Turkey on Friday asked French senators to reject a bill criminalizing the denial of the Armenian genocide, which comes before the French Senate next Monday.

"We expect (President Nicolas) Sarkozy, his party, and the French Senate to respect European values before anything else. Those who exploit history will themselves suffer from this exploitation," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks.

President Nicolas Sarkozy declared Friday that France cannot stand silently by and allow Syrian leader Bashar Assad to put down the pro-democracy revolt in his country.

"We cannot accept the ferocious repression by the Syrian leadership of its people, a repression that has led the entire country into chaos, and a chaos that will help extremists of all kinds," he said.

Four French soldiers were shot dead and 16 were wounded by a member of the Afghan army in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, a NATO spokesman and Afghan officials said.

"A man wearing Afghan army uniform opened fire on French nationals killing four and injuring 16 others this morning in Tagab district of Kapisa province," a security official told Agence France Presse.

Two of the 11 victims recovered from the wreck of an Italian cruise ship in Tuscany were French nationals -- a man and a woman, the crisis unit overseeing rescue operations said on Thursday.

A representative of the French embassy in Rome confirmed the report, saying family members had identified the bodies.

A French Senate committee on Wednesday rejected a bill to outlaw denial of the Armenian genocide, but the move was unlikely to stop the diplomatically fraught bill passing at a final vote on Monday.

The French lower house approved the law last month, threatening anyone who denies that the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turk forces amounted to genocide with jail, drawing a threat of sanctions from Turkey.

Paris once more turns fashion capital of the world for a week starting Wednesday, playing host to menswear shows before haute couture's heady mix of craft and luxury casts its spell over the city.

Models, buyers and fashion writers are to converge on Paris for a week of trend-spotting -- and hobnobbing -- as Italy's Versace fetes its return to the couture club, in a glamorous buzz at odds with the ambient economic gloom.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Tuesday noted that Bkirki’s dialogue with Hizbullah was revolving around three issues: “the Lebanese entity as a state, the National Pact which is based on living together in parity, and Lebanon’s role and message.”

“We are discussing the obstacles hindering these principles, and this is how we can move forward,” al-Rahi added.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton held talks on Tuesday with Prime Minister Najib Miqati on the latter’s upcoming trip to Paris.

He said after the meeting that the “finishing touches” were added to his agenda and the preparations that will be made for this “important trip.”

Iran on Tuesday denied an allegation from France that it was sending weapons to its ally Syria in violation of a U.N. embargo.

"The declarations from French officials are incorrect," Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in a regular weekly briefing.

Iran has repeatedly violated a U.N. arms embargo with exports to protest-hit Syria, the French foreign ministry said on Monday, citing a U.N. group of experts.

"The U.N. panel of experts on Iran has identified and informed the Security Council of several violations of the embargo on arms to or from Iran set up by... the United Nations Security Council," said spokesman Romain Nadal.