French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno said on Thursday that she hopes France coach Laurent Blanc does not recall Franck Ribery and Patrice Evra for the country's forthcoming matches.

Ribery and Evra received bans of three and five games respectively for their roles in the France squad's mutiny at last year's World Cup in South Africa and have not played for Les Bleus since the end of the tournament.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's son on Wednesday told "this clown" French President Nicolas Sarkozy to "give us back our money" allegedly used to finance his 2007 election victory.

Seif al-Islam told Euronews that "we have all the details and are ready to reveal everything" as Gadhafi's forces closed in on rebels in the eastern city of Benghazi who France recognized as Libya's legitimate representatives.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday held talks on Libya, as France said it hoped that Arab League support for a no-fly zone would be a "game-changer" in securing international action.

As he entered the talks, French envoy to the Security Council Gerard Araud said Lebanon -- as the current Arab representative on the Security Council -- would also be working to sway opponents of a no-fly zone, led by China and Russia.

A European source revealed that European nations have received an explanation from France on the current governmental situation in Lebanon where they were informed of how caretaker Prime Minister was replaced by Prime Minister-designate Najib Miqati, revealed the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Sunday.

The manner in which Hariri was replaced has created an imbalance in power in Lebanon that had been established by the Taif Accord and the Doha agreement, “which set the rules of the political game in Lebanon for a while.”

Western powers ramped up pressure on Moammar Gadhafi Friday, with France calling for targeted strikes if he bombs his people, as a crisis summit exposed an EU rift over how to force the Libyan leader out.

The pivotal summit, capping 48 hours of talks also involving NATO defense ministers and European Union foreign ministers, opened with the 27-nation bloc divided over military action as well as a British-French push for formal recognition of Gadhafi's opponents.

Libya is planning to cut its diplomatic relations with France after French President Nicolas Sarkozy recognized rebels opposed to Moammar Gadhafi, the official Jana news agency reported Thursday.

The Tripoli government would "consider severing ties with France after information about the dangerous intervention in Libyan affairs," a foreign ministry official was quoted as saying by Jana.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Thursday said Paris and Berlin were calling on their European Union partners to engage in dialogue with Libyan opposition leaders.

Speaking after talks with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Juppe said, "We are on the same track to say Colonel Gadhafi is discredited, he must go, we must engage dialogue with the new Libyan representatives."

Nicolas Sarkozy will on Thursday meet envoys of Libya's rebel national council which is fighting to oust strongman Moammar Gadhafi, the French president's office said.

Sarkozy would meet Mahmoud Jibril and Ali Essaoui to discuss the "general situation in Libya, in particular the humanitarian situation and the actions of the national council," a statement said.

A French court Tuesday suspended the trial of former president Jacques Chirac on charges of embezzling public funds as mayor of Paris in the 1990s, following a constitutional challenge.

Chirac, 78, the first former French president ever to go before a judge, is accused of using the money to pay people working for his party ahead of a successful election bid in 1995.

Jacques Chirac on Monday became the first former French president to go on trial as a court heard charges that he embezzled public funds while he was mayor of Paris in the 1990s.

The 78-year-old, one of France's most popular political figures, did not attend the start of the trial that will examine whether he misused public money to pay people working for his party ahead of a successful election bid.