France has made indirect contact with Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi's regime, the foreign ministry said Monday, denying reports that Paris has begun direct negotiations with Tripoli.

Paris is a leading member of the NATO-led international coalition bombing Gadhafi's forces and a cheerleader for the rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) battling to overthrow his rule.

Angry mobs stormed the American and French embassies in Syria on Monday, after the two Western envoys visited the city of Hama, a flashpoint for protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

The foreign ministry in Paris said three French staff were wounded in the embassy attack, while a U.S. official said "no staff were injured."

Tripoli is negotiating a way out of the Libyan crisis with France not with its rebel foes, the son of embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi said in an interview published Monday.

"We are in fact holding real negotiations with France and not with the rebels," Seif Al-Islam said during the interview with the Algerian daily el-Khabar conducted in the Libyan capital.

The French foreign ministry on Sunday summoned Syria's ambassador to France over damage done to the French embassy and a consulate in Syria.

Syrian demonstrators caused the damage Saturday after France's ambassador to Syria visited the northern city of Hama, a stronghold of the anti-regime uprising.

For Charles Pillitteri, the fight against fraudsters began when he discovered fake bottles of his Canadian ice wine in Taiwan in 1998.

He tried everything to safeguard his product from counterfeiting, from 22-carat gold to invisible ink, only to realise that none would protect the consumer at point of purchase.

A robotic outfit that bestows superhuman strength allowed a paralyzed Japanese man to tour the steep lanes of France's Mont-Saint-Michel landmark Tuesday -- on a friend's back.

Seiji Uchida, 49, said he had dreamed of visiting the medieval site, a warren of steep steps on a sea-lapped mound off northwestern France, but could not because a motorbike accident in his twenties left him unable to walk.

A study found Monday that Pfizer's anti-smoking drug Chantix poses significant cardiovascular risks, a claim the pharmaceutical giant immediately denied while defending the drug's benefits.

According to the study published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the drug varenicline (brand name Chantix) is linked to a 72 percent greater risk of hospitalization due to a serious adverse cardiovascular event like a heart attack or arrhythmia.

The European Food Safety Agency on Tuesday identified a batch of fenugreek seeds imported from Egypt as the likely suspect in the outbreaks of E. coli disease in both Germany and France.

An EFSA task force set up to track the possible source of the disease said it recommended in consequence that "all efforts be made to prevent any consumer exposure to the suspect seeds".

A French writer is set to launch legal action for attempted rape against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, just days after he was released from house arrest in New York on sexual assault charges.

Tristane Banon, 32, indicated she would send "a complaint for attempted rape" against Strauss-Kahn to prosecutors, likely on Tuesday, her lawyer David Koubbi told the news magazine L'Express on its website.

A French official has said that he would ask Lebanese Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi to exert all efforts to cooperate with the international tribunal “no matter what the price might be.”

Francois Zimeray, who is France’s Ambassador for Human Rights, said in remarks published in the Saudi al-Watan daily on Sunday that he would ask Qortbawi “about the future intentions on the international court and how Lebanon would cooperate with it.”