US positions warship near Lebanon
Washington steps up pressure on Syria by sending vessels to Lebanese coast.

Seventeen US sailors were killed in October 2000 when the USS Cole was attacked off the coast of Yemen by al Qaeda fighters.
Asked whether George Bush, the US president, had given the order, Gordon Johndroe, the White House spokesman, said: “The president is concerned about the situation in Lebanon and discusses the issue regularly with his national security team.”
The deadlock
Lebanon’s presidential elections were postponed again this week to March 11 from February 26, the 15th such delay, after rival leaders failed to reach a deal.
The opposition wants enough seats in a new government to give it veto power over cabinet decisions, a plan rejected by the governing March 14 bloc.
The country has been without a president since November when Emile Lahoud, who was supported by Syria, stepped down in the midst of the worst political crisis since the country’s 1975-1990 civil war.
The deadlock has threatened to degenerate into new sectarian violence and continues to affect inter-Arab relations in the run-up to an Arab League summit in Syria next month.