U.S. Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg has said that Washington “intends to judge the next Lebanese government by its deeds.”

“We will be watching Prime Minister-designate (Najib) Miqati to see whether he makes good on his public pledge to build a broad-based government that represents all sections of Lebanese society,” Steinberg said in a testimony at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Egypt and Lebanon on Thursday.

A meeting between Premier-designate Najib Miqati and Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb on Thursday signaled the resumption of contacts between the billionaire businessman and the March 14 forces.

Miqati’s circles told An Nahar daily in remarks published Friday that the meeting was “positive” and the cabinet formation process was making progress.

Israel has failed to notify U.N. peacekeepers along the volatile Lebanese-Israeli border of its decision to freeze its plan to withdraw from the disputed village of Ghajar, a U.N. official said Thursday.

"The U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has not been notified by Israel of any change in their position on this matter," said Milos Strugar, UNIFIL's director of political and civil affairs.

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Thursday noted that "abidance by the Constitution and the Taef Accord is the logical solution during this period."

He stressed that his party supports the implementation of the Taef Accord as well as national partnership.

The U.S. has accused the Beirut-based Lebanese Canadian Bank of laundering money for alleged cocaine trafficker Ayman Joumaa, and linked Hizbullah to the bank's illegal activities.

The U.S. Treasury said it would move to prohibit U.S. financial institutions from working with the bank, which it said was tied to Joumaa's international syndicate that laundered "hundreds of millions of dollars monthly" in cash from the drugs trade.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, who is backed by the Hizbullah-led March 8 camp, on Thursday attended together with his Sunni rival Saad Hariri a broad Sunni meeting at Dar al-Fatwa in Beirut.

The meeting at 12:30pm was called to order by Lebanon's Grand Sunni Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani.

Ultra-sharp 3-D X-ray imaging of a 95-million-year-old fossil found in Lebanon has shed light on the evolution of snakes from limbed lizards, French scientists said on Wednesday.

The 50-centimetre (20-inch) fossil of Eupodophis desouensi shows a small hind leg attached to the animal's pelvis. It had been buried beneath its body, and was only visible thanks to the new technique.

France has reportedly delayed a supply of rockets to the Lebanon, Pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper said Thursday.

It said the shipment, bound for the Lebanese army, was based on a promise made to outgoing PM Saad Hariri.

Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Thursday quoted high-ranking French sources as saying that the indictment in the 2005 assassination of former PM Rrafik Hariri is likely to be issued “within the coming 10 days.”

The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is reportedly poised to indict Hizbullah members in the Hariri murder.

Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati said the government was "not near-birth," uncovering that he favors a 24-strong Cabinet that would include non-provocative figures.

"The birth of the government is not in the coming 24 or 48 hours," Miqati said in an interview published Thursday by pan-Arab Al-Hayat daily.