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.
BEIRUT -Once a sleepy backwater where a whole day could pass without a single share changing hands, the Beirut bourse has shaken off political turmoil to approach new highs, as petrodollars flow in from the booming Arab Gulf.Beirut
BEIRUT, Dec 13 (Reuters) – It has become all too familiar in Lebanon. An anti-Syrian politician or journalist is killed, condemnations pour in from friends and foes alike, the funeral attracts thousands, while officials urge unity. Yet the longer a U.N. inquiry into the murder of ex-Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri drags on, the more every assassination threatens to rekindle sectarian divisions between the mostly Shi’ite Muslim supporters of Damascus and its Christian, Sunni and Druze opponents. 
SYDNEY, Australia — Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Monday condemned a day and night of race riots in Sydney’s beachside suburbs, but said he did not believe Australian society had an undercurrent of racism. Howard was speaking as police formed a strike force to track down the instigators of the running battles that involved drunken mobs of white men yelling racial slurs, young men of Lebanese descent and hundreds of police. 
Beirut – The Lebanese cabinet decided late Monday to call on the United Nations to investigate a wave of killings of anti-Syrian individuals and to form an international court to investigate the murder of former premier Rafik Hariri. Pro-Syrian Hezbollah and Amal deputies suspended their participation in the Lebanese government to protest a vote calling for an international tribunal and to ‘widen the mission of the U.N. investigative team to cover all the assassinations that took place since October 2004’. 
December 12: Prominent anti-Syrian MP and journalist Gibran Tueni and three others are killed in a car bomb attack as they travel through the Mekallis area of eastern Beirut. 
AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice condemned Monday’s slaying of a Lebanese journalist who was critical of Syrian involvement in his country as a “vicious act of terror.” She conferred with France’s foreign minister on how to bring new pressure on Damascus. 
