City News

THE French branch of Scientology is back in court for an appeal against a 2009 trial which found it guilty of “fraud in an organised gang”.

The Paris criminal court fined Scientology’s two main structures, the Paris Celebrity Center and SEL bookshop, €400,000 and €200,000 respectively, while the French leader Alain Rosenberg was fined €30,000 and given a two-year suspended sentence. Several other members were also fined.

They were said to have taken advantage of the vulnerability of several former members to take large sums of money from them.

According to Hollywood Life, Rob will soon be meeting up with co-star Ashley Greene, as the two promote the release of Breaking Dawn in Paris. He is likely disappointed that Kristen Stewart couldn’t be with him, but in addition to filming Snow White and the Huntsman, she was also injured on the set last week.

Rob looked a bit scruffy ashe walked hurriedly walked through Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Do you think this is a new Robert Pattinson look with his several days worth of beard growth or just a bit of negligence on his behalf ? More >

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met on Friday his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris to collect enough support for a seat in the United Nations.

The Franco-Palestinian meeting “… focused on reviving the peace process … and France’s efforts in this context following the President’s proposal during the UN general assembly”, the Elysee Palace said on its website without giving further details.

Paris and Berlin have no disagreement over how to bolster the capital of troubled European banks ahead of talks between the leaders of France and Germany on Sunday, a French finance ministry source said.

The two European powers agree that banks need more capital, yet state capital injections should only be a last resort and banks should first seek to boost resources themselves or tap the private sector, the source told Reuters.

Paris will on Sunday launch an ambitious electrically powered car-share service that it hopes will not only improve the quality of life in the City of Lights but also herald a revolution in sustainable urban transport. More >

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that the Palestinian Authority wants to open the 1994 Paris Protocols – the financial addendum to the Oslo Accords – for review.

Speaking to journalists on his plane back from the UN General Assembly in New York, Abbas said that parallel to the PA’s fight to see its UN statehood bid mature, it will also seek to redefine its financial arrangements vis-à-vis Israel.

Soon after filmmaker Karan Johar confirmed that he won’t be speaking to international society swan Paris Hilton on his show, actor Shah Rukh Khan changed his mind about hosting a partyfor the fashionista, saying that he is “too busy for her”. The star confirmed that there was a party in the pipeline with Paris, who arrived in Mumbai early yesterday.

“Some of my friends had planned a party with Paris Hilton and I was supposed to be there too. But somehow I don’t have the time and I am too busy promoting my film. I am very busy with Ra.One. It’s very difficult for me to have a party for her,” said Shah Rukh at a recent event.

Leaders of Libya’s uprising were in Paris Thursday with delegates from 60 countries and world bodies to discuss a roadmap for Libya’s humanitarian, political and economic future, even as ex-leader Moammar Gadhafi, in hiding, vowed to fight on.

Thursday marked 42 years since Moammar Gadhafi took power in Libya. But with the longtime ruler now on the run – in an audio message aired Thursday he promised no surrender – world backers of the uprising against him met to plan rebuilding the country along new lines.

The meeting on Libya is hosted by British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. They were joined by dignitaries from around the world, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper heads to Paris next week for an international meeting on the future of Libya that’s being hosted by Britain and France.

Harper confirmed his attendance today at the so-called Friends of Libya session while on his current tour of Canada’s North.

The meeting has attracted Russia, China and more than two dozen other countries, and will include members of the new rebel leadership in Tripoli.