'Trailblazing' US judge found dead in New York

NEW YORK - An appeals court judge, the first black woman to serve on New York's highest court and the first Muslim woman judge in the United States, has been found dead.

Sheila Abdus-Salaam, 65, an associate judge of the New York Court of Appeals, was pulled from the Hudson River and pronounced dead on Wednesday after being alerted by an emergency call, police said Thursday.

Her husband had reported her missing on Tuesday, US media said.

"The medical examiner will determine the cause of death and the investigation is ongoing," New York police said in a statement.

State Governor Andrew Cuomo hailed Abdus-Salaam as a "trailblazing jurist" and extended his sympathies to her family, loved ones and colleagues.

"As the first African-American woman to be appointed to the state's court of appeals, she was a pioneer," he said.

"Through her writings, her wisdom, and her unshakable moral compass, she was a force for good whose legacy will be felt for years to come."

Abdus-Salaam was born into a working class family in Washington DC in 1952 and educated at public schools.

While researching her family history as a child she discovered that one of her great-grandfathers had been a slave in Virginia, US media said.

She studied at New York's Barnard College and Columbia Law School, where she was a classmate of Eric Holder, the first black US attorney general, who served under former president Barack Obama.

Abdus-Salaam began her legal career at East Brooklyn Legal Services, which works against poverty, racial and social injustice, before serving as a lawyer for the New York state government and city's office of labor services.

She was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Cuomo in 2013.

"Her personal warmth, uncompromising sense of fairness, and bright legal mind were an inspiration to all of us who had the good fortune to know her," the court said.

She lived in Harlem.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US Judge blocks Apple in Google smartphone war

A U.S. judge on Friday ruled that Apple Inc cannot pursue an injunction against Google’s Motorola Mobility unit, effectively ending a key case for the iPhone maker in the smartphone patent wars.

The ruling came from Judge Richard Posner in Chicago federal court. He dismissed the litigation between Apple and Motorola Mobility with prejudice, meaning it can’t be refiled.

The ruling is a blow for Apple, which had hoped a decisive ruling against Motorola would help it gain an upper hand in the smartphone market against Android.

A representative for Apple declined to comment. Motorola did not immediately return requests for comment Friday evening.

Motorola sued Apple in October 2010, a move that was widely seen as a preemptive strike against an imminent Apple lawsuit. Apple filed its own claims against Motorola the same month.

Posner issued a series of pretrial rulings that eliminated nearly all of Motorola’s patent claims against Apple from the prospective trial, while maintaining more of Apple’s claims against Motorola. That meant Apple had more to gain in the trial, which had been set to start last week.

However, Posner canceled the trial earlier this month.

Apple had sought an injunction barring the sale of Motorola products. But in Friday’s ruling, Posner wrote that “neither party is entitled to an injunction.”

Both parties have the option to appeal Posner’s ruling.

source: interaksyon.com