Lebanon announced a new government yesterday, breaking a 10-month political deadlock during which spill-over violence from neighbouring Syria worsened internal instability.

A caretaker government has run the country since prime minister Najib Mikati resigned in March as parties aligned with the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement and a Sunni-led rival bloc.

Among the top posts announced, former energy minister Gebran Bassil is foreign minister, former health minister Ali Hassan Khalil takes the finance portfolio, while Nouhad Machnouk is interior minister.