By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer BEIRUT, Lebanon - Syria's grip over Lebanon appears to be slipping under international pressure and increasingly bold Lebanese calls for Damascus to pull its army out. With the calls growing increasingly belligerent, Syria gave a pointed reminded that it still wields control, with its 15,000 troops deployed across the country. "The opposition has crossed all the lines," warned Lebanon's pro-Syria prime minister, Omar Karami. "If they think that Syria is now weak, this is not true. ... We will show them," Karimi told reporters, without elaborating.

By David Gardner It is midnight on Saturday in downtown Beirut and the Buddha Bar is heaving. A cavernous copy of its Parisian namesake, with a 20ft-high Buddha statue as its presiding spirit, the bar is just the latest incarnation of the Lebanese craving for novelty and gift for fun. The son of a Maronite Christian warlord assassinated, allegedly by the Syrians, during the 1975-90 civil war, thrusts his way through the throng to the bar with the help of a bodyguard out of central casting: black T-shirt, tailored leather jacket, wrap-around shades and designer stubble. A vast Johnnie Walker whisky icon towers over the bar itself, causing one regular patron to observe that,

BEIRUT, Feb 3 (AFP) - The Lebanese opposition has stepped up its campaign for Syrian troops to quit the country, on the back of mounting US impatience with Damascus, which left the Baathist regime on Thursday calling for dialogue. As Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Muwallem held a round of talks with dozens of politicians in Beirut on Wednesday, members of the anti-Damascus opposition met behind closed doors to turn the screws on the Syrian question. Afterwards, it called for a complete Syrian withdrawal in accordance with the Taef agreement and an immediate end to the "dangerous crisis" between Beirut and international community.

By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer  VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul (news - web sites) II had difficulty breathing as he battled the flu and will spend a few more days in the hospital, the Vatican (news - web sites) confirmed Wednesday, but it said tests showed his heart was functioning normally and the pope had rested for several hours overnight. The 84-year-old pontiff had "just a little fever," papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in elaborating on a terse medical bulletin issued by the Holy See. He told Vatican radio the pope would spend "a few more days" in the hospital, but added that there was "no cause for alarm."