Washington Tuesday reaffirmed its "crystal clear" stand that Palestinians will only realize their dream of statehood through direct talks with Israel, just hours after a controversial vote by French lawmakers.

"The U.S. position is clear, that we support Palestinian statehood but believe it can only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties that resolve the final status issues," said deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf.

French lawmakers voted Tuesday in favor of recognizing Palestine as a state, sparking an immediate angry reaction from Israel which said such "unilateral measures" would harm efforts towards Middle East peace.

Following hot on the heels of similar votes in Britain and Spain, French MPs voted 339 to 151 in favor of a motion urging the government to recognize the state of Palestine as a way of achieving a "definitive resolution of the conflict."

The French and Indian defense ministers agreed to press ahead with negotiations on the sale of 126 Rafale fighter jets to India, both sides said Tuesday, after slow progress cast doubt on the estimated $12 billion deal.

Successive deadlines to complete one of the world's biggest airline contracts have slipped by, leading to reports that Britain's Eurofighter could try to re-enter the race.

Canada's onetime governor-general Michaelle Jean, a former journalist born in Haiti, was chosen Sunday after intense debate as the new head of the union of French-speaking nations known as "la Francophonie".

Jean, who served as governor-general from 2005 to 2010, is the first woman and first non-African to be named secretary general of the International Organisation of la Francophonie (OIF).

Marine Le Pen won 100 percent backing to stay on as the unchallenged chief of France's far-right National Front party in party congress vote results given Sunday.

The ballot confirmed Le Pen's firm grip on the party, founded by her father and predecessor Jean-Marie Le Pen, and comforted a bid she is widely expected to make for France's presidency in 2017 elections.

France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy handily won the leadership of his right-wing UMP on Saturday, placing him firmly on the starting blocks in his race back to the presidential palace.

Sarkozy came first in the party election with a less-than-desired 64.5 percent, placing him at the head of the deeply-split party which is hoping to turn its back on bitter leadership tussles and financial scandals.

Three French Mirage warplanes have been deployed in Jordan to assist in the fight against the Islamic State group, a military spokesman said on Saturday.

France, which is participating in U.S.-led coalition air strikes in Iraq, said this month it would deploy six jet fighters in Jordan.

British businessman Ian Griffin goes on trial Monday for the 2009 murder of his girlfriend, who was found dead in the bathtub in the room they shared at a five-star Paris hotel.

Kinga Wolf, 36, a wealthy Polish-born Frenchwoman, had been missing for two days when her battered body was found at the Bristol Hotel in a room with blood spattered on the mattress and walls.

Five presidential staff are being transferred after photos appeared of French President Francois Hollande with actress Julie Gayet inside the Elysee Palace, officials confirmed Friday.

Hollande's affair with the actress made headlines worldwide in January, but photos of the pair on a private terrace of the palace which appeared last week were even more worrying for the embattled leader because they appeared to have been taken from within the Elysee itself.

Bruised by a humiliating election loss and ensnared in a tangle of legal woes, when Nicolas Sarkozy vowed he was moving on from politics, French voters thought they had seen the last of him.

But two and a half years later, his parting shot that "you won't hear about me anymore" is a distant memory as Sarkozy, back with a vengeance, vies to win back control of his opposition UMP party.