Duane Shank

Haiti. Next month in New York, the international community's commitment to Haiti's reconstruction will face its first big test. At a meeting of donor nations and international organizations, the Haitian government is to present its preliminary reconstruction plan, which it hopes will set the stage for a large and lasting commitment by the rest of the world.

Afghanistan-Civilians Killed. One day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai made an impassioned plea for American-led forces to do more to avoid killing civilians in their fight against the Taliban, a NATO air strike killed as many as 33 civilians in southern Afghanistan.

Immigration. An ambitious, multibillion-dollar project to hot-wire the new Southwest border fence with high-tech radar, cameras, and satellite signals has been plagued with serious system failures and repeated delays and will probably not be completed for another seven years -- if it is finished at all.

Quote of the Day. "If you were to take the best engineers in the world and try to design the perfect plug for a child's airway, it would be a hot dog. I'm a pediatric emergency doctor, and to try to get them out once they're wedged in, it's almost impossible." Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, OH, on a study urging that hot dogs be "redesigned" so they are less likely to become stuck in children’s throats. About 17% of food-related asphyxiations in children are caused by hot dogs. (USA Today)

Dalai Lama. Activists say they are hopeful that a visit to the White House today by Tibet's spiritual leader signals a change in President Obama's foreign policy toward China and its abysmal record on human rights.

Egypt. Dozens of Egyptian women and human rights activists have staged a protest in Cairo against a recent decision that bars women from holding judicial positions.

Education. Senior House Republicans and Democrats plan to announce Thursday that they will team up to rewrite the No Child Left Behind education law, a rare show of bipartisanship in the polarized Congress.

Quote of the Day. "The majority of our immigrant families are 'mixed families,' meaning that some members are legal United States citizens and some are not. Because of this reality, these families will stay together and we will continue to have some people living in the shadows of legality. Both the Congress and our president have the responsibility to help bring an end to these people living in the shadows of our society -- often deprived of basic human rights and exploited by employers -- and onto a path which would eventually bring them into full legal residence.” Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, in his Lent message. (San Fernando Valley Sun)

Immigration. An unusually wet winter in Arizona this year has been lethal for illegal immigrants crossing from Mexico into the United States, with nine people dying from hypothermia since November. The same number of immigrants died of hypothermia during the previous three winters combined.

School Lunches. By this summer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture will have launched its most sweeping safety reforms in a decade for the food it buys for school lunches. But much work remains to ensure that food purchased for the National School Lunch Program -- in particular, ground beef -- is 'as safe, wholesome and high quality' as the best commercial products.

Haiti. The Jan. 12 earthquake was an equal opportunity leveler with such mass deadliness that it erased the individuality of its victims. According to the Haitian government, more than 230,000 people died in the disaster, but initially few had ceremonies to mark their deaths.

Quote of the Day. “If the government were not to continue the same level of support, it would be very detrimental, like cutting the legs off a wobbling child and expecting it to run a marathon. It’s very possible we’ll still be at this level of need five years from now.” John Katalinich, chief lending officer at the Inova Federal Credit Union in Elkhart, IN, on federal government plans to wind down many of its emergency programs for housing. (New York Times)

Haiti Immigrants. Calling the aftermath of the earthquake "a disaster of historic proportions," the secretary of homeland security, Janet Napolitano, said she was granting a designation known as temporary protected status for Haitian immigrants because their safety would be at risk if they were deported.

Working Women. In a trend that researchers call "the rise of wives," women are increasingly better-educated than their husbands and have emerged as the dominant income-provider in one of five marriages.

Afghanistan. A small but determined squad of at least seven attackers laid siege to the heart of the Afghan capital Monday morning, detonating explosives, hurling grenades, and engaging in a fierce four-hour gun battle with security forces in one of the most brazen insurgent assaults on Kabul in at least a year.

Quote of the Day. “It’s like we’ve got more going on in our parking lot than we do within the walls of the church.” Craig Goodwin, pastor of Millwood (WA) Community Presbyterian Church. When the church was told it would have to close its farmers’ market on the church parking lot or the lot could no longer be claimed as tax-exempt, it decided to keep the market and pay the $700 in annual taxes. (New York Times)

Yemen-Somalia. Thousands of Somali boys and teenagers fleeing war and chaos at home are sailing to Yemen, where officials who have long welcomed Somali refugees now worry that the new arrivals could become the next generation of al-Qaeda fighters.

China-Missiles. China has tested a new technology that can intercept and destroy missiles in mid-air in a display of military strength just days after the United States angered Beijing by selling Patriot missiles to Taiwan.

Bank Bonuses. The budget that President Obama submits next month is likely to include new fees on financial firms as the White House seeks to recover the full costs of its $700 billion bailout of the banking industry, officials said.

Quote of the Day. "When I was a kid growing up … it was a special thing to do. Now, it's like you're getting on a Greyhound bus to go somewhere. The crowding, the screening through the security … in the last couple years, flying is just not a pleasant experience." Tom Seeley, Brooklyn, NY, on why he and his family now drive to Chicago to visit relatives. (USA Today)

Immigration Reform. Democratic lawmakers, led by Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., on Tuesday filed the first comprehensive immigration reform bill in the current Congress, giving renewed hope to millions of undocumented immigrants in South Florida and around the country.

Iran. Iran says it has successfully test-fired an improved version of a medium-range missile, drawing western protests.

DC Same-Sex Marriage. The District was on the verge Tuesday of becoming the sixth place in the country to legalize same-sex marriage after the council gave final approval to its bill allowing the unions.

Quote of the Day. “How can one remain indifferent in the face of problems such as climate change, desertification, the degradation and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase in extreme weather, and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical areas?” Pope Benedict XVI on environmental ethics in his World Day of Peace message. (National Catholic Reporter)

Health Care. The Senate Finance Committee legislation to revamp the health-care system would provide coverage to 29 million uninsured Americans but would still pare future federal deficits by slowing the growth of spending on medical care.

Iran. The first death sentence for participation in Iran’s post election protests was handed down on Monday, an Iranian reformist website has reported.

Darfur. An African Union panel is due to hand over a report aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Sudan's Darfur region. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki led the inquiry and will deliver his findings to the AU in Ethiopia.

Quote of the Day. "Culture and religion inform every decision about health, illness, disease and care, about true caring, about who can live, about the measure of quality in a life, about when suffering begins and how it ends. We bring our full selves to every bedside." Dawn Seery, head of the Methodist Healthcare System in San Antonio, on the role of hospital ethics committees in assisting families making end-of-life decisions. (USA Today)

Health care. A year-long effort by senators to draft a bipartisan overhaul of the nation's health-care system on Wednesday yielded the only congressional proposal that would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans while making good on President Obama's pledge not to add "one dime" to budget deficits.

Obama and race. President Obama has long suggested that he would like to move beyond race. The question now is whether the country will let him.

Global poverty. The global recession is expected to push 89 million more people into extreme poverty by the end of 2010, the World Bank said Wednesday as it called on the leaders of the 20 largest economies to engage in "responsible globalization."

Quote of the day. “People say to us, ‘Oh, I grew up with your music,’ and we often say, sotto voce, ‘So did we.’” Folksinger Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary, who died yesterday at 72. (New York Times)

Children in prison. After murders committed by juveniles spiked in the early 1990s, states toughened laws, making the United States the harshest nation in world in the legal punishment of children, according to a recent study.

Green energy. With the most diverse array of alternative energy potential of any state in the nation, Hawaii has set out to become a living laboratory for the rest of the country, hoping it can slash its dependence on fossil fuels while keeping the lights on.

Iran. The US and Iran are to hold their first face-to-face talks in three decades after the European Union struck a deal to resume nuclear negotiations.

Quote of the day. “We don’t need the news that comes from TV. This is news we care about, and it comes fast enough for us." Ohio Amish farmer Karl Yoder on The Budget, a newspaper that has served as the main source of news for Amish communities since 1890. (Los Angeles Times)