The Short List

• Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, Congresswoman from Arizona, and eighteen others were shot outside a Safeway in Tuscon, AZ during an in district event Rep. Gifford was hosting.  Six people were killed and Rep. Gifford remains in critical condition.


• ETA separatists in the Basque region of Spain have called for a permanent ceasefire, but the government of Spain is waiting for more concrete movements by the group.


• With calls for government austerity on the rise, The Economist has a cover story and a podcast assessing the looming showdown between governments and their public sector unions.


• Sudan prepares for a referendum by the south to secede, and many observers are waiting for the other shoe to drop considering the referendum, if a vote occurs, is expected to pass convincingly.