Hezbollah-led Diab set to be Lebanese PM

Lebanese academic and former minister Hassan Diab received the backing of Shia group Hezbollah and yesterday looked set to be named the crisis-wracked country’s new prime minister. Caretaker premier Saad Hariri pulled out of the race on Wednesday and his bloc did not nominate any candidate when much-delayed consultations to form a new government got under way at the presidential palace. The nomination of Diab would yield a lopsided government.