European judges will on Wednesday hear the case of a 23-year-old French woman who claims the country's highly contentious ban on full-face veils violates her rights.

The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will hear arguments in the case brought by a plaintiff known only by her initials SAS, with a ruling expected in early 2014.

France on Monday offered weapons, training and intelligence cooperation to help Iraq combat worsening violence amid fears the country is on the verge of returning to all-out sectarian bloodshed.

The latest pledge comes after Baghdad appealed for international help in dealing with the protracted surge in militancy, with Iraq having already turned to Washington for help, while Turkey also offered assistance.

France's foreign minister said Monday the European Union would likely lift some sanctions on Iran in December, as part of a hard-won deal that curbs Tehran's nuclear program.

Laurent Fabius also said Israel -- which blasted Sunday's agreement as a "historic mistake" -- was not likely to launch any preventative strikes on arch-foe Iran, "because no one would understand" such a move "at this stage."

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said Sunday that rival Lebanese politicians should hold dialogue to ward off the dangers threatening Lebanon.

“The dangers that are facing Lebanon compel us to sit at the dialogue table to discuss ways to keep the country at a distance from them,” Charbel said at Charles de Gaulle airport north of Paris.

Iranian negotiator Abbas Araqchi said "two or three" differences remain with the major powers as nuclear talks go into a fourth day in Geneva on Saturday, Fars news agency reported.

"We still have two or three points of difference. However, the two sides are getting close to an agreement," Araqchi told Fars shortly before the talks resumed.

A suspect arrested over this week's shootings in Paris has been indicted and remanded in custody, officials said Saturday.

Abdelhakim Dekhar, 48, was arrested Wednesday after a major manhunt following a shooting at the left-wing newspaper Liberation that left a photographer's assistant seriously hurt, and a separate incident where shots were fired at the headquarters of the Societe Generale bank.

French lawmakers will next week consider a bill that punishes the clients of prostitutes and has sparked fierce debate in a country with a long history of liberal attitudes to sex.

The bill, which the government says is aimed at preventing violence against women, has come under fire from celebrities like Catherine Deneuve and Charles Aznavour, leading intellectuals and prostitutes themselves.

France's top black politician on Thursday opened up about the pain she has suffered over a string of racist slurs as the initially subdued reaction to them belatedly turned to outrage.

Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, who has been repeatedly compared to a monkey in public over the course of the last two months, admitted that the taunts -- unprecedented in recent times -- had hurt.

France said Thursday the suspect arrested over this week's shootings in Paris is a man previously jailed for his role in a "Bonnie-and-Clyde" style multiple murder that gripped the country 20 years ago.

Abdelhakim Dekhar was arrested on Wednesday after a major manhunt following a shooting at the left-wing newspaper Liberation that left an assistant photographer seriously hurt and another at the headquarters of the Societe Generale bank.

The French government Thursday ordered irate farmers blocking roads into Paris to halt their protest over tax hikes after it caused accidents that left one person dead and six injured.

Transport Minister Frederic Cuvillier called for the "immediate lifting" of the blockade which caused a crash that killed a car driver.