Paris - The French government has reacted with anger to the report that the outgoing head of the auto equipment supplier Valeo is to be given 3.2 million euros (4.34 million dollars) as severance payment, French media reported on Tuesday.

Government spokesman Luc Chatel said that the state, which owns 8 per cent of the company's capital, would at the upcoming shareholders' meeting vote against the payment to outgoing CEO Thierry Morin.

Paris - Despite errors by banks that provoked the global finance and economic crisis, authorities in individual nations must retain control of supervision of their banks, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was quoted on Tuesday as saying.

"We are agreed with (having common regulations across Europe). But as for the individual supervision of banks, national authorities retain the supervision and I think it should remain like that," Brown said in an interview published in the French daily La Tribune.

Paris - The French government will pay out at least 10 million euros (13.62 million dollars) to people with health problems as a result of French nuclear tests carried out in the Algerian Sahara and in Polynesia, Defence Minister Herve Morin was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"About 150,000 civilian and military employees are theoretically concerned, as well as the people who lived in the Sahara and Polynesia at the time of the tests," Morin said in an interview published in the daily Le Figaro.

Riyadh  - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arrived in Riyadh Sunday for talks on key regional issues.

He and Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal were to discuss issues including Gaza, Palestinian reconciliation and Lebanon ahead of the parliamentary election there on June 7.

Other subjects would be the Iran nuclear issue and developments in Afghanistan and Sudan, informed sources said.

Washington  - US President Barack Obama on Saturday welcomed France's decision to return to NATO's military command after a 43- year absence, saying France's "full participation ... will contribute to a stronger alliance and a stronger Europe."

"I enthusiastically welcome the decision made by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to fully reintegrate France into the NATO alliance," Obama said in a statement.

Paris, March 21: The European Space Agency's GOCE satellite has completed its early orbit phase.

During the critical Launch and Early Orbit Phase, beginning with separation from its booster on March 17, GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) was checked out to confirm that all of its control systems are operating normally.

The end of the Launch and Early Orbit Phase (LEOP) came overnight after GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) was switched to Fine Pointing Mode.