Efforts are underway by France to launch an initiative to solve the Lebanese crisis following the government's collapse but Syria has reportedly rejected a French mediation.

"Paris is keen on solving the Lebanese crisis through dialogue with the different Lebanese sides and with this country's neighbors," French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Friday.

Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri is seeking international support after Hizbullah brought down his government.

On Friday Hariri discussed the political turmoil in Lebanon with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

March 14 and March 8 are locked in a battle over the prime minister nomination: Hariri or no Hariri.

Prime Minister Saad Hariri can head the new government if he pledges to stop the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Al-Akhbar newspaper on Friday quoted a senior Opposition official as saying.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday announced that consultations on appointing a new prime minister would begin on Monday, following the collapse of the national unity government.

"Consultations with parliamentarians will begin Monday at 12:00 p.m.," Berri said after talks with President Michel Suleiman at the Baabda Palace, adding that "the meeting was very good."

The agriculture ministry will begin exporting 50,000 tons of potatoes to the European Union in 2011, Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan told An Nahar daily.

Lebanon will also export apples and grapes to the United Arab Emirates after cleaning them from the residues of pesticides, he said in remarks published Tuesday.

Damascus visitors have stressed that Syria hasn't made any commitment to Premier Saad Hariri, saying the prime minister was asked to make a bold move to guarantee the success of the Syrian-Saudi mediation.

Following Hariri's step forward, the March 8 forces would make similar steps that would lead to the consolidation of the Lebanese interior against the indictment that will be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the visitors told As Safir daily in remarks published Tuesday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat scrapped a press conference he was scheduled to hold in Clemenceau at noon Tuesday, the party's media office said.

It did not give the reasons behind the cancellation.

Hizbullah and the Islamic Unification Movement on Tuesday cautioned against sectarian sedition and called for consolidating the country against Israeli threats.

Following talks between Hizbullah official Sayyed Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed and a delegation from the movement headed by Sheikh Bilal Shaaban, the two sides issued a statement calling "on the need to be cautious from sectarian sedition … and work for the consolidation of the country against dangers from Israeli attacks."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy held separate talks with Saudi King Abdullah and Premier Saad Hariri in New York on Monday following a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington.

Al-Liwaa daily said that Sarkozy and Hariri reviewed agreements they had reached since their last meeting on November 30 at the Elysee Palace.

The meeting between Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Saudi King Abdullah was "very good," informed sources told An Nahar newspaper, stressing that the premier is still awaiting the March 8 forces to execute their commitments made for the success of the Saudi-Syrian mediation.

The Hariri-Abdullah talks at dawn Monday Beirut time lasted for a long time at the king's suite at the Plaza hotel in New York, the sources said.