Daily News Digest

The latest news on Oreos block highway, Food in the US, Food in the world, Simplicity vs. ostentatious wealth, Women veterans, Sen. Kennedy, Burma, China, Bush in Mideast, Lebanon, Iran, South Africa, Op-Eds.

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P>Oreos block highway. Crash strews Oreos over I-80 "Several lanes of Interstate Highway 80 were shut down for hours overnight after a truck hauling Oreos crashed into a median, spilling tons of the chocolate cookies across the highway, police said."

Food in the US. New breed of American emerges in need of food "Since 2006, soaring food and fuel prices have combined with lost jobs and stagnant wages to boost the number of Americans needing food aid. More than 41% of those on food stamps came from working families in 2006, up from 30% a decade earlier," Farm bill highlights rich-poor debate "At the heart of the standoff between the White House and Congress over a $307 billion farm bill is the question: Should taxpayers subsidize rich farmers - and who counts as rich?"

Food in the world. World Aid Agencies Faulted in Food Crisis "Buffeted by food riots at home, Senegal's president, Abdoulaye Wade, this month lashed out at a distant culprit: The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, which he slammed as a wasteful "bottomless pit of money" that should be abolished for failing to help increase global food production." Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa "Somalia - and much of the volatile Horn of Africa, for that matter - was about the last place on earth that needed a food crisis. Even before commodity prices started shooting up around the globe, civil war, displacement and imperiled aid operations had pushed many people here to the brink of famine."

Simplicity vs. ostentatious wealth. Chasing Utopia, Family Imagines No Possessions "Chasing a utopian vision of a self-sustaining life on the land as partisans of a movement some call voluntary simplicity, they are donating virtually all their possessions to charity and hitting the road at the end." The rich splurge on bargains "The recession gripping the country has left a broad swath of Americans agonizing over $60 gas fill-ups, ballooning grocery bills, and homes lost to foreclosure. But for the region's class of superrich, downtimes have made for a bonanza of deals on luxurious pleasures, from sports cars and yachts to pieds-a-terre and airplanes."

Women veterans. VA struggles to gear up to care for female veterans "Roughly 180,000 women have been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. While they don't officially serve in combat, they have experienced life in a war zone where there are no front lines. And as they return home, they're increasingly turning to an already overtaxed Department of Veterans Affairs for help."

Sen. Kennedy. Kennedy upbeat day after seizure "Kennedy's doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital has said it would be until at least today before tests would offer greater insight into the senator's health. Kennedy's inner circle would not commit to a timeline for making those results public."

Bush in Mideast. Bush urges more freedom in Arab states"Arab states need to promote freedom at home and resist Iran's nuclear ambitions, George Bush said yesterday, while insisting in the face of widespread scepticism that he is committed to achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians." 'We can reach' Mideast deal this year, Bush says "President George W. Bush, concluding a five-day tour of the Middle East, voiced confidence Sunday that Israeli and Palestinian leaders can agree upon the outlines of a new Palestinian state by the end of this year." Bush ends 5-day Middle East trip with few concrete gains "Wrapping up a five-day tour of the Middle East, President Bush on Sunday told his Arab allies that expanding democratic reforms and isolating Iran and Syria were crucial steps to a secure and prosperous future for the region."

Lebanon. Hezbollah triumph widens sectarian distrust in Lebanon "Sunni Muslims are bitter and fearful after Shiite Hezbollah's triumph in Beirut, watching their backs on the streets and some even moving to safer spots."

Iran . Iran Remains Key Concern as Bush Returns "As he toured the Middle East over the past five days, President Bush tried to shore up support for his strategy of isolating Iran in meetings with the leaders of Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and the Palestinian territories."

South Africa. South African mobs hunt down immigrants "Mobs hunting immigrants in poor suburbs around Johannesburg have killed 22 people, South African police said today." Anti-Immigrant Violence in Johannesburg"Violence against immigrants, like some windswept fire, spread across one neighborhood after another here in one of South Africa's main cities this weekend,"

Op-Eds.

Reform the farm bill (David Beckmann, Washington Times) "Many praise the recently passed 2008 farm bill as 'the best we can do.' But for us at Bread for the World, it is only half a loaf. We know that the United States can and should do better.

Two Roads to Gay Marriage (By E. J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post)"My visceral reaction to this decision, rendered by a moderately conservative court dominated by Republicans, was to share the joy of the gay and lesbian couples you saw celebrating on television. But my practical reaction was to wonder whether this decision will speed or slow our country's steady change of heart on the matter of recognizing committed gay relationships."

Lifeline for mainliners (Mark I. Pinsky, USA Today) "These once-dominant liberal Protestant denominations have been drained by demographic realities and eclipsed by conservative religious voices. Yet vibrant mainline megachurches might have found a formula for a renaissance."