Daily News Digest

The latest news on Pennsylvania primary, Zimbabwe, US prisons, Pennsylvania primary, Analysis, US prisons, Death penalty, Food crisis, Free trade, NAFTA, Zimbabwe, Darfur, Nation-building, North Korea, Editorial, and Op-Eds.

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Pennsylvania primary. Clinton Takes Pennsylvania "Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Pennsylvania presidential primary decisively, running up a 10-percentage-point victory that bolstered her case for staying in the race for the Democratic nomination." Clinton grinds out win in Pa. "Hillary Clinton kept her presidential candidacy alive with a win in the Pennsylvania primary but failed to achieve the kind of overwhelming victory that would dramatically alter a Democratic nomination contest in which Barack Obama has amassed a daunting delegate lead." Clinton Outduels Obama in Primary"Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton scored a decisive victory over Senator Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary, giving her candidacy a critical boost as she struggles to raise money and persuade party leaders to let the Democratic nominating fight go on."

Analysis. Decisive Win Can't Forestall A Daunting Task "Pennsylvania Democrats threw a much-needed lifeline to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, offering a fresh incentive to keep pursuing her dimming hopes of winning the party's presidential nomination." Clinton's victory doesn't do much for her odds "Pennsylvania voters gave Hillary Rodham Clinton every reason to continue her campaign for president. But they did not present any definitive new evidence that would compel Democratic Party elders to step in and anoint Clinton as their White House nominee," Democrats' epic movie now on final reel "It's not the end, but it is the endgame. What really matters now, after this long-running movie of a Democratic presidential campaign, is how the final scene is written."

US prisons. Inmate Count in U.S. Dwarfs Other Nations' "The United States has less than 5 percent of the world's population. But it has almost a quarter of the world's prisoners. Indeed, the United States leads the world in producing prisoners, a reflection of a relatively recent and now entirely distinctive American approach to crime and punishment."

Death penalty. After Court Ruling, States to Proceed With Executions "States began moving forward with plans for executions this week after the Supreme Court declined last Wednesday to review the appeals of death row inmates who had challenged lethal-injection methods in nearly a dozen states."

Food crisis. Food Crisis Is Depicted As 'Silent Tsunami' "More than 100 million people are being driven deeper into poverty by a "silent tsunami" of sharply rising food prices, which have sparked riots around the world and threaten U.N.-backed feeding programs for 20 million children," WFP cuts school meals in food crisis "The World Food Programme said that it has begun to cut the provision of school meals to some of the world's poorest children as the global crisis over food prices worsens." Rice price rise takes toll in Manila slum "The Philippines, a country of more than 90 million people, is the world's largest rice importer. And the United Nations World Food Program warned Monday that rising food prices mean Asia's poorest risk a "silent famine.""

Free trade. McCain sells free trade in Ohio "While Democratic presidential primary voters in Pennsylvania were choosing Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama yesterday, Republican John McCain went to one of the most Democratic parts of Ohio to tell voters what they probably didn't want to hear." McCain picks failing Ohio factory to laud free trade "Standing before a nearly shuttered factory pocked with broken windows in a city devastated by the erosion of its industrial base, John McCain urged Americans to reject the "siren song of protectionism" and embrace free trade." Pro-Nafta, McCain Delivers Bad News to Ohio Audience "Mr. McCain kept up his free-trade-is-good message in this economically depressed city, a contrast to his Democratic competitors, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, who both have called for renegotiating Nafta."

NAFTA. Bush strongly defends NAFTA "President Bush, meeting in New Orleans with his counterparts from Mexico and Canada, issued a stirring defense of the North American Free Trade Agreement," Harper warns U.S. that Canada will bite back on NAFTA "Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a warning to future U.S. leaders wanting to renegotiate the North American free-trade agreement, saying Canada would drive a tougher bargain because of its position as America's biggest energy supplier." Next-Door Neighbors Back Bush on Expanding Trade "President Felipe Calderon of Mexico and Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada lent their weight to what has been something of a lonely campaign by the president as he has traveled the country to make pro-trade speeches and angry statements about the "petty politics" that he sees threatening one of his administration's major legacies."

Zimbabwe. Brown calls for Zimbabwe arms embargo "The prime minister's comments came as he denounced Robert Mugabe's attempts to steal last month's presidential election." Arms cargo unites Africa "The strange saga of a rusty Chinese cargo ship packed with 77 tons of munitions appears to be marking a turning point in African states' cozy relationship with the autocratic regime of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe," China May Give Up Attempt to Send Arms to Zimbabwe "As protests intensified across southern Africa against the shipment of Chinese-made arms intended for Zimbabwe, the government in Beijing said Tuesday that the ship carrying the arms - owned by a large Chinese state-owned company, Cosco - may return to China because of the difficulties in delivering the goods.

Darfur. Darfur dead 'could number 300,000' "The total number of deaths in the Sudanese region of Darfur could have risen to 300,000 in the five years since violence broke out, according to new figures from a top United Nations official." U.N. puts Darfur death toll at 300,000 "In a briefing to the Security Council, John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that continued attacks make it more difficult for aid workers to reach vulnerable people, food aid is about to be halved, the deployment of peacekeepers is beset by obstacles and the peace process has stalled." 'Goal posts' seen as receding in Darfur "The conflict in Darfur is deteriorating, with full deployment of a new peacekeeping force delayed until 2009 and no prospect of a political settlement for a war that has killed perhaps 300,000 people in five years,"

Nation-building. A new U.S. focus on nation-building "George W. Bush resisted calls to do nation-building during his 2000 campaign, but eight years later, his cabinet is making fundamental changes to reorganize the way the American government can prop up countries around the world."

North Korea. CIA to describe North Korea-Syria nuclear ties "CIA officials will tell Congress on Thursday that North Korea had been helping Syria build a plutonium-based nuclear reactor, a U.S. official said, a disclosure that could touch off new resistance to the administration's plan to ease sanctions on Pyongyang." N. Korea is said to give Syria nuke aid "Members of Congress will be told this week about intelligence suggesting that North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor similar to one it has constructed, "

Editorial. (Christian Science Monitor) Food for America's famished "Americans are a generous sort but not as much in a weak economy with food prices climbing more than 5 percent a year. Donations to private food banks are off 9 by percent. A CNN poll finds nearly 1 in 3 people already cutting back on food. Hunger, once again, is rising in America."

Op-Eds.

Lessons From Dayton for Iraq (Richard Holbrooke, Washington Post) "The 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement has often been suggested as a model for other peace efforts in countries with deep ethnic or religious differences. Bosnia's "federalism" structure has been cited, especially by Sen. Joe Biden and former Council on Foreign Relations president Les Gelb, as a possible model for Iraq."

BRIEFING: Nuclear attack a worst-case reality? (Graham Allison, Washington Times) "In "Nuclear Terrorism: The Ultimate Preventable Catastrophe," published in 2004, I present the evidence for the proposition that on the current trajectory, a successful terrorist nuclear attack devastating one of the great cities of the world is inevitable.