Organizers of the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington D.C. are urging people to donate to the American Red Cross for earthquake relief efforts in Japan ahead of the festival that honors US-Japanese relations.
Plans are in the works to recognize the tragedy during the festival.
(READ the AP story at WUSA TV-9)
The Japanese people are demonstrating a true allegiance to social order and calm as they search for loved ones or wait in lines for basic necessities.
There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents must wait in line for 12 hours to buy food. Everyone remains calm and polite, earning the admiration of the world.
“Supermarkets are cutting prices and vending machine owners giving out free drinks as people work together to survive,” remarked a writer in the Telegraph, as he wondered why we saw looting in disasters past, but not in Japan.
There were also reports of citizens voluntarily turning their lights and appliances off, so as to save energy for the rest of the population.
(WATCH the video below, or read the report by ABC’s Diane Sawyer)
The Japanese people are demonstrating a true allegiance to social order and calm as they search for loved ones or wait in lines for basic necessities.
There is not a hint of looting or violence, even as residents must wait in line for 12 hours to buy food. Everyone remains calm and polite, earning the admiration of the world.
Soldiers from the Japanese Defense Force going door-to-door yesterday, pulling bodies from homes flattened by the earthquake and tsunami in a northeast coastal town, heard the cries of a baby girl from amid the rubble.
They carefully removed fragments of wood, shattered glass and rock. And then they saw her: a four-month old baby girl in a pink woolen bear suit, all alone.
The tidal wave literally swept the unnamed girl away from her parents’ arms when it hit their home… But soldiers managed to reunite the baby with her overjoyed father shortly after the rescue.
(READ the story in Time magazine)
“Egypt’s interior minister has dissolved the country’s state security agency, which is accused of torture and other human rights abuses during ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly 30-year rule,” reported the Associated Press today.
Read the news update at NPR…
In just 48 hours, Lady Gaga’s 8.8 million fans have raised a quarter of a million dollars for the Japanese relief effort. But Gaga isn’t the only one urging fans to donate. Like her “Japan Prayer Bracelets” that galvanized the donations, artists are getting creative for a cause.
Yesterday, Simon Cowell announced via Twitter that Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry would be among those set to record a new song to benefit the Japanese victims.
In just 48 hours, Lady Gaga’s 8.8 million fans have raised a quarter of a million dollars for the Japanese relief effort. But Gaga isn’t the only one urging fans to donate. Like her “Japan Prayer Bracelets” that galvanized the donations, artists are getting creative for a cause.
Yesterday, Simon Cowell announced via Twitter that Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, and Katy Perry would be among those set to record a new song to benefit the Japanese victims.
Swedish doctor Hans Rosling created a visual animated chart showing the amazing progress in health and income statistics for 200 countries since 1810.
Rooted in enthusiasm and also in fact, Rosling shows us how dramatically successful our progress has been — whether African, Asian or American — allowing us to re-imagine the future of humanity with greater optimism.
The audience assembled at an arts-centered middle school in Virginia cheered wildly today as President Obama called for a rewrite of the nation’s education policy known as No Child Left Behind.
He told the group at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington that he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the task will be informed by nearly a decade of lessons from the policy’s successes and failures.
“It’s not enough to leave ‘No Child Behind’. We need to help every child get ahead.” (Photo: Art students present their work at Kenmore Middle school)
The audience assembled at an arts-centered middle school in Virginia cheered wildly today as President Obama called for a rewrite of the nation’s education policy known as No Child Left Behind.
He told the group at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington that he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but the task will be informed by nearly a decade of lessons from the policy’s successes and failures.
“It’s not enough to leave ‘No Child Behind’. We need to help every child get ahead.” (Photo: Art students present their work at Kenmore Middle school)
As of Sunday evening, 101,924 had clicked “Like” on the Dog Bless You Facebook fan page, meaning the Annenberg Foundation will donate $200,000 toward sending search and rescue dogs to help in Japan with earthquake and tsunami response.
Dog Bless You is a project of the Annenberg Foundation designed to highlight the selfless acts of dogs.
The recipient of the funds, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, has already deployed twelve canines with handlers to Japan to begin search and rescue missions in the Ofunato City area on the North East coast where the skills of rescue dogs are critically needed to find people trapped in the rubble. They head out today with teams from Fairfax County, VA Urban Search and Rescue and Los Angeles Search and Rescue providing their “BARK” alerts whenever the dogs sense anyone alive in the rubble.
As of Sunday evening, 101,924 had clicked “Like” on the Dog Bless You Facebook fan page, meaning the Annenberg Foundation will donate $200,000 toward sending search and rescue dogs to help in Japan with earthquake and tsunami response.
Dog Bless You is a project of the Annenberg Foundation designed to highlight the selfless acts of dogs.
The recipient of the funds, the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, has already deployed twelve canines with handlers to Japan to begin search and rescue missions in the Ofunato City area on the North East coast where the skills of rescue dogs are critically needed to find people trapped in the rubble. They head out today with teams from Fairfax County, VA Urban Search and Rescue and Los Angeles Search and Rescue providing their “BARK” alerts whenever the dogs sense anyone alive in the rubble.
Vintage sound recordings, including never released and out-of-print masters featuring Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby were donated to the American public by one of the world’s largest recording companies.
The Library of Congress and the Universal Music Group (UMG) announced the donation in January boosting the Library’s Recorded Sound Section, which has more than 3 million sound recordings in its collection.
They are the unlikeliest of folk heroes. But these once-obscure lawmakers — a dairy farmer, a former truck driver and a woman who is seven months pregnant, among others — who fled this capital nearly a month ago, returned Saturday to the cheers of 100,000 protesters gathered in support.
Many in the crowd wore buttons or held signs bearing admiring nicknames for the group: the “Fighting 14,” the “Fab 14” or, simply, “the Wisconsin 14.” They chanted, “Thank you” and “Welcome home.”
SKY NEWS- A sixty-year-old man has had a miraculous escape after being swept nine miles out to sea by the tsunami in Japan.
Hiromitsu Shinkawa was discovered clinging to the roof of his house two days after the disaster struck, according to officials.
He was lifted to safety by a helicopter after being spotted floating on a piece of roof in waters off Fukushima prefecture.
(Video and full report at Sky News)
Nearly 150 of America’s premier search-and-rescue specialists arrived today in Japan en route to a coastal fishing village devastated by Friday’s earthquake. The personnel from two teams, one based in California and the other in Virginia, plan to bus rescue personnel to the village early Monday morning. Other teams from around the world are arriving to help in the relief effort.
Nearly 150 of America’s premier search-and-rescue specialists arrived today in Japan en route to a coastal fishing village devastated by Friday’s earthquake. The personnel from two teams, one based in California and the other in Virginia, plan to bus rescue personnel to the village early Monday morning. Other teams from around the world are arriving to help in the relief effort.
Lady Gaga is turning to her fans, called “little monsters,” to help raise funds for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief.
The pop singer is selling a newly created bracelet that says “Pray for Japan” in English and Japanese characters for $5 each with the promise that “all proceeds go directly to Japan relief efforts.” Additional donations may be added to the cost of the item as well. Order one here, on her website.
Lady Gaga is turning to her fans, called “little monsters,” to help raise funds for Japanese earthquake and tsunami relief.
The pop singer is selling a newly created bracelet that says “Pray for Japan” in English and Japanese characters for $5 each with the promise that “all proceeds go directly to Japan relief efforts.” Additional donations may be added to the cost of the item as well. Order one here, on her website.
McDonald’s has laid out a plan to move to more sustainable meat, coffee and product packaging.
Gradually, the company will require suppliers to source food and materials from sustainably-managed land, though there are no specific timelines for now.
With analysis help from the World Wildlife Fund, the company is initially focusing on beef, poultry, coffee, palm oil and packaging.
