French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe Monday warned of the risk of an "explosion of violence" if the Palestinian situation is not resolved, saying the status quo was "neither acceptable nor tenable."

"The relaunch of the peace process is needed," Juppe told an audience at a think-tank in New York, amid frantic diplomatic efforts to stop the Palestinians seeking U.N. recognition of their statehood.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe accused the Syrian regime Monday of "crimes against humanity" and slammed the U.N. Security Council for failing to take a strong stand on the unrest.

"Crimes against humanity are committed in Syria. The silence of the Security Council is unacceptable," Juppe told the Council on Foreign Relations, at a talk held on the sidelines of a week of U.N. summits.

Spanish superstar Rafael Nadal again blasted the International Tennis Federation on Sunday, claiming they were shirking their responsibility to players by failing to lighten a packed tennis calendar.

Nadal led Spain to a 4-1 Davis Cup win over France, and a final date with Argentina, but there were tears for his U.S. Open final slayer Novak Djokovic whose injury-forced retirement saw defending champions Serbia slump 3-2 to the South Americans.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat held a series of meetings in Paris with a number of French officials on the situation in Lebanon and the region, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

His held talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s diplomatic advisor, Jean-David Levitte, his advisor for Middle East affairs, Nicolas Gallet, and ambassador Patrice Paoli.

Israel has become an associate member of the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), opening the way for full membership in 2013, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.

"The association agreement, valid for two years, was signed on Friday by the director general of CERN, Rolf Heuer, and the ambassador of Israel to the United Nations agencies in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar," spokesman Jonathan Rosenzweig told AFP.

European Union finance ministers are debating a tax on financial transactions that could raise money for the EU as well as make banks share bailout burdens with taxpayers.

But European internal markets Commissioner Michel Barnier said after a meeting Saturday "there's no consensus" on the tax, which would take a tiny fraction from a wide range of financial dealings.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday warned those involved in popular Arab uprisings against trusting Western powers and their "promises," saying they should instead confide in Islam for solutions.

"Never trust America, NATO, and criminal regimes like Britain, France and Italy -- who for a long time divided your lands (among themselves) and plundered them," Khamenei said as he opened a two-day conference in Tehran on "Islamic Awakening" attended by several hundred guests from Arab countries.

Four Frenchmen held by al-Qaida's North African franchise on Friday marked a year since their capture, with negotiations for their release complicated by the fallout of the Libyan chaos.

On September 16 last year, seven people were snatched by the radical group al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Arlit, a uranium mining town in northern Niger.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, flanked by British Prime Minister David Cameron, dedicated Thursday the two leaders’ landmark visit to post-Gadhafi Libya to all those who want a “free Syria.”

The French president said toppled Libyan despot Moammar Gadhafi remained a "danger" and that there was a "job to finish" in eliminating the remaining strongholds of his forces.

France's budget minister said on Thursday that Paris would send experts to debt-wracked Eurozone partner Greece to help it set up a "tax administration worthy of the name."

In undiplomatic language reflecting northern Europe's frustration over Greece's struggle to control its debt, Valerie Pecresse said Athens must meet its promise to carry out "privatizations and very tough spending cuts."