Vienna is in favor of further sanctions against the regime of Syria's Bashar Assad, Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said in a radio interview Saturday.

"We cannot accept what Bashar Assad is doing to his countrymen at the moment -- shooting at protestors, hunting the opposition," Spindelegger told Oe1 radio, adding that "U.N.-led" sanctions should be reinforced and should target specific people.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon ad interim, Robert Watkins, held talks on Thursday with President Michel Suleiman and former Prime Minister Fouad Saniora on the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701.

Watkins briefed Suleiman on U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report on the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, which was submitted to the members of the Security Council on November 15.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon President Sir Judge David Baragwanath continued his trip to Lebanon on Thursday by meeting with the British Ambassador Tom Fletcher, after which the ambassador praised the judge for his “vigor in pursuing his responsibilities.”

Fletcher added: “We were encouraged by the commitments made by the Lebanese leadership that Lebanon will meet its international obligations.”

China said Wednesday a U.N. human rights resolution condemning Syria's deadly eight-month crackdown on anti-government protestors was "counterproductive".

China was among 41 nations to abstain from voting on the resolution, which strongly condemns "continued grave and systematic human rights violations" by Syria that the United Nations estimates has left more than 3,500 dead.

Premier Najib Miqati promised President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Judge Sir David Baragwanath, on Wednesday to resolve the crisis on the funding of the STL.

Miqati met with Baragwanath at the Grand Serail, reiterating Lebanon’s respect for international resolutions, including 1757. He hoped that the STL would steer clear of politics, a statement issued by the prime minister’s office said.

Iran angrily stayed away Monday from a U.N. atomic agency forum on creating a Middle East free of nuclear weapons, amid growing tensions over Tehran's suspected efforts to develop the bomb.

Iran's ambassador to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Ali Asghar Soltanieh said Tehran's decision was its "first reaction" to the body's "inappropriate" recent report on its nuclear program.

The United States is investigating whether Iran sent hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons to the late Moammar Gadhafi regime in Libya, The Washington Post reported late Sunday.

The shells, which Libya had filled with mustard gas, were discovered in recent weeks at two sights in central Libya, the Post said citing unnamed U.S. and Libyan officials.

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem on Sunday dismissed as "wishful thinking" a warning by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that his country risked descending into civil war.

"When Mrs. Clinton says the opposition is well-armed ... it is, as they say in English, 'wishful thinking'," Muallem told a news conference in Damascus.

The U.N. Security Council and the European Union will take “measures” against Lebanon if Lebanon doesn’t fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, sources close to French decision-makers warned.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Sunday that Lebanon’s rejection to pay its 49 percent share would lead to a “troubling situation that would force the international community to take measures … at the level of the Security Council and the EU.”

Speaker Nabih Berri said on Saturday that Lebanon will overcome the crises and maintain its stability.

“Lebanon will overcome crises and preserve its security and stability,” Berri said during a dinner banquet in honor of Brazilian Vice President Michel Temer.