The United Arab Emirates and France share a "strategic relationship,” the Gulf state's foreign minister said at a meeting with his French counterpart, the state news agency WAM reported on Sunday.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe at the annual Sir Bani Yas forum, an informal gathering on regional peace and security attended by top local and international officials.

The U.N. Security Council and the European Union will take “measures” against Lebanon if Lebanon doesn’t fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, sources close to French decision-makers warned.

The sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in remarks published Sunday that Lebanon’s rejection to pay its 49 percent share would lead to a “troubling situation that would force the international community to take measures … at the level of the Security Council and the EU.”

Russia's point man on Africa said Saturday that Moscow was relieved that murdered Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam had been arrested and had escaped "summary justice".

"We are happy that this time the new authorities in Libya did not resort to summary justice for Seif al-Islam, the son of the ousted leader Gadhafi," the Russian presidency's special representative for Africa Mikhail Margelov said.

Two elderly men died and a dozen retirees were hurt, most of them through smoke inhalation, on Friday when a fire broke out in a French retirement home, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the "Les Flots" home for the elderly in La Rochefoucauld near Angouleme in the Charente region of southwest France, killing an 82-year-old and a 90-year-old, they told reporters.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Friday called for restraint over the Syria crisis, after talks with his French counterpart who accused President Bashar Assad of being deaf to pressure.

"We are calling for restraint and caution. This is our position," Putin told a news conference, the day after his foreign minister had likened the situation in Syria to a civil war.

Asian markets slipped again on Friday as traders grew increasingly concerned the Eurozone crisis will soon envelope larger economies after borrowing costs for France and Spain shot higher.

Tokyo finished 1.23 percent, or 104.72 points, lower at 8,374.91 and Sydney fell 1.91 percent, or 81.2 points, to end at 4,177 while Seoul finished 2.00 percent, or 37.50 points, lower at 1,839.17.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Friday that the "time has come to increase sanctions" against the Syrian regime.

"The situation is no longer sustainable," and "the ongoing repression is unacceptable," Juppe told reporters during a visit to Ankara.

European nations said Thursday they have key Arab support for a U.N. resolution condemning human rights abuses by the Syrian government.

Diplomats from Germany, France and Britain tabled the resolution at the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee on Thursday for a vote expected next Tuesday, officials said.

Crisis-hit France has found escape from its ever grimmer economic reality in a feel-good buddy movie about a quadriplegic aristocrat and his black home-help that has stormed the box office.

"An unreal world for a tired France," was Rue89 news website's description of the surprise hit "Intouchables" (Untouchables), which has drawn five million viewers in its first two weeks of release.

Germany, Britain and France are pressing for a U.N. resolution that would strongly condemn Syria's human rights violations and call for an immediate halt to all violence in the country.

The three European countries decided to move ahead with the General Assembly resolution after the Arab League confirmed its suspension of Syria Wednesday and gave Bashar Assad's government three days to halt the violence against civilians and accept an observer mission or face economic sanctions.