Check out the charity. To begin with, look at the organization website and see if has a specific page for its Nepal efforts, says Schopp. If it does not, he says, "then the organization is not mandated to spend money there." Pursue further due diligence about an organization's track record at such websites as Charity Navigator and Guidestar. The Better Business Bureau has released a list of charities that are providing aid to Nepal and also meet the BBB's accountability standards.
Look at the organization's presence in Nepal. Make sure the organization has worked in Nepal and has people on the ground there, has relationships with the government and community — and has experience responding to natural disasters. "This isn't rookie camp," says Gary Shaye, senior director of humanitarian operations for Save the Children. "It's not a place to break people in." For an agency to set up shop in Nepal in the wake of the quake would almost certainly mean high overhead costs and a lack of familiarity with the country. So efforts by newbies, no matter how well-intentioned, could be less effective than promised in their pitch.
Follow the money. It goes without saying but it's still worth saying: Beware of appeals that ask you to send money directly to a personal bank account, which can happen not only in email solicitations but in social media campaigns. Don't by shy about asking questions. "Somebody writing a check should feel it is absolutely their right to know where this money is going and how it is going to be spent," says Ramachandran. If the website does not provide sufficient information, email or call. "Think of this as a considered purchase," says Shaye of Save the Children. And always ask for a receipt.
You can target funds for a particular purpose. Consider if you want your donation to go to a specific purpose in the immediate crisis — or in the rebuilding to come. The dropdown menu at InterAction's Nepal webpage will direct you to organizations in a number of areas: medical assistance, food aid, supplies for shelter, to name a few.
Don't pack up gently used clothes or other donations. "That's the worst thing to do," says Schopp. What you want to send may not be needed. Transportation to Nepal is iffy and cargo space limited. And if relief agencies buy local goods rather than relying on handouts, that will help the economy gain strength. more or less in every town in England. It's a way for farmers to add value to their crops, so it's important to buy them rather than importing from outside the U.K."
As NPR reported earlier, it was discovered after Flight 9525 crashed into the French Alps that Lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies, and that investigators found boxes of medication in his home, along with torn up doctor's notes for sick leave, including one note for the day of the crash.
Silberman says in May, members of the Aerospace Medical Association will meet to discuss Lubitz's case. "We're going to get together because of the Germanwings accident and come up, you know, is there anything else we should do now," he says.
"I don't think enough of our issues have been resolved for us to be having a big movement of votes toward the bill," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday. "Hopefully we can have some accommodations" to make the agreement more palatable.
"What does it do to increase the paycheck of America's workers?" Pelosi asked. Democrats worry that any further liberalization of trade rules would lead to a greater exodus of U.S. jobs. And they complain past trade agreements, including NAFTA and the three-year-old pact with South Korea have not lived up to expectations.
Republican lawmakers are generally more supportive of trade deals, and House Speaker John Boehner promised "strong Republican support" for the fast-track bill. Some Tea Party members are wary, however, of giving the president any additional negotiating authority. The more House Republicans that withhold support, the bigger boost Obama will need from his own party.
"The president needs to step up his game in terms of garnering more support amongst Democrats, especially here in the House," Boehner said Thursday. "I don't think those who are involved in trade have done a very good job of helping the American [people] understand the benefits of trade and why, in fact, it's good for America."
Political operatives close to the president commissioned a poll which shows a narrow majority of Democrats — 52 percent — back the Asia-Pacific trade deal. That number climbed to 82 percent when survey respondents were told the deal would make it easier for American companies to export products, and that it would raise labor and environmental standards.
The survey was released on Thursday by a group calling itself the "Progressive Coalition for American Jobs." Other progressive groups, which generally oppose the trade agreement, mocked the new coalition as an artificial vehicle for promoting the president's trade agenda.
French President Francois Hollande says there will be grave consequences if allegations that French soldiers sexually abused children in the Central African Republic are true. Other countries are trying different approaches to gaining gastro-prestige. You might remember that last year, Thailand built a robot to help critique and quality-control Thai food overseas.
South Korea has sometimes gotten a little too eager with its food messaging – which has included campaigns suggesting that eating Korean food increases sperm count and a series of bizarre advertisements.
Mexico and Taiwan have recently made efforts to raise their gastronomic profiles as well – promoting their cuisines at international food fairs, and launching campaigns to educate the world about their culinary traditions. Mexican cuisine won UNESCO recognition in 2010.
The strategy — which academics like to call "culinary nation branding" — was a topic of discussion on Wednesday during a conference on gastrodiplomacy at American University.
And it seems the approach really does work. According to the Peruvian embassy, 40 percent of all tourism to Peru in 2013 was motivated primarily by food. Gastronomic tourism generated about $700 million that year, the embassy says.
"The promotion of our cuisine is one way to promote our country," says Adriana Velarde, the head of public diplomacy at the Peruvian embassy in Washington, D.C.
It is also a way to change the conversation about a nation with a troubled past.
"Before, when people talked about Peru, they talked about terrorism," Velarde says — referencing the Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso. For nearly 20 years, the Maoist group led a campaign of bombings, assassinations and beheadings across the country. In the 1990s, the country also experienced a dramatic hostage standoff at the Japanese embassy in Lima that was televised around the world.
But as the Shining Path's influence waned by the early 2000s, Peru turned to its cuisine to tempt tourists to visit, and to redefine how the rest of the world sees it.
"We want our country to have a place in the international spotlight," Velarde says. "And one thing that sets us apart is our delicious food."
"There should be no stain on our French forces wherever they're serving," he said. "I will be implacable if any soldiers are shown to have behaved badly." For billions of people around the world, situations like these are the norm, not the exception. Going under the knife is extremely risky.
In 2010, a third of all global deaths were from common conditions, such as obstructed labor, appendicitis and fractures, because people didn't have access to safe surgery, Barash and an international team of doctors report Monday in The Lancet journal.
Most of the deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries, where 9 out of 10 people struggle to find basic surgical treatment, the study finds.