Deputy Speaker Farid Makari is planning to stay in France until next April over recent threats made against him, al-Liwaa newspaper reported on Thursday.

Al-Liwaa said that Makari, who is a member of the March 14 opposition alliance, “has decided not to return to Beirut at this stage.”

The sperm count in French men dropped by nearly one-third between 1989 and 2005 and the quality of sperm also declined, a study said Wednesday.

The sperm count fell at a rate of about 1.9 percent a year, said the authors of the report covering more than 26,600 men over the 17-year period and published in the journal Human Reproduction.

France on Tuesday joined the United States and NATO in delivering a blunt warning to Damascus not to use chemical weapons on rebels, warning that the international community would react if it did.

"Any use of these chemical weapons by (Syrian President Bashar) Assad would be unacceptable," foreign ministry spokesman Vincent Floreani told reporters.

A hearing in the civil case of disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been set for December 10, after reports he will settle with the hotel maid who accused him of sexual assault.

"If the case is settled, this will be announced in open court on that day," Bronx Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon told Agence France Presse on Monday.

Ten alleged members of a group that sent tens of thousands of euros to the al-Qaida-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) went on trial in Paris on Monday on charges of financing terrorism.

The suspects, mainly of Turkish origin, are alleged to have collected funds in mosques in various French cities to send to the IMU between 2003 and 2008.

French President Francois Hollande said Monday he was worried by Israel's plans to build new settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, but indicated Paris was not ready to back concerted punishment in response.

"We do not want to start thinking in terms of sanctions," Hollande said during a Franco-Italian summit in Lyon.

France's top central banker on Monday took aim at London's heavyweight position in euro trading, saying the bulk of the business should be done within the 17-nation eurozone.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Tokyo, Banque de France Governor Christian Noyer said there was no reason for London being the busiest euro trading center since Britain in not a member of the currency club.

Israel's ambassador to Britain was summoned to the Foreign Office on Monday to discuss plans for new settlements, officials said, warning of "strong reaction" to the proposals.

Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt called in Daniel Taub to warn that settlement building threatens the two state-solution and makes progress on peace talks with the Palestinians harder to achieve, the Foreign Office said.

Michel Barnier, a member of the European Commission, who is responsible for internal market and services, stressed on Saturday that Lebanon is passing through a delicate situation.

“Lebanon is in need for the solidarity of the French people... And the European Union,” Barnier said after holding talks with Prime Minister Najib Miqati at the Grand Serail.

France on Saturday warned Israel not to go through with a plan for 3,000 settlements in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, arguing it would constitute a serious obstacle to a peace deal with the Palestinians.

An Israeli official earlier confirmed a report in the Haaretz newspaper that the authorities were planning to build the new settlements in response to a historic U.N. vote Thursday recognizing Palestine as a non-member state of the world body.