(AP) - Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world:

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The New York Times on Bush's inability to change:

The nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court raises a lot of questions about the judge's attitudes toward federalism, privacy and civil rights. But it has already answered one big question about President George Bush. Anyone wondering whether the almost endless setbacks and embarrassments the White House has suffered over the last year would cause Bush to fix his style of governing should realize that the answer is: No.

As a political candidate, Bush had an extremely useful ability to repeat the same few simple themes over and over. As president, he has been cramped by the same habit. The solution to almost every problem seems to be either to rely on a close personal associate or to pander to his right wing.

The need for a close and careful review of Alito's record is all the more crucial because he will be replacing Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has been the swing vote of moderation on so many issues.

Alito was the sole judge on his court who took the extreme position that all of Pennsylvania's limitations on abortion were constitutional, including the outrageous requirement that a woman show that she had notified her spouse. Alito has favored an inflated standard of evidence for racial- and sex-discrimination cases that would make it very hard even to bring them to court, much less win. Dissenting in a 1996 gun control case, he declared that Washington could not regulate the sale of fully automatic machine guns.

This nomination is yet another occasion to bemoan lost opportunities. Bush could have signaled that he was prepared to move on to a more expansive presidency by nominating a qualified moderate who could have garnered a nearly unanimous Senate vote. He could have sent a signal that he understood his error with Harriet Miers had been in picking the wrong woman, and that the answer did not have to be the seventh white man on the court. But he didn't, any more than he saw Sept. 11 as an opportunity to build a new, inclusive world order of civilized nations.

Anyone who imagines that the indictment of Lewis Libby and the legal troubles of Karl Rove will be a cue to bring fresh ideas to the White House should read the signs. With more than three years to go in this term, the bottom line is becoming inescapable. Bush does not want to change, and perhaps is not capable of changing.

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Financial Times, London, on the wake of Pakistan's earthquake:

Natural disasters are remembered first, for the suffering they cause, second, for the suffering that might have been avoided had relief efforts been more generous and timely. Earthquake-ravaged Pakistan has already suffered terribly on both counts. But a rapid increase in aid could still prevent many deaths and win hearts and minds in a strategically vital corner of the Islamic world.

With winter imminent and much essential infrastructure destroyed, a second wave of deaths could double the current count of at least 54,000. The United Nations now says that $550 million is needed to fund lifesaving programs for the 3 million displaced people. This is a big increase on the U.N.'s previous request for $312 million, and far from the $67 million in contributions and $28 million in pledges it has so far received.

The international community must give more aid - and quickly. Inaction will mean not only many avoidable deaths. It will also fuel mounting resentment against the west in Pakistan as, inevitably, the inadequate response to the earthquake is compared with generous response to the December tsunami. That relief effort was more than 80 percent funded within 10 days of the disaster.

Although it killed fewer people, the earthquake displaced and injured more than the tsunami. The relief effort faces greater logistical challenges.

Many of the homeless are in high Himalayan villages where they risk freezing to death without tents. These are in short supply and have been distributed to only a fraction of those who need them, with just a few weeks left before temperatures fall steeply.

Compounding the problem is poor accessibility, as most of the few roads have been blocked by landslides. Helicopters are essential to the relief effort, and they are in scarce supply.

When Pakistan effectively declined India's offer of helicopters it lost an opportunity to ease long-standing tensions in Kashmir. But the real concern is growing support for jihad groups, who are helping displaced people and garnering sympathy for their cause.

Al-Qaeda understands what is at stake. Last week Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's deputy, called on Muslims to help earthquake victims.

If western countries fill the vacuum left by the inadequate national relief effort they, rather than extremists, can hope to win the hearts and minds of the Pakistani people.

In Indonesia, support for violence against civilians in defense of Islam fell from 27 to 15 per cent between 2002 and 2005 - a decline attributed partly to the U.S. tsunami relief effort.

In an interview ... Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, suggested waiting "for a while" before accusing countries of not doing enough. But the situation is worsening daily. Immediate action is needed to avert a second disaster that could have far-reaching consequences.

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Egyptian Gazette, Cairo, Egypt, on Mideast problems:

Clouds are gathering over the Middle East, raising fears about the future of this region. Optimism that peace will eventually nestle in the area is making way for pessimism about fresh tensions.

Over the past few days, Washington has turned up the heat on both Syria and Iran, which U.S. President George W. Bush has branded as outlawed regimes. Earlier, Bush had termed Iran as one member of the "axis of evil" which he said grouped North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. With Saddam now toppled and his country occupied, the United States sees Iraq as a paradigm of democracy in the Middle East.

Realities on the ground, nonetheless, point otherwise in Iraq where deadly attacks and bloody chaos remain the disorder of the day.

Syria faces a foggy future after a U.N. team, investigating the slaying of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, had implicated senior Syrian intelligence officers in the murder. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has, meanwhile, raised eyebrows around the world, especially in the West, by calling that Israel be "wiped off the map."

Both Damascus and Tehran are in serious trouble, the repercussions of which are set to add to the fragility of the Middle East.

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Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, on U.S. beef imports:

An expert panel of the government's Food Safety Commission was tasked with assessing whether American beef is as safe as the Japanese product.

The panel concluded it is difficult to determine scientifically whether the levels of risk posed by U.S. and Japanese beef are similar. However, it said the risk factor would be much reduced if safety requirements agreed to by Tokyo and Washington are met. This two-pronged, convoluted conclusion amounts to a virtual go-ahead for lifting the two-year-old ban on beef imports from the United States.

The question really is how to ensure that the safety requirements will be faithfully observed.

When American beef re-enters the Japanese market, it will also be essential for beef distributors to indicate clearly the origin of beef products. It is up to consumers to decide whether they want to eat U.S. beef.

The Food Safety Commission will submit its official recommendations to the government after seeking public responses to its draft proposals. The government is expected to follow the commission's recommendations and reopen Japan's market to U.S. beef, probably by the end of the year.

In doing so, the government must confirm that the required safety measures are being strictly implemented in the United States. The expert panel requires the government to disclose the results of the investigation to the public.

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La Stampa, Turin, Italy, on the Iranian president's statements on Israel:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad knows better than we do that the United States is in a difficult situation because the war in Iraq threatens to be the same hell as it is today for the next ten years. It is true that a democracy can coexist with terrorism and a hostile war and then finally win, but it's bound to pay a high cost (both in lives and in dollars).

In his personal exaltation and ignorance of the world that make him a slave of self-esteem and wrongly calculated risk, Ahmadinejad doesn't seem to be destined to win the battle.

But he could appease his nuclear fever and keep quiet both Europeans and Americans.

Ahmadinejad should try to look around: the United States might be in trouble, but it can still overturn the situation even tomorrow, if necessary. And if his statement on Ariel Sharon is mostly political, it is also true that Israel can eventually "get seriously angry."