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.

BIOGRAPHY 1- First Name and Middle Name: Amine Kesrouan 2- Family Name: El Khazen 3-Date of birth: 6 December 1941 4-City of …

(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)