Caretaker Education Minister Hasan Mneimneh criticized on Thursday “media incitement aimed at weakening the government and confusing the citizen.”

He praised during a press conference the achievements of the now caretaker government saying: “In his role as prime minister, Saad Hariri stood at an equal distance from all his ministers and ministries … but the opposition bargained the country’s needs because of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”

Naharnet has learned that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat has informed concerned officials in the Mustqbal movement that he is being subject to great pressures against naming Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri as the premier of a new government, knowing that he had previously informed Hariri that he would be naming him.

Jumblat did not elaborate on the reasons for his new position.

Egypt has suggested the formation of an Arab League committee to follow up developments in Lebanon but Syria rejected, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Wednesday.

Al-Hayat said the suggestion was made by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit during the meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Sharm el-Sheikh on Tuesday.

Paris urged all Lebanese parties to respect the independent work of the international tribunal and expressed regret that attempts to establish a "contact group" on Lebanon haven't so far garnered enough support.

"France reiterates its continued commitment to international justice and the battle against impunity," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare is "very concerned with the recent unauthorized broadcasts on some Lebanese TV channels of what appear to be interviews conducted by officials of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission (UNIIIC)," the Office of the Prosecutor announced Tuesday in a statement.

"This material is confidential and protected information and was made public in breach of the law. The Prosecutor is exploring all possible avenues, in The Hague and in Lebanon, to determine how this confidential information came into the public domain and to prevent any further unauthorized disclosure," said the statement.

The U.S. said it supports French President Nicolas Sarkozy's suggestion to form a contact group on Lebanon and stressed that it was urging Syria to respect the country's sovereignty.

"We are supporting this process. But as to when diplomats get together, I can't project at this point," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in his briefing on Tuesday about the French proposal.

The foreign ministers of Turkey and Qatar met overnight Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah following four hours of talks with caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri to find ways to resolve the tribunal crisis.

A statement issued by Hizbullah on Wednesday said talks late Tuesday with Nasrallah focused on "proposed solutions" to the political crisis.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday warned Iran's arch foes Israel, the United States and some European nations to stop their "sedition" in Lebanon or the Lebanese people would "chop" their hands.

"You are on a rough downhill path that will take you into a deep valley and your actions show that your decline is on a fast track," Ahmadinejad, referring to the U.S., Israel and unspecified European nations, told a cheering crowd in the city of Yazd in a speech broadcast live on state television.

The March 14 general-secretariat on Wednesday described the resignation of March 8 ministers as an "escape from their national responsibilities," and accused Hizbullah and its allies of seeking to turn Lebanon into an Iranian base.

In a statement following an extraordinary meeting, the general-secretariat said the resignations were proof that the opposition wasn't seeking for the success of the Syrian-Saudi initiative aimed at helping Lebanon contain the repercussions of the indictment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat on Wednesday doubted the credibility of the international tribunal and said Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare's decision to launch a probe into the latest unauthorized broadcasts was an underestimation of the Lebanese.

"We wonder whether the tribunal is credible after the latest broadcasts" on al-Jadid TV of interviews conducted by international investigators with Caretaker PM Saad Hariri, said Jumblat.