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Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng and his immediate family arrived in the Newark, N.J., this evening, capping off three weeks of roller coaster diplomacy that reached the very highest levels of Chinese government and the White House.

After landing at Newark-Liberty International Airport, Chen and his family headed straight to New York University.

Standing on crutches streetside in lower Manhattan, Chen thanked both U.S. and Chinese officials for how the situation has been resolved since he escaped house arrest and turned up at the U.S. embassy in Beijing last month.

“For the past seven years, I have never had a day’s rest,” he said through a translator, “so I have come here for a bit of recuperation for body and in spirit.”

“I feel like everybody is very passionate,” he said. “I will say a few simple words to everyone here. After much turbulance. I have come out … thanks to the assistance of many friends. The embassy has given me partial citizenship here. I’m very grateful to the U.S. and to the Chinese government for my protection over the long term. Very grateful to other friends like France, who have called in their support. I am gratified the Chinese government dealt with situation with restraint and calm.”

Chen and his family were accompanied on the flight by two Chinese-speaking officers from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, and they were met at Newark-Liberty International Airport by State Department personnel and NYU Law School Professor Jerome Cohen.

Chen will be a special student in law at NYU, working with professors Cohen and Frank Upham in the law school, NYU spokesman John Beckman said.

“He has worked with prof. Cohen in the past and had a standing invitation to come here,” Beckman said.

Chen and his family will live in NYU housing, he said.

The human rights activist is best known for his fight against forced abortions and sterilisations under the One Child Policy.

He served a four-year prison sentence for what are widely believed to have been trumped up charges before being placed under a brutal, extra-judicial house arrest in his hometown province of Shandong.

Several media outlets, as well as human rights supporters in the United States, cited late May as a potential departure date if all rules for passport applications were strictly adhered to.

But today, social media reports surfaced that said Chen had left the hospital. By midday, Chen spoke to the AFP and The Associated Press to say he was at the airport with his family and while he had no details, he believed they would be leaving that day.

His departure is in some ways bittersweet, but his supporters by and large agree the only way he will be truly safe is outside China.

But for Chen, and dissidents before him, leaving is a compromise; he may be safer but he is also farther away from his cause.

Daring Escape Attempt

On April 22, Chen made a daring and highly risky escape with the assistance of his wife.

After several days in hiding, after a car chase and near arrest by Beijing authorities, he sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Friday, April 27.

U. S. Officials were then tasked with an unusual request from a known dissident in any country: Chen wanted to remain in China with guarantees of safety and the freedom to continue his work.

Unlike the more straightforward process of securing asylum, U.S. officials embarked on an effort to strike an unprecedented deal with the Chinese that would satisfy all sides.

Soon after Secretary of State Hilary Clinton arrived in Beijing to attend a previously scheduled economic conference, the US announced a deal. The plan was for Chen to be released to a local hospital and, after receiving medical treatment, move to Tianjin, a city just outside Beijing where he would be able to pursue his legal studies. According to the US, the Chinese agreed to offer assurances of Chen’s safety as well as investigate the past abuses committed against him.

Chen entered the hospital on Wednesday May 2. But within hours he changed his mind and the deal fell apart.

In numerous interviews over the phone with various media outlets, and in reports published online by his supporters, Chen said that he had misjudged the reality of living freely under Chinese rule.

He said he no longer felt that the safety of him or his family could ever be truly guaranteed. For that reason he wanted to leave China.

That sent U.S. officials into a tense period of re-negotiation while garnering international criticism for mishandling the case.

All the while, Secretary Clinton was in Beijing attending meetings with Chinese officials and participating in negotiations on Chen’s future behind the scenes.

The drama reached a high point when Chen made a public plea to be allowed to fly on Secretary Clinton’s plane when she left China. He also phoned into Washington to offer congressional testimony on his plight.

Article source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=8e93343e1ca526465160f8cdd5959271

Clear your afternoons and evenings: The great G8 is upon us! Soon leaders from the eight best countries in the world will converge on Camp David to smile awkwardly next to each other and sit through hours of exciting conversations about the economy.

Will there be late-night parties? Probably not. This isn’t the G20, after all.

This year’s Group of Eight will have some new faces at the table. What will be on the table itself? We know the topics — the eurozone crisis, Iran probably — but what about the food?

Here’s what we think the guests are bringing to dinner — a tip sheet for interpreters who can figure out the most polite way to ask to pass the peas.

Francois Hollande: An All-You-Can-Eat Buffet (With Mediocre Food)
France’s new president is a die-hard socialist who wants to tax the rich about 100 percent and make everyone else happier. He has vowed to end the era of austerity — so gorging in a bottomless croissant and salad bar feels appropriate.

Don’t worry about picking up the tab. The great thing about socialism is that it takes care of itself.

Barack Obama: Cake

Come on, who doesn’t love cake? Everyone gets a slice, even Joe Biden, why not.

Obama’s job at the G8 is to foster a productive discussion about the economy so that the euro stays strong and no economies collapse. Just kidding – his only job is to look good for the cameras. He’s the host, in his only reelection year, and the most important topic to him (Mitt Romney) won’t even be on the docket at Camp David.

Obama wins the G8 if he comes out of it looking like a confident leader and sitting as far away from France’s socialist president as possible.

David Cameron: Bratwurst

And to go with it, bread and lots of butter. Yes, bratwurst is a food native to Germany — but you can bet that Britain’s premiere will be trying to butter up German Chancellor Angela Merkel as much as possible.

Cameron recently said that Merkel needs to open up her purse to prevent a collapse in Greece, which could cripple the euro. Merkel would rather not. Sounds like a food fight might be inevitable, and Cameron needs every tool he can get.

Maybe the Brit will bring some cases of warm ale with him. That could make swallowing a bailout a lot easier.

Angela Merkel: A Tiny Jar of Sauerkraut

It’s an acquired taste — and this weekend, the powerful Merkel isn’t going to want to be sitting around a bunch of world leaders begging her for money.

There won’t be a lot of the sour cabbage, though — probably not even enough for herself. Austere means austere.

Dmitry Medvedev: Reset-atouille

Vladimir Putin is the new and old president of Russia, but he’s not coming to Camp David. Instead he’s sending his travel-size version, Medvedev, known to most Americans as the guy Obama told he’d have “more flexibility” to do stuff once he beats Romney.

The reason for Putin’s absence isn’t clear, but it’s been widely interpreted as a pretty big snub of Obama. How do you reset a reset?

Stephen Harper: Tofu

Canada’s premiere is probably going to be the designated driver at this shindig. He’s by far the least interesting person in attendance, and that includes the interpreters. Harper will bring a healthy serving of the world’s most malleable food product so he can fit in with whatever everyone else is talking about.

Article source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=65dd58d1363d211e8c83c982b523bfdb

Leaders of eight of the world’s largest economies are meeting at Camp David this evening for the G-8 Summit, marking the biggest gathering of heads of state at the president’s country retreat in history.

The rustic estate in Maryland’s Catoctin Mountains, however, presents something of a logistical challenge for the White House as it seeks to accommodate all of the leaders and their staffs.

Before your mind wanders to those summer camp memories of bunk bed-filled cabins, the Obama administration assures there are “adequate facilities” for each delegation. But who sleeps where? And how were the arrangements decided?

“The allocation system, of course, is classified,” National Security Advisor Tom Donilon jokingly told reporters Thursday.

“The summit is intended to be small and intimate, and the President made a conscious decision to host the G8 meeting at Camp David for this reason.  Each head of state or government will have his or her own cabin and they’ll have the opportunity, obviously, to meet informally on the margins of the meetings and to take full advantage of the grounds at Camp David,” he said.

President Obama was originally slated to host the summit in his hometown of Chicago, but announced in March that he was moving the meetings to Camp David.

The country retreat, known formally as the Naval Support Facility Thurmont, is a large complex, but not all of the buildings are the same size. Several of the scattered cabins are just one room and a bathroom.

Donilon assured reporters that the delicate arrangements were carefully planned. White House deputy chief of staff Alyssa Mastromonaco and George Mulligan of the White House Military Office were enlisted to help with the details, he said.

“There are adequate facilities there for each delegation, each head of state to have his or her cabin, as I said, and for each to be accompanied by a key staff person and in some cases two or three staff people,” Donilon said.

“Maybe we could get… a deeper briefing on this stuff,” he added laughing. “I’m as interested in it as you are.”

The president himself does not visit his country home often. Today will mark his 23^rd visit to Camp Dave, according to unofficial White House historian CBS’ Mark Knoller.

Camp David, named after President Eisenhower’s grandson, has hosted foreign dignitaries in the past. The 1978 summit that President Jimmy Carter held for Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin resulted in what are now known as the Camp David Accords.

Asked if it was a little rustic for heads of state, Donilon quipped “I grew up in Providence, Rhode Island.  I never had a lawn bigger than three feet in front of my house, so… I’m not really the one to comment on rustic.”

While the G-8 leaders are busy tackling global issue like the European debt crisis at Camp David, First Lady Michelle Obama will host their spouses at the White House for a tour and “intimate lunch” catered by famed celebrity chef Jose Andres, according to the White House.

Article source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=f6d2bea3abff505dc9e4ed2720815064

A closer look at the witness statements and audio testimony taken in the immediate aftermath Trayvon Martin’s death provides the first insight into George Zimmerman’s behavior after he shot the unarmed teen.

A man listed as witness 13 was one of the first people to approach Zimmerman minutes after the shooting. He saw him bleeding from the back of the head and nose. Zimmerman asked the unidentified man to call his wife for him.

“Let her know what’s happening, been involved in a shooting and will be held for questioning,” the witness told the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. “He was more like, talking like he was having a hard time, looked like he just got his butt whipped … not like he was in shock, not like, ‘I can’t believe I just shot someone,’ but like, ‘Just tell my wife I just shot someone,’ like it was nothing.”

A woman identified as witness 5 walked out of her home after hearing the altercation to find Zimmerman standing over Martin’s body. She said she asked him what was going on and he curtly said just, “Call the police.”

The woman told police that Zimmerman, 28, examined Martin’s body as he slowly paced back and forth when the police arrived. She watched as they checked the teen’s body and turned him over, eventually starting CPR. But he was already dead for five or 10 minutes, she said.

“I do honestly feel that he intended for this kid to die,” witness 5 told investigators. “If you’re in self defense, shoot him in the leg. He’s a 17-year-old, scrawny little kid. You get into a physical fight with him. … I think the kid was running for help.”

Zimmerman is charged with second degree murder for the Feb. 26 killing.

Martin was in Sanford, Fla., while serving a suspension from his Miami school for being caught with an empty marijuana bag. At the time of the shooting, he was staying at the home of his father’s girlfriend. An autopsy found THC, the intoxicating chemical in marijuana, was in his system.

At 7:11 that night, Zimmerman, a member of the area’s neighborhood watch, had called 911 to report a suspicious teenager. Minutes later, the police dispatcher told Zimmerman to stop follwing Martin. Moments later, Zimmerman got out of his car. That’s when the two met and Martin was killed.

Zimmerman has claimed that when he shot the 6-foot, 160-pound teenager he was on his back and Martin was astride him pounding away.

The key problem facing investigators is an 80-second gap between the time Zimmerman hung up with police at 7:15 p.m. and when the first 911 calls from terrified neighbors began flooding in.

A man identified only as witness 6 told investigators that he heard a commotion coming from the walk behind his residence. He witnessed a black male wearing a dark-colored “hoodie” on top of a white or Hispanic male who was yelling for help.

Article source: http://feeds.abcnews.com/click.phdo?i=66499cdf4082cec1f0e3dd874fe07666