On Wednesday, March 16th, we mark the eighth anniversary of our daughter Rachel’s stand in Rafah, Gaza, to protect the right of a Gazan family to be safe and secure in their home and the rights of all Palestinians to self-determination, freedom, equality, and security in the same measure as their Israeli neighbors.

Here in Olympia, Washington – our hometown and Rachel’s – our family, the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice, and our community will mark this anniversary with an event that emphasizes three components: community-building, education, and action. Strengthening community connections was important to Rachel when she lived and worked here in Olympia, but, also, beyond, as she embraced the world as her community. As we pursue a more just global community, we must arm ourselves with solid information and knowledge. Rachel believed this profoundly and emphasized in her writing from Gaza the importance of seeking and communicating the facts and doing so without exaggeration. And it is not enough for us to think and talk. We must, also, act. Indeed, it is because of Rachel’s action on March 16, 2003, that we pause to mark this day.

Abu Rahmah was released this evening, after having served the 16 months sentence imposed on him by the Israeli Military Court of Appeals for organizing demonstrations. Abu Rahmah was received by his family, friends and supporters at the prison’s gate and vowed to continue the struggle. After much delay, Abu Rahmah who was supposed to have already been released yesterday, was finally released from the Ofer Military Prison this evening. He was received by hundreds who waited for him at the prison’s gate. Abu Rahmah, who during his trial was declared a human rights defender by the EU and a prisoner of conscious by Amnesty International, vowed to continue struggling against the Occupation, despite his unjust imprisonment and the six-months suspended sentence still imposed on him. He said, “On my release, I have no intention to go back home and sit there idly. In fact, by imprisoning me they have silenced me long enough. Our cause is just, it is one striving for freedom and equality, and I intend to continue fighting for it just as I have before”.

It’s easier to put the blame on a Palestinian than reveal the truth. How else can settlement expansion be justified to the world?

An Asian worker is suspected of the murder of the Fogel family, a settler family from Itamar settlement near the northern West Bank city of Nablus, according to Palestinian press sources. Quds Net news quoted local residents from the area that he was infuriated with an Israeli settler for not paying him his wages carried out the killing of the settler’s family in Itamar, Palestinian press sources reported. Quds Net news agency on Monday quoted a Palestinian family from Awarta village next to the settlement as saying that Mr. Fogel refused to pay 10,000 shekels in wages which he owed an Asian worker he hired. The worker threatened to kill the settler and his family. The worker is suspected of committing the crime after midnight Friday using a knife then fleeing the scene to nearby Palestinian villages, the report added. It noted that the Israeli army knows of the information leading to the suspect but refuse to announce or deal with it for political as well as security reasons.

AWIP: Israel’s New ‘Revenge’ Settlement Expansions Spark Anger

Guatemalans subjected to U.S. syphilis experiments in the 1940s are suing federal health officials to compensate them for health problems they have suffered. The lawsuit comes after revelations that U.S. scientists studying the effects of penicillin in the 1940s deliberately infected about 700 Guatemalan prisoners, mental patients, soldiers and orphans. None was informed or gave consent. Attorneys representing the Guatemalans asked the Obama administration to set up an out-of-court claims process similar to those established in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the 9/11 terror attacks. But they say they got no response by a Friday deadline and so filed the suit Monday morning. The Guatemalan experiments were hidden for decades, until a medical historian uncovered the records in 2009.

AWIP: Inquiry into US STD experiment launched
AWIP: US infected Guatemalans with syphilis in 1940s, Wellesley professor finds

The AIPAC Policy Conference is the pro-Israel community's preeminent annual gathering. The event attracts more than 6000 community and student activists from all 50 states, and more than half of the Senate, a third of the House of Representatives and countless Israeli and American policymakers and thought leaders. Over three jam-packed days, Policy Conference participants choose from hundreds of informative sessions and participate in the pro-Israel community's largest and most important advocacy day.

Al Jazeera: AIPAC is a useful tool when you want to predict the future of any peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

The president consults with General Flustercluck

A US drone attack has claimed the lives of at least five people in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of North Waziristan, officials and local media reported. The five were killed on Wednesday morning when a US drone aircraft fired missiles at a vehicle in Ambir Shaga area of Datta Khel tehsil, near the border with Afghanistan, a Press TV correspondent reported. The vehicle was also destroyed in the attack, the pakistani officials added.

The attack comes two days after a US drone attack killed at least five people and wounded several others in Pakistan's northwest tribal area of South Waziristan. The US frequently carries out such attacks on Pakistan's tribal areas. Attacks by unmanned American planes have left dozens of Pakistanis dead in the volatile region over the past weeks. Nearly 1,200 people were killed in 124 unauthorized US drone attacks in Pakistan in 2010.

[Wiped out: cars and lorries are strewn across what used to be an industrial area in the city of Sendai. Experts estimate it could be ten years before Japan's infrastructure recovers form the damage caused by the tsunami]

● Temperatures drop below 0C as 450,000 shelter in makeshift camps with little food or water
● Emperor Akihito makes rare television address urging his people not to give up
● More than 4,000 bodies found and another 7,000 missing assumed dead

The emperor of Japan today made a desperate plea for his countrymen not to give up as the devastation following the earthquake and tsunami worsened. The rubble-strewn wastelands of north-east Japan were covered by a blanket of snow today, hitting hopes of finding any more survivors five days after the devastating tsunami. Freezing temperatures also made things worse for millions of survivors - hundreds of thousands of whom are sheltering in makeshift camps in areas cut off from the outside world - as food and fuel run supplies low. Rescue crews battled rain that turned to snow as the mercury dipped below 0C, as others returned to where their homes once stood to try and salvage any possessions they can find.

More than 10,000 are thought to have died when the huge wave hit the country- rescuers have found around 4,000 bodies and 7,000 victims are still missing. However the death toll could still rise much higher than that.

Work to Prevent Meltdowns at Japanese Nuclear Plant Suspended; All Workers Evacuated Due to Radiation Surge. FUKUSHIMA, Japan – Japan ordered emergency workers to withdraw from its stricken nuclear plant Wednesday amid a surge in radiation, temporarily suspending efforts to cool the overheating reactors. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the workers, who have been dousing the reactors with seawater in a frantic effort to stabilize their temperatures, had no choice but to pull back from the most dangerous areas. "The workers cannot carry out even minimal work at the plant now," Edano said, as smoke billowed above the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex. "Because of the radiation risk we are on standby." The nuclear crisis has triggered international alarm and partly overshadowed the human tragedy caused by Friday's 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the subsequent tsunami, a blast of black seawater that pulverized Japan's northeastern coastline. The quake was one of the strongest recorded in history.

Following explosions in at least two reactor cores at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant - and as the developing crisis is rated at level 6 of seven levels on the International Nuclear Events Scale - attention is turning to just what is happening inside the 40-year-old power plant in north-east Japan. Al Jazeera's Dan Nolan explains the ongoing situation.

BBC: Japan nuclear leak - health risks
RealNewsReporter: Fallout map
NYT: In Fuel-Cooling Pools, a Danger for the Longer Term

Hundreds of people have been injured in clashes in Bahrain, according to a doctor who spoke to the BBC by phone from the Gulf state. He also said that soldiers and police had seized ambulances and appeared to be firing on anyone in their path, but that it was impossible to identify where those responsible for the violence were from. On Monday troops from neighbouring Gulf states were sent to Bahrain to help deal with continuing anti-government protests. The king of Bahrain has also declared a three-month state of emergency. To protect his identity the doctor is named only as 'Abdul'.

PressTV: Saudi forces raid main Manama hospital
Yahoo: Bahrain storms into protesters' camp in capital
Al Jazeera: Bahrain forces in drive against protesters - Video
PressTV: Bahraini govt. clings to foreign forces

PressTV: US liable for Saudi invasion of Bahrain - The Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani says the US should be answerable for its 'traceable involvement' in the violent suppression of protests in the Middle East, North Africa and the invasion of Bahrain. Larijani pointed to the recent visit by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates to the Bahraini capital city, Manama, and said, “Following the visit, certain countries in the Persian Gulf announced that sending troops to Bahrain is aimed at supporting the ruling government in the country.” “It is very clear that such an aggressive move has been carried out in support of the United States during the defense secretary's trip. Regional nations have the right to declare that Washington is responsible for any violence and killing,” ISNA quoted Larijani as saying.

Tomgram/Nick Turse: The Pentagon and Murder in Bahrain