SHOTLIST

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. Exterior shot of Prime Minister's office in Beirut

2. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle in position around Prime Minister's office

3. Mid shot of Lebanese soldiers

4. Wide shot of Lebanese soldiers and armoured vehicle

5. Wide shot of Prime Minister's office

6. Wide shot of Lebanese cabinet meeting

7. Mid shot of Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sitting at head of meeting

8. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel placed in his position around meeting table

9. Various of cabinet ministers around table

10. Mid shot of picture of murdered Lebanese Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

11. Cameras

12. Mid shot of Lebanese Minister of Information, Ghazi Aridi, at press conference

13. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Ghazi Aridi, Lebanese Minister of Information:

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation.''

14. Cameras

STORYLINE

The Lebanese government on Saturday approved an international tribunal for suspects in the 2005 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri, despite warnings of mass protests by its opponent Hezbollah.

Last-ditch attempts to reach a compromise between the government and the pro-Syrian camp, led by Hezbollah, appeared to fail as the cabinet moved forward with its meeting for a UN created court.

The tribunal is a key bone of contention in the power struggle between allies and opponents of Syria in Lebanon.

Anti-Syrian forces - mainly Christian and Sunni Muslim - dominate the government, but are facing a campaign by the mainly Shiite pro-Syrian camp to bring the government down.

The political crisis became potentially explosive this week with the assassination of an anti-Syrian politician, raising worries of more violence that could tear apart the country's fragile sectarian seams.

The anti-Syrian bloc brought out some 800,000 people for a mass rally at the funeral of the politician, Pierre Gemayel, on Thursday.

Hezbollah has shown it can bring out similar numbers for its protests - and if it goes ahead with its threatened demonstrations, many fear it could start a spiral of street action.

Earlier on Saturday, two key anti-Syrian Lebanese politicians met with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, an ally of Hezbollah and a Syria supporter, in an apparent attempt to find a compromise.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora offered to put off the contentious Cabinet vote for several days if six pro-Hezbollah ministers who quit the government earlier this month returned.

Hezbollah demands that the government be changed to give it and its allies more power, or else it says it will launch mass protests to topple Saniora.

But the reconciliation bid appeared to have failed, and the Cabinet meeting approved a UN draft for the tribunal.

In the eyes of Hezbollah, the approval of the tribunal amounts to a rejection of its demands for a greater representation in the Cabinet.

The Shiite militant group and Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, have denounced the current government as unconstitutional, because the constitution underlines that the government must represent all of Lebanon's main communities.

"(The cabinet) approved the creation of an international tribunal between Lebanon and the United Nations and authorised the Justice Minister to sign this agreement with the United Nations and also to send this approval to the Lebanese Parliament for authorisation,'' Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said after the vote.

Aridi's statement went on to say that Prime Minister Saniora insisted the approval of the tribunal was not meant as a provocation against Hezbollah and its allies.

For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, and they hope it will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri in a massive bomb blast that killed 22 others, which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating. Syria has denied any role in the killing.

The court, which will sit outside Lebanon and have a majority of non-Lebanese judges, is to try four Lebanese generals - top pro-Syrian security chiefs under Lahoud including his Presidential Guard commander, who have been under arrest for 14 months, accused of involvement in

Hariri's murder.

The UN investigation into Hariri's death has also implicated Brigadier General Assaf Shawkat, Syria's military intelligence chief and the brother-in-law of Syrian President Bashar Assad. But Shawkat is not in custody.

Hariri's death was the first in a string of attacks that killed five other prominent anti-Syrian figures - with Gemayel the most recent, in a bold daytime shooting on Tuesday.

Many Lebanese blame Syria in all the killings, which Damascus denies.

Since Gemayel's assassination, some ministers in Saniora's Cabinet have moved into the heavily guarded prime minister's building in downtown Beirut, fearing more slayings.

SHOTLIST:

1. Pan on downtown Beirut with Al Amine mosque in the background

2. Crowd gathering at the Martyrs' square

3. Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri poster with electronic sign reading "365"

4. Arrival of MP Bahia Hariri, sister of Rafik Hariri, at his grave

5. Bahia Hariri praying

6. Close-up of big poster for Rafik Hariri

7. Bahia Hariri leaving the anniversary ceremony marking Hariri's assassination

8. Thousands gathered in crowded square

9. Various of crowd waving Lebanese flags and anti-Syrian banners

10. Mid shot of banner: "Kick out Bashar's agent from Baabda" (referring Syrian President Bashar Assad and to Lebanese president Emile Lahoud)

11. Wide shot of Al Amine mosque

12. Mid shot of crowd

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ghazi Aridi, Information minister:

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

14. Mid shot of soldiers

15. Various of crowd

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese waving flags, some carrying anti-Syrian banners, massed in Martyr's square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Syria's troops left Lebanon in April under international pressure after nearly 30 years, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials. Damasmcus refutes any involvement.

Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside next to the square.

Outside some demonstrators carried signs calling for "The Truth" and shouted the name of Hariri's son and political heir, Saad Hariri, whilst others carried placards critical of Syria and its president, Bashar Assad.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the city.

The government gave schools the day off and businesses closed.

The demonstration was expected to climax shortly after midday - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown seaside street as his motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

The main pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim groups, Hezbollah and Amal, were not taking part in the demonstration, which was expected to be largely dominated by Sunni Muslims from Hariri's sect and by Christian and Druse allies.

Amal is holding its own commemoration later Tuesday in southern Lebanon. Amal and Hezbollah, who are represented in the Cabinet, have been locked in a power struggle with the government's majority led by the Saad Hariri bloc.

The groups leading Tuesday's rallies in Beirut are looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million flag-waving Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

The groups have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has also denied involvement in these attacks.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

SHOTLIST

1. 'An-Nahar' newspaper building with big poster of Gibran Tueni on side

2. Close up on poster

3. People marching

4. Protesters shouting slogans

5. Various of demonstration, flag waving people

6. Various of closed shops, banks and schools

7. Various of security forces on the streets

8. Newspapers on sale

9. Various of newspapers

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox pop:

"We ask for a firm decision about the Syrians and we call to impose sanctions on them and even change the regime. This regime looks very criminal, we cannot reach an understanding with them."

11. Various of mourning signs in Sassine Place in Ashrafieh (area of Beirut which Tueni represented in parliament), pictures of Tueni and Lebanese flags

12. Cars driving through the street with Tueni posters, part of funeral procession

13. Various of funeral procession, coffins (of Tueni and his two bodyguards) draped in Lebanese flags being taken through Sassine

14. Atef Majdalani, MP from Hariri bloc in parliament, reading newspaper

15. Cutaway photo of Atef Majdalani and former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, MP from Hariri bloc in Lebanese parliament:

"We call on the international community to stop these terrorist operations, these crimes and these assassinations that are being carried out by totalitarian regimes, by dictatorial and oppressive regimes."

17. Various of funeral, crowd holding signs and waving Lebanese flags

STORYLINE:

Thousands of flag-waving Lebanese - both Christian and Muslim - bid farewell on Wednesday to murdered newspaper editor Gibran Tueni.

The mass turn-out demonstrated the level of anger felt towards Syria, which has been blamed for the Monday car bombing which killed Tueni.

A general strike called in mourning for Tueni was widely respected with banks, businesses and schools closing their doors for the day.

Hundreds of Lebanese troops and police took up position in a central square where, on March 14, about a million people heard Tueni call for the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon.

An outspoken critic of Syria, Tueni was killed by a car bomb on Monday as he was being driven to work through an industrial suburb of Beirut.

The 48-year old was the fourth anti-Syrian figure to be killed since February.

The series of bombings began with the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a truck bombing.

A previously unknown group has claimed responsibility for the blast that killed Tueni and two bodyguards, and wounded 30 other people.

But Tueni's colleagues and political allies have blamed Syria, which has denied involvement.

In the Beirut district of Ashrafieh, which Tueni represented in parliament, several thousand people marched behind his coffin and those of his bodyguards.

Others waited outside An-Nahar's offices in the city centre, where a giant portrait of Tueni hung down the side of the building.

Men, women and children - including families and political activists - waved Lebanese flags and held pictures of Tueni.

Many shouted slogans against Syria and its President Bashar Assad.

The strike that anti-Syrian groups had called in mourning for Tueni was observed not only in Beirut, but also in the southern provincial capital of Sidon and in the mountains of central Lebanon.

But in eastern Lebanon, where pro-Syrian groups are dominant, the strike call was ignored.

Opponents of Syrian influence in Lebanon are counting on the public anger over Tueni's killing to bolster their cause and close ranks in the face of what they see as a Syrian threat to pick off their leaders one by one.

Meantime, on Tuesday the chief U.N. investigator into the Hariri assassination, German magistrate Detlev Mehlis, told the U.N. Security Council that the latest evidence strengthened his belief that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials were involved in the murder.

Mehlis had interviewed Tueni as a witness.

Hariri's death in February sparked mass protests and intensified international pressure which forced Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon after nearly three decades of political and military control.

Syria has denied involvement in Hariri's killing.

France circulated a resolution in the Security Council co-sponsored by Britain and the United States, which would broaden the scope of the U.N. investigation to include all the attacks in Lebanon since October 1, 2004.

The draft resolution seemed to deflect the Lebanese government's request for an inquiry into Tueni's killing and an international tribunal for the suspected killers of Hariri.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide of Druse leader Walid Jumblatt's news conference

2. SOUNDBITE (English): Walid Jumblatt, Senior Druse politician in the anti-Syrian coalition:

"I just accuse bluntly the Syrian regime. Because it does not want Lebanon, the people of Lebanon, to be free, independent, and to be safe and to be prosperous from the start. (Listens to reporter's question) By killing Pierre Gemayel they have killed one member of the Government, we still have the majority actually and we can approve the draft, the convention between the Lebanese government and the United Nations. They might kill another minister, its very possible, very plausible. And they might of course kill other members of parliament, because Pierre Gemayel was a member of parliament and a minister. So to reduce the majority in the parliament. They can do anything, because his only fear, Bashar (Syrian President Bashar Assad), is not to be indicted somewhere by the tribunal. And here I have to remind people that he said it, he acknowledged the fact indirectly that if a Syrian official is involved into the killing of Hariri (former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri), this Syrian is to be judged and tried. He said it in one of his famous so-called speeches. But even that he cannot afford it. Because he knows that if maybe a single corporal a single individual in Syria is involved into the crime, you know the system, their totalitarian system, is wholly involved.

3. Cutaway wide

4. SOUNDBITE (Arabic): Walid Jumblatt, Senior Druse politician in the anti-Syrian coalition:

"It seems that the Syrian regime has resumed assassinations or they are carrying on with their assassinations and they will continue to kill. I'm expecting more assassinations. But whatever they do, we are here, we are here, and we are going to win."

5. Jumblatt rising and leaving room at end of conference

6. Reporters leaving

STORYLINE:

A prominent Lebanese politician on Wednesday accused Syria of assassinating Lebanon's Industry Minister, Pierre Gemayel, in a Beirut suburb a day earlier.

Walid Jumblatt, a prominent Druse politician in the anti-Syrian coalition, blamed Damascus for the death.

"I just accuse bluntly the Syrian regime. Because it does not want Lebanon, the people of Lebanon, to be free, independent, and to be safe," Jumblatt said.

Gemayel, minister of industry and scion of a prominent political family, was killed on Tuesday when two cars blocked his vehicle at an intersection in

the suburbs of Beirut.

He was shot numerous times through a side window of his car.

His killing - the fifth murder of an anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon in two years - immediately drew condemnations from all quarters.

The United States condemned the slaying as an act of terrorism.

Syria too condemned the assassination and denied any role in it.

President George W. Bush accused Syria and Iran of seeking to undermine the government of Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, though he stopped short of blaming them for the 34-year-old's slaying.

In contrast however, Jumblatt openly accused Syria of being involved and he warned that the lives of more Lebanese political leaders could be in danger from the Syrian regime.

"They might kill another minister, its very possible, very plausible. And they might of course kill other members of parliament, because Pierre Gemayel was a member of parliament and a minister. So to reduce the majority in the parliament. They can do anything," said Jumblatt.

Jumblatt indicated that the slaying was linked to the plan for an international court to try suspects in former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri assassination.

"But we still have the majority actually and we can approve the draft, the convention between the Lebanese government and the United Nations," he said at the news conference.

Jumblatt said indictment by the international tribunal was something Syrian President Bashar Assad would want to avoid at all costs, and reason enough to kill other Lebanese leaders and "reduce the majority in the parliament."

"But whatever they do, we are here, we are here, and we are going to win," he declared to reporters.

SHOTLIST

1. Syrian President Bashar Assad walking into Elysee Palace UPSOUND Fanfare

2. Tracking shot of Assad walking towards building

3. Wide of French President Nicolas Sarkozy waiting at top of steps

4. Zoom on Assad ascending steps and shaking hands with Sarkozy

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar Assad, President of Syria:

"The peace process has moved along through an American initiative over several months and has involved Syria and Palestine but nothing concrete has resulted. Should one blame the mediators? One can't do that without reference to the parties concerned. On the one hand, the Arab sides have been willing to make peace but, on the Israeli side, this (expression) is non-existent."

6. Mid of Sarkozy and Assad shaking hands and walking inside

STORYLINE

Syrian President Bashar Assad on Thursday blamed a lack of willingness on the part of Israel for the stalled Middle East peace process.

Assad made the comment in Paris after meeting his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace.

Assad said the "Arab sides have been willing to make peace but, on the Israeli side, this (expression) is non-existent."

After months of gruelling diplomacy, using a mixture of pressure and promises, the US on Tuesday abandoned attempts to persuade Israel to slow West Bank settlement activity.

The Palestinians had demanded the freeze in exchange for engaging in direct talks that were supposed to lead to a Palestinian state side-by-side with Israel.

That deal, it was hoped, would lead to a broader Middle East peace accord.

Assad and Sarkozy also discussed the situation in Lebanon.

A spokesman for the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri said on Wednesday it will be weeks or even several months before the details of expected indictments are made public.

The court has kept silent on possible suspects, but several foreign media reports have said the court has evidence that members of Hezbollah, the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Shiite militant group, were behind the assassination.

That is raising fears of more violence in the fractured country.

Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who was Lebanon's most prominent politician in the years after the 1975-1990 civil war, might have made enemies by seeking in the last few months of his life to limit Syria's influence in the country, a legacy of the years of conflict.

SHOTLIST

1. Wide exterior of parliament building in Damascus with troops on parade

2. Various of Syrian President Bashar al Assad's arrival

3. Wide of Assad addressing parliament

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar al Assad, Syrian President:

"We stood firmly against the war in Iraq. We opposed to the occupation and insisted on the establishment of a timeline for the withdrawal of the occupying foreign troops. We believe the Iraqi people have the right to resist this occupation, but we also support the political process in Iraq, on the condition that all different sects of Iraqis are represented in that process. We let it be known that we are ready to make every effort to establish a national dialogue in Iraq. Not because we want to please anybody, but because we are sincere in our desire to achieve stability for our brothers in Iraq and the region. Let me make this very clear - our role in Iraq is to help the Iraqi people get through the current national crisis and not to help the occupation forces clean up the mess they are in."

6. Wide of parliament hall - members of parliament applauding

7. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar al Assad, Syrian President:

"The issue of the International Court (to try suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri) is strictly between Lebanon and the United Nations, as far as we are concerned. It does not concern us directly. Syria will not to co-operate, on this or any other issue, if its national sovereignty is threatened in any way."

8. Wide of parliament hall - Members of Parliament applauding

9. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Bashar al Assad, Syrian President:

"We have not seen any progress as far as the peace process is concerned. We have not had any contact with Israel, secret or otherwise, because Israel is not ready on the official and popular level for a just and comprehensive peace, which requires strong leadership that can take decisive decisions, in addition to a mature public opinion that can push their governments in that direction."

10. Wide of parliament hall - members of parliament applauding

11. Assad waving to crowd as members of parliament cheer and applauding

12. Wide of parliament hall - members of parliament cheering and applauding

STORYLINE

Syrian President Bashar al Assad said on Thursday the current Israeli government was weak and not prepared for a just peace with its neighbours.

Addressing the opening of the newly elected parliament, the Syrian leader also denied direct or secret contacts with Israel and stressed the longstanding Syrian demand for withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Golan Heights in return for peace with the Jewish state.

"We have not had any contact with Israel, secret or otherwise, because Israel is not ready on the official and popular level for a just and comprehensive peace, which requires strong leadership that can take decisive decisions, in addition to a mature public opinion that can push their governments in that direction," he said.

He noted that the peace process had failed to progress in the absence of an honest broker, an allusion to the US tilt toward Israel.

Assad also said that Syria would make every effort to help establish a national dialogue in Iraq and restore stability to the country for the sake of the Iraqi people, but stressed his government had no interest in offering support to the US-led coalition forces currently in Iraq.

"We are ready to make every effort to establish a national dialogue in Iraq. Not because we want to please anybody, but because we are sincere in our desire to achieve stability for our brothers in Iraq and the region," Assad said.

"Let me make this very clear - our role in Iraq is to help the Iraqi people get through the current national crisis and not to help the occupation forces clean up the mess they are in," he added.

Assad's comments come on the heels of landmark talks on Iraq between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, during the International Conference on Iraq.

Officials on both sides were hopeful that the meeting, which took place last week in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, would mark a starting point for a new relationship between the Syria and the US.

Assad also commented on efforts by the members of the Lebanese government to establish an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

Assad said the matter was "strictly between Lebanon and the United Nations, as far as we are concerned."

It did not, he said, concern Syria directly.

Syria is accused by many of orchestrating the assassination of Hariri, who was vocally opposed to Syria's military and political involvement in Lebanon.

Damascus vehemently denies any involvement.