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."

Lebanon, Politics, (arabicNews)2/1/2005 The Lebanese prime minister Omar Karami welcomed the return back of Maj. Michael Aoun who opposes the Syrian presence in Lebanon and lives in his exile in Paris since 14 years.
In a press statement Karami held with his Syrian peer Naji Otari, Karami said that several invitations were sent to him since a while to come back to Lebanon, stressing his right to that. He added that despite the fact that there are legal obstacles impeding this measure, these can be removed legally, denying that there is any hostility against Aoun.

By: Joseph Hitti, Jan 30 As we watch millions of ordinary Iraqis vote freely for the first time in their history, I cannot but contrast the process with that of Lebanese elections. Iraqis in Iraq are voting in their first ever parliamentary elections, and that is an unimaginable achievement that is likely to reverberate in neighboring Syria and elsewhere in the Arab World. But the Lebanese people have always voted (since the 1920s), except for a 20-year interruption caused by the Syrian occupation.