France Monday marked one of the most notorious acts of World War II -- the rounding up of thousands of Jews in Paris to be sent to death camps -- as a poll showed most French youth ignorant of the episode.

Ceremonies were held in Paris to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the round-ups on July 16 and 17, 1942 that saw French police detain 13,152 foreign Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris for deportation to death camps including Auschwitz.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika met Laurent Fabius on Monday on the French foreign minister's first official trip to an Arab country, focused on the political crisis in Algeria's neighbor Mali.

Before meeting Bouteflika, Fabius said they would discuss Franco-Algerian relations "as well as international questions."

France's far-right National Front said Sunday it plans to sue Madonna over a video at the U.S. pop star's concert in France showing party leader Marine Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead.

"We cannot accept such an odious comparison," National Front vice-president Florian Philippot said, adding that the legal action would be filed this week.

President Michel Suleiman and his French counterpart Francois Hollande discussed during the former’s visit to France on Thursday the possibility of the European country providing the Lebanese army with HOT missiles, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.

An informed French source told the daily that France’s political powers are keen on resolving this issue, while the military powers remain hesitant on this matter.

French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli hailed on Saturday the Lebanese democracy and coexistence, which became a model in the region.

“Lebanon’s democracy, freedom and coexistence among its citizens became a model in the region, in addition to the stability it witnessed during the recent months,” Paoli said in a ceremony held in Kasr al-Sanawbar on the occasion of French Bastille Day.

A French staff member of the International Committee of the Red Cross who was kidnapped in Yemen in April has been released in good health, the ICRC said Saturday.

Benjamin Malbrancke was abducted by gunmen on April 21 while on his way to the airport in the port city of Hudaida in Yemen's north. The two drivers with him were also captured at the time but freed shortly after.

French President Francois Hollande gives his first major interview since his May election to mark Bastille Day on Saturday, expecting to touch on issues including the Eurozone debt crisis and Syria.

The interview was to be broadcast on the TF1 and France 2 channels at 11:15 GMT and reintroduces a tradition of Bastille Day interviews that his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy broke with.

At least seven people died and six people were missing after a ship carrying illegal immigrants capsized off the Indian Ocean French overseas territory of Mayotte, officials said Friday.

The boat was travelling from Anjouan in the Comoros with 24 people on board when it capsized during the night. Those who died were four children and three women. Another 11 people have been rescued, authorities said.

President Michel Suleiman stated on Thursday that his visit to France is aimed at bolstering Lebanese-French ties and helping it maintain its stability amid the regional changes.

He said: “The visit is aimed at supporting and preserving Lebanon’s neutral position on Arab developments.”

An avalanche swept over a group of foreign climbers in the French Alps on Thursday, killing at least nine people in the deadliest such disaster in the region in a decade.

Most of the dead found after the avalanche on Mont Maudit, which translates as "Cursed Mountain", were Europeans, police said.