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.

U.S. President Barack Obama's administration was the target of harsh criticism in Congress Wednesday for not doing enough to support "pro-democracy forces" in Lebanon and Egypt.

"In both Egypt and Lebanon, we have failed to effectively leverage U.S. assistance in support of peaceful, pro-democracy forces and to help build strong, accountable, independent, democratic institutions as a bulwark against the instability that is now spreading throughout much of the region," said Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen at a hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee she heads.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and visiting Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun held talks Wednesday on the situation in Lebanon and the ongoing efforts to form a new Lebanese government, Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported.

Talks also tackled "the latest developments in the Arab and regional arenas," SANA said.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem stated on Wednesday that the process of forming a national unity government in Lebanon has reached its final stage, stressing his country’s keenness on Lebanon achieving national unity.

He said before a delegation of Kuwaiti journalists: “Stability in Lebanon lies in a national unity government that includes all segments of the society, which is what Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati is aiming to achieve.”

Caretaker Labor Minister Butros Harb stated on Wednesday that the March 14 camp will become the opposition in Lebanon should President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati approve the formation of a one-sided government.

He told Tele Liban: “Should they choose against such a decision, then they should find a way to establish a national unity government.”