May Chidiac, a Lebanese journalist, who also is a popular television presenter, whose news bulletins and Sunday programmes – Naharkoum Sa

Chairman of the Arab Summit, Sudanese President Omar al-Basheer, appealed on Tuesday for the stabilization of the relationship between Syria and Lebanon and rejected US pressure on Syria. "Out of solidarity, we have to look to Syria and Lebanon and suppor them in the face of pressure that Syria is facing through unjust laws ... and we support a free will and independent decision for Lebanon," al-Basheer said.

The chairman of last year's summit, Algerian President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika, said that Syria and Lebanon enjoy "extraordinary ties." "As much as we are keen on revealing the truth about the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al Hariri, we also call on our brothers in Syria and Lebanon to maintain their brotherly close ties that bind the two brother nations since old times," Bouteflika said. The 18th Arab League Summit kicked off with key Arab leaders absent from the meetings that are expected to tackle a number of thorny regional issues. The Arab foreign ministers who met two days earlier to set the agenda of the summit had rejected any US or Israeli pressure on Syria and stressed Lebanon's right to sovereignty.

By Henri Mamarbachi - BEIRUT Lebanon's leaders held fresh talks on Monday focusing on one of the most contentious issues dividing supporters and opponents of Syria - the fate of  President Emile Lahoud whom the parliamentary majority wants to oust.

The talks, which resumed after a five-day break, are aimed at ending Beirut's political paralysis which set in after Syria pulled out its troops after dominating life in its tiny neighbour for some three decades. "Talks focused on one essential subject, that of the presidency of the republic ... and this point remains on the agenda for the next session, next Monday," parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri told journalists after the meeting which lasted fewer than three hours. Earlier at the start of the talks, Samir Geagea, head of the former Christian militia, the Lebanese Forces,, told journalists: "We do not expect that the remaining problems will be resolved during Monday's session." The Lebanese newspapers al-Balad and as-Safir both suggested that the question of the presidency would have to wait for decisions taken at the Arab summit in Khartoum this week.

The United Nations has said it did not expect Lebanon to disarm Hizbollah fighters by force but hoped they would join the Lebanese army.Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN's Middle East envoy, speaking at a news conference on Sunday, said: "We don't believe that it is indeed possible to go down south or into the Bekaa Valley and take away the weapons of Hizbollah. "Our goal is to integrate Hizbollah into the Lebanese army."

Roed-Larsen will present a report in April on progress in the implementation of the Security Council resolution 1559, which demands that foreign troops should leave Lebanon and militias there disarm.His comments came at the end of a 20-day tour that took the Norwegian diplomat around Arab capitals as well as to Paris, Washington, London, Moscow and Beijing to discuss Hizbollah's weapons and the armed Palestinian factions based in Lebanon.Hizbollah, whose attacks helped to end Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000, was the only Lebanese militia to retain its arms after the 1975-1990 civil war.