to teach the world about disaster relief and epidemic control.

"Suffered or Permitted to Work" - When Is a Worker an Employee?

Ellen Dannin Truthout
At the end of each day, all the workers were required to pass through a security clearance checkpoint where they had to remove their keys, wallets, and belts, pass through a metal detector, and submit to being searched. The whole process could take up to 25 minutes. Should these workers be paid for the time they spend being searched?

On Taking Risks and Eating Crow

Victor Grossman Portside
For the very first time, the Left Party may lead a coalition -- by the narrowest of margins -- with the Social Democrats and Greens that governs a German state. But forming that coalition would require difficult compromise and reversals on the part of all the coalition partners.

Google VP Leaps From Stratosphere

Alan Eustace, a senior vice president at Google, set a new world record today by completing the highest-altitude free fall yet--parachuting from 135,908 feet (or 25 miles) above Earth.

The record was previously held by daredevil skydiver Felix Baumgartner, who leaped from 24 miles above Earth in October 2012.

To put that in perspective, scientists say you officially enter space at 73 miles above Earth's surface. Eustace largely self-funded the project on the cheap, with a minimalist approach to technology.