BY SCOTT MacLEOD ‘He didn’t look the part of the bravest newspaperman in the Middle East. But after he was assassinated at the age of 48 this week in a car bombing that obliterated his Range Rover as he traveled to work in Beirut, it’s clear that’s exactly what he was’  For a scribe, Gebran Tueni was shockingly high mannered. In his dapper suits, crisp shirts and designer ties, wearing a thin moustache that was always immaculately trimmed, he seemed to belong in a gentleman’s club, not a newsroom. He didn’t look the part of the bravest newspaperman in the Middle East. But after he was assassinated at the age of 48 this week in a car bombing that obliterated his Range Rover as he traveled to work in Beirut, it’s clear that’s exactly what he was. Many Arab journalists are fearless when it comes to criticizing Israel or the United States. None other has written so passionately-and in the face of such peril-in support of freedom against Arab dictatorships.

In early 2000, a few months after Tueni took the helm ofAn Nahar, one of the Arab world’s most respected dailies since his grandfather and namesake founded it in 1933, I went to see him at the newspaper’s editorial offices, then in Hamra Street. He was a young writer when I had first encountered him there in some of the darkest days of the Civil War, but 17 years later he was bursting with hope. As we sipped Turkish coffee, he articulated a coherent vision of a new Middle East free of authoritarian regimes, well before the Bush Administration discovered that democracy could be a good thing for the Arab countries.

Beirut – The father of slain anti-Syrian Lebanese MP and journalist Jubran Tueini confirmed Saturday that he will sue Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations for comments he made about his son. Veteran Lebanese diplomat Ghassan Tueini charged that Syria’s United Nations ambassador Fayssal Mekdad compared his son to a ‘dog’ in comments reported Wednesday by the U.S. daily The New York Sun.

‘I will definitely sue him (Mekdad) before the American courts, Tueini retiterated his comment infront people paying their condolences for the death of son, who killed in a massive carbomb blast on Monday. In its report from the U.N. headquarters in New York, the Sun quoted ‘a diplomat’ who overheard a conversation between Mekdad and an Arab diplomat in which the derogatory comments were allegedly made.

The cause of last week’s riot is too complex to be papered over, writes Russell Skelton. It was meant to be a reassuring display of reconciliation on a sparkling Sydney day with a lazy Maroubra surf providing a calming backdrop. Leaders of the Lebanese Muslim community were standing side by side with two members of the "Bra Boys" surf gang pledging non-violence, peaceful coexistence and rejecting all things racist.

In terms of content, it went a good deal further than anything Prime Minister John Howard had said about last Sunday’s race riot along the Cronulla beach front and the subsequent raids of retribution taken by "Leb gangs".Said Kanawatti, from the Lakemba Mosque, condemned the race violence and the "vigilantes" behind it. He reminded Muslims that the Prophet and Jesus both taught that hatred for others should not lead to injustice being done to the innocent. "We have to show at a national level that all people should come to the beach and feel safe," he said.

The Bra Boys made equally firm declarations and at the close of the media event the men exchanged hugs and shook hands. It was the first in a series of orchestrated displays of unity last week in Sydney.

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.