Some 7,500 gay rights supporters and activists marched through the French port of Marseille on Saturday at the start of Europride 2013.

Under a banner proclaiming "Europe marches towards equality", they made their way from the city's old port to the beach amid celebrations for the beginning of the 10-day festival devoted to the lesbian and gay cause.

Syria's new opposition leader will meet French President Francois Hollande next week as he embarks on a tour of Western capitals, a source in Hollande's office said on Friday.

Ahmad Assi Jarba, elected the head of the main opposition Syrian National Council on July 6, will meet Hollande next Wednesday, the source told Agence France Presse.

The French authorities on Thursday released from custody a Norwegian extremist who was detained on suspicion of plotting a "major terrorist act", a judicial source told Agence France Presse.

Kristian Vikernes, 40, was detained together with his French wife on Tuesday but investigators found no evidence of a terror plot, the source said.

French hostage Philippe Verdon, who was kidnapped by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali in 2011 and found dead several weeks ago, was executed with a shot to the head, prosecutors said Thursday.

"After the return of the body to France, the autopsy... was able to establish that Philippe Verdon was murdered by being shot in the head," the Paris prosecutors' office said.

French President Francois Hollande hoped on Thursday that the Lebanese political powers will succeed in forming a new government.

He hoped in a telephone call with President Michel Suleiman that a new government will not exclude any Lebanese party.

France on Wednesday called for Egypt's new caretaker cabinet to be more inclusive, saying all the country's political movements were needed for a smooth transition.

"We want the new government to be able to meet the many expectations of the Egyptian people and to make every effort to ensure the fastest-possible transition of power to a democratically elected government," foreign ministry spokesman Philippe Lalliot said.

France on Tuesday bestowed its highest cultural honor on U2 singer Bono at a ceremony in Paris.

The Irish singer was made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, receiving the medal from French Culture Minister Aurelie Filippetti.

A Norwegian neo-Nazi black metal rocker and convicted killer was arrested in France on Tuesday over fears he may have been preparing a "major terrorist act", the interior ministry said.

Kristian Vikernes, who is reportedly a sympathizer of Norwegian mass killer Anders Behring Breivik, was arrested by intelligence officers at dawn at his home in the central village of Salon-la-Tour, as was his French wife Marie Cachet, 25.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Monday against "revenge" and "retribution" in Egypt, which has been hit by large-scale protests since President Mohammed Morsi was overthrown.

The country's first freely elected president was deposed on July 3, and a military-installed caretaker government has since tightened the screws on the Islamist leader's backers.

A new stamp emblazoned with the face of Marianne, France's revolutionary symbol, has caused a stir after its creator said it was inspired by a Ukrainian feminist known for topless protests.

The stamp, unveiled by President Francois Hollande on Sunday's national day, shows the face of a youthful, dewy-eyed Marianne from the shoulders up, her long hair flowing down and her hand raised.