"All NDP conventions seem to try to paint a rosy picture of a grim political, social and economic reality." -- Iman Yehia, Al-Badeel "When relative improvement in curtailing bird flu took place, laziness in fighting the epidemic reigned supreme." -- Salama A. Salama, Al-Ahram "The number of Copts in Egypt is five million, not 12 million." -- Abul-Ela Madi, Sawt Al-Umma "Some Palestinian sources stress that the only reason behind the thaw in relations between Hamas and Jordan is Amman's fear of reviving the idea of the 'alternative homeland.'" -- Dawoud Al-Shorian, Al-Hayat "The ministries of finance and foreign affairs are to facilitate the sale of Saddam Hussein's luxury yacht, with the blessings of the appropriate parliamentary committee." -- Al-Iraq Lil Jameea "Do Western leaders realise that the eradication of radicalism and terror will not be achieved unless poverty, hunger and illiteracy in the Islamic world are eliminated?" -- Hashem Saleh, Asharq Al-Awsat