PRESS DIGEST - Canada - July 20

July 20 (Reuters) - The following are top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL: - At one of their most politically charged conferences ever, AIDS scientists are warning of a looming health catastrophe because of the global recession and the "criminal" silence of world leaders on their faltering HIV-AIDS promises.

- Vancouver has stolen Calgary's crown as the city with the highest net worth. In a soon-to-be-published database that looks at how Canadians handled their wealth during the rapid change of fortunes that marred 2008, Environics Analytics exposes profound changes in the way people approach their wealth.

Report on Business Section:

- CIT Group Inc (CIT.N) has reached a tentative deal with a bondholder group for $3 billion in rescue financing, which the lender hopes will help it avoid bankruptcy, sources close to the situation said on Sunday.

- The stagnation in wage growth over the past few months is heightening fears over the strength and mindset of consumers as employees accept pay freezes in many industries and outright cuts in others.

- Cineplex Odeon Queensway in Etobicoke hopes a new tech-based innovation -- seating that uses special chairs to mimic the screen action -- will bring audiences to the box office

NATIONAL POST:

- Authorities ordered the evacuation of dozens of more homes late Sunday afternoon as wildfires raged through tinder-dry forests near Kelowna in the B.C. Interior. Those residents join about 11,000 others who have already been told to leave their homes

- Frank McCourt, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning memoir Angela's Ashes, has died. He was 78.

- Earl Jones' wife and two adult daughters broke their silence for the first time, making public a statement saying they were "devastated" by what the self-styled financial adviser has reportedly done

- Troops from the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment and their Afghan army allies "hit the jackpot" in a major combat operation that ended Sunday, discovering four factories used by the Taliban to make improvised explosive devices about 17 kilometres southwest of Kandahar City

- The U.S. military quietly conducted a joint exercise last week with the Cuban army on either side of the perimeter of the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba

Financial Post section:

- Environment Minister Jim Prentice has condemned as "outrageous" the tripling of the time and cost to $18.6-million of an environmental review of the largest construction proposal in Canadian history -- the Mackenzie Valley gas project