From the CHRONICLE: With a publication date this week, The Wars of Afghanistan couldn’t be more timely. On Monday, the Obama administration, angered by Pakistani double-dealing, announced it was cutting $800 million in military assistance…

From the INQUIRER: Following revelations about possible cheating on state tests, Pennsylvania’s education secretary has ordered forensic reviews of all exams since 2009, with special attention to Philadelphia. “When you have multiple indications from multiple sources that something’s not correct, that absolutely does require a greater level of scrutiny,” Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis said in an interview Thursday…

From the POST-GAZETTE: In Pennsylvania, 46 percent of retirees have a net worth of less than $50,000 and 30 percent earn less than half of their pre-retirement income, according to survey partly funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.

From the NEW YORK TIMES: Two new studies released on Wednesday add to the growing body of evidence that taking a daily pill containing one or two AIDS drugs can keep an uninfected person from catching the fatal human immunodeficiency virus. The studies were the first to show protection in heterosexuals; the only earlier one with similarly encouraging results involved gay men.

You won’t read about it in today’s Intelligencer-Journal New Era’s coverage of yesterday’s County Commissioners Work Session, but NewsLanc publisher Robert Field petitioned the board to pass a resolution in support of the establishment through private funding of a modern syringe exchange in Lancaster.

NEW YORK TIMES: Political gain, not economic sense or sound policy, has always been at the core of Republican strategy on the debt-ceiling talks — a cynical ploy to appear serious about cutting spending while actually holding hostage the nation’s strong credit rating.

From the HUFF POST: After the OECD created the Better Life Index to discern which are the happiest countries in the world an organization known as 24-7 Wall St. cherry-picked the list to narrow down those countries with the highest economic stability. Most likely, says MSNBC, “the happiest people in the developed world get loads of social services without having to work too hard.”

TRUTH OUT: Repeal the Bush tax cuts on all capital incomes (capital gains, dividends, interest, inheritance) and related corporate tax cuts for accelerated depreciation and credits. Restore the capital gains and dividends tax rates, from their current 15 percent to their levels of 70 percent in 1980.

From USA TODAY: …HIV is tightly entwined with poverty. Southern counties that have the greatest rates of HIV infection are among the poorest in the nation, USA TODAY’s analysis shows. Elsewhere in the USA, counties with the highest rates of HIV-infected people had, on average, one in seven people living in poverty, earning roughly $22,350 for a family of four.

From EPI: Two years since the end of the Great Recession, nearly 14 million Americans are unemployed and the unemployment rate remains over 9% (figures as of May 2011). The stubborn woes of the job market have led many to claim that economic policies enacted in recent years (particularly those strongly associated with the Obama administration) have delayed a more rapid recovery.

From the WASHINGTON POST: The United States is “within reach” of defeating al-Qaeda and is targeting 10 to 20 leaders who are key to the terrorist network’s survival, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday during his first trip to Afghanistan since taking charge at the Pentagon.

From NEWSMAX / REUTERS: As a freshman U.S. senator, Republican Pat Toomey punches above his weight in the high-stakes fight over increasing the U.S. debt limit. To cheers and jeers, Toomey — a Tea Party favorite and Wall Street veteran — dismisses as an exaggeration worries about a short-term U.S. debt default and wants the Constitution changed to require a balanced federal budget.