GAZA CITY - AROUND 2,000 women Hamas supporters on Saturday protested against the West Bank-based Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas after violent clashes between his police and Hamas militants this week.

'No to Abbas, No to Fayyad,' the women in Gaza City chanted, referring to Western-backed prime minister Salam Fayyad who has launched a security crackdown in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the past several months.

PARIS - TIBETAN exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, arrived in Paris on Saturday on the latest leg of a European tour that threatens fresh damage to France's relations with China.

The Dalai Lama is in France to be named an honorary citizen of Paris. He has insisted it is not political even though China has lashed out at the European countries that have received the 73-year-old Buddhist leader this week.

TEHRAN - HUNDREDS of Iranian film-makers and actors are backing moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi against hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in next week's presidential election, media reported on Saturday.

A newspaper endorsement signed by more than 800 people included leading lights in Iran's entertainment industry such as award-winning directors Darioush Mehrjoui, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Abolfazl Jalili and Majid Majidi.