Paris - A 300-year-old history book from the private library of Adolf Hitler was auctioned off for 1,800 euros (2,430 dollars), the French weekly L'Express reported on Thursday.

The book, which was published in 1712, was part of the Nazi dictator's library in his beloved mountain residence Der Berghof in Obersalzberg, near the Bavarian resort of Berchtesgarten.

Washington  - President Barack Obama's administration, in a massive overhaul of the US financial regulatory system, is seeking the power to keep watch on all types of financial firms and to seize failing companies integral to the health of the system.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the plans in congressional testimony on Thursday, arguing that the current financial turmoil has proven the system is "too unstable and fragile" to be allowed to manage itself.

Nairobi/Kinshasa - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday called for a new momentum for peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo during a speech to lawmakers in the central African nation.

Sarkozy, who travelled with a delegation of ministers and business representatives, said that there was a need to unite various rebel factions and regional governments in order to avoid further chaos.

Rebel groups have in recent years continued to cause trouble in the east of DR Congo, with last year seeing a flare-up in fighting that displaced over 250,000 people.

Paris - Gas tanker workers for the French utility GDF-Suez are going on strike to protest the awarding of more than 1.1 million stock options to the company's two senior executives, the online edition of the daily Le Figaro reported on Thursday.

The attribution of 830,000 stock options to company head Gerard Mestrallet and 300,000 to his vice president, Jean-Francois Cirelli, has provoked anger among employees, who are in the process of negotiating with the firm about a pay rise of 7.5 per cent and a one-time payment of 1,500 euros.

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Paris  - The French labour market shed nearly 80,000 jobs in February, the Labour Ministry announced on Wednesday.

As a result of the tenth consecutive monthly rise in French unemployment, more than 2.38 million active job-seekers are now registered as unemployed in France.

The announcement follows France's worst-ever monthly increase in unemployment in January, when more than 90,000 new jobless were registered.

The French government is predicting the loss of some 300,000 jobs for 2009, but many observers feel that this forecast is far too optimistic.