DAMASCUS (AFP) – Thirty years after Syria’s tiny neighbour Lebanon plunged into civil war, the region’s dominant powerbrokers in Damascus have witnessed a dramatic political reversal caused in part by the very troops sent in to separate the warring sides.  With Washington heaping pressure on Syria, and the United Nations demanding it pull its soldiers from Lebanon, the Syrian leadership has found itself on the defensive not only in Lebanon but also in the wider region. It’s “the end of the regional role of Syria”, says Syrian political analyst and writer Michel Kilo, stressing that the withdrawal of the estimated 14,000 troops who were still in Lebanon last year would also have an impact on Syria’s power structure, economy and society in general.

By Nadim Ladki BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Druze opposition leader Walid Jumblatt rejected a delay in upcoming elections and urged opposition factions on Sunday to draw up a political program for Lebanon after a May general election. Pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami is expected to unveil a long-awaited new government on Monday to lead the country into the election but his insistence on a new law organizing the poll makes a delay almost inevitable. “Of course we insist on elections on schedule,” Jumblatt told a news conference, predicting an opposition win regardless of the shape of the electoral law. “I call on the opposition to meet and come up with a program, because it’s not enough that we reach the elections and vote. We should have a clear and ambitious answer to what’s next,” the Druze chieftain, an ally-turned-foe of Syria, said. “In the end of the day, we will win the elections.” Staunch anti-Syrian Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun told local media he planned to return to Lebanon on May 7, ending nearly 14 years in exile.

By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon – Lebanon said Friday that it will cooperate with a United Nations probe into the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, but Lebanese authorities want it finished as soon as possible. A U.N. Security Council resolution, co-sponsored by the United States, France and Britain, authorized an international investigation into the assassination on Feb. 14. Thursday’s 15-0 vote came two weeks after a U.N. fact-finding team issued a report saying a Lebanese investigation was flawed and didn’t meet international standards. “It is in Lebanon’s interest that the international investigation team into the terrorist crime of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, called for by the Security Council, be completed as soon as possible in order to know the truth,” said Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud.

(AP) – Presidents, prime ministers and kings from around the world joined hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, prelates and religious leaders in paying a final farewell Friday to Pope John Paul II in one of the largest religious gatherings in the West in modern times. Applause rang out in St. Peter’s Square as John Paul’s simple wooden coffin adorned with a cross and the “M” for Mary was brought out into the windy square from the basilica and placed on the ground in front of the alter. The book of the Gospel was placed on the coffin and the breeze blew the pages. (pls click “read more” to view pictures)

Joie belle

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II, the Polish pontiff who led the Roman Catholic Church for more than a quarter century and became history’s most-traveled pope, died Saturday night in his Vatican apartment. He was 84.  The announcement came from papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls and was distributed to journalists via e-mail. “The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST) in his private apartment. All the procedures outlined in the apostolic Constitution `Universi Dominici Gregis’ that was written by John Paul II on Feb. 22, 1996, have been put in motion.” A Mass was scheduled for St. Peter’s Square for Sunday morning. The pope died after suffering heart and kidney failure following two hospitalizations in as many months. Just hours earlier, the Vatican said he was in “very serious” condition but had responded to members of the papal household.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian forces went on the counter-attack against the opposition with a demand that could delay elections due in May, as the country was shaken by another bomb attack.Prime minister-designate Omar Karameh, at a meeting late Friday with his pro-Syrian allies, decided to stay on, despite having failed over the past three weeks to form a new government to ease Lebanon’s political crisis. Karameh, who said Tuesday he would resign, was tasked with forming a cabinet “to save the country”, following the opposition’s refusal to join a national unity government, said parliament speaker Nabih Berri. He said the new government would draw up an electoral law based on larger constituencies and proportional representation, changes favouring the pro-Syrian camp.