MONZA, Italy, Sept 6, 2007 (AFP) - The McLaren-Mercedes Formula One team has been fined 50,000 dollars by motor sport's ruling body (FIA) for failing to crash test a new gear box prior to Fernando Alonso's victory in Hungary.

A source from the sports governing body said Thursday the team had been fined because it had broken FIA rules.

A car which has passed regulatory tests prior to the start of the season must carry out new crash tests each time a major new part is put in the car.

WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - A US federal court Thursday approved a 300 million dollar criminal fine against British Airways after the airline pleaded guilty to illegally fixing prices on transatlantic passenger and cargo flights.

The court simultaneously accepted a 300 million dollar fine against South Korea-based Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd., after it pleaded guilty to similar charges relating to flights between the United States and South Korea.

WARSAW, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Polish competition authorities Friday fined the country's biggest telecoms operator, Telekomunikacja Polska (TP), 33 million zlotys (8.6 million euros, 11.7 million dollars) for hampering rivals' market access.

The country's telecoms regulator said it had punished TP, in which France Telecommunication has a 47.5-percent stake, for its 'lack of goodwill in negotiations' with other companies that were seeking access to its network.

In a statement, TP said it was 'surprised' by the watchdog's ruling and planned to appeal.

WASHINGTON, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - A US anti-war group has been warned it will be fined 10,000 dollars if it does not remove posters in Washington announcing a march in the capital next month against US involvement in Iraq, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

'The ANSWER Coalition has received citations from the authorities in Washington threatening to fine us 10,000 dollars unless several hundred posters announcing the September 15 march on Washington DC are removed,' Sarah Sloan, the staff coordinator for the anti-war group, told AFP.

MOSCOW, Aug 10, 2007 (AFP) - The owner of a Japanese trawler seized by Russian authorities two months ago for allegedly poaching has been ordered to pay a fine of more than 1.3 million rubles (50,000 dollars, 38,000 euros), the Interfax news agency reported Friday.

The Hoshin Maru number 88 will not be allowed to return to Japan in light of the court decision and the continuing criminal investigation against its captain, a foreign ministry official said.

DAKAR, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Senegal's state council has upheld a fine of millions of dollars slapped on Sonatel, a leading telephone operator, for repeated interruptions on its cellphone network, an official said Thursday.

Sonatel launched an appeal 'which was rejected,' ARTP's legal director Thierno Ly told AFP.

'It was a definitive decision. There is no other recourse at this point.'

Before the fine was clapped on Sonatel in January, the company had received a legal notice in 2006 for 'repeated cellular telephone netowrk interruptions'.

WARSAW, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - The Polish owner of a coach that crashed in France last month, killing 26 people on a pilgrimage, has been fined amid suspicion it let drivers breach working time limits, officials said Thursday.

The company, Caban, was ordered to pay 30,000 zlotys (7,900 euros, 10,800 dollars), said the Polish national roads' inspectorate.

It was punished after it was unable to supply documentation detailing the driving time of the two employees on the coach which crashed in the French Alps on July 22 after a total trip of 15,000 kilometres (9,300 miles).

WASHINGTON, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - British Airways and Korean Air Lines Co. each have agreed to plead guilty and pay separate 300-million-dollar criminal fines for conspiring to fix prices on passenger and cargo flights, the US Department of Justice said Wednesday.

British Airways (BA) separately was fined a record 121.5 million pounds (246 million dollars) in Britain after admitting collusion over fuel surcharges on tickets, according to the British antitrust agency.

SEOUL, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - South Korea's main flag carrier Korean Air apologised Thursday after admitting fixing prices on international passenger and cargo flights and agreeing to pay 300 million dollars in fines in the United States.

'Korean Air apologises to shareholders and customers for causing the trouble,' Ahn Yong-Seok, a company lawyer, told AFP.

Ahn confirmed the plea agreement on the charges, resulting from the US Justice Department's antitrust investigation of the air transport industry since early 2006, but played down its business impact.

LONDON, Aug 1, 2007 (AFP) - British Airways has been fined a record 121.5 million pounds (180 million euros, 246 million dollars) after admitting collusion over fuel surcharges on tickets, a financial watchdog said Wednesday.

But Virgin Atlantic escaped punishment because it cooperated with the inquiry, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said in a statement.

The BA fine was the watchdog's highest ever penalty for infringements of competition law.

MADRID, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Spanish energy company Endesa faces a multimillion euro fine following a power cut in Barcelona that snarled traffic and shut down three underground train lines, regional president Jose Montilla said Friday.

Montilla said that thousands of residents most affected would be entitled to compensation following a transformer fire on Monday that cut electricity to 350,000 people.

About half had power restored within hours but others had to wait for about two days and some residents sufferered renewed outages Friday.