Three Egyptian ex-ministers were sentenced on Tuesday to up to 10 years in jail for profiteering in a case involving a purchase of car number plates, a judicial official told Agence France Presse.

Former interior minister Habib al-Adly was sentenced to five years, while former finance minister Youssef Boutros Ghali got 10 years in absentia and ex-prime minister Ahmed Nazif was given a one-year suspended sentence.

A political settlement to the Libya conflict is "beginning to take shape", French Prime Minister Francois Fillon told parliament on Tuesday.

"A political solution in Libya is more indispensable than ever and it is beginning to take shape," he said, as lawmakers debated prolonging France's role in the bombing campaign against Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas vowed Tuesday to take the Palestinian bid for statehood to the U.N. after the diplomatic Quartet failed to reach a breakthrough to revive peace talks.

"We will go to the United Nations and we hope the United States will not use its veto, but that we will go with its agreement," the Palestinian leader told reporters after a meeting with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Tuesday lashed out at U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's disclosure that American forces are keeping up unilateral attacks on Iran-backed insurgents in Iraq.

Sadr's spokesman Salah al-Obeidi charged in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad, that Panetta had "openly mocked Iraq's sovereignty and flaunted security agreements" signed by Washington and Baghdad in November 2008.

Egyptian protesters who carried Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on their shoulders to celebrate his appointment in March have now unleashed their full wrath on him for failing to deliver on promised change.

Five months after president Hosni Mubarak was ousted by a popular revolt, pro-democracy activists fear their revolution is in jeopardy, and accuse the ruling military council of maintaining an absolute grip on power that blocks the democratic path.

French and Libyan officials talked up Tuesday the chances of negotiating Moammar Gadhafi's withdrawal from power and an end to the conflict wracking his country, after months of military stalemate.

Gadhafi's own prime minister told a French daily that the embattled regime was ready to begin talks with Paris and Libyan rebels "without preconditions" and without the interference of its authoritarian "Guide".

Syria on Tuesday accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of "incitement" after she said President Bashar Assad has lost legitimacy and the right to remain in power.

"Syria vigorously condemns the remarks of the U.S. secretary of state that amount to further proof of the flagrant interference of the United States in the internal affairs of Syria," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Switzerland said Tuesday it is dispatching a diplomat to the rebel-held Libyan city of Benghazi to open an office aimed at strengthening its ties with the Libyan National Transitional Council.

"By sending a special envoy to Benghazi, Switzerland is signaling its intent to strengthen its presence there, and to intensify its political relations with the Libyan National Transitional Council," said the Swiss Foreign Ministry.

France renewed its demand that the United Nations Security Council take a stance on the crisis in Syria on Tuesday, after mobs backing President Bashar Assad attacked the U.S. and French embassies.

"France and other European countries have submitted a proposed resolution to the U.N. Security Council, which has been blocked by Russia and China," Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Europe 1 radio.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged Arab governments to heed popular demands for reform at a meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the presidential website said on Tuesday.

"Today, the people of the region must enjoy equal rights, the right to vote, security and dignity, and no government can deprive them of freedom and justice or refuse their peoples' demands," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.