Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour and Taymour Jumblat are likely to travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the head of the Saudi intelligence and ex-Premier Saad Hariri, a well-informed official said Saturday.

The official told As Safir daily that the meeting of Abu Faour and Jumblat with Prince Bandar bin Sultan and Hariri, who is also the head of al-Mustaqbal movement, would come amid a new proposal to give the March 14 alliance eight ministers in the new cabinet along with a ninth minister, who would also be part of the share of centrists.

The extension of parliament's four-year mandate is heading to validation this week amid another lack of quorum for the Constitutional Council which should discuss petitions against the extension.

A new meeting for the council was set for next Friday.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is expected to head to Saudi Arabia capital soon to discuss the cabinet crisis, An Nahar newspaper reported on Tuesday.

According to the daily, Jumblat will discuss the cabinet standstill amid reports that he voiced support Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's efforts to equally distribute portfolios among the March 14 coalition, the March 8 alliance and the centrists, whereby each would be represented by eight ministers.

Speaker Nabih Berri began his consultations to reach common ground among foes over the formation of Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam's cabinet, media reports said on Tuesday.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, Berri is exerting efforts to resolve the government crisis.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat slammed on Monday the political deadlock in Lebanon given the the local and regional instability.

He wondered in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa website: “Aren't we better off forming a national unity government instead of waiting for magical solutions that will not be achieved in Syria?”

Al-Mustaqbal bloc MP Ahmed Fatfat has accused Speaker Nabih Berri of being a Hizbullah tool after two Shiite judges boycotted the meetings of the Constitutional Council.

In an interview with An Nahar daily published Sunday, Fatfat said: “What happened at the Constitutional Council showed that Nabih Berri is an execution tool to what Hizbullah says.”

Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam is expected to relaunch a new round of efforts to form a new government by continuing his meetings with top officials, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper Saturday.

It revealed that he is scheduled to hold talks with President Michel Suleiman on Tuesday at the Baabda Palace.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat discussed the latest government and security developments in Lebanon during his meeting with PM-designate Tammam Salam late Wednesday, highlighting the necessity to form a cabinet that includes all Lebanese factions including Hizbullah.

Discussions between the two men focused on the various stages of the consultation process that kicked off in March between Salam and the different Lebanese parties in a bid to line up a cabinet. They focused on the conflicting stances that obstructed Salam, so far, from forming the new government, informed sources told al-Joumhouria daily.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat denounced Sunday's incident near the Iranian embassy describing it as a “barbaric” act, and called on related authorities to continue investigations to uncover the perpetrators, he said on Monday.

“What happened is strongly deprecated. We denounce the barbaric assault where sticks and batons were used, just like in old centuries, which raises major questions on the objectives and goals of the assault,” Jumblat stated in his weekly editorial in al-Anbaa website.

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat called on political parties in Tripoli to back the Lebanese Army's security plan, stressing that inflaming the northern city will not weaken the Syrian regime but will only “exhaust the army and allow direct Syrian army intervention in Lebanon's territory.”

“It is useless to inflame the front in Tripoli, as it will not affect the course of events in Syria,” pointed Jumblat in an interview to As Safir daily.