With furrowed brows and fervent nods, the French and native American musicians were introducing a new form of jazz to New Orleans centered on a colonial trade language used by their ancestors.

There were no furs or beads on the table. Instead, the musicians were exchanging traditions to create a unique sound that hops from jazz standards to blues, to reggae to mellow, cymbal-heavy lounge music.

French President Francois Hollande attended the Rio Earth summit last week with minimum protection after his bodyguards left their firearms in Paris, sources close to the case said Tuesday.

The elite GSPR unit which protects the French leader normally travels with a briefcase that contains the weapons, but on their arrival in Brazil on June 19 the bodyguards realized that the weapons had stayed behind at Hollande's office in the Elysee palace.

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius welcomed Monday's agreement to impose fresh EU sanctions against Syria but called on the 27-nation bloc "to go further".

"I'm satisfied that these new sanctions have been adopted but I would like to go further," Fabius told a news conference held during talks between European Union foreign ministers.

The West welcomed on Sunday the election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi as Egypt's first president following the ouster of Hosni Mubarak.

The United States congratulated Morsi on his election and urged his government to fulfill its role as a "pillar of regional peace."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet French President Francois Hollande in Paris on Wednesday evening to plan next week's European summit in Brussels, a German government spokesman said.

"The subject of the meeting will be preparing the European summit to be held Thursday and Friday," the spokesman told Agence France Presse on Saturday ahead of the key meeting to search for solutions to the Eurozone crisis.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius called Friday for the choice of the Egyptian people to be respected after parliament was dissolved and there was uncertainty over the winner of a presidential vote.

"I am concerned by the institutional developments of recent days in Egypt, following the first free presidential election that should mark a decisive step towards establishing a democratic regime," Fabius said in a statement.

The French Foreign Ministry called Friday for the Syrian military to desert en masse the day after a Syrian air force colonel defected after landing his MiG fighter in Jordan.

"Yesterday's defection leads us to call on members of the Syrian army and security forces to continue these defections, these desertions and no longer to obey the Damascus regime's criminal orders," ministry spokesman Bernard Valero told journalists.

French President Francois Hollande is to carry out a minor cabinet reshuffle on Thursday after his Socialist Party won an absolute majority in last week's parliamentary elections.

The new government headed by Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault will be known on Thursday evening, Hollande said on the sidelines of the Rio+20 summit in Brazil and will hold its first cabinet meeting on Friday.

Turkey on Thursday praised the positive attitude adopted by the new French president toward relations with Ankara, saying that sanctions imposed on Paris would no longer be implemented.

"Sanctions will drop from the agenda thanks to this new stance adopted by France," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in a televised interview, adding that he would be visiting Paris next month.

President Michel Suleiman is expected to travel to France at the end of June or in early July to hold talks with his French counterpart Francois Hollande, reported the daily An Nahar on Thursday.

It said that the visit will serve as an opportunity for the president to mark a new beginning of Lebanese-French ties, which was suggested by Hollande himself.