Iran nuclear talks moved up a gear late Friday as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iran's foreign minister stayed on in Vienna to try and break a deadlock days before a deadline.

Kerry had been set to leave Vienna and sources had said Mohammed Javad Zarif was considering returning to Tehran, but both remained in the Austrian capital.

Four group leaders at a French summer camp are under investigation after a series of photos were discovered of them mimicking hostage executions and acts of torture, local authorities said Friday.

A man on his knees, a knife to his throat, surrounded by "jailers" in balaclavas, is pictured in one of about 20 images uncovered by the municipality of Colombes, just outside Paris, which organized the camp.

A horrified France was grappling with a new reality on Thursday in which hundreds of its citizens are openly joining jihadist groups and directly calling for attacks on their homeland.

A new video from the Islamic State group released on jihadist forums and Twitter on Wednesday showed three Kalashnikov-wielding Frenchmen burning their passports and calling on Muslims to join them or stage attacks in France.

France is seeking to encourage Iran to help the rival Lebanese politicians strike a deal on a new consensual president over fears that the regional turmoil would harm coexistence in Lebanon, diplomatic sources said.

The sources told An Nahar newspaper published on Thursday that the French initiative comes with an American support to fill the vacuum at Baabda Palace.

France will deploy six Mirage fighter jets to Jordan as it steps up attacks against the Islamic State group in Iraq, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday.

"French air forces will be reinforced with six Mirages to be stationed in Jordan," Le Drian told parliament.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday that "close to 50" French citizens have been killed fighting alongside jihadists in Syria.

A government source told AFP the precise number, as of Monday, was estimated at 49.

French lawmakers now have the power to launch a U.S.-style impeachment of their president under a new law passed on Wednesday.

Heads of state in France have until now enjoyed some of the strongest legal protections in the West -- only removable in cases of high treason.

A second Frenchman who appeared among Islamic State jihadists in a grisly execution video has been identified as a man from an eastern suburb of Paris, a source close to the case said Wednesday.

President Francois Hollande earlier confirmed a second Frenchman was spotted in the video, who the source said went by the name Abu Othman and originated from Val-de-Marne.

Indifferent to the sniper fire and shelling around him, the owner of the oldest hotel in Syria's Aleppo sits gloomily in the storied property he has been forced to close.

Just a few metres from the front line separating government and rebel forces in the city, Armen Mazloumian smokes a cigarette on the terrace of the Baron Hotel.

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday warned that "extreme horror" films used by terrorist groups could harm young people, after fresh footage emerged of Western hostages held by North African jihadists.

"Why this video?", said Hollande of the recording from al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb showing a French and a Dutch tourist they have been holding hostage for several years.