Al-Qaida's north African branch has released a video purporting to show seven kidnapped Westerners, the Mauritanian news agency ANI reported, footage France's foreign ministry deemed "credible.”

The hostages are four Frenchmen kidnapped from a uranium compound in northern Niger exactly three years ago along with a Dutchman, a Swede and a South African who were abducted from Timbuktu in northern Mali in November 2011.

Environmentalists on Monday unveiled unprecedented footage of a legendary sea creature, the giant oarfish, as they stepped up a campaign against bottom trawling.

The origin of the myth of the sea serpent -- a snake deemed capable of capsizing vessels and swallowing crew -- the giant oarfish reaches a length of 11 meters (36 feet) and more than 250 kilos (550 pounds).

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Monday a U.N. report that proves poison gas killed hundreds in an attack last month in Syria left "no doubt" President Bashar Assad's regime was guilty.

"The content of the report is damning and confirms massive use of sarin gas on August 21," Fabius said on RTL radio.

Britain, France and the United States on Monday agreed to step up their backing for rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The three powers also agreed at talks in Paris that Assad would face "serious consequences" if he fails to comply with a U.N. resolution setting out a timetable for the handover of Syria's chemical weapons to international control, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.

French President Francois Hollande warned Sunday that a deal to eradicate Syria's chemical arms was "not an end point" and kept the option of military strikes open, as he maintained pressure on Damascus.

Speaking live on TF1 television, Hollande stressed that the international community must prepare for the possibility of sanctions "in case of non-implementation of the accord" as part of a UN resolution that could be voted on within the next seven days.

French President Francois Hollande will meet Monday with Britain's top diplomat William Hague and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for talks on the Syria crisis, the presidency said Sunday.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will also be present at the meeting, which will take place at 0745 GMT, and he will then hold a working lunch with his British and U.S. counterparts, it added.

After several years in the doldrums, demand for upscale Paris properties is starting to pick up with an unlikely helping hand from upheaval in the Middle East.

With the bloody Syrian civil war generating fears of instability across the region and Egypt teetering on the brink of chaos, well-heeled Arab investors are looking for boltholes and Paris is a perennial favorite destination for their funds, according to real estate professionals.

The European Union on Saturday welcomed a Russian-U.S. deal to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles and offered the bloc's help with implementing the agreement.

"I welcome the agreement reached today between the United States and the Russian Federation to ensure the swift and secure destruction of Syria's chemical weapons and program," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen wants to campaign with Dutch anti-Islamic party leader Geert Wilders in next year's European parliamentary elections, she said in an interview Saturday.

"We could perhaps campaign together for the elections," Le Pen told Dutch daily NRC Handelsblad.

World powers are keen on holding a conference on Lebanon given the instability in the region, most notably the Syrian crisis, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

An official Lebanese source said that Russia, China, the United States, and France are in agreement to hold a conference to support Lebanon's stability in order to keep it away from regional conflicts, especially the unrest in Syria.