Al-Hayat (London): Khaled Sheikh confirms his torture, he and his comrades reject appointed lawyer in Guantanamo – Seven years after the 9/11 attacks, five Guantanamo inmates appeared before a court on charges of planning the attack, during which defendant Khaled Sheikh said he was tortured for five years in secret US intelligence jails. He said he and his comrades will not have an American lawyer defend them and seeks "martyrdom," hoping the judge would sentence him to death.

Al-Seyassah (Kuwait): Hezbollah decides to open front against Washington in Iraq – NATO sources in Brussels said yesterday that Lebanon's Hezbollah has opened a military front against the Americans in Iraq, claiming that dozens of its members were now in Iraq training special Shiite and Sunni elements to fight the U.S. forces there. The sources also said that Hezbollah has a plan to subdue the U.N. forces in south Lebanon in the event of another confrontation with Israel.

Al-Bayan (United Arab Emirates): UAE launches Arab openness towards Iraq – UAE Foreign Minister Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan announced in Baghdad yesterday that his country will reopen its embassy in the Iraqi capital and will name an ambassador soon, launching an Arab openness toward Iraq. On his part, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zibari said ambassadors will be exchanged soon and that talks involved activating the higher joint committee to improve bilateral relations.

Al-Sharq (Qatar): Haniyeh welcomes dialogue, Rice checks with Abbas – Ousted Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya yesterday welcomed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' call for dialogue, stressing the need to immediately start on the basis of the Yemeni initiative for reconciliation. Washington quickly responded to the Palestinian reconciliation statements, saying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice received a call from Abbas to confirm he is not abandoning any of the preconditions for dialogue with Hamas.

Al-Ahram (Egypt): 4,000 newborns every day despite decrease in birth rate – New statistics showed that Egypt has 4,000 newborns every day despite a decrease in birth rate from 5.3 children for every woman in 1981 to 3.3 children. The decline in the birth rate saved Egypt from a population growth of 12 million people; it was expected that the population would reach 86 million at the previous rate.