From PRI, Public Radio International and KCRW Santa Monica, this is To the Point.

Pakistan and the global economy.

Hello again, I'm Arminolny, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International,

a daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

With thousands of troops

on the streets of Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf stopped a protest rally today before it

ever began. Opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was kept at home, but she may be playing a double

game by leaving open the prospect of negotiations. On to the point, is a nuclear power spinning

out of control, And what are the

possible consequences for the global economy, including the price of oil? What about America's

financial position, already battered by the falling dollar as Wachovia becomes the latest

casualty of the subprime mortgage collapse? On reporter's notebook later on, the spreading oil spill in San Francisco Bay.

First, here's the news.

Support for To the Point comes from subscribers of KCRW Santa Monica and from the Public Radio

International Program Fund, whose contributors include the Ford Foundation and the John

D. and Catherine T. MacArthur

Foundation. Hello again. Mormon. I'll only back with To the Point. Police State tactics smothered

political protest today in Pakistan, but a nuclear power is dangerously unstable. On To the Point,

we'll hear what happened and what continued trouble could mean for the world economy, where the

falling dollar and the subprime mortgage collapse are a threat to America's clout.

Under Porter's notebook, a tanker hit the Bay Bridge and oil is polluting San Francisco

Bay.

...