Washington, Feb 26 : Clint Eastwood has received an honorary Palme d'Or from the organisers of Cannes film festival at a private ceremony in Paris.

A festival statement said that the privilege honoured was "the talent of a grand master at the summit of his craft."

"When I made my first film 39 years ago, no one in the U. S. -- except for Roger Ebert who was always very enthusiastic -- believed in me as a filmmaker. But French cineastes have always been very supportive," Variety quoted Eastwood, as telling guests at a Paris restaurant.

Beijing (dpa) - China on Thursday condemned the auction of two Chinese bronze animal heads by Christie's and said it would impose restrictions on the firm's operations and exports of antiques from the country.

"In recent years, Christie's has frequently sold cultural heritage items looted or smuggled from China, and all items involved were illegally taken out of the country," the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) said.

Paris  - Despite the worst global economic crisis in more than 50 years, the three-day Paris auction of the art collection of the late fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent fetched 373.5 million euros (476 million dollars) by its Wednesday conclusion.

The total represents by far the world record for the sale of a private collection and well exceeded the estimates of 200 million to 300 million euros set by Christie's auction house, the main organizer of the sale.

Paris  - Two Chinese bronze heads that were at the centre of an international legal tug-of-war were sold late Wednesday at the auction of the Yves Saint Laurent art collection for 14 million euros (17.84 million dollars) each, Christie's auction house said.

The final bids far exceeded the estimate of 8 million to 10 million euros that Christie's, which organized the three-day auction, had placed on them. Including buyers' fees, the price for the two bronzes totalled 31.5 million euros.

The Association for the Protection of Chinese Art in Europe had tried to prevent Christie's auction house from selling the two bronzes because they were allegedly looted from China by British and French troops 150 years ago.

Paris  - The French government has used its new Strategic Investment Fund (FSI) to purchase part of one of the world's largest auto equipment suppliers, Valeo SA, an official with the fund said on Wednesday.

The FSI paid 18.5 million euros (23.8 million dollars) for a 2.35 per cent share of Valeo. Added to the shares purchased previously by the state bank CDC, that raises the government' s share of Valeo to 8.33 per cent.

The purchase is the first transaction by the fund, which was created in December to enable the government to inject capital in struggling firms in order to prevent them from failing or being taken over by foreign companies.

Paris - In an apparent compromise with the European Commission, the French government is prepared to drop a condition in an aid package to its auto industry that has been criticized as anti-competitive, the daily Le Figaro reported on Wednesday.

Citing a source in the government, the daily said that Paris was now prepared to drop a requirement that car makers Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen would not shut any French factories for five years in exchange for loans of 3 billion euros (3.86 billion dollars) each.