"As Israeli forces attacked Gaza by land, sea and air, residents living in the congested coastal strip faced a fateful question: Flee the shelling and shooting, or hole up inside their homes and hope for the best?"
NYT: sometimes there are no good options...
"The Samouni family knew they were in danger. They had been calling the Red Cross for two days, they said, begging to be taken out of Zeitoun, a poor area in eastern Gaza City that is considered a stronghold of Hamas. No rescuers came. Instead, Israeli soldiers entered their building late Sunday night and told them to evacuate to another building. They did. But at 6 a.m. on Monday, when a missile fired by an Israeli warplane struck the relatives’ house in which they had taken shelter, there was nowhere to run."
LAT: ...since missiles often fail to reach their intended target
WP: even areas of refuge aren't safe: at least 30 killed in UN school shelter
Gdn: (this story several hours before the bombing highlights the tragedy)
"Besides the schools in Jabaliya, three others have been turned into shelters in Gaza City, one in Rafah, in the south of the strip, and a handful of others scattered around. But Hasna says there will be more, although he is only marginally more confident than Khalil that the UN flag will provide protection.
"We depend on it being a UN installation with a big flag. We hope the Israelis will respect that. We are contacting them and telling them," he said."
WP: as death toll surpasses 550, Israel ignores European calls for ceasefireLAT: Q&A on the sustained assault
NYT: reactions in the West Bank
"Fatah leaders are growing deeply worried over popular reaction and support for its rival, Hamas, to the point of crushing recent demonstrations.
There is also, after so many years of struggle, of Palestinian against Israeli and of Palestinian against Palestinian, no small degree of weariness with yet another deadly round. Even with the war in Gaza, there is no sign of a third intifada, or uprising, despite Hamas’s call for one.
“The people are tired,” said Jamal Fayez, who runs a modest restaurant in the city center...[Others interviewed] said that support for Hamas would grow as this conflict went on, and that they were intimidated by the Palestinian security forces of Mr. Abbas and his appointed prime minister, Salam Fayyad — forces subsidized by the United States and trained by Jordan — which have cracked down on a series of demonstrations and banned the showing of the Hamas flag."
WP: repercussions in France...
CSM: ...and Arab states
LAT: meanwhile, Israel dealing with its own domestic issues: gang war is on
"An over-the-top gang war between Israeli crime families, complete with daylight bombings, bystander deaths and the occasional rocket attack, has laid bare the shortcomings of the country's formidable security apparatus...
Organized crime blossomed here in the 1980s and '90s while security forces were focused on Palestinian terrorist threats. By the time Israeli authorities truly began to grapple with the problem a few years ago, they faced a sophisticated global network of gambling, prostitution and drug trafficking, with Los Angeles as one of its hubs."
WP: speaking of urban warfare, Rio police apply some tactics to fight gangs
"The police have regularly launched large operations in Brazil's favelas, or slums, in their battle against drug gangs over the years, but authorities say the occupation of Santa Marta, a relatively small, contained neighborhood, is part of a new approach, a pilot project for the future of crime fighting in this violent city. Brazilian police officers are attempting counterinsurgency tactics similar to those used by U.S. soldiers in Iraq -- setting up small bases occupied around the clock inside violent neighborhoods, developing intelligence by living among their adversaries, and using government funds to rebuild broken areas and generate goodwill."
Gdn: which hasn't been so popular
"Authorities say the R$1m (£300,000) "eco-barrier", which will encircle part of the famous Dona Marta slum in southern part of the city, is intended to protect the nearby Atlantic rainforest from illegal occupation as well as improve security and living conditions for slum residents.
As tenders for construction of the 3-metre-high (10ft) wall opened yesterday, critics claimed the project was a form of "social apartheid", comparing it to Israel's security barrier."
WP: female suicide bomber kills 40 at Baghdad shrineNYT: violence trends over time: better days, but still deadly ones
BBC: Taliban kills three in Pakistan for spying
Slate: ...the incident is not an isolated one
NYT: 6 years in Guantanamo
BBC: Nigerians get in on the piracy gig
WP: Ethiopia withdraws from Somalia
Econ: travelogue from the other side of the country, in border area with Kenya
AP: opposition leader declared winner in Ghana
"Ghana is now one of the few African countries to successfully transfer power twice from one legitimately elected leader to another. It made the transition to a mature democracy after experiencing years of coups in the 1970s and 1980s, and survived the closest presidential vote in its history with Atta Mills's win."
LAT: reconciliation efforts underway in Kenya after less successful election
"In a sun-drenched valley of central Kenya, a few dozen villagers gather each Saturday to sit under the trees and conduct the painstaking work of reconciliation that their government leaders seem happy to avoid.
These traumatized victims of Kenya's post-election clashes meet to talk, pray, sing and -- they hope -- heal...
At most sessions, group members still segregate themselves by tribe. But singing, dancing and a touch of pragmatism have helped break the ice."
BBC: those government leaders, meanwhile, are in 'crisis talks'
"Our correspondent says tensions were heightened on Friday when President Kibaki approved the media law, which journalists say will muzzle the press.
Mr Odinga had asked the president to reconsider the measures, after it was bitterly opposed by journalists."
BBC: Congo CNDP rebels rebel against NkundaBBC: ...then take it back
LAT: Subcomandante Marcos makes an appearance
"In January 1994, the Zapatista guerrillas launched an offensive aimed at dramatizing the bleak living conditions, poverty and alienation of Mexico's indigenous population. They managed to seize control of several towns in Mexico's southernmost province, Chiapas, before the army beat them back into remote hills. It was over in less than two weeks.
Since then, the Zapatistas functioned as a largely political movement. A folk culture emerged around the masked Marcos, meanwhile, as he gave interviews, received visitors from around the world and saw dolls and T-shirts bearing his likeness. And although he and his followers brought attention to the plight of Mexican Indians and achieved some voice in local governments, Chiapas remains mired in poverty and violence."
WP: Ohio man could face Nazi crimes trial in Germany
Slate: reporting from the Holocaust archives
"This is the Central Names Index—CNI—which covers three rooms and includes 50 million references for 17.5 million victims."
New Yorker: the legacy of Arendt
Econ: and Huntington
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The Onion: Hallmark scientists discover three new emotions
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