One of Lebanon's best known political figures, Salim al-Hoss, has been appointed the country's new Prime Minister.

Mr al-Hoss, who is sixty-nine, has had the job on several previous occasions.

He survived a car bomb attack in 1987 in which one of his bodguards was killed.

After his appointment, Mr al-Hoss said that his new governmnent would begin by tackling Lebanon's big budget deficit and the country's finances generally.

The BBC correspondent in Beirut says Mr al-Hoss is a respected consensus politician who has pledged to work with the country's new president, General Emile Lahoud, to try to eliminate growing levels of official corruption.