I wonder how The New York Times worked out the details of printing two articles by one author adapted from the same upcoming book in today's paper. The articles are both adapted from a book coming out on Condoleeza Rice; one discusses her close relationship with President Bush and the other, her development as a diplomat in her role as Secretary of State. Both strike me as more appropriate to the Sunday paper -- neither is brief or to the point, and both offer up a lot of analysis for a busy reader to digest quickly at the beginning of the week. For example, the article on Rice's diplomacy takes the leisurely approach of a book in getting to its point, beginning with a long introduction of Rice in 2001 before hitting upon the main idea of "her evolution from passive participant to activist diplomat."

The Patriot Ledger provides a warning to readers and details of a newsworthy weekend for firefighters with its article on the many fires to hit South Shore towns on Saturday and Sunday. The article succeeds in its brevity, and the "Fire safety, by the numbers" sidebar is a quick and informative feature that adds to the content in the body of the article. The lede is structured well for the most part, but I can't imagine why the fourth paragraph merited a weather report. Local readers (most of the regional paper's audience, I imagine) certainly know how cold it was and those out of town could imagine it must have been cold enough to merit all the fireplaces that were running.

The plot thickens in the investigation of the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy. The Times of London has a comprehensive article discussing the possible role of Rudy Hermann Guede, one of the suspects recently arrested in Germany. What's interesting is the role of technology in the investigation. Guede's testimony seems to rely in part on instant messaging conversations, and The Times' own photo of the suspect is credited to Facebook. The article plays up the drama of the investigation with quotes about the character of Amanda Knox, Kercher's flatmate, and frankly racist comments about Guede from witnesses and those implicated in his testimony. Tragic though the murder was, somehow this sounds more like a bad horror movie about 20-somethings in the Internet age than like real life--I can't help but read all the news coverage and wait in suspense to see what emerges next.