Beirut - The second round of Lebanon's national dialogue aimed at ending differences between the rival Lebanese factions and discussing the fate of Hezbollah arms started Wednesday, official Lebanese sources said.

They said the issue of increasing the number of participants in the dialogue would top the agenda of the talks held in the Lebanese Presidential Palace, 15 kilometres east of Beirut.

Beirut - Unidentified gunmen kidnapped on Monday a Lebanese engineer in southern Nigeria's oil hub of Port Harcourt, the Lebanese authorities said.

Beirut - The leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas met Monday with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and Premier Fouad Seniora.

Syria-based Khaled Mashaal said he "told both Lebanese officials that the internal Palestinian situation was good and affirmed that Hamas supported Lebanese reconciliation."

He added that his movement considered all Lebanese parties equal and that Hamas was against a permanent Palestinian settlement in Lebanon, but also against Palestinians being displaced.

Beirut - Two people suspected of spying for Israel have been arrested in Lebanon, the Lebanese army said Saturday.

"The (Army) Directorate of Intelligence, after a series of investigations in the Bekaa region (eastern Lebanon) detained two people belonging to a network of espionage and terrorism linked to the Israeli enemy," an army statement said.

"They admitted gathering information on political party offices and monitoring the movements of party figures for this enemy," it added.

Beirut - A bomb exploded late Thursday inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, east of the southern port city of Sidon, according to Lebanese and Palestinian sources.

The bomb went off near an office for the mainstream Palestinian Fatah movement, causing panic and material damage.

In recent months, there have been several clashes in Ain al-Hilweh between Fatah and the mainly Sunni Jund al-Sham (Soldiers of Damascus), an Islamist group. The Lebanese Army does not enter the camps, leaving the responsibility for security to Palestinian factions.

Beirut - The head of Lebanon's anti-Syrian ruling majority, Saad Hariri, has met for the first time in two years with pro-Syrian Hezbollah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, it was confirmed Monday.

The meeting, which took place Sunday night, was described by close sources to both leaders as "fruitful and essential to preserve national unity."

A statement issued by both parties Monday said: "There was an affirmation of national unity and civil peace and the need to take all measures to prevent tension ... and to reinforce dialogue and to avoid strife regardless of political differences."