U.S. officials have reportedly chided Central Bank governor Riyad Salameh for helping Syria escape U.S. sanctions five years ago by transferring billions of dollars to Lebanon.

Al-Akhbar daily said Thursday that the officials told Salameh during his visit to Washington last week that the Central Bank’s move led to a cover up to illegitimate operations carried out by several Lebanese banks, including alleged money laundering.

A massive bomb blast by suspected Islamic militants at a gas station in Pakistan's central Punjab province Tuesday killed at least 20 people and wounded 127 others, senior officials said.

"Now the death toll is 20. We have 127 wounded," city administration official Naseem Sadiq told Agence France Presse by telephone.

U.S. Congressman Steve Chabot, the new chairman of the U.S. House's Middle East subcommittee, has blasted the Obama administration over "its impotent response to Iran's repression of the opposition movement in 2009," Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday.

In an interview with the Israeli newspaper, Chabot charged that "Iran feels stronger" as a result of that reaction, arguing that such strengthening of Iran contributed to "the rise of Hizbullah in Lebanon."

Hizbullah official in the south Sheikh Nabil Qaouq has said that Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare’s requests for data and information on the Lebanese consolidate divisions in the country.

Qaouq said the objectives of Bellemare and the U.S. won’t be achieved after a change in the parliamentary majority that is now led by Hizbullah.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday he is examining the "full range" of military options, including a no-fly zone, if the revolt in Libya turns into a bloody stalemate and humanitarian disaster.

Accusing Moammar Gadhafi of encouraging violence against his citizens, Obama again called on the Libyan leader to stand down for the good of his country.

The U.S. military is not opposed to imposing a no-fly zone over Libya, the Pentagon said on Thursday, despite a stream of skeptical comments by defense leaders.

The caution expressed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and senior officers over a potential no-fly zone or other military action "should not be interpreted as somehow an opposition to doing this," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told MSNBC television.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that Iran is communicating with Hizbullah in a bid to shape events in the Arab world.

It was the first time that Clinton detailed alleged efforts by Tehran to meddle in the three-month wave of Arab revolts that has toppled presidents in Tunisia and Egypt, convulsed Libya and shaken Yemen, Bahrain and Oman.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday that she supports continuing U.S. military aid to Lebanon following the appointment of Hizbullah-backed premier-designate Najib Miqati, U.S. daily The Washington Times reported.

"I believe still at this point that we should continue supporting the Lebanese armed forces," Clinton said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing. "I know that's been the subject of some debate here in the Congress."

A lone gunman killed two U.S. airmen Wednesday and seriously injured two more in an attack on their bus at Frankfurt airport in Germany, local authorities and the U.S. military said.

"Two airmen have been killed and two were wounded during a shooting incident today at Frankfurt International Airport," the U.S. Air Forces in Europe (USAFE) said in a statement.

The Arab League said Wednesday it would consider backing a no-fly zone over Libya to end its crackdown on anti-regime rebels, but ruled out supporting any direct foreign military intervention.

"The Arab countries cannot remain with their arms folded when the blood of the brotherly Libyan people is being shed," the league said in a resolution after a meeting of foreign ministers in Cairo.