Premier Najib Miqati said Monday that the truth in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s murder and stability go hand in hand, stressing that it was his responsibility to preserve Lebanon’s stability.

In remarks to As Safir newspaper, Miqati said: “There is a correlation between the truth and stability.”

Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani said Sunday that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon should not be part of the political bickering because it is a legitimate institution established by a U.N. Security Council resolution.

“This court is an institution that has international legitimacy from a Security Council resolution that established it. That’s why it should be left out of the political rhetoric,” Qabbani said in a statement.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi threatened retaliation against Europe on Friday unless NATO ceases its operations, warning loyalist forces can launch stinging attacks like "locusts and bees."

"The Libyan people are capable, one day, of taking the battle to Europe and the Mediterranean," Gadhafi said in a speech broadcast by loudspeaker to thousands of loyalists gathered in Tripoli's emblematic Green Square.

France insisted Friday that weapons it supplied to rebels fighting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi were for "self-defense" in line with a U.N. resolution, after Russia and others voiced concern.

"Civilians had been attacked by Gadhafi's forces and were in an extremely vulnerable situation and that is why medicine, food and also weapons of self-defense were parachuted," Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said.

The U.N. Security Council on Thursday extended the mandate of the U.N. force monitoring the ceasefire in the Golan Heights between Syria and Israel by another six months.

The unanimous decision extends the mandate of the U.N. Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) to December 31, 2011.

Britain has given the Libyan rebels 5,000 sets of body armor, as well as police uniforms, high-visibility vests and communications equipment, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday.

He said this was "fully in line" with the U.N. Security Council resolution governing international action on Libya and the arms embargo.

The European Union piled pressure on the Syrian regime on Friday, warning that its legitimacy was undermined by a brutal crackdown and imposing sanctions on three of its Iranian military allies.

EU leaders holding a summit in Brussels were to adopt a declaration condemning the "unacceptable and shocking violence the Syrian regime continues to apply on its own citizen," according to a draft obtained by Agence France Presse.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini called on Wednesday for an immediate halt to hostilities in Libya to allow humanitarian aid to reach the population in the strife-torn country.

Frattini called for "an immediate humanitarian suspension of hostilities" in Libya during a speech to the lower house of parliament.

The U.N. General Assembly will on Tuesday elect South Korean Ban Ki-moon to a second term as U.N. leader after he was backed by all major powers.

Outspoken in faulting the leaders of Arab countries facing protests, but criticized himself by some human rights groups, the former South Korean foreign minister has been certain to win reelection for several months.

President Dmitry Medvedev said on Monday that Russia was ready to use its veto to block a Western-sponsored resolution on Syria at the United Nations as it could be used as cover for military action.

Speaking in an interview with the Financial Times whose full transcript was released by the Kremlin, Medvedev argued that March's U.N. Security Council vote on Libya had paved the way for a military operation.