France on Monday urged Syria to allow an Arab League observer mission to start its work monitoring the bloody conflict there as quickly as possible.

"We regret there have been 30 more deaths in the past two days. It's urgent," a foreign ministry spokesman said, shortly after Damascus agreed to accept Arab monitors.

Europeans are tightening their belts and spending less on Christmas gifts this year as they struggle with incomes hit by austerity measures or fear the economy could worsen in 2012.

Mother Nature is helping retailers in many countries this year as there have been no snow storms keeping consumers home and playing havoc with deliveries.

France is giving Britain a "good kicking", deputy premier Nick Clegg said in an interview out Saturday, as the spat over each other's economies rumbled on.

Clegg warned against lurches into xenophobia and chauvinism, the day after telling French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to "calm the rhetoric" as Britain hit back at French criticism of its finances.

The Director for United Nations and Other International Organizations in the French Foreign Ministry Nicolas de Riviere is expected to arrive in Lebanon on Monday to hold talks with Lebanese officials on the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Saturday.

French Foreign Ministry circles told the newspaper that the French diplomat will inform Lebanese officials of France’s intention to lower the number of French troops participating in the international force.

Hizbullah International Relations official Ammar Moussawi stressed on Friday that any instability in the South affects the party more than any other in Lebanon, reported al-Liwaa newspaper on Saturday.

He condemned, after holding talks with French Ambassador to Lebanon Denis Pietton, the latest attack against the French unit in the United Nations interim Force in Lebanon, saying that the party places great importance on the security of the South.

President Michel Suleiman criticized on Friday the labeling of constitutional institutions with sectarian descriptions, reported As Safir newspaper on Saturday.

He said, according to his visitors: “I will not take sides in any sectarian dispute in Lebanon.”

France on Friday attacked Russia's proposed U.N. Security Council resolution on the Syrian crisis as "totally unbalanced" and no immediate talks were called on the measure.

Russia, having blocked U.N. action on Syria for months, surprised other members of the 15-nation council on Thursday by putting forward a draft resolution which condemns the violence by all sides in Syria.

Hizbullah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem condemned the attack against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on December 9, slamming the March 14 camp and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe’s accusations that the party was behind the assault.

He said: “We have decided to file a lawsuit against those who made such accusations against us.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed Friday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to block the approval of an Armenian genocide bill and warned of "serious consequences" if it passes.

"This bill directly targets the Turkish Republic, the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France and it is hostile," Erdogan said in a letter sent to Sarkozy, according to the Anatolia news agency.

Leading European stock markets opened on a firm note on Friday, despite the announcement of a mild recession in France and a warning about banks by ratings agency Fitch.

In London, the FTSE 100 index showed an opening gain of 29.04 points or 0.54 percent to 5,429.89 points, in Frankfurt the DAX index firmed 33.83 points or 0.59 percent to 5,764.45 points, and in Paris the CAC 40 index advanced 11.68 points or 0.39 percent to 3,010.41 points.