Nigeria and France on Thursday signed an agreement on closer military cooperation, including intelligence sharing, to strengthen the fight against Boko Haram in the Lake Chad region.

Nigerian Defense Minister Mansur Dan Ali said the agreement was evidence of a "growing partnership" between Abuja and Paris, as he met his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian in the capital.

France will host a meeting of ministers from 20 countries on May 30 to try to relaunch the Israel-Palestinian peace process, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced on Thursday.

In an interview with four newspapers including Israel's Haaretz and pan-Arab daily Al Quds Al-Arabi, the minister said however that Israel and the Palestinians would not be invited to the meeting in Paris.

French President Francois Hollande said Tuesday that the Syrian opposition's decision to suspend participation in peace talks was "worrying", as he offered to support Jordan in dealing with refugees fleeing the five-year conflict.

Speaking a day after Syria's main opposition announced its formal participation in peace negotiations in Geneva was on hold, Hollande said he was concerned that a ceasefire that has dramatically reduced fighting across Syria might not last.

A suspected French arms trafficker who was arrested in Spain last week will be extradited to France in 10 days, a Spanish court said Monday.

Antoine Denevi, wanted on a Europe-wide arrest warrant for membership in a criminal group and arms and explosives trafficking, has agreed to face justice in France, the National Court said in a ruling.

French President Francois Hollande discussed economic and cultural ties in Egypt Monday, a day after he arrived to a lavish welcome quickly overshadowed by his host's controversial human rights record.

Hollande, who is visiting Cairo as part of a regional tour, attended a business forum with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, with both countries hoping to boost trade and investments.

France is convinced that only a “consensual” president would be able to end the vacuum in the presidency, reported the Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah on Sunday.

Ministerial sources told the daily that French President Francois Hollande is willing to host inter-Lebanese dialogue that would be limited to resolving the vacuum in the presidency after is appeared that neither Change and Reform chief MP Michel Aoun nor Marada Movement head MP Suleiman Franjieh will be elected to the post.

The Catholic Church in France on Tuesday pledged to shed light on all cases of pedophilia, including "historic cases", following a scandal over an archbishop accused of covering up a priest's crimes.

Bishops decided that special groups would be set up to listen to complaints from victims of sexual abuse and an "independent national commission" would be set up to investigate, led by a lay person.

The Islamic State group strongholds Raqa and Mosul "must fall" this year, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said during a speech in Baghdad on Monday.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday information that a Belgian jihadist cell planned another attack against France was evidence of the elevated threat to the country.

Algeria accused Le Monde newspaper Sunday of "gratuitously" damaging its president's image, as French Prime Minister Manuel Valls sought to resolve a row that threatens to overshadow key trade deals.