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Arab News (Saudi Arabia)

• In an editorial on the trial of the former Iraqi foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, the paper says there is much for which Saddam Hussein and his henchmen should answer, but it must now be wondered what purpose will be served by this and future trials.

Australian

• Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan says the conflict in Afghanistan is having a unique and perhaps profound influence on the Australian way of war and even the structure of the Australian Defense Force.

Business Standard (India)

• In an editorial, the paper says from a sustainability viewpoint it may be wiser to use only agricultural and forest wastes and by-products such as molasses, for bio-fuel production.

Christian Science Monitor

• In an editorial, the paper says Americans are out of touch with today's China, and that it's a knowledge deficit that carries more weight in the long-term bilateral relations between China and the United States than the ballooning U.S. trade deficit with China.

Daily Telegraph

• Former soldier Allan Mallinson, writing about the British Army, says that Britain’s troops in Iraq have no real operational flexibility because they are too few. They are too few because the commitment in Afghanistan is increasing, and Britain has been running down its Army these past three years, he adds.

Financial Times

• In an editorial, the paper welcomes an agreement signed this week between the European Union and Serbia, which it says represents a step forward in the long march towards bringing Belgrade out of the wilderness where it was stranded by the late and unlamented Slobodan Milosevic.
• In a further editorial, the FT says the European Central Bank should ignore any pleas for interest rate cuts, even if the eurozone continues to prosper.
• Zaki Laidi of Sciences Po in France writes that the end of the unipolar moment, underlined by the American fiasco in Iraq and by the ascendancy of China, Brazil and India, raises again questions about the structure of the global system and how Europe fits within it.
• Southeast Asia correspondent Amy Kazmin, writing about an imminent referendum in Myanmar on a new military-backed constitution, says the vote presents a dilemma for opposition groups.

Guardian

• In an editorial, the paper says the real mystery over oil prices is why expensive oil is not changing the way we behave.
• In a further editorial, on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the paper says one generation back, Rev. Wright would not have been an embarrassment to a black candidate. He would have been the black candidate, and that his black nationalist sermons would not have been formulated with any intention of influencing what white people thought.

Haaretz

• In an editorial on attempts to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinians, Haaretz says it looks as though we can already now praise the seriousness of Egyptian activity designed to mediate between the two sides.

Hindu

• In an editorial, the paper says Sunday’s attack on President Karzai of Afghanistan has proved that the Taliban still has teeth, but that Karzai should not make the mistake of reverting to the policy of relying solely on military force to defeat the Islamist radicals.

Independent (London)

• Shao Jiang, a research student, says peaceful demonstrations against China must go ahead, as the Olympic torch heads up Everest on the next phase of its troubled journey next week.
• In an editorial, the paper considers what would be an appropriate response to high oil company profits, and says political leaders should co-operate to increase taxation on fuel and speed up the implementation of mandatory carbon trading schemes to cover industry and transport.

Jordan Times

• In an editorial the paper says the agreement of Palestinian factions to an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire with Israel in the Gaza Strip marks a notable success for Egyptian mediation.

New York Times

• In an editorial, the paper says a suspension of federal gasoline tax for the summer won’t solve this country’s energy problems or even reduce the price of gas.
• In a further editorial, the Times says the troubled economy could soon create a major fiscal crisis for the state-run Medicaid and children’s health programs, and says Congress must provide temporary aid to the most beleaguered states.
• Op-ed columnist Gail Collins writes about Bill Clinton, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and, as she puts it, the damage that egoistic men can do to a political campaign belonging to somebody else.

Times of India

• Meghnad Desai, a member of the House of Lords in Britain, writes that the present economic situation has tremendous longrun consequences for India if only there was awareness among politicians about it, and that if India is to become a great power, it needs to play a winner and not a victim.

Times of London

• Columnist Anatole Kaletsky writes that speculation has driven up oil prices, but quotes analysts who say things could be about to change.
• Foreign Editor Richard Beeston says that the police in Afghanistan need more help than they are getting if security is to be established in that country. 
• In an editorial, the paper says Rev. Jeremiah Wright's apparently vindictive intervention in the race for the Democratic nomination leaves Barack Obama no choice but to acknowledge the pastor's world view, toxic as it is, and redefine himself against it.

Wall Street Journal

• In an editorial the paper describes the latest interest rate cut as the Big Easy, saying the problem is that when in doubt the current Fed always seems to err on the side of easier money.
• Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) says if we really want to do something about inflation, Congress should repeal the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act of 1978, which dangerously diverted the Fed from its most important job: price stability.
• Arthur Herman, a writer, invoking Vietnam, says that two of three presidential candidates are proposing the United States cut and run in Iraq. We need to remember, he says, what happened the last time we gave up on an unpopular foreign policy, not only in humanitarian terms but in terms of American power and prestige.
• Actor Mia Farrow and Eric Reeves, author of a book on Darfur, write that the United States should take the lead in reforming the Security Council to make it more effective, representative and committed to the ideals of international justice. Darfur, they say, is the test case.
• In an editorial in the paper’s Asia edition on the Myanmar referendum, the Journal says if there's any good news here, it's that this farce may spark another march for freedom.

Washington Post

• Op-ed Columnist Robert Novak says that Barack Obama’s difficulty is that Rev. Jeremiah Wright, thrown under the bus by his former parishioner, can re-emerge any time he wishes and renew discussion of the Democratic presidential front-runner's real identity. Meanwhile, his colleague, David Broder, writes that Obama has run the risk of serious political damage by leaving vague what it was that attracted him to this outspoken critic of American society.
• In an editorial the paper praises what it calls Sen. Obama’s courageous stand in favor of fuel conservation.
• In a further editorial, on Pakistan’s strategy in dealing with militants on its border with Afghanistan, the Post says that for a limited time, the United States should take the risk of being patient with new democratic government in Islamabad.

Washington Times

• In an editorial, the paper accuses House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of denying members of that chamber the opportunity to vote on one of the most important pieces of national security legislation before Congress this year – a bill that would grant retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies which helped the government monitor terrorist communications after September 11.