Daily News Digest

The latest news on the Economy, State spending, Education, Wal-Mart, Gender equity, Executive privilege, Product safety, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Darfur, US-India nuclear, Israel, South Africa, Venexuela, Editorial, and Opinion.

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Economy. July jobless rate highest in 4 years "The U.S. unemployment rate climbed to 5.7 percent in July, its highest in more than four years as employers cut payrolls for a seventh month in a row." More Arrows Seen Pointing to a Recession "The American economy slowed from April to June, while numbers for the last three months of 2007 were revised downward to show a contraction."

State spending. Urgency has buckled since Minneapolis bridge collapse "A year after the collapse of Minneapolis' Interstate 35W bridge, which killed 13 people and injured more than 100, the drive to improve the safety of the nation's bridges has faded amid waning public interest to fund such projects in a souring economy." States pay price for binge in spending "State and local government spending has been rising three times as fast as revenue amid warnings from governors that their finances are nearing crisis stage."

Education. House, Senate Pass Overhaul Of Higher-Education Programs "Congress passed a major overhaul of federal higher-education programs aimed at expanding financial aid and bringing greater clarity and disclosure to the student loan process." Higher ed bill aimed at reducing college costs goes to the president "Congress sent to President Bush the first major overhaul in a decade of the federal higher education act, giving strong, bipartisan backing to a bill aimed at making college more accessible and affordable for hundreds of thousands of low-income, minority, military and disabled students."

Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart Warns of Democratic Win "Wal-Mart is mobilizing its managers and supervisors around the country to warn that if Democrats win power in November, they'll likely change federal law to make it easier for workers to unionize companies -- including Wal-Mart."

Gender equity. House passes bill to help enforce gender pay equity "The pay equity measure, which passed by a 247-178 vote, would treat gender discrimination involving pay in the same as race, disability and age discrimination."

Executive privilege. White House aides must appear before Congress, judge rules "A federal judge rejected the Bush administration's sweeping assertion of executive privilege and ruled that two White House aides must answer subpoenas from Congress." Judge Rules Bush Advisers Can't Ignore Subpoenas President Bush's top advisers cannot ignore subpoenas issued by Congress, a federal judge ruled."

Product safety. Senate Sends Sweeping Product-Safety Bill On to Bush "Historic legislation that would remove toxic chemicals from toys and put a more powerful and better-funded cop on the beat to police the safety of consumer goods is on the verge of becoming law." Congress sends Bush bill banning lead in children's products "The Senate passed and sent to the White House legislation that bans lead from children's toys and seeks to ensure that chemicals posing possible health problems will not end up on toys and articles that kids chew on and play with."

Iraq. Bush declares surge over, citing Iraq 'durability' "At the end of what has been the least violent month in Iraq in more than four years, President George W. Bush marked the conclusion of his 30,000-troop surge and cautiously proclaimed that "a degree of durability" has been reached in a war that 18 months ago seemed to have spiraled out of control." Bush touts security gains in Iraq "Sustained progress" in Iraq will allow the military to cut the length of combat tours and possibly make further reductions in troop levels in the fall, President Bush said." U.S. Deaths In Iraq Fall To Lowest Of the War "Five American troops died in July as a result of combat in Iraq, by far the lowest monthly U.S. death toll of the five-year war."

Afghanistan. Afghanistan aid agencies hampered by growth in violence "Parts of country 'too dangerous to operate in' as number of monthly attacks reaches seven-year high."

Pakistan. Pakistanis Aided Attack in Kabul, U.S. Officials Say "American intelligence agencies have concluded that members of Pakistan's powerful spy service helped plan the deadly July 7 bombing of India's embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to United States government officials." Pakistan denies report that ISI helped plan Indian Embassy bomb in Kabul "Pakistan angrily denied a newspaper report that its intelligence service helped plan a bombing of India's embassy in Kabul that killed at least 41 people, amid mounting allegations the secretive agency is aiding Islamic militants." Pakistan rejects links to Taliban "Pakistan's military has rejected as "malicious" a report that the CIA confronted Islamabad over allegations the country's intelligence service was aiding al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters."

Darfur. UN vote OKs Darfur peacekeeping, but US abstains over Sudan leader's genocide charges "The U.N. Security Council approved another year of peacekeeping in Sudan's bloodied Darfur region, but the U.S. abstained from a vote that reflected sharp divisions over genocide charges against the Sudanese president." U.N. to Keep Darfur Force, but U.S. Withholds Its Vote "The United Nations Security Council extended the mandate for beleaguered peacekeeping troops in the Sudanese province of Darfur, but the United States abstained from the 14-0 vote to protest what it saw as wobbly support for pursuing war crimes indictments in the conflict." UN extends Darfur peace mission "The UN Security Council has renewed the mandate for peacekeepers in Sudan's Darfur region for another year just two hours before it was due to expire."

US-India nuclear. UN debates India-US nuclear deal "India must now win an unprecedented waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) later in August which would allow it to trade in sensitive nuclear materials. The deal must also be ratified by the US Congress." India set to clear hurdle in historic US nuclear deal "India is set to clear one of the last three hurdles to its historic nuclear deal with the United States today when the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approves a mechanism to safeguard and inspect Indian nuclear facilities." IAEA set to approve India pact "The UN's atomic watchdog is set to approve an inspections agreement with India that is key to finalising a nuclear deal between New Delhi and Washington."

Israel. Olmert to continue peace talks despite impending resignation "Olmert believes that to some degree, announcing the impending end of his term has given him more public legitimacy to make progress in the peace process". 'Syria willing to cut ties with Iran' "A peace agreement with Syria is within reach, according to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's envoys to talks with Syria, who returned from another round of indirect negotiations in Turkey."

South Africa. South Africa wakes up to growing white poor "Less well-known is that since apartheid ended in 1994, there has been a growing number of poor, white Afrikaans living in smaller settlements without state pensions and relying on government social grants, unskilled jobs or begging."

Venezuela. Sympathetic to Chávez, a New Church Draws Fire "The defection of a handful of priests and their formation of the Reformed Catholic Church, a breakaway church openly sympathetic to Mr. Chávez's government yet oddly allied with conservative Anglicans from Texas, has raised the ire of Roman Catholic leaders in Venezuela."

Editorial. 'The Jungle,' Again (New York Times) "By treating illegal low-wage workers as a de facto criminal class, the government is trying to inflate the menace they pose to a level that justifies its rabid efforts to capture and punish them. That is a fraudulent exercise, and a national disgrace."

Opinion. Wave Goodbye to the Invisible Hand (Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post) "Just as the Gilded Age gave way to the Progressive Era and the New Deal gave way to the post-war era of big government, the current era of free-market capitalism seems to be giving way to something else." Missing Dean Acheson (David Brooks, New York Times) "We're about to enter our 19th consecutive year of Truman-envy. Ever since the Berlin Wall fell, people have looked at the way Harry Truman, George C. Marshall, Dean Acheson and others created forward-looking global institutions after World War II, and they've asked: Why can't we rally that kind of international cooperation to confront terrorism, global warming, nuclear proliferation and the rest of today's problems?"