From the AP story on CTV.ca:

Paris Hilton gets out of jail Tuesday and she won't be on the cover of US Weekly on Friday?

How, short of the Apocalypse, is this possible? "When it came down to it, the staff and I felt what I believe a lot of people in America are feeling. Which is just enormous Paris fatigue," US Weekly editor Janice Min said Tuesday.

As a result, Hilton not only won't be on the cover, there won't even be a mention of her in the magazine.

"I don't think," Min joked, "we even mention the city of Paris."

As a reality check, it's worth noting that People magazine won the rights to the first post-jail magazine interview with the celebutante.

This YouTube clip shows MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski rebelling against the Hilton story.

I like this June 8 Jay Leno clip of MSNBC interrupting its wall-to-wall coverage of Paris Hilton to let its audience know that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had been dumped.

This Tyee article looks at the CanWest experiment to offer instant translation of its e-paper products into 12 different languages. While that's not a bad idea, critics say the service's translated pages are unintelligible nonsense (make your own joke here).

Long haul fight to defeat the Taleban

THE MOST WANTED TALEBAN Mullah Mohammed Omar: The spiritual leader of the Taleban - a reclusive man currently thought to be in Pakistan. Mullah Berader: The commander who has probably taken over from captured former Taleban Defence Minister Mullah Obaidullah. Akhtar Mohammad Mansour: A Taleban commander responsible for military operations in Kandahar, but based in Quetta. Abdul Rahim: The Taleban's "shadow governor" in Helmand and a key figure in the insurgency. Qari Faiz Mohammad: Chairman of the Taleban military council and a major financier with close links to Mullah Omar. Mullah Mahmood Baluch: Active in Helmand and with links to smugglers, he may have been killed recently. Naim Bareech: a man known to have links with Taleban command structures. Dadullah Mansour: Mullah Dadullah's brother who is believed to be running southern military operations.

Corro Alistair Leithead makes the point that while taking out Taliban leaders is a good thing, it's not enough to defeat the insurgency:

There are few incentives to give up the insurgency and his (Mullah Salam Zaeef, the former Taleban ambassador to Pakistan ) definition of what the Taleban are makes for concerning reading for Western forces.

"The Taleban is not one, they are not two, they are not hundred, they are not thousand, they are not tens of thousands, the Taleban have millions in this country," said Mullah Zaeef.

"The foreigners want to kill them all or to vanish them, but we do not want Taleban to be killed, we are feeling sadness because they are our brothers, and this is not acceptable to us."

So much for reconciliation. This is an insurgency with a life of its own now. While targeting commanders helps, persuading the people to drive the more extremist Taleban leaders out is the only way this insurgency can be beaten.

The Taleban appear to be copying tactics from Iraq - becoming more deadly.

In the propaganda film masked men prepare a homemade bomb the size of a football. It is crude, but lethal - powerful enough to blow apart an armoured vehicle.

Instead of confronting America's firepower head on, the Taleban are attacking more exposed targets, like unarmoured vehicles belonging to the Afghan army, police stations, government buildings.

From the BBC:

Alan Johnston has been held since 12 March

The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston have renewed their threat to kill him if their demands for Muslim prisoners to be freed are not met.

The message comes a day after a video was released in which Mr Johnston wore what he said was an explosives belt.

In the tape, the reporter said his captors had promised to detonate it if force was used to try to free him.

Mr Johnston was abducted in Gaza on 12 March by the previously unknown radical Islamist group, The Army of Islam.

"The demands are very clear," Tuesday's statement from the militants said - listing the names of prisoners it wants released.

They include Abu Qatada, a Palestinian-born Islamic cleric who is suspected of having close links with al-Qaeda and is held by the UK government as a threat to national security.

"There is no discussion or bargaining in this issue," the statement said.