WASHINGTON, Dec 15 (Reuters) – The World Bank on Thursday approved a lending program for Lebanon to help the country meet economic challenges as it transitions from three decades of Syrian domination.The bank’s Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) proposes lending Lebanon from $100 million to $700 million between 2006 and 2009 depending on Beirut’s ability to carry out fiscal and structural reforms, the World Bank said in a statement.

The World Bank’s board of directors expressed support for Lebanon and emphasized the importance of implementing structural reforms."This meeting represented a strong vote of confidence in Lebanon," said Joseph Saba, Country Director for Lebanon. "The government recognizes the challenges that lie ahead and has shown commitment to tackling them."

Beirut, 16. (AKI) – Belgian judge Serge Brammertz is set to replace German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis as head of a UN commission of inquiry into the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, according to Lebanese newsreports. On Thursday the UN Security Council extended the commission’s mandate by another six months to June 2006, as requested by the Lebanese government. Since September 2003, Brammertz, a criminal law expert, has been working at the International Court of Jusitce (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands.

Before taking up that position the 43-year-old judge handled several high profile cases in Belgium against organised crime and illegal drug trafficking. At the ICJ he has followed the war crimes proceedings in Congo and Uganda. Also on Thursday the Security Council said the commission would also investigate the wave of terrorist attacks that have hit Lebanon since October 2004 when an assassination attempt was made against Lebanon’s current telecommunications minister, Marwan Hamade. The most recent attack was Monday’s murder of prominent anti-Syrian politician and publisher Gibran Tueni.

Beirut, 16 Dec. (AKI) – Authorities in Lebanon have arrested three people in connection with the murder of prominent anti-Syrian politician and publisher Gibran Tueni. According to judicial sources the three are being questioned in regard to their relations with the owner of the Renault car believed to have been used to conceal the bomb […]

Beirut, 14 Dec. (AKI) – Nineteen-year-old Samer Qays, on Wednesday refused to join the thousands who on turned out to pay their last respects to murdered anti-Syrian politician Gibran Tueni. While Beirut’s Christian districts came to a standstill for the funeral procession, life in the city’s eastern, mostly Hezbollah dominated areas, like Qays’s neighbourhood Haret Hreik, went on as usual. "Joining the procession today means believing the lies fabricated by the Israelis and the Americans," said Qays.

"Our martyrs are not those who work for the Americans," he said, pointing to the photographs of Hezbollah fighters killed in clashes with the Israeli army. "Syria has nothing to do with the attack against that journalist (Tueni), it is Israel that killed him."Sharing this view is Abu Abbas, 67, a Shiite Muslim jeweller, whose shop is situated in the main street of Ghbeiri, a district near to Haret Hreik.  "Israel is behind all this, there is no doubt on that," says Abu Abbas, adding that it is the "Israelis who want to control Lebanon," and not the Syrians. But another Ghbeir resident, Wassim al-Utr, 35, disagrees. "I think it was the Syrians [who killed Tueni]. Syria will not leave the country (Lebanon) without leaving it in flames".

 By Warren Hoge The New York Times,  The United Nations Security Council struggled over a resolution extending the term of the UN investigation into the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, and expanding its scope to include other recent politically motivated killings in Lebanon.Drafted by France, co-sponsored by Britain and the United States and scheduled for a vote Thursday, the resolution gives the inquiry another six months, to June 15, and posits the possibility of further extension if requested by Lebanon.

It also expresses "deep concern" at evidence of Syrian actions to hinder the investigation and demands that Damascus cooperate "unambiguously and immediately" with requests for assistance.While there was no dispute over the initial six-month stretch, negotiators worked Wednesday to overcome objections to the proposal to broaden the commission’s mandate to include investigations into a series of attacks on journalists and politicians in Lebanon that began in October 2004. The final draft said that the UN commission should give the Lebanese authorities "technical assistance" in connection with those crimes and that Secretary General Kofi Annan should present recommendations on what other steps might be taken.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Hundred of thousands of Lebanese bid farewell on Wednesday to anti-Syrian publisher and lawmaker Gebran Tueni, turning his funeral into an outpouring of anger against Damascus, which they blame for his murder.Tueni’s assassination on Monday has caused serious political rifts in Lebanon, bringing the government to the verge of collapse.

 Many thousands, most of them waving Lebanese flags, answered a call by anti-Syrian politicians for a large turnout at Tueni’s funeral, carrying his flag-draped coffin on their shoulders through the streets of central Beirut to the Greek Orthodox church where a service will be held. Pls click "READ MORE" to view pictures.

UNITED NATIONS – The UN Security Council on Wednesday considers a resolution, drafted by France, that would widen a probe into the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri to include other politically motivated killings in the past year. It asks UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to help Lebanon identify the scope of a tribunal with an