A military commission judge in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Saturday, May 5, arraigned five detainees as accused conspirators of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

However, the hours-long trial was disrupted numerous times by the defendants. Ramzi bin al Shibh spoke out to the judge about Guantanamo prison conditions, and began praying in the courtroom.

The New York Times wrote:

Later, he shouted at the judge that he should address their complaints about prison conditions because “maybe you are not going to see me again.”

“Maybe they are going to kill us and say that we have committed suicide,” he added.

Another detainee, Walid bin Attash, was restrained in a chair for the trial, wheeled in by guards. It marked the first time any of the five defendants had been seen in public since 2008, when the administration of former President George W. Bush began to prosecute the men.

After taking office, President Barack Obama pushed to have the trial moved to a federal court in New York City, but that plan dissolved after backlash from Congress.

Media analysts are keeping a close eye on The New York Times' latest move to scale back the number of free articles it offers online to 10.

The Times announced this morning that beginning next month, the paper, which currently allows nonsubscribers to view 20 free articles per month, is cutting that number in half. The Times reported that it currently has 454,000 paid subscribers for its various digital subscription packages or e-readers.

"We know that our readers place a high value on our journalism," said Times CEO and publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.

A raucous debate, which at times has become personal, has erupted over natural gas exploration in a rural community. It's not in Southwest Idaho, where Bridge Resources has met some community resistance while drilling for gas in Payette County. Rather, it's central New York, where opponents to gas exploration are being compared to Nazis and being told that are "being watched."

Today's New York Times examines the debate near Cooperstown, N.Y., best known as the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"The dispute has pitted neighbor against neighbor," said the Times. "And has often set people who live in suburbs or villages against the farmers and landowners who live outside them."

The New York Times is reporting that the militant Basque separatist group ETA has released an official statement ending its decades-long campaign of violence, saying it wished to seize a “historical opportunity to reach a just and democratic resolution.”

From the article:

“ETA has decided the definitive cessation of its military activity. ETA calls on the governments of Spain and France to open a process of direct dialogue whose objective is the resolution of the consequences of the conflict and thus the end of the armed confrontation.

“Finally, ETA calls on Basque society to involve itself in the process of solutions to construct a situation of peace and liberty,” the statement said.

The statement, a written document and an accompanying video of masked ETA members reading the statement aloud, was released to the New York Times and the BBC and will be released to two Basque-language newspapers that ETA sees as sympathetic, Garra and Berria.

The announcement appeared to heavily follow the advice of informal peace negotiators like Kofi Annan, the former secretary general of the United Nations, and Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein, the Irish nationalist group, who said they were working to end the last armed confrontation in Europe. Language in key passages was reportedly nearly identical to the wording suggested by negotiators.

However, not all critics were satisfied. The statement didn't state outright that violence would never resume.

The ETA statement, far from renouncing the group’s goal of independence, reasserted it emphatically, with the commanders joining at the video’s end with traditional ETA rallying cries reaffirming their demands for freedom.

“The fight for independence for the Basque homeland goes on!” they cried.

Members of Congress, now on recess, won't be returning to too many welcome home parties. A new New York Times/CBS News Poll indicates disapproval of Congress is now at its highest level on record.

A staggering 82 percent of Americans polled disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job. That's the highest number since The Times began asking the same question back in the mid 1970s. The poll found Congressional Republicans shouldered more of the blame for the debt-ceiling debacle than Democrats or President Barack Obama.

The public was evenly divided about how Obama handled debt ceiling negotiations: 47 percent disapproved and 46 percent approved.

You can read the full results here.

The New York Times reported today that Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have started modifying tens of thousands of mortgages that have been labeled "especially risky," even if the borrowers haven't been asked.

The Times said, in some cases, banks are slashing the amount borrowers owe. In one example, a Florida woman's principal was cut in half. The Times said BOA and Chase are targeting holders of "pay option adjustable-rate mortages." Option ARM loans were seen as especially high risk in the wake of the financial crisis. The Times had not received any official comment from either bank.

It was just a matter of time...or maybe we should say times...as in New York Times. The paper that trumpets "all the news that's fit to print" profiles the controversy over proposed mega-loads on Idaho's U.S. Highway 12 in Friday's edition.

The business feature by Tom Zeller Jr. introduces Times readers to a number of the players in the real-life drama, players that BW readers are now pretty familiar with: Lin Laughy and his wife Borg Hendrickson of Kooskia, who launched legal action against the Idaho Transportation Dept. for trying to permit ConocoPhillips' efforts to ship huge pieces of equipment across the highway.

"We're really very nice people," Laughy told the Times. "Unless you're a big oil company."

You can read the full article here.