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PESHAWAR: INSIDE THE GATES (3#) -

In a followup to last night's stories, the Taliban are already openly inside the city, according to Reuters correspondent Zeeshan Haider.

"They arrive in broad daylight on the back of pick-up trucks, brandishing automatic weapons, and threatening owners of music stores to close down."

Last week, they kidnapped a couple of dozen Christians, but let them go shortly thereafter.

More police and related manpower are being deployed to the area. And gunship helicopters are reported to be nearby.

:: More:: about Peshawar - background.

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EYE ON PESHAWAR (6#) -

Several European Muslim converts of Scottish, British and Norwegian origin have moved into the suburbs of Peshawar in recent months, according to local police officials; the allegiances of these new strangers are still unknown.

Meanwhile, several hundred extra police are said to have been transferred into the area on high alert, and NWFP Governor Owais Ghani is keeping close tabs on the situation there.

The city is described by many to be on edge, but it has been for some time, as noted on this blog Thurs Jun 19th. And the government of Pakistan is jealous of its sovereignty. Thus, the atmosphere in the area is tense.

A worrisome development noted
by UK Times reporter Zahid Hussain:

"senior security officials said that militants, who now control the region’s main arterial roads, were in a position to cut off communications at will."

His article makes for compelling reading.

"The city is virtually under siege, with militants sitting just on the city's outskirts," one senior government official said.

:: Editorial: "Problem Number One" - Whose war is it?

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OIL PRICES SCRUTINY (3#) -

What's a Dark Market?

Demand for oil increased only 2 percent in the past year, but the price of oil has doubled on the international market. The airlines, which are having a financial crisis, have begun to focus on oil speculators as a key factor. They want Congress "to close oil pricing loopholes," according to Ted Jackovics at the Tampa Tribune.

# Patrice Hill explains the "Enron loophole" and how some speculation escapes regulation via overseas electronic exchanges.

# More about loopholes and fixes
:::: reported by Gail Russell Chaddock.

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LOOSE LINKS (3#) -

We've been having a lot of thunderstorms around here lately. As a result, I've accumulated some links to interesting articles and such, but haven't had a chance to post them. Consider this entry a bit of catchup.

# Afghan Places: At a conference in London, US and UK officials discussed how to standardize the transliteration of place names in Afghanistan.

# A description of a Casablanca Detective Novel which has been translated from Arabic into English called The Final Bet by Abdelilah Hamdouchi, now available in hardback and will debut in paperback come September.

# Jane Perlez interviews Ahmed Rashid, who says:

"The Pakistani Army needs to make a strategic decision to dump support for the Afghan Taliban leadership in Quetta."

Rashid is in the process of introducing
his new book, Descent Into Chaos.

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SoFlo: REVAMPING THE SENTINELS -

Is Fort Lauderdale tired?

In a punchy column, Phil Rosenthal at the Tribune Mother Ship in Chicago edjumicates Sentinel readers about the redesign at the Orlando newspaper. Coming soon to a Sentinel near us???

They tell us, it's about:

"very tired, dated content in a lot of markets."

Any Sentinel we know?

I guess we'll have to wait and see . . .

:: Chicago Tribune ::

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SoFlo: GO FIGURE (2#) -

Does Redneck Law trump the FA?

Suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, the Florida Supreme Court is intervening in the proposed settlement of Sean Conway's case with a Show Cause order, questioning whether Conway's blog comments should or should not be considered Protected Speech. They are directing the adversaries to submit briefs on the matter.

What was the crucial factor that caused them to take action in this case?

I guess I am baffled by their motivation and purpose in doing this.

I think Sean's comments constitute Protected Speech if only because I understand that judge to have been elected, which makes his comments political. Political speech is definitely protected.

The Bar Association contends that the rules of their organization, which is like a private club, transcend the First Amendment. In effect, they are claiming that they (a group of lawyers yet!) are above the Law. I find that position repugnant.

:: Sun-Sentinel :: ..... :: JAABlog ::

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SoFlo: FPL MISLEADING PROGRAM -

As a result of an audit, the state's
Public Service Commission has issued a
report criticizing Florida Power & Light for
"highly excessive administrative costs" in
its Sunshine Energy Program, according
to an article by Christine Stapleton.

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AGENT OF CHANGE -

Sentinel & Tribune Provocateur -

Sam Zell, the new owner of the Tribune company which includes the Sun-Sentinel newspapers, assigned Lee Abrams to innovate.

Who is this guy? And what is he like?
Jeffrey Goldberg interviewed him recently.

:: Atlantic interview ::

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SoFlo: LOCAL
NEWSPAPERS' CONTRACTIONS - (2#) -

This past weekend both local newspapers published columns discussing their current contraction process.

The Miami Herald ombudsman, Edward Schumacher-Matos, is inviting readers' views. Since I don't live in Miami-Dade, I don't want to inject myself too much in this matter, but I urge those of you who are part of their regular and ongoing readership to read his column about this issue, in case you didn't catch it on printed pulp paper in yesterday's Sunday edition.

Step away from that tinfoil helmet... Conspiracy theories aside, the ombudsman discloses that a group of 15 VIPs have been meeting over the past four months to discuss how they think The Herald should be, so that they can make their own recommendations.

He concludes: "Your input will be important.
Please send me your ideas."

* * *
The (Broward County) Sun-Sentinel shares some problems in common with other American newspapers. But it has its own peculiar problems as well. Most prominently:

Rednecks don't read;
reading is not an integral aspect of their culture.

Be that as it may, the top Editor has a column about this issue, too. His approach is in sharp contrast to that of the Herald:

He talks; you listen. Period!

You are not invited to respond to his remarks or to share your views. You are only allowed to pose a question. You may address it to "Ask the Editor."

Since I moved down here to Florida, this newspaper has really deteriorated. And I am not optimistic about its future.

:: Herald :: ..... :: Sentinel ::

+ I have been dodging thunderstorms around here lately. They arrived early yesterday at about 1:30pm, so that most of the rest of the day and evening was almost a complete washout.

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