France will launch direct dialogue with influential Christian forces and leaders because it “does not trust the seriousness of (Suleiman) Franjieh’s rivals for agreeing on a candidate,” a media report said on Monday.

“After Paris’ invitation of Kataeb Party chief Sami Gemayel, efforts were made to address a similar invitation to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, who declined it because he knew that the agenda was not suitable for him,” al-Akhbar newspaper reported.

Free patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has said that he will remain open minded, responsive and flexible regarding the presidential file.

"If you reject a name, we can discuss another, there are many candidates who can reach national or Christian agreement," Bassil said from Paris.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari has told those he met in recent weeks that the kingdom has prevented Saudi businessmen from investing in Lebanon before the election of a new Lebanese president, a media report said.

“The kingdom has stood in the way of hundreds of Saudi investors who had recently expressed their desire to invest in Lebanon,” al-Akhbar newspaper quoted Bukhari as saying.

Lebanese activists protested Sunday at a beach in the coastal city of Sidon after a woman said she was harassed there over her allegedly indecent bathing suit, an AFP correspondent said.

Defying a municipality ban on their demonstration, dozens of protesters, mostly women, gathered briefly in the Sunni Muslim-majority conservative city, the correspondent said.

Hezbollah put on a show of force Sunday, extending a rare media invitation to one of its training sites in southern Lebanon, where its forces staged a simulated military exercise.

Masked fighters jumped through flaming hoops, fired from the backs of motorcycles, and blew up Israeli flags posted in the hills above and a wall simulating the one at the border between Lebanon and Israel.

French diplomacy is in constant communication with Free Patriotic Movement leader Jebran Bassil, informed sources said.

The latest negotiations between the parties that oppose Suleiman Franjieh’s presidential nomination have failed to reach any result, ad-Diyar newspaper quoted “trusted sources” as saying.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on the sidelines of the 32nd Arab Summit that was held Friday in Jeddah, Arab sources confirmed.

Bahrain has said it would restore full diplomatic relations with Lebanon after a year and a half, following a row over the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Saturday lamented that the Lebanese “have not helped each other.”