Iraqi Shi'ite MP Ayad Jamal Al-Din, of the secular Al-Iraqiya list, said that his proposal last week for a conference to support the Kurds in Turkey stemmed from ethical, political and strategic considerations.

In an interview, Jamal Al-Din told the Kurdish paper Asou, which is published in the Kurdish Suleymaniya region in northern Iraq, that when he presented his proposal for discussion to the parliament, no MP criticized it, and every MP was satisfied with it.

Jamal Al-Din said that dictatorship and tyranny can never deny a people's aspirations for their freedom and rights. He pointed out that the Kurdish people in Turkey are entitled to the same freedom and rights as the Kurdish people in Iraq. He added that because of the brotherly and religious connection between the Iraqi and Turkish Kurds, Iraq supported and endorsed this legitimate issue.

In a message to the Iraqi people sent through his lawyers, following the confirmation of his death sentence, Saddam Hussein offered to sacrifice his head for the wellbeing of the Iraqi people, and warned against "the invaders and Persians." One of his lawers, Jordanian Salah al-Armouti, told Al-Jazeera TV that Saddam would not appeal for mercy because such an act would be "contrary to his character."

The real identiy of "Khadija," a veiled women who delivered "an alternative Christmas message" on the U.K.’s Channel 4 to coincide with the traditional Queen's Christmas message, remains a mystery. Khadija said she wanted the viewers to focus on her message, which is the freedom to be veiled, rather than on her identity.

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-PN) met with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and issued a statement following the meeting. Sen. Specter quoted the Syrian President as saying that he was concerned about the presence of Al-Qaeda in northern Lebanon, and he emphasized his commitment not to provide weapons to Hizbullah.

Sen. Specter praised Syrian cooperation with the International Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri and said that Syria's goals are peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak asked the Egyptian parliament to change 34 election-related articles in the constitution, in order to secure wider participation in elections by the political parties. These changes should also provide new constitutional authorities for the Majlis Al-Shura (State Consultative Council), and should provide the best election system for achieving a balanced representation of women in the parliament.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt accused "the tyrant regime in Syria" of assassinating Kamal Jumblatt, Rafiq Al-Hariri and Pierre Jumayel.

"This 'boy' [Bashar Al-Assad] dominates the people of Damascus, kills the free people of Lebanon. There is no other option but for him to get out of Beirut, out of the Al-Thahiya area, from the mountain district… and there is no other option but to get out of Damascus as well. "If the [sessions of the] international court that will rule on the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri become complicated and bring no benefit, 'all of us will be Nawaf."

Referring to Nawaf Ghazala, who assassinated Syrian president Adib Al-Shishakli. He continued, "Regardless of how long it takes, someone among us will emerge and avenge the death of the martyrs and the free people."

The London-based daily Al-Hayat reported that Western and local sources had been monitoring 300 armed individuals belonging to Islamic groups who had recently arrived in Lebanon from Iraq via Syria. Some members of the group boasted of fighting in Falluja in Iraq and that they were training other groups to spread across Lebanon or to send to the Iraqi front. According to the report, several security experts agreed that these groups must be hit before they expand to the point where they are too difficult to control, as in Iraq.

The report also stated that experts noticed that the main target of these groups was UNIFIL.

The website of the Iranian volunteer student militia, Basij, at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, posted photos and information on several students who had demonstrated during a speech by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The website also stated, "If the university does not deal with them, we will."

On December 25, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad participated in Christmas celebrations in Damascus, and said that the purpose of the New Middle East and the New World was to split the world into clashing factions and ideologies within the framework of redrawing the map of the world, dividing it to serve the new imperialism. Al-Assad added that Syria had important power not found in many countries, because Syrians are united politically, religiously, and culturally.