Daily News Digest

The latest reports on the G-8 summit, immigration, Zimbabwe, Medicare, senior services cut, unemployment, conventions, serving the poor, the wars go on, Egyptian Christians, and select editorials and op-eds

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Immigration. Employers Fight Tough Measures on Immigration "Under pressure from the toughest crackdown on illegal immigration in two decades, employers across the country are fighting back in state legislatures, the federal courts and city halls."

Medicare . Doctors Press Senate to Undo Medicare Cuts "Congress returns to work this week with Medicare high on the agenda and Senate Republicans under pressure after a barrage of radio and television advertisements blamed them for a 10.6 percent cut in payments to doctors who care for millions of older Americans."

Senior services cut. Senior services feel fiscal squeeze "Fewer seniors are receiving home-delivered meals, personal care help and other services as states struggle with tighter budgets and the senior population grows. States are cutting other parts of their budgets, too, including other human services. Seniors, though, feel the pinch especially hard because their needs are growing while budgets are shrinking."

Unemployment. Employers cut jobs for 6th straight month; more cuts ahead "The economy is likely to keep stumbling at least through the rest of the year, analysts agreed Thursday, after a disappointing government report showed that payroll jobs fell by 62,000 in June, the sixth straight month of job losses."

Conventions. Protesters gearing up for the political conventions "Every four years, liberal activists follow political power brokers and the world media to the Democratic and Republican party conventions, filling the streets with spirited protest against war, corporate domination and environmental destruction."

Serving the poor. Faithful Servants of New Orleans "It is not the fact that Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church sits in the middle of a Midwestern cornfield that makes it notable. Nor even that its pastor preaches in jeans and sandals to a working-class congregation sipping coffee in shorts and T-shirts. More to the point: Of the hundreds of American churches, ministries and local faith-based organizations that for almost three years have poured themselves out on behalf of wounded New Orleans, few have matched the sustained commitment of this megachurch 15 miles north of Dayton."

G-8 summit. G-8 faces setbacks to U.N. goals "As the Group of Eight focuses on the slumping world economy at its summit that kicks off Monday in Hokkaido, Japan, reports say the prospects of achieving the ambitious U.N. Millennium Development Goals to eliminate global poverty by 2015 have dimmed." Rising costs dominate G8 talks "Rising food and fuel prices are topping the agenda for leaders of the world's major industrialised nations as they start a three-day summit in Japan." West told to fulfil African aid pledge "The leaders of the G8 were under strong pressure to live up to their aid promises to the world's poorest countries as their three-day summit opened against the backdrop of a looming economic crisis." G-8 Plans to Address Aid Accountability "Leaders of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations expect to sign off this week on a plan to provide detailed assessments of how well individual countries are fulfilling promises of development assistance to Africa,"

The wars go on. 40 dead in Indian embassy blast in Afghan capital "A car bomb ripped through the front wall of the Indian Embassy in central Kabul on Monday, killing 40 people in the deadliest attack in Afghanistan's capital since the fall of the Taliban," Blast in Pakistan capital kills more than 10 "A suicide bomber targeted police officers in Pakistan's capital Sunday, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens while thousands of Islamists marked the one-year anniversary of a deadly military crackdown on a mosque nearby." Relative Calm in Iraq Ends as Attacks Take 16 Lives "A wave of attacks in Baghdad and areas north of the capital Sunday shattered a relative lull in violence, killing 16 people and injuring 15 a day after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared that Iraq's government had defeated terrorism."

Zimbabwe. Mugabe crisis 'infecting' Africa "The crisis in Zimbabwe is "infecting the whole of southern Africa", UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said after visiting refugees." Zimbabwe: Mbeki to Face G-8 Push for Sanctions "Leaders of the top industrialised nations are expected to ratchet up pressure on Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe - and President Thabo Mbeki, mediator in that country's protracted political crisis - at a three-day Group of Eight (G-8) meeting starting in Japan today."

Egyptian Christians. Egypt's Coptic Christians Are Choosing Isolation "Under pressure from fundamentalist forms of Islam and bursts of sectarian violence, the most populous Christian community in the Middle East is seeking safety by turning inward, cutting day-to-day social ties that have bound Muslim to Christian in Egypt for centuries,"

Editorial. Where Do We Go From Here? (New York Times) "The alarming resurgence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes it even more imperative for the United States to begin planning for a swift and orderly withdrawal from Iraq."

Opinion.

The Truth Commission(Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times) "The first step of accountability isn't prosecutions. Rather, we need a national Truth Commission to lead a process of soul searching and national cleansing."