Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati stressed the importance of the parliamentary elections for Lebanon as a “symbol of democracy in the region,” reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Wednesday.

He told the daily: “Despite their importance, it would be impossible to hold them as scheduled on June 16 … but I do not think the delay will be too long.”

The U.N. Security Council called on African states Monday to strengthen their peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic as mounting chaos grips the country.

With daily attacks and rapes reported in the capital, Bangui, the 15-nation council called on the interim government to get a grip on security and for rebels who ousted President Francois Bozize to return to their barracks.

A French soldier was killed Monday in the far north of Mali, the French presidency said.

He was the sixth soldier killed in the west African country since France launched a military intervention in January to quash al-Qaida-linked groups that had taken control of the north.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reiterated on Monday his country's support for Lebanon's policy of disassociation towards Syria's conflict, vowing to provide aid in hosting the Syrian refugees.

"We are aware of the Lebanese efforts made in rescuing the refugees and we pledge to help in this respect,” Fabius said after meeting with caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati in Paris.

The roundabout surrounding the Arc de Triomphe, one of the busiest and most famous in Paris, had to be evacuated on Monday after a false bomb alert, police sources said.

Huge traffic jams built up in streets around the square, including the celebrated Champs-Elysees, as police and a bomb disposal squad carried out checks following the alert around 2.00 p.m (1200 GMT). The all-clear was issued two hours later.

At least two people died and nine were injured when an apartment building in the French city of Reims collapsed Sunday after a suspected gas explosion, authorities said, leaving people trapped under debris.

"Two people died and nine were hurt," in a provisional toll after the accident, a spokesman for the city's firefighting department told AFP.

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his supermodel wife, Carla Bruni, were clearly taken with President Barack Obama and his family back in 2011.

The Sarkozys gave the Obamas more than $41,000 worth of presents that year, becoming the most prolific foreign gift-givers to the first family, documents released Friday show.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Friday that Mali "cannot have two armies" in the rebel-held city of Kidal, calling for talks with armed Tuareg militants in the war-torn north.

The Tuaregs' National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), which runs Kidal, has refused to give up its weapons or take part in elections planned for July until negotiations have taken place with the Mali government.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang was quoted as telling French President Francois Hollande on Friday that Beijing wants more balanced trade with France and is willing to buy more French products.

Hollande was on the second day of a two-day visit to China aimed at rebalancing trade relations between the economic powers.

One of the biggest nightclubs on Corsica has been destroyed by fire in what police suspect was an arson attack.

The Acapulco discotheque on the outskirts of the upmarket seaside resort of Calvi was unoccupied when it went up in flames around 3:00 am local time (0100 GMT) on Friday.