Prime Minister Tammam Salam has lamented that the government was suffering over the absence of a president despite his determination to improve its productivity.

As Safir daily on Monday quoted Salam as saying that “the work of the government has been transformed into a permanent suffering that takes several forms amid the presidential vacuum.”

Speaker Nabih Berri has discussed with al-Mustaqbal movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri the talks between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal representatives, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Monday.

The daily said that Berri's short meeting with Hariri was held in Riyadh over the weekend when the speaker extended his condolences on the death of Saudi King Abdullah.

Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry Jean-François Girault will visit Lebanon at the beginning of February to resume his initiative to resolve the ongoing presidential deadlock.

An Nahar newspaper reported on Monday that the French diplomat's visit aims at reviving his initiative and contacts with Lebanese officials.

More foreign leaders flocked to Saudi Arabia paying their respects to King Salman on Sunday, as the normally gridlocked streets of Riyadh turned quiet during a day of mourning for his predecessor Abdullah.

The latest arrivals included Japan's Crown Prince Naruhito, Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani, Belgium's King Philippe, Libya's internationally-recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani, and President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela.

Shiite militia fired warning shots Sunday to disperse a protest against their takeover of Sanaa as parliament failed to convene to discuss the president's resignation, prolonging a dangerous power vacuum in Yemen.

President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi, a key U.S. ally in the fight against al-Qaida's Yemen-based deadly franchise, tendered his resignation along with Prime Minister Khalid Bahah on Thursday, saying he could no longer stay in office as Yemen was in "total deadlock".

The normally gridlocked streets of the Saudi capital were quiet on Sunday after King Salman declared a day of mourning for his predecessor Abdullah, and more foreign leaders made their way to the kingdom.

Singapore's Home Affairs Minister Teo Chee Hean arrived, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was on his way to offer condolences to Salman, who acceded to the throne on Friday after Abdullah's death at the age of about 90.

Germany has decided to stop arms exports to Saudi Arabia because of "instability in the region," German daily Bild reported on Sunday.

Weapons orders from Saudi Arabia have either been "rejected, pure and simple," or deferred for further consideration, the newspaper said, adding that the information has not been officially confirmed.

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has vowed that Germany will do all in its power to resolve the fate of the blogger condemned to 1,000 lashes in Saudi Arabia.

"The penalty handed down to Raef Badawi is cruel, bad, unjust and totally disproportionate," Steinmeier said in comments to appear Sunday in the Bild am Sonntag weekly newspaper.

World leaders converged on Saudi Arabia Saturday to offer condolences following the death of King Abdullah, with U.S. President Barack Obama cutting short a trip to India to pay respects.

Obama will travel to Riyadh on Tuesday to meet new King Salman, the White House said.

Saudi King Abdullah has been praised by top Lebanese leaders for supporting Lebanon at times of crises. Many of them described him as Lebanon's “Key Backer.”

One of his latest grants to Lebanon was in December 2013 when he pledged three billion dollars for the purchase of arms from France for the benefit of the Lebanese army.