This week’s top stories
Photo Credit: anver.com
By Nora Tidey, News Editor
National
Monday night marked the first of this year’s general election presidential debates. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump debated hot-button topics at Hofstra University in front of what was expected to be a historic number of television viewers. The personal jabs from the candidates came early including, but certainly not limited to, Clinton’s attacks on Trump’s business roots and failure to release his tax returns and Trump’s attacks on Clinton’s private email server controversy. Moderator Lester Holt asked questions which fell into three broad categories of national security, achieving prosperity in America and the nation’s direction. Race relations became a big point of discussion when the candidates debated “stop and frisk” tactics as well as various crime rates in cities such as New York and Chicago for nearly 10 minutes of the debate. According to a CNN/ORC poll of voters who tuned in to watch Monday’s debate, 62 percent deemed Clinton the winner while 27 percent thought Trump had the better night. Clinton was seen as having done a better job confronting concerns that voters might have about her, but the gap was smaller on which candidate appeared more authentic and sincere.
International
Israel’s longest serving statesman Shimon Peres died on Wednesday, leaving the country mourning the last of the state’s founding fathers. Peres, 93, died two weeks after suffering a serious stroke that caused bleeding in his brain. His career spanned 10 U.S. presidencies; he served in the Israeli parliament for over 47 years and was elected prime minister three times. With such an extensive career, Peres was present at almost every significant moment in Israel’s history. He was even present at the birth of the state of Israel and grew up with the young nation, attending a school advocating for the relocation of Jewish people and as a teenager joined the first generation of Zionists in politics. Peres built Israel’s defense industry from scratch in the 1950s and prioritized security above everything else. His decisions were often accompanied by controversy. Even with his focus on defense, though, Peres held a legacy as a man of peace and leaders from around the world have been coming together to remember that legacy.
Compiled with information from abcnews.com and cnn.com
