France confirmed Friday that it would abstain in a Security Council vote on full Palestinian membership of the United Nations, deputy foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said.

"France reiterates its consistent proposal to envisage for Palestine, at this stage, the status of non-member observer state through a U.N. General Assembly vote that would be another step towards admission," Nadal said.

U.S. President Barack Obama offered condolences to Saudi Arabia on Saturday after the death of Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, calling him a "valued friend" who helped cement ties between the allies.

"He was a strong supporter of the deep and enduring partnership between our two countries forged almost seven decades ago," Obama said in a statement, adding that he learned of the crown prince's death with "great regret."

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has said that Hizbullah’s arms have become the backbone of political differences in Lebanon that would have negative consequences on all the Lebanese.

In his 14th report on the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, Ban said the weapons were creating an atmosphere of intimidation and were a direct challenge to the safety of civilians and a monopoly on the right of the government to use force.

Saudi Arabia has asked U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to inform the Security Council of the "heinous conspiracy" to kill its envoy to Washington, in an alleged Iranian plot, SPA state news agency said on Saturday.

"The Saudi permanent mission to the United Nations in New York has ...formally requested the U.N. secretary general to inform the Security Council of the heinous conspiracy to assassinate the Saudi ambassador," it said.

Syrian security forces on Saturday killed two people, one in the capital and the other in the flashpoint central city of Homs, activists said, as the protest movement against President Bashar Assad entered its eighth month with more gunfire and arrests.

"A young man was killed when security forces opened fire on a funeral procession for the child martyr Ibrahim al-Sheban," in Midan, a commercial neighborhood of Damascus, said the Local Coordination Committees (LCC).

Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun stressed on Monday that his parliamentary bloc fully rejects the funding of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in a stance that he described as independent from the position of other parties.

“No to the funding of the court no matter what the stance of our political allies are,” Aoun told An Nahar daily in an interview published Monday.

A letter sent by the U.N. to Lebanon asking it to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will be referred to the justice ministry to put the country’s financial obligations to the court in the draft state budget in cooperation with the finance ministry, An Nahar daily reported Sunday.

The newspaper said that the premiership will refer the letter to the justice ministry in accordance with the protocol signed between the Lebanese government and the STL.

Four Syrian soldiers were killed and several civilians wounded on Thursday during clashes between troops and deserters in a town in northwest Syria, rights activists said.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops and security agents had attacked villages in the region,

Premier Najib Miqati has rejected reports about the isolation of Lebanon following his meetings with U.S. officials in New York and alleged warnings that the international community would adopt certain measures against the country if it didn’t back U.N. Security Council sanctions on Syria.

In remarks to satellite TV network al-Arabiya on Thursday, Miqati said: “Lebanon is not in isolation and no one can isolate it.”

The Palestinians have secured eight Security Council yes votes for their U.N. membership bid, just one short of the nine they need, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, Riyad al-Malki said he had received assurances from two additional nations -- Nigeria and Gabon -- that they would vote in favor of the Palestinian bid for full state membership at the U.N.