Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks Wednesday with President Francois Hollande on the Iranian nuclear program.

The two-day trip is Netanyahu's "first opportunity to talk with President Hollande, and he hopes to build a good working relationship with the French leader," a source close to the Israeli leader told AFP.

France's Limousin region is best known for its well-fed cows, pungent cheeses and fine porcelain. But it is also home to a network of luxury craftsmen, from glove- to shoe-makers, now looking to export their skills.

Despite his 30 years of experience, it still takes Bernard three hours to finish sowing a seam, his gnarled hands working the thick leather with a stitching awl and cobbler's thread.

Deep in the wooded hills of Burgundy in central France, an unusual institute is training unusual students: aspiring French imams who hope to minister to the country's large Muslim population.

Early in the morning, some 200 students from across the country stream into the European Institute of Human Sciences de Saint-Leger-de-Fougeret, where they learn to chant the Koran and study Islamic theology and Arabic literature.

French President Francois Hollande was under new pressure on Monday to ramp up the competitive position of lagging French industry after top business leaders demanded a 30-billion-euro cut in welfare charges paid by employers and big cuts in state spending.

Hollande, who is grappling with pre-election pledges to create jobs and spur growth while being forced to embrace austerity to plug a 37-billion-euro ($47 billion) hole in public finances, was set to discuss the issue with the heads of the World Bank, IMF and other top financial institutions in Paris.

Snow and gales hit France and Switzerland over the weekend, possibly leading to the death of a homeless man in Paris, while searches continued for a missing windsurfer and a 12-year-old British boy who vanished Saturday in the south of France while cycling in a gale.

His bicycle is reported to have been found but there are fears he was swept away by strong winds.

Amateur, indecisive and gaffe-prone: the accusations are growing ever louder against Socialist Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as he struggles to steer France through its worst economic crisis in decades.

"He's making error after error, this prime minister. We've never seen such a level of amateurism and lack of preparation," Jean-Francois Cope, the leader of the opposition UMP party, said after Ayrault's latest blunder.

High-ranking foreign diplomats agreed on Friday that stability in Lebanon is “crucial” for the Lebanese people and the international community as they reached consensus over the importance of the stepping down of Prime Minister Najib Miqati's cabinet and the formation of a neutral government.

“Miqati's government can't contribute to maintaining Lebanon's stability, it became part of the crisis, in particular, after the assassination of (Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau head Brigadier General Wissam) al-Hasan last week,” U.S. Sources said in comments published in the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai.

MP Marwan Hamadeh on Thursday stressed to French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius “the need to respect the Baabda Declaration and facilitate President Michel Suleiman's mission to form a new neutral government that would prevent the sliding of the country towards further threats.”

During a meeting in Paris, Hamadeh and Fabius discussed “the situation in Lebanon in light of the latest developments, especially the assassination of Maj. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan and the political and security repercussions that ensued,” according to a statement issued by the MP.

French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault has broken with diplomatic protocol by openly expressing his hope that Barack Obama wins the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

"If I was an American citizen I wouldn't hesitate to vote for Obama," he told a radio interviewer on Wednesday.

France's defense minister has backtracked from a suggestion that military intervention in Mali is imminent, cautioning that preparations to deploy 3,000 African troops remain at an early stage.

Jean-Yves Le Drian last week said military action aimed at removing Islamist groups who have taken control of northern Mali would happen in "weeks not months."