Daily News Digest

AIDS plan, Life expectancy and inequality, Children and war, Iran, Israel-Hezbollah swap, Nation-building Afghanistan, Iraq, Food crisis, Oil, Interfaith summit, Pope in Australia, Anglican conference, Editorial, and Opinion.

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AIDS plan. Senate Agrees to $50 Billion AIDS Plan "The Senate approved legislation that would triple funding to fight AIDS and other diseases around the globe, rejecting efforts to pare down the bill's $50 billion price tag." Senate agrees to triple funds to fight AIDS in Africa, elsewhere worldwide "The Senate voted to triple spending for a much-acclaimed program that has treated and protected millions in Africa and elsewhere from the scourges of AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis." AIDS bill gains Senate renewal "The Senate approved a $48-billion program to treat and prevent AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, tripling the amount set aside in landmark legislation first passed five years ago."

Presidential campaign. Obama, McCain swap talking points on trail "The two presidential candidates switched places Wednesday, with Republican Sen. John McCain talking about education in poor black communities and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama discussing national security and touting his credentials to be commander in chief."

Life expectancy and inequality. American inequality highlighted by 30-year gap in life expectancy "A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US."

Children and war. Coping With Their Parents' War "Children with a parent at war are vulnerable to anxiety or depression, mental health experts say. Homecomings are hard, too, especially when parents return with physical or emotional wounds. In today's wars, unlike those of the past, that cycle is repeated for many families."

War resisters. Courts send mixed messages to U.S. deserters "In their battle to secure asylum in Canada, U.S. military deserters are being sorted into winning and losing camps by the Federal Court, which some lawyers contend has been inconsistent and confusing in its treatment of war resisters."

Iran. US plans to station its first diplomats in Iran since 1979"The US plans to establish a diplomatic presence in Tehran for the first time in 30 years as part of a remarkable turnaround in policy by President George Bush." Iran and U.S. Signaling Chance of Deal "President Bush's decision to shift policy and send a senior U.S. envoy to nuclear talks with Iran this weekend was made after increasing signs that Iran was open to possible negotiations and that international sanctions were having an impact on the Islamic republic." U.S. plan to meet with Iran heightens debate "The Bush administration's decision to abandon a long-held policy and meet with a top Iranian official on Tehran's nuclear program has intensified the political debate in Washington about how best to deal with America's adversaries." Policy Shift Seen in U.S. Decision on Iran Talks "The Bush administration's decision to send a senior American official to participate in international talks with Iran this weekend reflects a double policy shift in the struggle to resolve the impasse over the country's nuclear program."

Israel-Hezbollah swap. Israel Mourns, Hezbollah Exults "With the transfer of prisoners and fighters' remains across the Israel-Lebanon border, the Shiite militia Hezbollah achieved a victory it had long coveted and Israel received the long-feared confirmation that two of its soldiers were dead." Hezbollah turns over two coffins to Israel "Closing an uneasy chapter of its 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, Israel sent home the most notorious Lebanese convict in its prisons today in return for the remains of two Israeli soldiers whose capture sparked the fighting." Coffins in Israel, cheers in Beirut "An exchange of bodies and prisoners between Israel and Hezbollah put on stark display the Middle East's bitter divisions: a mournful welcome for two fallen soldiers returned to Israel in coffins and jubilant homecoming celebrations for five militants returned smiling to Lebanon."

Nation-building. Rice hails corps to rebuild nations "Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice inaugurated the U.S. government's first-ever civilian nation-building team Wednesday in a bid to learn from missteps in Iraq and Afghanistan reconstruction efforts."

Afghanistan. Pentagon considers ways to boost U.S. troop levels in Afghanistan "Pentagon leaders signaled a surge in U.S. forces in Afghanistan "sooner rather than later," a shift that could send some units there within weeks, as officials prepare to cut troop levels in Iraq." U.S. prepares to boost its forces in Afghanistan "President Bush has already committed to beefing up the U.S. presence in Afghanistan next year. But Defense Department officials said the recent efforts of military planners would accelerate the process and could allow the new brigade of 3,500 soldiers to deploy there before the end of this year."

Iraq. Iraq wants to have security control of all provinces by year-end "Iraqhopes to have control over security across the country by the end of the year, national security advisor Mowaffak Rubaie said Wednesday, as U.S.-led forces handed over responsibility for the southern province of Qadisiya to local authorities."

Food crisis. Nations 'must ensure' food supplies "A group of humanitarian advocates including Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the UN, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have urged national leaders to ensure the provision of food as part of national policy. The so-called "Elders panel" made the call at a meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa on Wednesday, in an attempt to end the global food crisis."

Oil. Nations with vast oil wealth gaining clout "The boom in world oil prices is bolstering autocratic governments in a handful of petroleum-rich countries, emboldening them to challenge U.S. objectives and weakening their own democratic movements."

Interfaith summit. Saudi king opens inter-faith summit "King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has urged followers of the world's leading faiths to embrace reconciliation, saying at the start of an inter-faith conference that history's great conflicts were not caused by religion itself but by its misinterpretation."

Pope in Australia. Pope's message at the end of the earth "After a welcome from the Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell and the Archbishop of Adelaide, Phillip Wilson, Pope Benedict delivered his first public homily, talking about faith, the challenges of the environment and the need to use faith to find solutions to humanity's problems." World's natural resources are being squandered, Pope says "The world's natural resources are being squandered in the pursuit of "insatiable consumption," Pope Benedict XVI warned in a speech Thursday that also slammed television and the Internet for exalting violence as entertainment."

Anglican conference. Bishops gathering for conference "Anglican bishops from more than 150 countries are gathering in Canterbury for the 10-yearly Lambeth Conference. The 650 bishops will have three days of prayer and reflection led by Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams before conference business starts."

Editorial. The deal and the reassessment (Haaretz) "From this point on, what is needed is a serious reassessment of the Israeli position. The crux of this reassessment should be how we differentiate between the living and the dead, between exchanges involving live prisoners and dead soldiers - a differentiation that has become worryingly blurred in Israeli society."

Opinion.

Memo to Obama, McCain: No one wins in a war (Howard Zinn, Boston Globe) "For someone like myself, who fought in World War II, and since then has protested against war, I must ask: Have our political leaders gone mad? Have they learned nothing from recent history? Have they not learned that no one "wins" in a war, but that hundreds of thousands of humans die, most of them civilians, many of them children?"

Prosecuting Genocide (NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF, New York Times) "The prosecution for genocide is a historic step that also creates an opportunity in Sudan, particularly if China can now be induced and shamed into suspending the transfer of weapons used to slaughter civilians in Darfur."