The U.S., French and German leaders pledged to consider new steps to punish Syria after security forces shot dead at least 24 people as tens of thousands staged anti-regime protests on the first Friday of Ramadan.

President Barack Obama spoke separately to France's Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel as Western nations cranked up pressure on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.

Racing has found it tough going some times to live up to the moniker of being the 'sport of kings' but this season is perhaps the best all round in decades.

There is a buzz about the sport that has been lacking in years gone by which have generally left the neutral observer cold as the powerhouse of Aidan O'Brien's stable and to a lesser extent Godolphin have dominated.

A French court ordered a probe for embezzlement and other fraud-related charges against IMF head Christine Lagarde dating to her time as France's finance minister, a prosecutor said Thursday.

She has denied any wrongdoing or illegality in the case which resulted in a big compensation payment for a private businessman out of public funds in 2008. Her lawyer branded the case politically motivated.

Air France issued orders for only male staff to serve Dominique Strauss-Kahn when the former IMF boss -- accused of attempted rape in New York -- traveled on its planes, a report said Thursday.

Le Parisien newspaper also said that lawyers of Strauss-Kahn's accuser were calling for testimony from Air France female stewards who allegedly suffered inappropriate behavior by him.

France said Thursday its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle would return home for maintenance next week from the NATO-led mission over Libya, but insisted there would be no respite for Moammar Gadhafi.

The vessel, France's only aircraft carrier and Europe's biggest warship, will leave on August 10 to head for its home port of Toulon for several weeks of work, defense minister Gerard Longuet told Var-Matin newspaper.

France confirmed Wednesday that it has issued an extradition order to send Panamanian ex-strongman Manuel Noriega -- currently serving a French jail term for laundering drug money -- back home.

Noriega has three convictions for human rights violations in Panama, dating to his military rule there from 1983 to 1989. Each conviction carries a 20-year prison sentence.

France might decrease its presence in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) after the attack that targeted its contingents in the southern city of sidon, An Nahar newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Three French U.N. peacekeepers were wounded last week in a roadside bombing near Sidon, and another three suffered hearing problems.

The European Union ambassador to Syria is to remain in Damascus despite an Italian proposal Tuesday to recall all ambassadors from the 27 EU nations.

"Our ambassador will remain in Damascus to observe what's happening on the ground," said Michael Mann, spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

Nissan's Leaf electric car can feed power from its battery back into a family home and run appliances for up to two days under a new project the Japanese car-maker unveiled Tuesday.

Using the "Leaf to Home" system, the lithium-ion batteries of the zero tailpipe emission Leaf can be used as an emergency power backup for the home during a natural disaster or a power blackout, Nissan said.

Global banking giant HSBC said Tuesday it would hire thousands of people in emerging markets by 2014 as it looked particularly to Asia's booming financial sector to power future growth.

"We are planning to hire up to 15,000 people in emerging markets over the next three years," the bank's Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver told a press briefing in Hong Kong Tuesday.