Two Chinese pandas in a French zoo are chilling out in the current summer heat wave with the help of honey and apple ice creams.

With temperatures set to touch 40 degrees Celsius (104F) in central France this weekend, Yuan Zi and Huan Huan have been enjoying the home-made treats as a supplement to their normal bamboo-based diet.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told an annual anti-Israel protest in Tehran on Friday that the Jewish state was a "cancerous tumor" that will soon be excised, drawing Western rebukes.

Washington said Ahmadinejad's statements were "reprehensible", while Paris viewed them as "outrageous."

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Friday that the latest security incidents and kidnappings in Lebanon facilitate the spill over of the Syrian crisis to the country.

“The latest incidents in Lebanon facilitate the spill over of the Syrian crisis but we hope to find a solution to this situation,” Fabius said at Rafik Hariri International Airport following a two-day visit to Beirut.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday Syrian President Bashar Assad was "butchering his own people" and that the sooner he leaves the better.

"France's position is clear: we consider Assad to be butchering his own people. He must leave, and the sooner he goes the better," Fabius told reporters at the Zaatari refugee camp, which houses around 6,000 Syrians in northern Jordan.

France's economy managed zero growth in the second quarter of 2012, data showed Tuesday, beating expectations it would begin a slide into recession.

In its first flash estimate for the second quarter, the national statistics institute INSEE said that French gross domestic product (GDP) was unchanged.

French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday promised a tough response to a riot that devastated a deprived neighborhood in the northern city of Amiens overnight.

"The state will mobilize all its means to combat these violent acts," Hollande said after a night of unrest that left 16 police officers injured, a primary school badly damaged by fire and a sports center completely destroyed.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Thursday on a two-day trip where he will meet with senior officials, reported the daily al-Mustaqbal on Sunday.

It said that the Syrian developments will be at the center of his discussions, with the French minister stressing the need for Lebanon to provide aid to Syrian refugees despite the Lebanese government’s policy of distancing itself from the events in its neighboring country.

A French cargo plane carrying tons of aid supplies and medical equipment for Syrian refugees landed Saturday in Jordan for tens of thousands of Syrians who fled their country's violence.

The Antonov aircraft is carrying 80 tons of medical and support equipment and more French supplies destined for Syrian refugees will be flown to Jordan soon, the head of the operation, Colonel Yannick Rio, said.

French President Francois Hollande said France was committed to finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict as he paid tribute Saturday to the 88th French soldier killed in Afghanistan.

He noted that France had deployed a field hospital in Jordan "as close as possible to the border with Syria to help not only refugees but also combatants fighting the repression of a regime which is no longer motivated by anything but the fear of its own demise."

French President Francois Hollande said France was committed to finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict as he paid tribute Saturday to the 88th French soldier killed in Afghanistan.

He noted that France had deployed a field hospital in Jordan "as close as possible to the border with Syria to help not only refugees but also combatants fighting the repression of a regime which is no longer motivated by anything but the fear of its own demise."