Paris - Formula One team McLaren-Mercedes will have to could face further sanctions over the incident in Melbourne in which Toyota driver Jarno Trulli was first penalized for overtaking McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.

The sports governing body FIA said Tuesday that McLaren would have to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on April 29.

Trulli, who finished third, was penalized 25 seconds for overtaking in a safety car phase and Hamilton, who placed fourth, was bumped up to third as a result.

Paris - French transport technology company Thales said Tuesday it had signed a contract in Saudi Arabia to provide a train control system for the North-South Railway project.

The contract, which was signed in cooperation with the Saudi BinLadin Group, is worth 340 million euros (451 million dollars), Thales said.

As part of the project, Thales is supplying main line signalling, telecommunication, supervision, security and fare collection systems, while the BinLadin Group will carry out the construction.

Paris - As stories of the extravagant bonuses of executives vie for headlines with reports of mass layoffs, a poll published Tuesday found that nearly half of all French adults approve of workers holding bosses hostage to press their demands.

In the survey, which was carried out by the CSA institute and published in the daily Le Parisien, 45 per cent of respondents said the tactic was "acceptable."

Paris - A team of French surgeons has performed the first- ever successful simultaneous transplant of a person's face and hands, French media reported Tuesday.

The recipient, a 30-year-old man, was severely burned in an accident in 2004. He suffered profound third-degree burns on his face and had to have all his fingers amputated.

Paris - The murdered Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge has been named recipient of the 2009 UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize, the United Nations' educational and cultural organization said Monday.

"Jury members were moved to an almost unanimous choice by a man who was clearly conscious of the dangers he faced but nevertheless chose to speak out, even beyond his grave," said Joe Thloloe, president of the 14-member jury.