#the lede

On a damp Charleston night ten years in the past, a ninth-grade dropout with a bowl haircut named Dylann Roof walked right into a Bible-study class at Mom Emanuel A.M.E. Church, dwelling to the oldest traditionally Black congregation in South Carolina. Roof, twenty-one, carried a .45-calibre Glock semi-automatic and eight magazines of hollow-point bullets. He settled right into a seat close to…

“Historical past doesn’t repeat itself, however it rhymes.” Whether or not or not Mark Twain ever actually mentioned that line, it suits and resonates loudly as President Trump shuttles between the Oval Workplace and the State of affairs Room, weighing if he ought to dispatch bombers on one more American sortie to the Center East. First, the required caveats. Since seizing energy, in 1979, Iran’s…

Very not cool news came out of the West Bank over the weekend, which yet again proves the catch 22 of having young soldiers leading patrol units......

The original article appeared in the NYT blog, The Lede, and was written by Robert Mackey 

(Dec 14) Two Palestinian journalists working for Reuters were punched, hit with rifle butts and forced to strip by Israeli soldiers on Wednesday as they tried to reach the scene of a fatal shooting at a West Bank checkpoint, the news agency reports. The soldiers then confiscated the crew’s camera and gas masks before letting off a tear-gas canister which forced one of the men to seek medical treatment.

Although the journalists had press credentials, they were not allowed to show them by the officers, who accused them of working instead for an Israeli human rights group, B’Tselem, which provides video cameras to Palestinians to help document life under Israeli military occupation.

Someone who was does work with the Israeli rights group managed to record video at the checkpoint in the city of Hebron, just after the fatal shooting of Muhammad al-Salameh, 17.

Image by: Bulent Kilic AFP/GETTY 

Locating Loved Ones

If you are looking for information on people in the quake zone, Google has opened a Person Finder page.

Ushahidi, a crowdsourcing mapping tool, has set up a local platform for Japanthat allows people in the area affected by the earthquake to text the location of people who may be trapped in damaged buildings.

Inquiries concerning U.S. citizens living or traveling in Japan should be referred to the U.S. Department of State, Office of Overseas Citizens Services at 1-888-407-4747 or 202 647-5225.

Aid and Charitable Organizations

Each of the following groups have set up fundraising sites specifically for the victims of Friday’s earthquake and tsunami.

AMERICAN RED CROSS Red Cross officials say donors can text REDCROSS to 90999 and a $10 donation will automatically be charged to donor’s phone bill, or donations can be made directly on its Web site.

AMERICARES Information is available on the organization’s Web site.

CARE CARE is one of the world’s largest private international humanitarian organizations. Their offices in Asia are on high alert and have ensured that staff are informed of the tsunami warnings and other related developments.

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS Information is available on the organization’s Web site.

GLOBALGIVING.ORG GlobalGiving is working with International Medical Corps, Save the Children, and other organizations on the ground to disburse funds to organizations providing relief and emergency services to victims of the earthquake and tsunami. Donors can text JAPAN to 50555 to give $10, and larger increments can be submitted on GlobalGiving’s Web site.

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS Information is available on the organization’s Web site.

LIONS CLUBS INTERNATIONAL Information is available on the organization’s Web site.

THE SALVATION ARMY The Salvation Army has been providing food and shelter to Tokyo commuters who were stranded when public transportation was interrupted by the earthquake. They are to send a team to Sendai, a city about 250 miles Tokyo, to assess the situation there. Text JAPAN or QUAKE to 80888 to make a $10 donation. (Make sure to respond “YES” to the Thank You message you receive.) Donations can also be made on the organization’s Web site or by calling 1-800-SAL-ARMY.

SAVE THE CHILDREN To make a donation, visit Save the Children’s Web site, call 1-800-728-3843, or text JAPAN to 20222 to donate $10.

SHELTERBOX.ORG Shelterbox.org is a disaster-relief organization that focuses on providing survival materials such as tents and cooking equipment to families displaced by disasters.