Paris/Brussels - French-Belgian bank Dexia said Thursday that it had lost 3.326 billion euros (4.25 billion dollars) in 2008 primarily because of losses related to the US subprime crisis.

Turnover fell by nearly half compared with 2007, to 3.556 billion euros, with the financial crisis eating nearly 6 billion euros out of the bank's earnings, Dexia said in a statement.

Dexia suffered more than half of that negative impact in the fourth quarter of last year, when it posted a loss of 2.6 billion euros.

Basel - Sarasin and Cie, a private Swiss bank, said Thursday its adjusted net profits in 2008 were 114.4 million Swiss francs (98.2 million dollars), down from 173.5 million the previous year.

The bank said it had an "impressive" new money inflow of 14.5 billion francs in 2008, a 30 per cent increase over 2007. Just over half of the new money came in during the later part of the year.

At the end of 2008, Sarasin managed client assets totalling 69.7 billion, a drop of 16 per cent compared to the previous year, attributed to overall market conditions.

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.