Ash-Sharq al-Awsat (LONDON; SAUDI ARABIA): Green Light to France From Washington and Tel Aviv to Mediate – French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrives in Damascus today for talks with Bashar Assad and will tomorrow take part in a four-way summit that includes the leaders of Turkey and Qatar, as Paris seeks to play a role in the Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations when they become direct. French presidential sources revealed that Washington and Israel agreed that Paris play a role of co-sponsor in future direct Syrian-Israeli negotiations, along with the United States.

Al-Baath (SYRIA): Damascus Center of Intensive Political Activity – Damascus will be the center of intensive political activity as it hosts two important summits today and tomorrow, while President Bashar Assad said a new era has begun in Syrian-French relations based on Paris' new policies. He told a French television channel there was a wide margin for cooperation between the two countries related to the region's issues; Assad added that Sarkozy's aim is to bring stability and for France and Europe to play an important role in issues of peace in the Middle East and the Caucasus.

Al-Qabas (KUWAIT): Zawahiri and Family Escaped Recent Capture Attempt – Pakistan's interior affairs adviser, Rahman Malik, said that al-Qaida's number two Ayman Zawahiri and his family escaped a recent capture attempt while they traveled between Afghanistan and Pakistan's tribal areas. He said attempts to arrest Zawahiri failed because of the rough terrain in the bordering region. Malik also accused Afghan officers of enflaming the Sunni-Shiite fighting that has recently erupted in a Pakistan region.

Al-Masry al-Youm (EGYPT): Hisham Talaat Indicted For Inciting Murder – Egypt's prosecutor-general has indicted prominent Egyptian businessman and parliament member Hisham Talaat Mustafa and a former police officer, both in custody, of murdering Lebanese singer Susan Tamim in Dubai on July 28. The Shura Council (upper house) yesterday approved the prosecution's request to lift Mustafa's immunity. According to the charge sheet, Mustafa incited the former officer to murder Tamim for in return for $2 million.

Al-Wasat (BAHRAIN): Tehran Expels Al-Arabiya Bureau Chief – The bureau chief of the Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel in Tehran, Lebanese Hassan Fahs, has been asked to leave Iran indefinitely. The authorities cited the Saudi-owned channel's "policy" as the reason for the decision, after some politicians had complained Al-Arabiya was hostile toward Iran.