Top stories from DAWNS Digest
Nail biter of a Presidential Election in El Salvador
Fewer than 7,000 votes separate the candidates. “Although Salvador Sánchez Cerén, a former rebel commander who is the governing party’s candidate, held a narrow lead, the electoral tribunal said that the close vote made it impossible to name a winner and told the candidates not to declare victory.It would take a more definitive count, which began Monday, to determine the eventual outcome, said Walter Araujo, a magistrate who explained that the tribunal would need to review blank and contested ballots and complete counting the 10,500 absentee ballots cast by Salvadorans living abroad.But neither Mr. Sánchez Cerén nor his opponent, Norman Quijano, a two-term mayor of San Salvador, heeded the tribunal’s warning.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/N2fMrx)
New “Chronic Poverty” Report Released
A new report warns that up to a billion people are at risk of falling into poverty by 2030. “Unemployment, poor health, high food prices, conflict and natural disasters – these are some of the things that can drive people below the poverty line of $1.25 a day. The Overseas Development Institute and the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network have released the Third Chronic Poverty Report. Network Director Andrew Shepard — the lead author — warns of poverty’s ‘revolving door.’ ‘People fall into poverty as well as escape it. And once they’ve escaped it they can fall back in again.’” (VOA http://bit.ly/1qr29ls)