AP: Saudi Arabia hosted the leaders of Egypt and Syria on Wednesday in an effort to persuade Damascus to move away from Iran and join with U.S.-allied Arab countries in working to blunt Tehran's influence.

AFP: A top Iranian official said on Wednesday that French energy giant Total will have no "active role" in developing a huge gas field in Iran and that a new partner had been found for the project.

Reuters: Iran's top authority said the new U.S. administration was showing no sign of trying to correct its predecessor's "big mistakes" in the region, in comments likely to disappoint Washington as it reaches out to Tehran.

AP: Iran's president blamed the West on Wednesday for the global economic meltdown, saying capitalism has failed and U.S. efforts to bail out companies prove its collapse.

AFP: Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused the United States and other world powers on Wednesday of creating an "unfair" economic order which has triggered the global financial crisis.

The Guardian: Live television is hardly the most convenient setting in which to be reminded of the age-old proverb that only children and fools speak the truth.

Wall Street Journal: The U.S. called on the United Nations to take action after a Security Council committee said Iran violated international sanctions banning it from exporting munitions, which the U.S. says were headed to Syria.

Reuters: Iran's oil minister suggested OPEC would accept Russia as a member if Moscow wanted to join the 12-member oil producers' group, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.

AP: The lawyer of an American journalist detained in Iran a month ago says his client is in good spirits and appears to be healthy.