PARIS

Twelve footprints found in the bed of an ancient lake in northern Spain have thrown up the first compelling evidence that some land dinosaurs could swim, researchers reported on Thursday. The 15m-long track in sandstone ”strongly suggests a floating animal clawing the sediment” as it swam against a current, they say.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy named Francois Fillon as Prime Minister on Thursday, banking on the moderate conservative’s negotiating skills to push through sweeping reforms in the face of union resistance. On his first full day in office, Sarkozy held a breakfast meeting with Fillon before confirming the appointment of the 53-year-old.

French utility back Thomas Castaignede is to retire after the World Cup in October. Currently playing with London side Saracens in the English first division, the 32-year-old Castaignede said he had taken the decision to hang up his boots a year ago, but had held off making an announcement.

France’s President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy rejected opposition criticism of his post-election holiday on a luxury yacht on Wednesday, saying there was nothing out of the ordinary about the three-day break. ”I have no intention of hiding. I have no intention of lying. I have no intention of apologising,” Sarkozy told reporters.

Nicolas Sarkozy was on Sunday night handed a mandate to change France after a massive turnout in one of the most divisive presidential election campaigns in the country’s history. As rioting broke out at Bastille, on the other side of central Paris, the right-wing former interior minister promised to make France love itself again.

Conservative Nicolas Sarkozy won France’s presidential election on Sunday, beating his Socialist rival Ségolène Royal by a comfortable margin and extending the right’s 12-year grip on power. Within minutes of polls closing, Royal conceded defeat in a speech to party faithful in the heart of Paris.

Carlos the Jackal, one of the most notorious armed militants of the 1970s and 1980s, will be tried in France for four attacks that killed 11 people and injured almost 200 others in the 1980s, a justice official said on Friday. Judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere granted prosecutors’ request that Carlos, a Venezuelan whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, be tried for the attacks.

Right-wing former interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Ségolène Royal meet face to face on Wednesday for a television debate that could decide Sunday’s French presidential election. The two-hour encounter will be screened simultaneously by France’s two biggest television channels from 9pm local time.

Urine samples from cyclist Floyd Landis taken during his contested win in the 2006 Tour de France have tested positive for the banned substance testosterone, L’Equipe sports daily reported on Monday. On its website, L’Equipe reported that ”B” samples belonging to the American had been tested retrospectively.

French voters flocked to choose a new president on Sunday in an election dominated by right-wing front-runner Nicolas Sarkozy and Socialist Ségolène Royal, who hopes to be the first woman elected head of state. Sarkozy led Royal and the other 10 candidates in opinion polls throughout the long campaign.

A new category of drug has shown promising results for HIV/Aids patients who failed to respond to other treatments, a study to be published on Saturday shows. Especially when combined with other medications, raltegravir dramatically reduced the presence of the HI virus and boosted immunity in clinical-trial patients.

France’s Nicolas Sarkozy says he will carry out all his major reforms in his first two years in power if elected in May, including streamlining the government into 15 superministries. A summer session of Parliament would push through tax cuts on income earned through overtime, incentives for home buyers and tougher sentences for repeat offenders.

Spending caps, advertising restrictions and a total ban on TV commercials have made for a visually austere French presidential race, a stark contrast to the style of campaigning seen in the United States. Interest in politics is surging and voter registration has spiked, but it’s not because of spending on advertising.

More than 70 people were injured on Thursday when a train carrying hundreds of rush-hour commuters hit the rail buffer of a Paris station, firefighters said. The driver was held for questioning by police after the nine-carriage train carrying 600 passengers struck the buffer as it pulled into the Gare de l’Est station, in eastern Paris.

France’s high-speed TGV train will try to smash its own world record and reach speeds of up to 580km/h on Tuesday in a move that manufacturer Alstom hopes will help it trounce its Japanese and German rivals in a rapidly expanding market. Weather conditions permitting, a black V150 train will rocket along a stretch of the new high-speed line between Paris and Strasbourg.

United Nations health agencies on Wednesday gave the stamp of approval for including male circumcision in the panoply of arms to fight the spread of Aids, stressing though that its success also depended on safe-sex awareness, sensitivity and resources.

Comic-book hero Asterix did his bit for Middle East peace this weekend, when Arab and Hebrew translations of an Asterix album with a Middle Eastern touch were released simultaneously at the Paris book fair. ”Translation opens us up to others, to all peoples,” said Syrian Jamal Shehayeb, who usually translates literary works by Proust or poet Lamartine.