Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's Grupo Carso conglomerate will acquire 70 percent of the Tabasco Oil Co. LLC, which has exploration and production operations in Colombia.

Grupo Carso announced the move in a brief statement to the stock exchange late Tuesday, saying it "marks the entrance of Grupo Carso into a new business sector in Latin America."

The statue of Saint Maroun was unveiled at Saint Peter’s square at the Vatican on Wednesday during a ceremony attended by President Michel Suleiman, Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and Pope Benedict XVI.

A large number of Lebanese MPs, officials and former lawmakers also attended the event which was followed by a mass held by Sfeir.

A private Libyan jet that was prevented from landing at Beirut airport was carrying on board the Lebanese wife of one of Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi’s sons, Voice of Lebanon radio reported Wednesday.

VDL said Hannibal Gadhafi’s wife, who is from the Skaff family, and several members of the ruling family were aboard the jet that Lebanese aviation authorities refused to give the permission to land at Rafik Hariri international airport on Tuesday.

Two Iranian warships that have sailed from the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean are carrying advanced missiles to Hizbullah, Israeli sources told Maariv daily.

The sources said in remarks published in the Israeli daily that the warships are carrying missiles, arms, ammunition and night-vision goggles to Hizbullah in Lebanon.

The Israeli army has refused numerous requests from France for evidence to back up claims that Syria last year transferred long-range Scud missiles to Hizbullah, former French defense minister Herve Morin told The Jerusalem Post.

Last April, Israeli officials said Damascus had transferred the Scuds to Hizbullah in Lebanon. A month later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi that the Shiite party was storing the missiles inside Syrian military bases.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea ruled out the formation of a government soon and accused Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun of pushing President Michel Suleiman to resign.

In remarks to As Safir daily on Wednesday, Geagea said: “Issues linked to the international tribunal and Hizbullah’s arms no longer afford vague stances” from Premier-designate Najib Miqati.

Western sources stressed that the Lebanese government did not have the authority to withdraw the judges from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that will prosecute ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s suspected assassins.

“The judges were appointed by the U.N. secretary-general. That’s why the Lebanese government cannot withdraw them,” the sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Wednesday. “The judges could resign however,” they said.

Israeli President Shimon Peres has said the anti-government protests sweeping the Arab world that have toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt are an "opportunity for peace" in the Middle East.

"We believe that the biggest guarantee of peace is having democracy in our neighbors. We are happy to witness this democratic revolution which is taking place in the Arab world," he said in an address to the Spanish parliament on Tuesday.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams stressed on Tuesday the importance of a new government meeting the expectations of all Lebanese.

He said after holding talks with Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati that as the developments in the Arab world have demonstrated, dialogue between all sides in a country is the only way to solve all disputes and fulfill the political, social, and economic needs of the country.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun renewed on Tuesday his refusal to grant President Michel Suleiman a Cabinet portfolio, saying: “If he were with us, then there’s no need to grant him a portfolio.”

The MP asked after the movement’s weekly meeting: “Should we withdraw from rule so that he is granted portfolios? Who came up with this rule and when?”