Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy left Paris on Monday on a two-day visit to the Middle East in a unilateral attempt to negotiate a ceasefire in the fighting in Gaza.

Traveling in his capacity as co-president, with Egypt, of the Union for the Mediterranean, Sarkozy is scheduled first to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in the resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

He will then travel on to West Bank city of Ramallah to hold talks with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, before meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert late Monday in Jerusalem.

Paris - The man who helped plot the 9/11 terrorist attacks and two others went on trial in Paris on Monday for their alleged involvement in the 2002 suicide bombing of a Tunisian synagogue that killed 21 people.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has admitted being the main architect of the 9/11 attacks, German citizen Christian Ganczarski and Tunisian Walid Nauar, the brother of the suicide bomber, are charged with accessory to murder and face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is currently imprisoned in the US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, is being tried in absentia.

Paris  - The French government late Saturday sharply criticized Israel's military operation in the Gaza Strip, saying it "complicated" peace efforts.

"France condemns Israel's ground offensive against Gaza just as it condemns the continued rocket attacks" by Hamas against Israel, the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ground attack "complicates efforts undertaken by the international community, especially the European Union and France, the members of the (Mideast) Quartet and the countries in the region to end the conflict (and) provide immediate aid to civilians," the statement read.

London, Jan 3 : France''s justice minister Rachida Dati gave birth to a baby girl in Paris late Friday.

The 43-year-old, however, has not yet revealed the name of the child''s father.

Zohra was delivered 15 days prematurely by caesarean section in a maternity clinic, reports the Telegraph.

Dati confessed that she has a "complicated" private life, and that the father of her first child would naturally be a subject for speculation.

French internet chat rooms and blogs have been inundated in recent months with rumours about her private life.

Dati confirmed pregnancy rumours to reporters last summer, adding: "I will say nothing more for the moment about the father."

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy received Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Thursday for urgent talks on trying to end the latest Gaza Strip crisis.

The talks were already overshadowed by an Israeli rejection of a call by the European Union for a 48-hour truce in the hostilities.

Sarkozy is to travel to the Mideast region starting next Monday to continue his mediation efforts, with visits to Cairo, Ramallah and Jerusalem, Elysee Palace said.

Paris - Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni repeated her government's rejection of a ceasefire with militants in the Gaza Strip during meetings with French officials in Paris on Thursday.

Livni's visit to France was overshadowed from the start by an Israeli rejection of a call by the European Union for a 48-hour truce in the hostilities. Israel argued that it is the victim of terrorist attacks.