Gambling arrests
BEIJING: Chinese police had arrested 13 South Korean casino managers and several Chinese agents suspected of luring people from China to gamble in South Korea, state television reported.
China’s citizens, among the world’s most avid gamblers, often travel to the Chinese territory of Macau, South Korea, the Philippines or Australia to bet as gambling is illegal in mainland China. – Reuters
US bombing inquiry
GENEVA: Doctors Without Borders said yesterday an international commission had been formally asked to investigate the US bombing of its hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan.
The medical charity said the Swiss-based International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission had been activated at the request of a state that it did not name. – Reuters
Paedophile jailed
DENVER: A man convicted of kidnapping a toddler in California and sexually abusing the child to produce pornography that he shared online was sentenced to life in prison, the US Department of Justice said yesterday.
Shawn McCormack, 31, of Colorado Springs, was found guilty of sexual exploitation of a child and kidnapping in Fresno, California. – Reuters
Military jet crashes
ZURICH: The Swiss army said one of its Boeing F/A-18 jets crashed in France during a training mission yesterday, injuring the pilot.
The single-seat aircraft, one of a 31-strong fleet, came down in an uninhabited area east of the French city of Besancon.
The defence ministry said it did not know what caused the accident. – Reuters
Rescue called off
GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemalan rescue crews suspended their search for victims of a landslide earlier this month, with the toll at 280 dead and 70 missing, disaster agency Conred said yesterday. Tons of debris from a hillside collapsed on the town of Santa Catarina Pinula and search crews spent 12 days trying to find victims. – Reuters BERLIN: Meryl Streep, who during nearly 40 years in the movies had never served on a film festival jury, would be the jury president for the 66th Berlin International Film Festival opening in February, festival organisers said yesterday.
“It is with great relish and anticipation I look forward to jury duty,” Streep said in a statement issued by the festival, also known as the Berlinale, where she has been a guest on several occasions and won an award in 2003.
Streep shared the Silver Bear award jointly in 2003 with Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman for their performances in The Hours. In 2012, the Berlinale gave her a lifetime achievement award and screened a selection of her films.
“Meryl Streep is one of the most creative and multifaceted film artists. To mark our enthusiasm for her extraordinary talent, we awarded her the Honourary Golden Bear in 2012,” Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick said.
“I am very happy that she will take on the chairmanship of the international jury.” – Reuters