Paris  - An international conference on Afghanistan began near Paris Sunday without representation from Iran.

According to French media reports, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki decided shortly before the conference's start not to attend. French sources further noted that no representative of Mottaki had shown.

Tensions between Iran and France, which is hosting the conference, have been building in recent weeks after French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would neither offer his hand to or share a table with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad owing to Ahmadinejad's antipathy toward Israel.

Iran responded to those comments with warnings of "serious consequences for bilateral relations."

Val d'Isere, France  - Gusty winds and heavy snowfall forced organizers to cancel a men's World Cup slalom ski race on Sunday.

Val d'Isere, France - Carlo Janka of Switzerland claimed his first career victory in alpine skiing on Saturday when he dominated a giant slalom in which local hope Gauthier de Tessieres shot from 30th to third place.

Janka, 22, registered a combined total of 2 minutes 22.73 seconds for his two runs on the hill where the world championship medals will decided in February.

Massimiliano Blardone of Italy was second in 2:22.93 minute while the 27-year-old Frenchman de Tessieres made the most of starting the second run in perfect piste conditions for his first podium in 2:23.17.

Janka is enjoying his best season and managed his first podium two weeks ago when he came second in a downhill in Lake Louise, Canada.

Val d'Isere- Benjamin Raich claimed back-to-back victories in the alpine ski World Cup season when he clinched the men's super-combined in the French resort of Val
d'Isere on Friday.

Raich notched his 32nd World Cup win of his career with a combined time of 2 minutes 2.48 seconds for the super-g and slalom legs.

It gave the 30-year-old Austrian a 34-second lead over Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Grange, with fellow Austrian Marcel Hirscher third (2:03.17).

Raich had won the giant slalom last Sunday in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Paris - France's First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, is going to court to prevent the sale of a shopping bag adorned with a photo of her in the nude, the online edition of the weekly Le Point reported on Friday.

Bruni-Sarkozy's attorney, Thierry Herzog, said the bag - which is made by the Pardon company based on the island of La Reunion - damages her image, which was used without her consent.

"We will ask for a ban on the sale of this article and 125,000 euros (166,000 dollars) in damages," Herzog said. The money, if it is awarded, will be donated to charity, he added.

Paris - North Korean strongman Kim Jong-il suffered a stroke last summer but was now on the mend, a French doctor who treated him told the daily Le Figaro.

"Kim Jong-il was the victim of a stroke, but he did not undergo surgery," Francois-Xavier Roux, head of neurosurgery at Sainte-Anne Hospital in Paris, told the newspaper on Thursday.

"Today, he is doing better. The photographs that have just been published seem genuine to me," Roux said.