Beirut  - Former US president Jimmy Carter arrived in Beirut Tuesday on a two-day official visit to discuss the process of the upcoming Lebanese parliamentary elections and the prospects for peace in the Middle East region, a Lebanese government source said.

The Carter Centre said Friday that Carter would lead a pre- electoral assessment mission in Lebanon. The centre is considering observing parliamentary elections scheduled for the spring of 2009.

Carter is due to address Lebanese students, faculty staff and invited guests at the American University of Beirut on December 12.

Carter also plans to visit Syria and meet with President Bashar al- Assad and other officials.

Beirut  - Lebanon's Western-backed Prime Minister Fouad Seniora has agreed with Iranian officials to draw up a framework for bilateral cooperation between the two nations ahead of a possible visit by Seniora to Tehran, a governmental source said Monday.

Mohammad Shibani, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, met with the prime minister over the weekend and renewed his invitation for Seniora to visit Tehran, the source, who requsted anonymity, said.

Beirut  - A farmer in southern Lebanon displayed Monday what might be the heaviest potato in the world, local television channels reported Monay.

Khalil Semhat, from an area near the southern port city of Tyre, 85 kilometres south of Beirut, displayed the giant potato weighing 11.3 kilograms.

"I had to get help from a friend to pull it out from the ground," Semhat said.

Asked if used any fertilizer or any other chemical to produce the vegetable, Semhat said: "No."

Semhat hoped that his potato would gain an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

Beirut  - One person was killed and another wounded in a clash Monday which erupted between family members inside a Palestinian camp in southern Lebanon, Palestinian sources said.

The clash escalated into a deadly gunbattle between supporters of the opposing Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah in the small Miyeh Miyeh Palestinian camp near the southern port city of Sidon, the sources said.

During the clash, heavy machineguns, such as automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, were used, Palestinian officials said.

Damascus  - Syria and Lebanon can build a "bright future" together, Lebanese Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun said Wednesday after talks in Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad.

Aoun said Damascus and Beirut were seeking to put aside their past differences and "turn a new page where there is no victor and no loser".

"This is a return to normal relations, of the past and build a bright future together," Aoun told a press conference after his meeting with Assad at the People's Palace.