On U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's Swiss bike rides last week to unwind from intense Iran nuclear talks, one emerging tricky issue may well have been going round his head: U.N. sanctions.

According to negotiators involved and experts, this has become a major snag as Iran and six major powers push for the outlines of a landmark deal by March 31 in marathon talks resuming in a few days.

Thousands of people flocked to Mont Saint-Michel on Saturday to watch what they hoped would be a "tide of the century" surround the picturesque landmark on France's northern coast.

Perched on a rocky island topped with a Gothic Benedictine abbey, the Unesco World Heritage Site is exposed to some of Europe's strongest tides.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is scheduled to travel to Lebanon in April to oversee the first shipment of weapons to the Lebanese army as part of a deal with Saudi Arabia that was reached in 2014, reported al-Mustaqbal daily on Saturday.

It said that the minister is set to arrive in Lebanon on April 20 for a two-day visit.

A high-ranking French military delegation is expected to arrive in Beirut on Friday to commence training of Lebanese army personnel on the use of weapons to be delivered by Paris under $3 billion Saudi grant.

According to al-Joumhouria newspaper, the delegation will stay in Lebanon for a long time as the “deal requires a specialized follow up by France.”

Police on Thursday discovered the bodies of five babies in a house in southwestern France, a source close to the case said, in what appears to be the country's worst incident of infanticide in five years.

After the body of a newborn was found in a thermal bag earlier in the day, officers "discovered four more bodies of babies during their search" at the house in Louchats, near the city of Bordeaux, the source said, confirming a report by French television channel iTele.

A French court on Thursday fined Dieudonne 22,500 euros ($24,000) for anti-Semitic comments, the second time in two days the French comic has been convicted for his controversial remarks.

If he fails to pay the entire fine for incitement to racial hatred, he faces a stretch in prison.

French magazine Paris Match on Thursday published photos of the bodies of the two brothers behind the bloody January attack on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, saying the French "have the right" to see them.

The three pictures showed the bodies of Cherif and Said Kouachi lying on the ground after being shot by police January 9 in front of a printing factory where they had holed up in the town of Dammartin-en-Goele outside Paris, near Charles de Gaulle airport.

Seventy years ago they crushed Nazi Germany together but raging tensions over Ukraine mean Russia's former World War II allies in the West will snub the Kremlin's showcase victory anniversary celebrations.

As top Western leaders give President Vladimir Putin's Red Square parade on May 9 the cold shoulder, the guest list of those likely to be coming -- including China's president and North Korea's reclusive leader -- shows how Moscow's international standing has shifted.

France has never faced so great a terrorist threat, its prime minister said Thursday, as he unveiled controversial new laws allowing spies to hoover up phone and Internet data from suspected jihadists.

The measures have been criticized by rights groups and set the government up for potential clashes with Internet companies who are under public pressure to ensure privacy.

Vanuatu has hit out at aid groups swarming the cyclone-ravaged Pacific nation over a lack of coordination, which it said cost precious time getting help to those in need, while warning food will run out in a week.

Relief agencies have been battling logistical challenges in the sprawling archipelago with a lack of landing strips and deep water ports hampering their efforts to reach distant islands and get a better grip on the full scale of the disaster.