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. Wide top shot of thousands of protesters at the site where Pierre Gemayel was assassinated

2. Mid of protestors carrying flags

3. Mid of poster showing photo of Pierre Gemayel

4. Pan from right to left down street showing thousands of protestors

5. Various of wife and mother of Pierre Gemayel

6. Various of protestors

7. Mid of armed solider standing near site of protest

8. Various of Lebanese army on foot and in armoured vehicles taking up positions around the Prime ministers office in Beirut

9. Wide exterior of the office of Fuad Saniora, Lebanese Prime Minister, in Beirut

10. Wide interior pan of Saniora, Henrietta Fore, US Department of State Under Secretary, and delegation sitting for photo op

11. Mid of Henrietta Fore seated on couch

12. Mid of Saniora sitting for photo op

13. Wide of delegates

14. Mid of Saniora and Fore

15. Mid of Fore approaching microphone to speak

16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Henrietta Fore, US Department of State Undersecretary for Management:

"(we) affirmed our long and sustained commitment to Lebanon."

17. Various of newspaper stand in Beirut showing pictures of Pierre Gemayel, and tanks in streets

18. Various of newspaper headline reads: (Arabic) "No new initiative or meeting and all factions in confrontation.''

19. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox Pop:

"We hope for Arab countries and the Arab League to intervene try to get people together in order to avoid civil war like the one we had.''

20. Wide of protestors

21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Vox Pop:

"We are here to show support and loyalty and to tell the world that we Lebanese Christians will stay and not leave Lebanon no matter what happen."

22. Wide of Beirut city

STORYLINE

Thousands of protestors took to the streets of Beirut on Tuesday, demanding the truth over the assassination of the Maronite Christian Industry minister, Pierre Gemayel.

The gathering, held at the site where Gemayel was killed, marked a week long period since the minister's death.

Gemayel's wife and mother joined the protestors.

Gemayel's assassination has inflamed an already volatile situation in Lebanon- one clearly visible in Beirut on Tuesday as troops moved to secure posts around Prime Minister Fuad Saniora's office as he met with a senior US official from Washington.

Henrietta Fore, US Department of State Undersecretary for Management, told news reporters after the meeting, that Washington had "affirmed" its "long and sustained commitment to Lebanon," in the face of Hezbollah-led opposition moves to topple it.

The meeting between US and Lebanon comes a day after Saniora's cabinet sent a draft accord to Lebanon's President, Emile Lahoud, seeking to create a tribunal to try suspects in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - a move seen to further enhance the power struggle between the pro- and anti-Syrian forces.

The pro-Syrian Lahoud, who considers the Cabinet "unconstitutional" after the resignation of six ministers, is expected to decline to endorse the agreement.

The accord would set up the UN backed court in a location outside Lebanon.

For opponents of Syria, the court is a major priority, one they hope will uncover the truth behind the February 2005 assassination of Hariri which they accuse Damascus of orchestrating.

Syria denies the claim.

The tribunal has also become the latest weapon in the battle between the Hezbollah-aligned factions and the anti-Syrian parties over the demand by Hezbollah for a third of the Cabinet's seats, which would give Hezbollah and its supporters veto power over key decisions, including the UN document setting up the tribunal.

Hezbollah is threatening to call mass demonstrations unless it and its allies obtain a veto-wielding share of the Cabinet -a demand that Saniora and the anti-Syrian parties have rejected.

Gemayel's death heightened fears the country may return to the sectarian violence of the 1975-90 civil war.