Lebanon is set to receive a new grant to aid the Lebanese army from the United Arab of Emirates, media reports said on Monday.

The grants aim at bolstering the Lebanese army’s capabilities amid the rising security threats as the turmoil in war-torn neighboring Syria is spilling over into the country.

French President Francois Hollande held talks with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday evening.

Hariri published a picture of him and Hollande on his Twitter page.

French President Francois Hollande called on Lebanese authorities Saturday to hold presidential elections in May as planned, regardless of the latest violence in Beirut that killed former Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah.

President Michel Suleiman's mandate runs out on May 25 and there are fears that a successor will be hard to find because of huge disagreements between the country's political camps.

The United Nations said Friday it would speed up planning for a possible U.N. peacekeeping force in Central African Republic, where deadly strife is spreading.

Consultations with the Security Council and the African Union "will be expeditiously undertaken" in coming days, it said, after talks between U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon and French President Francois Hollande.

French President Francois Hollande on Friday called on the United Nations to "play a still bigger role" in the strife-ridden Central African Republic as French troops in Bangui sought to clamp down after days of violence.

Heavy patrols of armored vehicles and French soldiers could be seen in the capital, where more than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in three weeks of sectarian violence.

At least four skiers died and two others were critically injured as avalanches hit the French and Swiss Alps after heavy snowfalls and relatively mild temperatures, police said Friday.

Near the Swiss resort of St. Moritz an off-piste skier of unidentified nationality was swept away by an avalanche on the slopes of the Piz Nair.

French troops were out in force on the streets of the Central African Republic's capital Friday as they sought to clamp down after days of violence.

Heavy patrols of armored vehicles and French soldiers could be seen in Bangui, where more than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed in three weeks of unrest.

The International community condemned on Friday the “cowardly” assassination of former Finance Minister Mohammed Shatah in a car bombing in Beirut, describing him as a “wise” and “tolerant” man.

“Sad news from Beirut,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague said via twitter.

An Italian man drove his car into the iron grills of a back entrance of the French presidential palace Thursday to protest against subsidy cuts for a Paris theater he manages, police said.

The action was seen as largely symbolic since the man, who was not named, "only succeeded in lightly hitting the grills at slow speed," a police source said.

Moroccan authorities said Thursday they had dismantled a "terrorist cell" operating in several cities that included people trained in the use of firearms and explosives.

North Africa has been on heightened alert in recent years as regional jihadist groups have grown more powerful and as the turmoil in Libya following Moammarr Gadhafi's 2011 overthrow has left the vast and mostly desert region awash with weapons.