Lurid details of lunchtime sex parties emerged Tuesday as an ex-prostitute nicknamed "Jade" took the stand in a French trial over a high-end prostitution ring that landed former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in court on charges of pimping.

The first part of the multi-faceted trial with 14 accused is focused on a prostitution ring allegedly run by the owners and a publicist for the luxury Carlton hotel in the northern city of Lille.

French police on Tuesday arrested eight people suspected of involvement in an alleged network that sent people to Syria to wage jihad, the interior minister said.

Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters the suspects were arrested in the area around Paris and the southeastern city of Lyon.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi expressed hope on Tuesday that a French presidential envoy would be able to resolve the Baabda Palace impasse.

Before traveling to Rome, al-Rahi hoped that Jean-François Girault, who is the director of the department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, would “succeed in his mission.”

The next edition of Charlie Hebdo will appear on February 25, a journalist from the French satirical magazine said Monday, less than a month after 12 people were killed at their offices.

"Finally. A bit more patience, but Charlie Hebdo will come out on February 25 at all good kiosks," said Laurent Leger on his Twitter account.

France's economy minister said on Monday he had received death threats from "certain officials" furious over his plans to reform parts of the closed-shop economy.

Emmanuel Macron told parliament he had taken legal action against "certain public officials" for "death threats that I have received."

Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn went on trial on Monday accused of pimping, four years after a sex scandal cost him his job and a shot at the French presidency.

The disgraced 65-year-old economist found himself back in the dock -- this time in the northern French city of Lille -- accused of being at the center of a vice ring which hired prostitutes for sex parties in Brussels, Paris and Washington.

Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry Jean-François Girault is expected to return to Beirut on Monday to continue his efforts to achieve a breakthrough in the ongoing deadlock over the presidential elections, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Observers ruled out the possibility that the French official would be able to create a breakthrough in his talks with local figures.

France urged Lebanon and Israel to exercise self-restraint to prevent any escalation along the border, stressing that Paris encourages the Lebanese political foes to end the presidential deadlock.

“France prioritizes Lebanon's” concerns, French Ambassador to Lebanon Patrice Paoli stressed in an interview published in An Nahar newspaper on Saturday.

Lebanese officials received warnings from foreign countries over attempts to drag Lebanon into a new confrontation with Israel despite Prime Minister Tammam Salam's moderate stance from the latest developments along the border.

According to An Nahar newspaper published on Saturday, U.S. and French officials contacted several ministers to stand on the cabinet's stance from Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's speech.

The ideological leader of Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) said Friday that France had surpassed the United States as the top enemy of Islam.

With the "weakening" of the United States in recent years, France has replaced America in the "war on Islam," Ibrahim al-Rubaish said in an audio message published by AQAP's media arm on YouTube.