The latest news on Unemployment, Oil Spill, Immigration Politics, Finance Reform, Top Secret America, Part 2, Afghanistan, Iran, HIV/AIDS, Iraq, and Select Op-Eds.

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Quote of the Day. "Amazon.com customers now purchase more Kindle books than hardcover books -- astonishing when you consider that we've been selling hardcover books for 15 years, and Kindle books for 33 months." Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon. (Washington Post)

RELIGION IN THE NEWS

Obama's man of faith has dual roles"Joshua DuBois melds his higher calling with one to help the nation's highest office: He bridges religious groups and sends the president his daily BlackBerry devotional."

Churches eye immigration's upside "Evangelical groups in recent weeks have become key players in the Obama administration's efforts to get immigration reform moving in Congress. And while they have largely couched their arguments in moral terms or with references to biblical teachings, top leaders acknowledge another important reason: Latino immigrants, legal and illegal, represent fertile prospects for proselytizing."

Christians shot in Pakistan city "Police reinforcements have been called in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad a day after two Christians charged with blasphemy were shot dead outside court."

NEWS AT HOME

Unemployment. Senate Set to End Stalemate and Extend Jobless Aid "Senate Democrats are poised to break a partisan stalemate on Tuesday over extending unemployment benefits for millions of Americans who have been jobless for six months or more, but the fight seems certain to continue playing out as a defining issue in the midterm elections." Obama keeps pressure on GOP on jobless aid "With the votes in hand to break a GOP filibuster against an extension of jobless benefits, President Obama stepped up pressure Monday on Republicans in an attack that has become a staple of his midterm election political strategy." Beyond unemployment insurance: Six ideas to lift the economy "The economy's slow patch has become a test of American confidence -- and of whether policymakers can implement ideas to rev up job-creation engines beyond President Obama's exhortations to Congress to extend unemployment benefits."

Oil Spill. US gives BP 24 hours to monitor capped oil well "A standoff between BP and the US government over the handling of the stricken Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico continued with a sharp exchange of words over the best way to keep the oil contained before the well is permanently plugged next month." BP Considers New Plan to Permanently Seal Well "As scientists on Monday allayed concerns that BP's well in the Gulf of Mexico was damaged, the company said it was considering an alternative plan that could permanently seal the gusher sooner than had been anticipated." Amid leak worries, feds and BP focus on killing Gulf well "The government and BP continue to monitor leaks that appeared this weekend to be an ominous threat to their effort to contain the gush of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. But they've also renewed their focus on permanently capping the well that killed 11 people, fouled the Gulf of Mexico, and wreaked economic havoc on the region."

National Guard to Mexican Border. Troops to Go to Mexican Border Aug. 1 "Hundreds of National Guard troops will begin deployment to the United States-Mexico border on Aug. 1, part of the Obama administration's effort to increase security and stem the flow of weapons, cash and people into the United States, the administration announced Monday." Guard troops to head to border states starting Aug. 1 "National Guard troops assigned to the Southwest border will begin to arrive Aug. 1, and the federal government is sending other reinforcements to stem the flow of illegal immigrants and narcotics entering the state, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Monday."

Immigration Politics. Republican immigration position likely to alienate Latinos, Obama officials say "President Obama and his political aides privately acknowledge that the government's decision to sue Arizona over its new immigration law is helping to fuel an anti-immigration fervor that could benefit some Republicans in elections this fall."

Finance Reform. Battle looms over new job heading financial watchdog "President Obama has yet to sign the bill that will overhaul financial regulations, and already a tug of war is unfolding over whom he will tap for the highest-profile position created by the landmark legislation."

National Intelligence. Nominee to direct national intelligence likely to address expanding secret agencies "The Obama administration's nominee to be the next director of national intelligence is expected to face questions from Congress on Tuesday about the expansion of top-secret agencies and contracts, after reports in The Washington Post showing that these efforts have become 'so unwieldy and so secretive' that effective oversight is impossible."

Top Secret America, Part 2. National Security Inc."What started as a temporary fix in response to the terrorist attacks has turned into a dependency that calls into question whether the federal workforce includes too many people obligated to shareholders rather than the public interest -- and whether the government is still in control of its most sensitive activities. [...] The Post estimates that out of 854,000 people with top-secret clearances, 265,000 are contractors."

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

Afghanistan. Karzai wants 2014 security handover "Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has told delegates at an international conference in Kabul that he wants Afghan forces to take over security across the country in four years." Clinton arrives in Kabul for Afghanistan summit, meets with Karzai "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived here Monday night to participate in a conference at which Afghan President Hamid Karzai is scheduled to present concrete plans for improving governance, combating corruption, and beginning a peace process with both low-level Taliban fighters and their leaders." US shifts towards talks with Taliban "The White House is revising its Afghanistan strategy to embrace the idea of negotiating with senior members of the Taliban through third parties -- a policy to which it had previously been lukewarm."

Iran. Europe Considers New Penalties for Iran "The European Union is considering tough new sanctions against Iran to protest its nuclear program, including banning investment in the oil and gas sector and tightening restrictions on shipping and finance." Iran seeks tit-for-tat retaliation over nuclear sanctions "The Iranian parliament on Tuesday adopted a bill authorizing tit-for-tat retaliation against countries that inspect ships and aircraft belonging to the Islamic Republic as part of the latest set of United Nations sanctions over the country's contentious nuclear program."

Darfur. Jem to sign 'child soldier' deal "The Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), a Sudanese rebel group, has agreed to sign a landmark deal with the United Nations on the protection of children caught up in the Darfur conflict."

HIV/AIDS. African Studies Give Women Hope in H.I.V. Fight "With an AIDS vaccine still out of reach, two rigorous new studies have found different ways to sharply cut H.I.V. infections among women and schoolgirls, who make up a majority of the newly infected in sub-Saharan Africa." Vaginal gel 'slashes HIV risks' "A vaginal gel has significantly cut the rate of women contracting HIV from infected partners in an experiment in South Africa, researchers said."

Iraq. Allawi seeks Iraq support from Sadr "Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi prime minister whose Iraqiya coalition won 91 seats in the country's March parliamentary election, has sought support to form a government from Moqtada al-Sadr, the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shia leader." Iraq inquiry: Saddam posed very limited threat to UK, ex-MI5 chief says"The former MI5 director general Eliza Manningham-Buller today delivered a withering assessment of the case for war against Iraq, saying it had significantly increased the terrorist threat to Britain."

OPINION

We're Not Ready (Bob Herbert, New York Times) "Americans are not particularly good at learning even the most painful lessons. Denial is our default mode. But at the very least this tragedy in the gulf should push us to look much harder at the systems we need to prevent a catastrophic accident at a nuclear power plant, and for responding to such an event if it occurred."

Obama's era of Big Things is over (Doyle McManus, Los Angeles Times) "The first long chapter of Barack Obama's presidency came to an end last week when the Senate finally passed its sweeping financial regulation bill. Obama's first 18 months in office produced historic legislation, but that era of Big Things is now over."

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.