The star, who will attend the French premiere of the thriller Collateral on Monday, had an hour-long meeting with Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

The pair are believed to have discussed Franco-American relations, which were damaged last year by France's opposition to the Iraq war.

Cruise was met by local photographers as he arrived at the ministry.

Leigh to kick off London Festival

The new film from British director Mike Leigh will open this year's London Film Festival on 20 October.

Vera Drake, which stars Imelda Staunton, is a 1950s set drama about a housewife who secretly helps women deal with unwanted pregnancies.

The closing night film will be I Heart Huckabees, an offbeat comedy starring Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman.

The full programme for the festival will be announced in mid-September.

Police charge Lavigne 'stalker'

A US man has been charged with stalking after allegedly harassing singer Avril Lavigne's parents and violating a court order by trying to contact her.

James Speedy, 30, from Seattle, Washington, had been arrested in April.

Prosecutor Janice Albert said: "He sent his letters by FedEx and complained when they were not answered.

"In his letters, he discussed [Lavigne's] family in detail. He sent wine, photos, CDs and requests for contact. They never responded."

Ms Bedingfield keeps chart crown

Natasha Bedingfield, the sister of pop star Daniel, has held onto the number one spot in the UK singles chart for the second week running.

Her hit These Words stayed on top, with Baby Cakes by 3 of a Kind also a non-mover in second place.

The highest new entry came from girl group The 411, whose second single Dumb went straight in at three.

The Prodigy went top of the album chart with Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned - their first album for seven years.

Actor Stewart has blood vessel op

Star Trek and X-Men actor Patrick Stewart has had an angioplasty to widen an artery and improve blood flow.

The actor had the procedure - where a small balloon is inflated inside a narrowed blood vessel - to prevent future problems, his publicist said.

A blood flow problem was detected at an annual medical check-up, he said.

Stewart, 64, is resting before returning to work next week - but was forced to miss a science fiction convention in Canada on Saturday.

Director Lee wins cybersquat case

Movie director Spike Lee has won a legal battle against a "cybersquatter" who used spikelee.com to redirect surfers to a pornographic website.

The domain name was registered "in bad faith" by Philippines-based Mercedita Kyamko in 1999, a World Intellectual Property Organisation arbiter ruled.

Lee directed 25th Hour, Do The Right Thing, Summer of Sam and Malcolm X.