1.
Supreme Court of Israel
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The Supreme Court is the highest court in Israel. It has ultimate jurisdiction over all other courts and, in some cases. The Supreme Court consists of 15 justices who are appointed by the Judicial Selection Committee, once appointed, justices serve until retirement at the age of 70, unless they resign, or are removed from office. The current President of the Supreme Court is Miriam Naor, the Supreme Court is situated in Jerusalems Givat Ram governmental campus. Its jurisdiction applies to all of Israel and the Israeli-occupied territories, according to the principle of binding precedent, a ruling of the Supreme Court is binding upon every other court, except itself. Appointing Supreme Court Justices requires a majority of 7 of the 9 committee members, the three organs of state—the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government—as well as the bar association are represented in the Judges Nominations Committee. Thus, the shaping of the body, through the manner of judicial appointment, is carried out by all the authorities together. An eminent jurist can also be appointed to the Supreme Court, the number of Supreme Court justices is determined by a resolution of the Knesset. Currently, there are 15 Supreme Court Justices, at the head of the Supreme Court and at the head of the judicial system as a whole stands the President of the Supreme Court, and at his or her side, the Deputy President. A judges term ends when he or she reaches 70 years of age, resigns, dies, is appointed to another position that disqualifies him or her, as of December 2016 the Supreme Court Justices are, Liat Benmelech and Guy Shani serve as the Court Registrars. Below is a list of presidents of the Supreme Court, As an appellate court and it also considers appeals on judicial and quasi-judicial decisions of various kinds, such as matters relating to the legality of Knesset elections and disciplinary rulings of the Bar Association. The High Court of Justice grants relief through orders such as injunction, mandamus and Habeas Corpus, the Supreme Court can also sit at a “further hearing” on its own judgment. The Supreme Court, both as a court and the High Court of Justice, is normally constituted of a panel of three Justices. The Supreme Court sits as a panel of five justices or more in a ‘further hearing’ on a matter in which the Supreme Court sat with a panel of three justices. The Supreme Court may sit as a panel of an uneven number of justices than three in matters that involve fundamental legal questions and constitutional issues of particular importance. The length of service, for purpose, is calculated from the date of the appointment of the Judge to the Supreme Court. A special power, unique to the Supreme Court, is the power to order a retrial on a matter in which the defendant has been convicted by a final judgment. In practice, a ruling to hold a retrial is very rarely made, the Court announces its judgments through individually signed opinions setting out the result and underlying reasoning
2.
Nile crocodile
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The Nile crocodile is an African crocodile and may be considered the second largest extant reptile in the world, after the saltwater crocodile. Although capable of living in environments, this species is rarely found in saltwater. The range of species once stretched northward throughout the Nile. On average, the adult male Nile crocodile is between 3.5 and 5 m in length and weighs 225 to 750 kg, however, specimens exceeding 6.1 m in length and weighing up to 1,090 kg have been recorded. Sexual dimorphism is prevalent, and females are usually about 30% smaller than males and they have thick scaly skin that is heavily armored. The Nile crocodile is an apex predator and a very aggressive species of crocodile that is capable of taking almost any animal within its range. They are generalists, taking a variety of prey and their diet consists mostly of different species of fish, reptiles, birds and mammals. The Nile crocodile is a predator that can wait for hours, days. They are agile predators and wait for the opportunity for an item to come well within attack range. Even swift prey are not immune to attack and they can apply high levels of force for extended periods of time, a great advantage for holding down large prey underwater to drown. Nile crocodiles are relatively social crocodiles and they share basking spots and large food sources, such as schools of fish and big carcasses. There is a hierarchy, which is determined by size. Large, old males are at the top of hierarchy and have primary access to food. Crocodiles tend to respect this order, when it is infringed, like most other reptiles, Nile crocodiles lay eggs, these are guarded by the female. The hatchlings are also protected for a period of time, the Nile crocodile is one of the most dangerous species of crocodile and is responsible for hundreds of human deaths every year. It is a common species of crocodile and is not endangered despite some regional declines or extinctions. The binomial name Crocodylus niloticus is derived from the Greek κροκό, kroko, δειλος, deilos, referring to its rough skin, and niloticus, meaning from the Nile River. The Nile crocodile is called tanin ha-yeor in Hebrew, timsah al-nil in Arabic, mamba in Swahili, garwe in Shona, ngwenya in Ndebele, ngwena in Venda, kwena in Sotho and Tswana
3.
Crocodilia
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The Crocodilia is an order of mostly large, predatory, semiaquatic reptiles, known as crocodilians. They first appeared 83.5 million years ago in the Late Cretaceous period and are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria. Members of the total group, the clade Pseudosuchia, appeared about 250 million years ago in the Early Triassic period. The order Crocodilia includes the true crocodiles, the alligators and caimans, although the term crocodiles is sometimes used to refer to all of these, crocodilians is a less ambiguous vernacular term for members of this group. Large, solidly built, lizard-like reptiles, crocodilians have flattened snouts, laterally compressed tails, and eyes, ears. They swim well and can move on land in a high walk and their skin is thick and covered in non-overlapping scales. They have conical, peg-like teeth and a powerful bite and they have a four-chambered heart and, somewhat like birds, a unidirectional looping system of airflow within the lungs, but like other non-avian reptiles they are ectotherms. Crocodilians are found mainly in lowlands in the tropics, but alligators also live in the southeastern United States, Crocodilians are typically solitary and territorial, though cooperative feeding does occur. During breeding, dominant males try to monopolise available females, females lay eggs in holes or in mounds and, unlike most other reptiles, care for their hatched young. Eight species of crocodilians are known to have attacked humans, the largest number of attacks comes from the Nile crocodile. Artistic and literary representations of crocodilians have appeared in cultures around the world since at least Ancient Egypt. Crocodilia and Crocodylia have been used interchangeably for decades starting with Schmidts redescription of the group from the defunct term Loricata. Schmidt used the older term Crocodilia, based on Owens original name for the group, shortly after, Wermuth opted for Crocodylia as the proper name for this redescribed group, basing it on the type genus Crocodylus. Dundee—in a revision of many reptilian and amphibian names—argued strongly for Crocodylia to be the spelling for the group, however, it was not until the advent of cladistics and phylogenetic nomenclature that a more solid justification for assuming one spelling over the other was proposed. Prior to 2003, Crocodilia/Crocodylia was a group that encompassed the modern-day animals as well as their distant relatives now in the larger groups called Crocodylomorpha. Under its current definition Crocodylia is restricted to only the most recent ancestor of todays modern-day crocodilians and this distinction is more important for paleontologists studying crocodilian evolution. As such, the alternate spellings Crocodilia and Crocodylia are still used interchangeably in the neontological literature, Crocodilia appears to be a Latinizing of the Greek κροκόδειλος, which means both lizard and Nile crocodile. Crocodylia, as coined by Wermuth, in regards to the genus Crocodylus appears to be derived from the ancient Greek κρόκη —meaning shingle or pebble—and δρîλος or δρεîλος for worm, the name may refer to the animals habit of basking on the pebbled shores of the Nile
4.
Israel
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Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the Red Sea. The country contains geographically diverse features within its small area. Israels economy and technology center is Tel Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem, in 1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Mandatory Palestine recommending the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency for Palestine, next year, the Jewish Agency declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. Israel has since fought several wars with neighboring Arab states, in the course of which it has occupied territories including the West Bank, Golan Heights and it extended its laws to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories is the worlds longest military occupation in modern times, efforts to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict have not resulted in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have successfully been signed, the population of Israel, as defined by the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, was estimated in 2017 to be 8,671,100 people. It is the worlds only Jewish-majority state, with 74. 8% being designated as Jewish, the countrys second largest group of citizens are Arabs, at 20. 8%. The great majority of Israeli Arabs are Sunni Muslims, including significant numbers of semi-settled Negev Bedouins, other minorities include Arameans, Armenians, Assyrians, Black Hebrew Israelites, Circassians, Maronites and Samaritans. Israel also hosts a significant population of foreign workers and asylum seekers from Africa and Asia, including illegal migrants from Sudan, Eritrea. In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish, Israel is a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the Knesset is the legislature, Israel is a developed country and an OECD member, with the 35th-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic product as of 2016. The country benefits from a skilled workforce and is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has the highest standard of living in the Middle East and the third highest in Asia, in the early weeks of independence, the government chose the term Israeli to denote a citizen of Israel, with the formal announcement made by Minister of Foreign Affairs Moshe Sharett. The names Land of Israel and Children of Israel have historically used to refer to the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The name Israel in these phrases refers to the patriarch Jacob who, jacobs twelve sons became the ancestors of the Israelites, also known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel or Children of Israel. The earliest known artifact to mention the word Israel as a collective is the Merneptah Stele of ancient Egypt. The area is known as the Holy Land, being holy for all Abrahamic religions including Judaism, Christianity, Islam
5.
Syria
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Syrias capital and largest city is Damascus. Religious groups include Sunnis, Christians, Alawites, Druze, Mandeans, Shiites, Salafis, Sunni Arabs make up the largest religious group in Syria. Its capital Damascus and largest city Aleppo are among the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, in the Islamic era, Damascus was the seat of the Umayyad Caliphate and a provincial capital of the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. The post-independence period was tumultuous, and a number of military coups. In 1958, Syria entered a union with Egypt called the United Arab Republic. Syria was under Emergency Law from 1963 to 2011, effectively suspending most constitutional protections for citizens, Bashar al-Assad has been president since 2000 and was preceded by his father Hafez al-Assad, who was in office from 1970 to 2000. Mainstream modern academic opinion strongly favours the argument that the Greek word is related to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, in the past, others believed that it was derived from Siryon, the name that the Sidonians gave to Mount Hermon. However, the discovery of the inscription in 2000 seems to support the theory that the term Syria derives from Assyria. The area designated by the word has changed over time, since approximately 10,000 BC, Syria was one of centers of Neolithic culture where agriculture and cattle breeding appeared for the first time in the world. The following Neolithic period is represented by houses of Mureybet culture. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gyps, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations. Cities of Hamoukar and Emar played an important role during the late Neolithic, archaeologists have demonstrated that civilization in Syria was one of the most ancient on earth, perhaps preceded by only those of Mesopotamia. The earliest recorded indigenous civilisation in the region was the Kingdom of Ebla near present-day Idlib, gifts from Pharaohs, found during excavations, confirm Eblas contact with Egypt. One of the earliest written texts from Syria is an agreement between Vizier Ibrium of Ebla and an ambiguous kingdom called Abarsal c.2300 BC. The Northwest Semitic language of the Amorites is the earliest attested of the Canaanite languages, Mari reemerged during this period, and saw renewed prosperity until conquered by Hammurabi of Babylon. Ugarit also arose during this time, circa 1800 BC, close to modern Latakia, Ugaritic was a Semitic language loosely related to the Canaanite languages, and developed the Ugaritic alphabet. The Ugarites kingdom survived until its destruction at the hands of the marauding Indo-European Sea Peoples in the 12th century BC, Yamhad was described in the tablets of Mari as the mightiest state in the near east and as having more vassals than Hammurabi of Babylon. Yamhad imposed its authority over Alalakh, Qatna, the Hurrians states, the army of Yamhad campaigned as far away as Dēr on the border of Elam
6.
Jordan
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Jordan, officially The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is an Arab kingdom in Western Asia, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the east and south, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north, Israel, Palestine and the Dead Sea to the west, Jordan is strategically located at the crossroads of Asia, Africa and Europe. The capital, Amman, is Jordans most populous city as well as the countrys economic, what is now Jordan has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic period. Three stable kingdoms emerged there at the end of the Bronze Age, Ammon, Moab, later rulers include the Nabataean Kingdom, the Roman Empire, and the Ottoman Empire. After the Great Arab Revolt against the Ottomans in 1916 during World War I, the Emirate of Transjordan was established in 1921 by the then Emir Abdullah I and became a British protectorate. In 1946, Jordan became an independent state known as The Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Jordan captured the West Bank, which it later lost in 1967, during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and is one of two Arab states to have signed a peace treaty with Israel. The country is a monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a relatively-small, semi-arid, almost-landlocked country with a population numbering at 9.5 million, Sunni Islam, practiced by around 92% of the population, is the dominant religion in Jordan. It coexists with an indigenous Christian minority, Jordan is considered to be among the safest of Arab countries in the Middle East, and has avoided long-term terrorism and instability. The kingdom is also a refuge to thousands of Iraqi Christians fleeing the Islamic State, while Jordan continues to accept refugees, the recent large influx from Syria placed substantial strain on national resources and infrastructure. Jordan is classified as a country of high human development with a middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce, the country is a major tourist destination, and also attracts medical tourism due to its well developed health sector. Nonetheless, a lack of resources, large flow of refugees. Jordan is named after the Jordan River, where Jesus is said to have been baptized, the origin of the rivers name is debated, but the most common explanation is that it derives from the word yarad, found in Hebrew, Aramaic, and other Semitic languages. Others regard the name as having an Indo-Aryan origin, combining the words yor and don, another theory is that it is from the Arabic root word wrd, as in people coming to a major source of water. The name Jordan appears in an ancient Egyptian papyrus called Papyrus Anastasi I, the lands of modern-day Jordan were historically called Transjordan, meaning beyond the Jordan River. The name was Arabized into Al-Urdunn during the Muslim conquest of the Levant, during crusader rule, it was called Oultrejordain
7.
Tripoint
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A tripoint, trijunction, triple point or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the borders of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are approximately 176 international tripoints, nearly half are situated in rivers, lakes or seas. When on dry land, the exact tripoints are usually indicated by markers or pillars, usually, the more neighbours a country has, the more international tripoints that country has. China with 16 tripoints and Russia with 11 to 14 lead the list of states by number of tripoints, within Europe, landlocked Austria has nine tripoints, among them two with Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Island countries such as Japan have no points, nor have states with only one neighbour state. Likewise the United States with two states has no tricountry points, it has a number of tristate points as well as one point where four states meet. Canada, as well, has five tripoints on land where the boundaries of provinces and territories meet, border junctions are most commonly threefold. There are also a number of quadripoints, and a handful of points, as well as probably unique examples of a sixfold, sevenfold. No more than eight borders meet at a single multipoint anywhere on earth, the Tossal dels Tres Reis, located where the borders of the ancient Kingdoms of Valencia, Catalonia, and Aragon meet. For a full list, see list of tripoints, while the exact line of an international border is normally fixed by a bilateral treaty, the position of the tripoints may need to be settled by a trilateral agreement. For example, China, Russia, and Mongolia have set the position of the two relevant tripoints by the agreement signed in Ulaan Baator on January 27,1994. List of tripoints of English counties Tri-state area Quadripoint Maritime boundary Penedo dos Três Reinos Tripoint border of China, Russia and North Korea
8.
Mineral spring
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Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce water containing minerals, or other dissolved substances, that alter its taste or give it a purported therapeutic value. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the water during its passage underground. Mineral water obtained from mineral springs has long been an important commercial proposition, mineral spas are resorts that have developed around mineral springs, where patrons would repair to “take the waters” — meaning that they would drink or bathe in the mineral water. Others were entirely enclosed within spring houses, chalybeate springs contained salts of iron. Sulfur springs contained hydrogen sulfide gas, salt springs contained salts of calcium, magnesium or sodium. Thermal springs could contain a concentration of various minerals. Soda springs contained carbon dioxide gas, radioactive springs contain traces of radioactive substances such as radium or uranium. Types of sedimentary rock - usually limestone - are sometimes formed by the evaporation, or rapid precipitation, of spring water. Spectacular formations, including terraces, stalactites, stalagmites and “frozen waterfalls” can result, one light-colored porous calcite of this type is known as travertine and has been used extensively in Italy and elsewhere as building material. Travertine can have a white, tan, or cream-colored appearance, another type of spring water deposit, containing siliceous as well as calcareous minerals, is known as tufa. Tufa is similar to travertine but is softer and more porous. Sweet springs, those with no detectable sulfur or salt content Cohen, Stan, Springs of the Virginias, A Pictorial History, Charleston, West Virginia, laMoreaux, Philip E. Tanner, Judy T, eds. Springs and bottled water of the world, Ancient history, source, occurrence, quality and use, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Springer-Verlag, ISBN 3-540-61841-4, retrieved 13 July 2010
9.
Umm Qais
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Umm Qais or Qays is a town in northern Jordan principally known for its proximity to the ruins of the ancient Gadara, also a former bishopric and present Latin catholic titular see. It lies in the Bani Kinanah Department and Irbid Governorate in the extreme northwest of the country, near Jordans borders with Israel and it is perched on a hilltop 378 metres above sea level overlooking the Sea of Tiberias, the Golan Heights, and the Yarmouk River gorge. Gadara was situated in a position on a ridge accessible to the east. It was well-watered, with access to the Ain Qais spring, a member of the Decapolis, Gadara was a center of Greek culture in the region, considered one of its most Hellenized and enjoying special political and religious status. By the third century BC the town was of some cultural importance and it was the birthplace of the satirist Menippus, a slave who became a Cynic philosopher and satirized the follies of mankind in a mixture of prose and verse. His works have not survived, but were imitated by Varro, the Greek historian Polybius describes Gadara as being in 218 BC the strongest of all places in the region. Nevertheless, it capitulated shortly afterwards when besieged by the Seleucid king Antiochus III of Syria, under the Seleucids, it was also known as Antiochia or Antiochia Semiramis and as Seleucia. The region passed in and out of the control of the Seleucid kings of Syria, Gadara was captured and damaged by Alexander Jannaeus. In the early first century BC Gadara gave birth to its most famous son, but in 30 BC Augustus placed it under the control of the Jewish king Herod. The historian Josephus relates that after King Herods death in 4 BC Gadara was made part of the Roman province of Syria. Josephus relates that in AD66 at the beginning of the Jewish revolt against the Romans the country around Gadara was laid waste and he came into it and slew all the youth, the Romans having no mercy on any age whatsoever. He set fire to the city and all the villas around it, the Gadarenes captured some of the boldest of the Jews, of whom several were put to death and others imprisoned. Some in the town surrendered to emperor Vespasian, who placed a garrison there, the 2nd century AD Roman aqueduct to Gadara supplied drinking water through a qanat 170 km long. Its longest underground section, running for 94 km, is the longest known tunnel from ancient times, Gadara continued to be an important town within the Eastern Roman Empire, and was long the seat of a Christian bishop. With the conquest of the Arabs, following the Battle of Yarmouk in 636 it came under Muslim rule, around 747 it was largely destroyed by an earthquake, and was abandoned. The ancient walls may now be traced in almost their entire circuit of 3 km, one of the Roman roads ran eastward to Ḍer‛ah, and an aqueduct has been traced to the pool of Ḳhab, about 20 miles to the north of Ḍer‛ah. The ruins include those of baths, two theaters, a hippodrome, colonnaded streets and, under the Romans, aqueducts, a temple, a paved street, with double colonnade, ran from east to west. The ruts worn in the road by the wheels of ancient vehicles are still to be seen
10.
Roman Empire
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Civil wars and executions continued, culminating in the victory of Octavian, Caesars adopted son, over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC and the annexation of Egypt. Octavians power was then unassailable and in 27 BC the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power, the imperial period of Rome lasted approximately 1,500 years compared to the 500 years of the Republican era. The first two centuries of the empires existence were a period of unprecedented political stability and prosperity known as the Pax Romana, following Octavians victory, the size of the empire was dramatically increased. After the assassination of Caligula in 41, the senate briefly considered restoring the republic, under Claudius, the empire invaded Britannia, its first major expansion since Augustus. Vespasian emerged triumphant in 69, establishing the Flavian dynasty, before being succeeded by his son Titus and his short reign was followed by the long reign of his brother Domitian, who was eventually assassinated. The senate then appointed the first of the Five Good Emperors, the empire reached its greatest extent under Trajan, the second in this line. A period of increasing trouble and decline began with the reign of Commodus, Commodus assassination in 192 triggered the Year of the Five Emperors, of which Septimius Severus emerged victorious. The assassination of Alexander Severus in 235 led to the Crisis of the Third Century in which 26 men were declared emperor by the Roman Senate over a time span. It was not until the reign of Diocletian that the empire was fully stabilized with the introduction of the Tetrarchy, which saw four emperors rule the empire at once. This arrangement was unsuccessful, leading to a civil war that was finally ended by Constantine I. Constantine subsequently shifted the capital to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople in his honour and it remained the capital of the east until its demise. Constantine also adopted Christianity which later became the state religion of the empire. However, Augustulus was never recognized by his Eastern colleague, and separate rule in the Western part of the empire ceased to exist upon the death of Julius Nepos. The Eastern Roman Empire endured for another millennium, eventually falling to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, the Roman Empire was among the most powerful economic, cultural, political and military forces in the world of its time. It was one of the largest empires in world history, at its height under Trajan, it covered 5 million square kilometres. It held sway over an estimated 70 million people, at that time 21% of the entire population. Throughout the European medieval period, attempts were made to establish successors to the Roman Empire, including the Empire of Romania, a Crusader state. Rome had begun expanding shortly after the founding of the republic in the 6th century BC, then, it was an empire long before it had an emperor
