Lebanon’s powerful Maronite patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has been thrust to the forefront of a bitter struggle between pro- and anti-Syrian political camps as a line for a presidential election looms.

Syrian archaelogists have uncovered a 2nd century necropolis and statues in the central town of Palmyra, along with several skeletons, museum director Walid Assaad told AFP on Thursday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is scheduled to pay a several-hour visit to Tehran following his attendance in the upcoming summit of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia early next week.