A woman and two children died after a boat of migrants sank in the Indian Ocean trying to reach the French island of Mayotte, a prosecutor told AFP on Monday.

"The provisional toll is three dead: a woman of 20 and two children whose bodies were found by the police maritime unit," said Joel Garrigue, prosecutor on Mayotte. 

French President Francois Hollande highlighted the “difficult” responsibilities Lebanon has to endure over the huge number of refugees it is harboring, reported the daily An Nahar on Monday.

He expressed his understanding over the burden it is supporting, revealing that he “will travel to Beirut in October.”

France carried out its first air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria on Sunday, as Russia said it was seeking a "coordinated framework" to fight the jihadists.

President Francois Hollande said six French warplanes were involved in the operation to strike an IS training camp near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, and that more air strikes could follow in the coming weeks.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Saturday he will attend a ceremony next week to raise the Palestinian flag at the United Nations, despite opposition from Israel and the United States.

The Palestinians have invited hundreds of leaders to attend the event on Wednesday in the presence of President Mahmud Abbas.

The defence team for Laurent Gbagbo, who is currently awaiting trial for war crimes in The Hague, on Friday asked that the ex-Ivorian leader be tried on his home continent instead.

Gbagbo's trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) is due to open in November, with the former president accused of crimes against humanity after his refusal to concede defeat in 2010 elections sparked a bloody stand-off in which some 3,000 people died.

A second French jihadist, Salim Benghalem, has been named as a possible jailer of Western hostages in Syria, a source close to the case told AFP on Friday. 

Benghalem was named along with Mehdi Nemmouche, who carried out a fatal attack on the Jewish Museum in Brussels last year, as suspected jailers for the Islamic State group (IS). 

Prime Minister Tammam Salam was in New York on Friday to attend the opening of the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015.

The summit is aimed at formally approving an ambitious and costly 15-year blueprint to eradicate extreme poverty, combat climate change and address more than a dozen other major global issues.

NATO head Jens Stoltenberg told Agence France Presse Thursday there was still a "strong" Russian presence in eastern Ukraine in support of pro-Moscow rebels although a recent ceasefire seems to be holding.

Stoltenberg said he backed the continuation of European Union and United States sanctions against Russia over its involvement in Ukraine until Moscow changes its behavior.

French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday called for a new Syria peace conference as part of efforts to end a conflict which has claimed some 250,000 lives and destabilized the whole region. 

"I call for a new peace conference so that all the countries who want to see peace restored in Syria can contribute," Hollande said.

French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday Egypt had agreed to buy two Mistral warships which France built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis.

The deal is the second big military contract this year between France and Egypt, which Hollande said he increasingly views as a strategic partner.