Nicolas Sarkozy was seething Wednesday after it emerged that an aide had secretly recorded hundreds of hours of meetings and private conversations involving the former French president when he was in office.

A scandal that swept the Ukraine crisis off the top of the country's news agenda erupted after transcripts of some of the illicit recordings were published by satirical magazine Le Canard Enchaine and website Atlantico.

President Michel Suleiman hoped on Wednesday that the international community will commit to pledges it had made towards Lebanon concerning tackling the Syrian refugees and assisting the Lebanese army.

He said: “We hope the international community will support the army to help it implement a defense strategy that I had proposed at the national dialogue.”

It was banned in restaurants and al fresco eating became all the rage. It was banned in offices, and business started getting done in huddles on the sidewalk.

The French, legend had it, were more likely to give up having affairs than stub out their smoking habit.

Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Tuesday agreed with his French counterpart Laurent Fabius on the need to “build a strong army and fight terrorism” in Lebanon.

“The meeting was constructive and there are common viewpoints between the two sides, including the agreement on the importance of stability in Lebanon and the need to build a strong army and fight terrorism,” said Bassil after talks with Fabius at the Quai d'Orsay palace in Paris.

The U.S. and Russian foreign ministers will attend French-sponsored talks in Paris Wednesday on helping Lebanon cope with the conflict in Syria, but the talks look set to be overshadowed by the Ukraine crisis, France said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was scheduled to come for the meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon meeting but French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday that Russia's Sergei Lavrov would also attend the conference.

Pope Francis on Sunday called on all sides in Ukraine to overcome "incomprehension" and appealed to the international community to promote dialogue.

"I ask you again to pray for Ukraine, which is experiencing a delicate situation," Francis said in his weekly Angelus blessing from a window of the Vatican Apostolic Palace overlooking St Peter's Square.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has urged his Russian counterpart to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine's restive Crimea peninsula, ahead of a trip to Kiev on Sunday.

"Have spoken to Foreign Minister (Sergei) Lavrov to call for de-escalation in Crimea and respect for sovereignty and independence of Ukraine," Hague said in a Twitter message on Saturday.

Germany, France and Poland said they were "deeply concerned" Friday over developments on the volatile Crimea peninsula and called for everything to be done to reduce tensions in Ukraine.

"Everything must be done in order to reduce the tensions in the eastern regions of the country and to promote a peaceful dialogue between all participating powers," the three EU countries' foreign ministers said in a joint statement.

Security issues threatened to overtake the festivities as President Francois Hollande arrived in Nigeria on Thursday for centenary celebrations, as calls mount for French help against Islamist Boko Haram militants.

Just hours before Hollande touched down, hundreds of suspected militant fighters laid siege to a town in Adamawa state in northeast Nigeria, destroying scores of homes and businesses with heavy weaponry and explosives.

German chancellor Angela Merkel will make an historic speech to Britain's parliament on Thursday before holding EU talks with Prime Minister David Cameron and taking tea with Queen Elizabeth II.

Merkel is expected to speak in German when she addresses lawmakers from the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the first time a chancellor of a reunited Germany has addressed both houses.