MONACO, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - A Monaco appeals court on Tuesday upheld convictions against an American financier and his daughter who were found guilty last year of swindling millions of euros from gullible investors.

The court confirmed William Fogwell's five-year jail term and increased Shelley Fogwell's sentence from four-and-a-half years to the same amount. They also each got 500,000 euro (708,000 dollar) fines.

Both currently in prison, Fogwell, 72, and his 46 year-old daughter had appealed against the convictions handed down by a lower court in July 2006.

MONACO, Sept 22, 2007 (AFP) - Prince Albert II of Monaco is to address the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations on climate change, the palace announced here.

The prince, who has made defending the environment one of his key policies since his accession, will give a speech during a round table on financing climate change at Monday's opening plenary session.

He will also be guest of honour at a dinner in New York on Sunday organised by the United Nations Foundation.

MOSCOW, Aug 16, 2007 (AFP) - Prince Albert II of Monaco will be bringing back two babies from Russia-- a couple of rare freshwater nerpa seals gifted to him by a government official, Russian agency ITAR-TASS reported Thursday.

A Siberian regional official gave the prince the seals, which he promised to take good care of, according to an aide to the Irkutsk regional governor.

The seals, whose usual habitat is Baikal Lake in Siberia, will go to a new home at the Oceanography Museum in Monaco.

MOSCOW, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prince Albert II of Monaco on Monday traded palatial digs near Saint Petersburg for a yurt near the Mongolian border, where they had tea.

A day after meeting at the Peterhof palace complex, 25 kilometres (16 miles) from Saint Petersburg, the two men took the Russian president's plane to Kyzyl, the capital of the Russian Tuva republic on the border of Mongolia.

NICE, July 22, 2007 (AFP) - Authorities in Monaco trying to save a starving baby whale spotted off the coast there last week have lost track of the animal, maritime officials said Sunday.

The whale, which is separated from its mother and cannot feed itself, was last seen on Saturday morning, Mike Riddel of the International Maritime Reserve for Marine Mammals in the Western Mediterranean (Rimmo) told AFP.