Prosecutors have charged four executives at two French companies accused of aiding Libya's former strongman Moamer Kadhafi and Egyptian authorities to spy on opposition figures who were later detained and tortured, a rights group said Tuesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron Tuesday hosts African leaders and chiefs of global financial institutions for a summit meeting that will seek to provide Africa with critical financing swept away by the Covid-19 pandemic.

France's top diplomat wielded the threat of more sanctions in Beirut Friday to prevent what he described as a "collective suicide" organised by members of Lebanon's ruling political class.

French foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian emphasized that recent sanctions on Lebanese leaders are only the beginning of a long list of tough sanctions ahead, the National News Agency reported on Friday.

Egypt's military has confirmed it ordered 30 Rafale jets from French defence firm Dassault Aviation to shore up "national security".

Two associations said on Monday they had filed a legal complaint against Lebanon's central bank governor Riad Salameh whom they accuse of fraudulently amassing a large fortune in Europe.

The Sherpa NGO, which specialises in fighting financial crime, and the "Collective of victims of fraudulent and criminal activities in Lebanon" said they were also targeting Salameh's brother Raja, his son Nadi, his nephew as well as a close associate at the central bank, Marianne Hoayek, in the case.

France on Wednesday detained seven former members of left-wing Italian extremist group the Red Brigades who have long been sought by Rome in what was billed as a diplomatic olive branch by President Emmanuel Macron.

The French embassy in Pakistan on Thursday advised all French nationals and companies to temporarily leave the country, after violent anti-France protests paralysed large parts of the country this week. 

Diplomatic sources from the French capital reported that Paris is likely to issue imminent punitive steps against parties delaying the formation of a government in Lebanon, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.

Eight months after the devastating Beirut port explosion, Germany will reportedly suggest a plan to rebuild the port in a bid to encourage Lebanese leaders to form a much-needed government in crisis-wracked Lebanon, media reports said Friday.