IN BRIEF (Page 12)

Syria

79,000 evacuated from eastern Ghouta

The total number of civilians, mostly children, who have been evacuated from Syria's besieged eastern Ghouta district since the start of a humanitarian operation has risen to 79,702, Russian Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. It said in a statement posted on its website that on Monday, 6,046 civilians left the district via humanitarian corridors.

France

Sarkozy held over funding inquiry

A judicial source said former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed in custody as part of an investigation that he received millions of euros in illegal financing from the government of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi. A person with direct knowledge of the case said on Tuesday that Sarkozy was quizzed by police at the Nanterre police station, west of Paris.

Japan

Court throws out asylum-seekers' bid

Two Syrian asylum-seekers on Tuesday lost a bid to overturn a government decision to deny them refugee status, in the first such lawsuit in Japan since civil war erupted in the Middle Eastern state in 2011. The Tokyo District Court upheld a government ruling made five years ago, that the pair's bid for asylum was not admissible under international refugee law. Immigration and asylum are sensitive subjects in Japan, where many pride themselves on cultural and ethnic homogeneity even amid a shrinking population and the worst labor shortage since the 1970s.

United States

Boy shoots sister over video game

A 9-year-old boy shot his 13-year-old sister to death after they argued over a video game controller on Sunday night, according to local authorities of Mississippi. The girl from Monroe County was shot in the back of her head, and the bullet went through her brain. "He wanted the controller, and I guess he knew where to find the gun," Sheriff Cecil Cantrell told CNN.

TV star joins NY governor race

Cynthia Nixon, the US actress who shot to fame as workaholic lawyer Miranda on Sex and the City, jumped into the race for New York governor on Monday, unveiling a progressive platform championing economic equality and eschewing big business. The 51-year-old declared her candidacy with a two-minute campaign video posted on Twitter that showed her at home with her wife and children, riding the subway, taking one of her children to school and speaking at liberal political causes.

Reuters - Xinhua - AP - AFP

(China Daily 03/21/2018 page12)