Beijing has asked Libya's new rulers to guarantee Chinese business interests in the north African country, despite not supporting the military action that helped bring them to power.

China is the only permanent member of the U.N. Security Council yet to formally recognize the Transitional National Council and repeatedly opposed NATO's use of force in support of the rebels during recent fighting.

Russia disapproves of the European Union oil embargo imposed on Syria, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday, the Interfax news agency reported.

"We have always said that unilateral sanctions will do no good. This destroys a partnership approach to any crisis," Lavrov was quoted as telling journalists at a regional summit in Dushanbe.

Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara on Friday and suspended all military ties with its one-time ally after a U.N. report condemned excessive force used by Israel on a Gaza aid flotilla.

"At this point the measures we are taking are: The relations between Turkey and Israel will be downgraded to second secretary level. All officials over the level of second secretary, primarily the ambassador, will turn back to their country at the latest on Wednesday," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a press conference.

A spokesman of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon probing the assassination of ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri told An Nahar newspaper on Friday that the opening of the trials is a decision taken by the trial chamber only.

The spokesman said that the trial date depends on a number of factors, including the time needed by the defense office to examine the evidence presented by Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare.

Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed on Friday the importance of separating the Lebanese situation from the developments in Syria.

“We shouldn’t interfere in anyone’s (internal) affairs so that no one meddles in ours,” Miqati told the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

Lebanon took over the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council for this month, the second time since its council membership in January 2010.

Ambassador Nawwaf Salam told An Nahar daily published Friday that he was seeking to introduce “preventive diplomacy” to the agenda of the council. “This concept includes means and diplomatic measures taken in advance to prevent the eruption of conflicts or stop them from spreading.”

Iran urged French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday not to make comments based on "unrealistic information," after Paris called for tougher sanctions over Tehran's controversial nuclear program.

"As stated repeatedly, Iran's nuclear activity is completely peaceful and International Atomic Energy Agency reports have confirmed it," state television quoted the foreign ministry's head of western Europe affairs as saying.

Premier Najib Miqati has reiterated his “strong willingness that France keeps its forces” as part of the UNIFIL mission and vowed to work on preventing further attacks on peacekeepers.

In a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Miqati said that Lebanon is keen on implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and consolidating the ties between the Lebanese army and foreign troops.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon spokesman Marten Youssef stressed on Thursday that the indictment has a supplement that wasn’t released to keep the identity of witnesses and the investigation confidential.

“There is a part of the indictment that the pre-trial judge (Daniel Fransen) decided to keep confidential, especially in the matters that would affect the witnesses, investigations and the victims,” Youssef told al-Okaz Saudi newspaper.

The envoy of President Dmitry Medvedev for Africa will attend this week's conference for "Friends of Libya" in Paris, reports said Wednesday, in the first indication Russia will be represented.

"Mikhail Margelov is going to Paris for the meeting after receiving an invitation," a source in the Russian foreign ministry told Interfax.