New Zealand announced plans Thursday to force cigarette firms to sell their products in plain packaging, following world-first laws passed in Australia.

The government had agreed "in principal" to adopt plain packing laws on tobacco products, subject to public consultation to take place later this year, Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia said.

President Michel Suleiman expressed confidence on Thursday that the parties rejecting proportional representation in the parliamentary elections will eventually support it.

“Those publically standing against proportionality today will be with it in the future,” Suleiman told As Safir daily about al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat.

Australia's decision to bring troops home from Afghanistan earlier than expected was part of the war strategy and would not prompt other nations to rush out, NATO's chief said Wednesday.

The announcement was "fully within the framework" of a roadmap agreed by NATO and its partners in Afghanistan to gradually hand over security control to Afghan security forces, said Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

President Michel Suleiman said he informed the delegation visiting Australia with him that the government will draft a law that would allow Lebanese expatriates to vote in the parliamentary elections.

In remarks to reporters accompanying him in his trip, Suleiman said the expats are an added value for Lebanon.

President Michel Suleiman noted on Tuesday the social diversity in Lebanon and Australia, adding that the challenges faced in the world require solutions that “go beyond national limits.”

He said: “Diversity cannot survive without dialogue, moderation, and partnership.”

Australia said Tuesday it will bring its troops home from Afghanistan a year earlier than planned with most soldiers withdrawn in 2013 after significant security gains over the past 18 months.

Canberra, a key coalition ally of the United States, has repeatedly said it intends to remain in the war-wracked nation until 2014 but Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Afghans would now be ready to take responsibility earlier.

President Michel Suleiman on Monday stressed that “Lebanon is not an arena for settling scores or conflict, but rather an arena for the rapprochement of all Arab brothers,” noting that “Lebanon will not be a launch pad for sabotage or attack against any Arab nation, particularly Syria.”

In a speech before members of the Lebanese community in Canberra, Suleiman said: “What concerns us in Syria is democracy, and the latest referendum has shown that everyone in Syria wants democracy.”

President Michel Suleiman traveled to Australia on Saturday on the first visit of its kind for a Lebanese president, reported As Safire newspaper on Saturday.

Sources told the newspaper that memorandums of understandings will be signed with the Australian government and Suleiman will also meet with prominent businessmen of Lebanese origin.

Indonesia scoured its waters Friday for a drifting boat carrying dozens of Afghan asylum seekers as an Australian refugee advocate said they were still alive after fears the vessel had sunk.

The boat has been missing since it called for help near Sumbawa island in eastern Indonesia at 06:50 GMT Thursday.

Australia's greatest ancient Aboriginal rock art detailing kangaroos, turtles and humans on boulders in the remote Pilbara area will be studied under a U.S.$1.1 million deal announced Monday.

Tens of thousands of the indigenous works, which are scattered over the mineral-laden region, will be researched and catalogued under a six-year agreement between the University of Western Australia and miner Rio Tinto.