The Common Good
Daily News Digest Blog

The Top 10 Stories of August 17, 2011

by Duane Shank 08-17-2011 | 1:00pm
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Quote of the day.
"Snakes, rodents, reptiles and biting insects crept and crawled into our homes with the dark at 7pm. Children couldn't study, and we couldn't relax, socialise or plan our lives after a long day's work." - Fatmata Koroma, Mambioma village, Sierra Leone, one of a group of women working to bring solar-powered electricity to rural communities.
(Guardian)

1. Obama dares GOP to block jobs package.
"After pledging to send a job-creation package to Congress next month and daring Republicans to block it, President Obama offered few specifics Tuesday about the form the plan might take as he stuck to a broad outline of how to improve the economy."
(Los Angeles Times)

2. Protesting 'Secure Communities.'
"A program that is central to President Obama's immigration enforcement strategy has drawn protests by Latino and immigrant organizations in six cities in the last two days, as those groups stepped up their confrontation with the administration over the fast pace of deportations."
(New York Times)

3. Panetta says large defense budget cuts would devastate security.
"Large new cuts in defense spending would 'terribly weaken' U.S. national security, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday as he and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton used a rare joint interview to argue that the nation cannot afford to keep playing partisan chicken with its finances. "
(AP/Washington Post)

4. The year of the 'super bundlers.'
"The 2012 contest brings 'super bundlers,' a new breed of fundraisers who can raise millions for candidates and outside groups at the same time."
(Washington Post)

5. More unwed parents live together.
"The number of Americans who have children and live together without marrying has increased twelvefold since 1970, according to a report released Tuesday."
(New York Times)

6. Border deaths drop 38 percent.
"The Border Patrol's Tucson Sector has recorded 132 migrant deaths through July 31, a 38 percent drop compared with the 212 migrant deaths logged during the same 10-month period in the fiscal year before."
(Arizona Republic)

7. Fighting trafficking in Vietnam.
"Over a decade ago, human traffickers descended on this seemingly forgotten slice of soaring limestone crags and lush valleys to snatch up women and children and sell them over the border in China, less than four miles away."
(New York Times)

8. Libyan rebels tighten grip around Tripoli.
"Libyan opposition forces have pushed further to isolate Tripoli, moving towards a western town that links the capital and Sirte -- the hometown and a stronghold for the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi."
(Al Jazeera)

9. Syria continues siege.
"The Syrian government siege of the port city of Latakia has continued for a fourth day, despite demands from regional states that Damascus stop shelling civilian areas and withdraw its forces from the country's towns and cities."
(Guardian)

10. Camp child death rates alarming.
"Death rates are at 'alarming levels' at a refugee camp in Ethiopia, where on average 10 children aged under five die each day, the UN has said."
(BBC)

Sojourners' Daily Digest is a compilation of the top news related to our commitments of life and peace, economic and racial justice, and care of creation, with a special focus on news of the engagement of faith in public life.

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