Damascus/Beirut - Lebanon on Monday opened an embassy in neighbouring Syria for the first time ever in a step toward normalizing relations.

The move comes after the two countries agreed earlier this year to establish diplomatic ties for the first time since both gained independence from France in 1943.

Lebanese Charge d'Affaires Rami Murtada raised the flag over the embassy headquarters in Abu Rummaneh neighborhood in Damascus.

Beirut - Lebanon's President Michel Suleiman will head a government delegation on a three-day visit to France next week, a Lebanese government source said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and Economy and Trade Minister Mohammad Safadi will be among those accompanying Suleiman, who will meet with President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Suleiman is due to address a dinner hosted by Sarkozy and also address the French Senate and the Lebanese community in Paris.

Beirut - A 20-year-old man was wounded in southern Lebanon Friday by the explosion of a cluster bomb left over from the July 2006 war between Israel and the Hezbollah organization, Lebanese police said.

Hussein Hamiyeh was seriously wounded as he was working in a field near his home in Qana, east of the southern port city of Tyre, said police.

Between July 12 and August 14, 2006, Israel's armed forces dropped about one million cluster bomblets on southern Lebanon, the majority during the final days of the conflict.

So far local and international deminers in southern Lebanon have cleared about 155,000 cluster bomblets, while more than 320 people have been killed or injured by cluster bomb explosions since the end of the 2006 conflict.

Beirut  - Wednesday's summit in Riyadh paved the way for reconciliation and unification of the Arab position, Lebanon's Grand Sunni Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani said Thursday.

The results of the four-way meeting "will positively reflect on the regional situation, especially on Lebanon," he said in a statement. "If regional stability is to be achieved, Saudi Arabia's supportive role of Arab issues is vital."

Faraya, Lebanon  - Models in thongs and lacy bras graced the catwalk over the weekend at the foot of snow-covered slopes in Lebanon to promote the country's much-delayed ski season.

Despite chilly weather, the sunny terrace of the five-star Intercontinental Mzaar Hotel was packed with a curious audience, mostly men, waiting to watch models displaying the latest swimwear, thongs and nightgowns on the slopes of Faraya, north-east of Beirut.

Beirut - US Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern
Affairs Jeffrey Feltman and top Middle East officer at the US National
Security Council Daniel Shapiro, held Friday talks with Lebanese
officials stressing on their country's backing for Lebanon's
sovereignty.

"We are carrying a message to the Lebanese leaders from (US)
President Barack Obama and the (US) Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
that the US backs Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy," Feltman said
after meeting Lebanese president Michel Suleiman.

The US delegation, which arrived in Beirut late Thursday, is