A plane operated by the budget carrier of Germany's Lufthansa crashed in a remote area of the French Alps Tuesday, killing all 150 on board in France's worst aviation disaster in decades.

With the cause of the accident a complete mystery, authorities recovered a black box from the Airbus A320 at the crash site, where rescue efforts were being hampered by the mountainous terrain.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi will reportedly demand the ambassadors to Lebanon of the five permanent United Nations Security Council members to press their countries to end the presidential deadlock in Lebanon.

The Security Council's five permanent members are the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France.

Tunisia's National Bardo Museum is set to reopen to the public Tuesday after a jihadist attack that killed 20 foreigners, as the country looks to restore faith in its tourism sector.

Museum officials said the reopening, which will be marked with a ceremony, was "a message" to the gunmen who killed the tourists and a police officer there last Wednesday.

One of the most wanted members of the armed Basque separatist group ETA was arrested Monday in southwestern France, officials said. 

Sabin Mendizabal Plazaola, 34, who had been on the run for six years, was held in Saint-Palais in the foothills of the Pyrenees on an international arrest warrant for allegedly injuring a Spanish police officer who had been chasing him, Madrid said.

The presidential vacuum and the deadlocked institutions are impeding 166 million euros ($182 million) in French development aid to Lebanon, a French minister said on Monday. 

"There are 166 million euros waiting until Lebanon's institutions are operating normally and are capable of dealing with different situations, as well as the speedy election of a president," French Development and Francophony Minister Annick Gerardin said.

The French right was celebrating on Monday after local elections saw a conservative alliance and the far-right National Front triumph over the ruling Socialists in a key test ahead of the 2017 presidential poll.

An alliance led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy took first place in Sunday's first-round polling with 29.4 percent of the vote, while the National Front (FN) of Marine Le Pen came second with 25.2 percent, according to latest figures from the interior ministry.

The threat of a jihadist attack in France has reached a level "without precedent" and new attacks are inevitable, according to top counter-terrorism officials.

"The threat is permanent," said one high-level official in the defense ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

Six men and women were charged Sunday for the rape and torture of a young woman allegedly held as a sex slave in France for more than a month, beaten and forced to engage in bestiality.

The 20-year-old victim, who has mental health difficulties, was allegedly held prisoner in the city of Verdun in northern France. 

Right-wing parties looked set to finish first in France's local elections on Sunday amid signs the far-right National Front was heading for lower-than-expected results. 

A conservative alliance including the opposition Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, was in the lead according to a range of polling firms, taking between 29.2 and 32 percent of the vote. 

Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz flew to France on Sunday to try to sway the next round of talks on a deal over Iran's nuclear program, his spokesman said.

Steinitz was "on a mission from Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) for a short visit to Europe in an attempt to influence the details of the emerging agreement on the Iran nuclear issue," a statement from Eyal Basson said.