A major fire caused "irreversible" damage on Wednesday to a landmark 17th-century Paris mansion, the Hotel Lambert, as it was undergoing controversial renovations by the Qatari royal family.

Murals, frescoes and paintings dating back hundreds of years were completely destroyed by the blaze which broke out around 1:30am (2330 GMT Tuesday).

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy insisted Monday that he was not returning to politics despite crisis talks with top officials from his UMP party and a series of public pronouncements.

France has been rife with speculation that the 58-year-old right-winger, defeated by Socialist Francois Hollande in last year's presidential vote, is taking steps to return to public life after his party was denied millions of euros in campaign reimbursements last week.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was in Abu Dhabi on Monday for talks on military cooperation with Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan, state news agency WAM reported.

According to French business daily La Tribune, Paris is trying to convince the UAE to buy two surveillance satellites built by Astrium and Thales Alenia Space, in a contract worth more than 500 million euros.

The head of the French branch of radical topless feminist group Femen, Ukrainian Inna Shevchenko, said Monday that Paris had granted her request for political asylum.

Shevchenko told Agence France Presse she had received notification from France's OFPRA refugee agency that her request had been granted, based on fears that she would face persecution in Ukraine for her political activities.

The French government decided to provide the Lebanese army with heavy weapons to boost its military performance, a local newspaper reported on Monday.

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday resigned from France's top constitutional body after it upheld a decision that he had breached official spending limits during last year's election campaign.

After a decision that threatened to throw the main opposition UMP -- already reeling from a leadership battle -- into further chaos, Sarkozy said in a statement to Agence France Presse that he was resigning "immediately" from the Constitutional Council.

France said on Thursday it was rejecting a request for asylum from fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

"Like many countries, France received a request for asylum from Mr. Edward Snowden through its embassy in Moscow. Given the legal analysis and the situation of the interested party, France will not agree," the interior ministry said in a statement.

French President Francois Hollande arrived Thursday in Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings that is battling political instability and ruled by an Islamist-led government, for talks expected to be dominated by events rocking Egypt.

Presidential spokesman Romain Nadal said that during his visit Hollande was "naturally ready to discuss" the situation "in Egypt, Libya and Syria", other Arab countries swept by popular uprisings.

About 100 protesters threw stones and burned the French flag at Paris's embassy in La Paz Wednesday, as Bolivians expressed rage over France's decision to deny their president's aircraft permission to enter its airspace.

"Hypocrite France! Colonizer France," shouted the protesters, who included representatives from indigenous groups.

French President Francois Hollande will start a two-day visit to Tunisia on Thursday to deliver a message of "encouragement" to the pioneer of the Arab Spring revolution which toppled several dictators in the region.

The trip comes amid fresh tensions in Libya and Egypt, two countries also changed forever by the Arab Spring, which according to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, "has the most chances of succeeding" in Tunisia.