Al-Hayat (London): International Court Prosecution Formally Accuses Bashir of War Crimes – The prosecution of the International Criminal Court yesterday charged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, requesting a warrant for his arrest and seizing his property and assets. Bashir becomes the first incumbent head-of-state the court indicts with these kind of charges, which Khartoum rejected as part of a conspiracy to topple the Sudanese regime.

Okaz (Saudi Arabia): Ruling Party: Political Motives and Israeli Agenda Behind Bashir War Crimes Charges – Kamal Hassan, the director of the ruling Sudanese National Congress Party in Cairo, told Okaz the International Criminal Court does not have the legal authority on Sudan and has no right to ask the country to hand over any citizen, because Sudan did not endorse the court's establishment. He described the court's decision against Bashir and other Sudanese leaders as having Israeli and political motives to corner the government, adding that the court's prosecution is not only targeting the head-of-state, but the entire Sudanese people.

Al-Ahram (Egypt): Mubarak: Escalation Against Sudan Threatens Peace Efforts in Darfur – Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned in talks with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon in Paris yesterday against the repercussions of the escalation by the International Criminal Court against Sudan, saying this trend will complicate matters and threatens to foil negotiation efforts between Khartoum and Darfur rebels. Egypt is following this issue and doing its utmost to help Sudan overcome this problem with the international court.

As-Safir (Lebanon): Assad: Hezbollah Weapons Is Internal Lebanese Matter – Syrian President Bashar Assad yesterday warned against launching a military attack on Iran over its nuclear program, saying it will have serious repercussions on the United States, Israel and the whole world. He added that he did not discuss the issue of Hezbollah's weapons in his meetings with his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Suleiman, in Paris because he regards the issue as "an internal Lebanese matter linked to the peace process" in the Middle East.

Ad-Dustour (Jordan): Turkey Charges 86 With Conspiracy to Topple Government – The Turkish prosecution charged 86 people with conspiring to topple the government, which the hardline secularists accuse of seeking to change Turkey into an Islamic state. The prosecution said the charge sheet includes crimes such as forming an armed terrorist group and attempting to topple the government through force.