In brief: director Claude Berri dies

Claude Berri, director of the hit French films Jean de Florette and its sequel Manon des Sources (see clip below), died on Monday of a suspected stroke at the age of 74. The 1980s films, set in rural Provence, helped make international stars out of Gerard Depardieu, Daniel Auteuil and Emmanuelle Beart (pictured right). In tribute, President Nicolas Sarkozy called Berri (above left) "the most legendary figure of French cinema", adding: "All who knew or approached him are now in mourning".......... Amy Winehouse, the Grammy award-winning singer, is being sued for divorce by her husband Blake Fielder-Civil for alleged adultery. Although no third party has been revealed, Winehouse has spent the last month on the Caribbean island of St Lucia where she has been pictured in the arms of a muscular 21-year-old holidaymaker. It is expected that Fielder-Civil, 27, who served a prison sentence for assault and trying pervert the course of justice, will seek some part of the 25-year-old singer's reported £10m as a settlement…………… Barack Obama says the choice of breed for First Puppy – as promised to his daughters on the day he won the presidential election – is down to a Portuguese water dog or a Labradoodle........... Robert Redford appears to believe he unleashed a monster when he founded Sundance Film festival, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Speaking about the glut of imitators, he told Reuters: "My gut says there's such a thing as too much information"………….