BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian forces went on the counter-attack against the opposition with a demand that could delay elections due in May, as the country was shaken by another bomb attack.Prime minister-designate Omar Karameh, at a meeting late Friday with his pro-Syrian allies, decided to stay on, despite having failed over the past three weeks to form a new government to ease Lebanon’s political crisis. Karameh, who said Tuesday he would resign, was tasked with forming a cabinet “to save the country”, following the opposition’s refusal to join a national unity government, said parliament speaker Nabih Berri. He said the new government would draw up an electoral law based on larger constituencies and proportional representation, changes favouring the pro-Syrian camp.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Five people were wounded in the latest bombing of a Christian area of Lebanon, police said, as prime minister-designate Omar Karameh reversed a decision to step down.  Against a backdrop of political crisis since the February 14 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri, the bombers carried out a fourth strike on a Christian area in less than two weeks. The latest attack came at 9:45 pm (1845 GMT) in an underground parking lot of the Rizk shopping and residential complex in the mountain resort of Brumana, an opposition stronghold 20 kilometres (13 miles) east of Beirut. About a dozen cars were destroyed in the blast, which caused heavy material damage, television pictures showed. The eight-storey centre contains a branch of the Mediterranean Bank, owned by the Hariri family.

Our prayers are constantly with his pointiff By VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press Writer  VATICAN CITY – Pope John Paul II is getting nutrition from a tube in his nose, the Vatican said Wednesday, shortly after the frail pontiff appeared at his window in St. Peter’s Square and managed only a rasp when he tried to speak.  Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said the step was taken to “improve the pope’s calorie intake” and so he can recover his strength. It was unclear when the tube was inserted but it was not visible when John Paul made his appearance. The tube is not the only source of nutrition for the pope, a Vatican official said on condition of anonymity. Asked about reports of a possible hospitalization, the official said there were no plans at this time and any decision would be up to his doctors.

BEIRUT (AFP) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian prime minister-designate Omar Karameh has stalled on his plan to resign in the latest setback for efforts to form a new government to organise elections due in May.  The opposition, meanwhile, welcomed Syria’s pledge to the United Nations on Wednesday to complete a troop withdrawal from Lebanon ahead of the parliamentary polls. Karameh said he first needed to consult his allies in the pro-Syrian camp before giving up on efforts to form a national unity government in the wake of the February 14 assassination of former premier Rafiq Hariri. “I have informed Mr Lahoud that I am preparing to announce my decision,” he said after talks with President Emile Lahoud.

By Lin Noueihed BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s pro-Syrian prime minister is expected to step down this week after he failed to persuade opposition figures to join a government that could run the country until elections in May, associates said on Tuesday.  Omar Karami resigned a month ago after coming under immense popular pressure from Lebanese angered by the killing of his predecessor Rafik al-Hariri. But he was reappointed by parliament to form a national unity government bringing together both anti-Syrian opposition members and pro-Syrian loyalists. Lebanon’s opposition, which blames Syria and the Lebanese security agencies it backs for Hariri’s death, has refused to join any government until after elections it believes will give it a majority in a chamber now largely allied to Damascus.

BEIRUT (Reuters) – About 2,000 Syrian troops have pulled out of eastern Lebanon over the past week, a senior Lebanese security source said Monday, bringing Syria a step closer to ending its 29-year military domination of Lebanon.  The source said small units in the eastern Bekaa Valley were going home, leaving behind a division of the Syrian army as well as scores of intelligence agents. A Syrian-Lebanese military committee is due to meet next week to set a timeline for withdrawing the 8,000 remaining forces. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said he expects Syria to complete the pull out before general elections due in May.