American actress Sharon Stone "is not among the list of guests to be invited" to the Shanghai International Film Festival, an official of the festival's organizing committee said on Tuesday.

The committee has so far not issued any official statement regarding a permanent ban on Stone, he was cited as saying by the China Daily.

Previously, media reports said the film festival, to be held next week, would ban the actress from attending its events on a permanent basis.

"Stone and her films will not appear at the Shanghai International Film Festival, and will never, ever," Tang Lijun, Deputy Secretary-General of the festival, said last Wednesday.

Stone's comment that the Wenchuan earthquake was a result of "bad karma" had caused much dismay.

The 50-year-old star of Basic Instinct attended last year's festival as the Image Ambassador for the French cosmetic giant Christian Dior.

However, the actress is now likely never to have the opportunity to represent Dior in China, the company's fastest growing market.

"Due to customer reaction we have decided to pull her image from all of the department stores and from all of China," Dior China said in a statement released on Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2008)