Actor and fitness guru Greg Plitt has died in a train accident in California.
Greg Plitt, 37, was struck on Saturday afternoon on the tracks near Burbank Metrolink station.
Several radio stations are reporting that the former model may have been filming with friends at the time.
Police have confirmed they seized recording equipment from the scene.
Greg Plitt recently starred in the Bravo show Work Out and is due to feature in a new reality series called Friends to Lovers later this month.
Photo Getty Images
A Bravo spokesperson said: “This is a terrible tragedy. Our thoughts and deepest sympathy are with Greg’s family and friends.”
Fellow workout guru Rob Riches has tweeted that the world has lost a fitness icon.
Greg Plitt acted in a number of movies, appearing alongside Robert De Niro and Matt Damon in The Good Shepherd, and with Christian Bale in Terminator 4.
Katie Price has joined the Celebrity Big Brother show after model Chloe Goodman’s elimination on January 16.
The 36-year-old singer was brought in by producers after they removed Jeremy Jackson and Ken Morley for separate cases of inappropriate behavior.
When asked why she signed up Katie Price said: “There is always a price for the Pricey and the price was right.”
Katie Price says the thought of winning hasn’t even crossed her mind but what can we expect from the “businesswoman, model, author, singer, TV star and proud mum” in the house?
“Hopefully they will see the real Katie Price, not the version of Katie Price a section of the press like to invent,” said the mother of five.
She added: “That is why it’s good when I do my reality shows.
“I haven’t done one of those for a few years so it is a good chance for them to see that I am still the same normal down to earth person.”
Katie Price said: “I don’t really wear makeup and I am always casual when I’m not working.
“My hair will most likely be scrunched up on my head, no make- up, in my trackies or hoodies, that’s me. I think people will be surprised.”
Katie Hopkins is also in the house and she’s had a few things to say about Katie Price on Twitter in the past, including criticizing the name of her youngest child, Bunny.
Alexander O’Neal has quit the UK’s Celebrity Big Brother show.
The soul singer is the third contestant to leave outside the house’s usual elimination process.
Alexander O’Neal had been given a formal warning by producers on January 17 for using homophobic language aimed at celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.
Although he apologized, the singer has now opted to leave the house.
Jeremy Jackson and Ken Morley were previously removed from the house over their behavior.
Alexander O’Neal’s departure follows a dispute between him and Perez Hilton, in which the singer accused his housemate of deliberately provoking him.
A short message from Alexander O’Neal was read to those remaining in the Big Brother house, which read: “To all my housemates, I’ve had a great experience with you guys and I have mad love for almost all of you.
“I want you guys not to be sad that I’m leaving and to not let my departure interrupt your experience.”
Baywatch star Jeremy Jackson was thrown off the show after pulling open another contestant’s dressing gown, exposing her. He later received a police caution for common assault.
Former Coronation Street actor Ken Morley was removed from the house for using racist language while in conversation with Alexander O’Neal.
Speaking after his dismissal, Ken Morley accepted he had used “an outdated expression”, but denied he was racist.
Model Chloe Goodman, who was involved in the incident with Jeremy Jackson, is so far the only contestant to be evicted by public vote, leaving the house on January 16.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday about Alexander O’Neal, Chloe Goodman said: “He’s a lovely man, but he isn’t comfortable. He hates the disrespect in there and I think he’s finding it hard to cope. He wants to go home.”
Helping to make up the numbers of the departed celebrities, Katie Price entered the house on Friday.
American Sniper has topped the North American box office with takings of $90 million.
The movie set a record for a January opening following its six Oscar nominations last week.
American Sniper, directed by Clint Eastwood, is up for best picture and best actor for star Bradley Cooper, who plays real life Navy Seal Chris Kyle.
Action comedy The Wedding Ringer opened in second place with $21 million.
British family film Paddington came third with $19.3 million.
American Sniper jumped from 21st place at last weekend’s US box office, after a limited release in just a few screens.
It is now Clint Eastwood’s most successful film as director, beating Gran Torino’s 2008 opening of $29.5 million, and performed twice as well as studio estimates according to Reuters.
The Wedding Ringer, which stars Kevin Hart as a best man for hire, achieved its successful opening weekend despite being panned by critics.
Last week’s number one, Liam Neeson’s action sequel Taken 3, fell to fourth place.
US cinemas were especially busy during the three-day Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend.
Martin Luther King drama Selma, which was nominated for two Oscars including best picture, was in fifth place.
The Imitation Game – which landed eight Oscar nominations – also made the top 10, along with Disney musical Into the Woods, the final Hobbit film and Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken.
New cyber-terrorism film Blackhat was in 10th place.
According to a study by anti-poverty charity Oxfam, the richest 1% will soon own more than the rest of the world’s population.
Oxfam’s research shows that the share of the world’s wealth owned by the richest 1% increased from 44% in 2009 to 48% last year.
On current trends, Oxfam says it expects the wealthiest 1% to own more than 50% of the world’s wealth by 2016.
The research coincides with the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The annual gathering attracts top political and business leaders from around the world.
Oxfam’s executive director Winnie Byanyima, who will co-chair the Davos event, said she would use the charity’s high-profile role at the gathering to demand urgent action to narrow the gap between rich and poor.
In a statement ahead of the gathering, Winnie Byanyima said the scale of global inequality was “simply staggering”.
“It is time our leaders took on the powerful vested interests that stand in the way of a fairer and more prosperous world.
“Business as usual for the elite isn’t a cost-free option – failure to tackle inequality will set the fight against poverty back decades. The poor are hurt twice by rising inequality – they get a smaller share of the economic pie and because extreme inequality hurts growth, there is less pie to be shared around,” she added.
Oxfam is calling on governments to adopt a seven-point plan to tackle inequality, including a clampdown on tax evasion by companies and the move towards a living wage for all workers.
It made headlines at Davos last year with the revelation that the 85 richest people on the planet have the same wealth as the poorest 50% (3.5 billion people).
It said that that comparison had now become even more stark, with the 80 richest people having the same wealth as the poorest 50%.
Oxfam said the research, published on January 19, showed that 52% of global wealth not owned by the richest 1% is owned by those in the richest 20%.
The remaining population accounts for just 5.5% of global wealth, and their average wealth was $3,851 per adult in 2014, Oxfam found.
That compares with an average wealth of $2.7 million per adult for the richest 1%.
The study comes just a day before President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he is expected to call for tax increases on the wealthy to help the middle class.
The trial of Korean Air executive Cho Hyun-ah, who flew into a rage when macadamia nuts were served to her in a bag and not on a plate, has begun in Seoul.
Cho Hyun-ah, also known as Heather Cho, ordered her plane that was taxiing to return to the gate and offload the chief steward.
The “nut rage” incident occurred on a Seoul-bound flight from New York on December 5.
On January 19, Cho Hyun-ah pleaded not guilty to charges of obstructing aviation safety.
Heather Cho, 40, who has been detained since December 30, was wearing a green prison uniform in the packed courtroom.
She stood with her head lowered and answered questions in a whisper.
Her lawyers argued in the opening statement that the charges were based on “exaggerated statements” and that the safety violations were minor given the plane was still on the ground and had not yet reached the runway.
Photo EPA
Heather Cho, who is the daughter of Korean Air chief executive Cho Yang-ho, is also accused of interfering in the execution of a government official’s duty and coercion, according to prosecutors, who said she allegedly exerted influence in the government investigation.
She faces a maximum 10 years in jail if found guilty of diverting the aircraft with no good reason.
Cho Hyun-ah publicly apologized for the incident and resigned from all her posts at the airline in December.
However, the story was widely seen as an example of poor management in South Korea’s family-run conglomerates, or “chaebols” that dominate the country’s business landscape.
The Korean transport ministry said it would place sanctions on Korean Air of a ban on some routes or fines of up to $2 million.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen will not appear in the next X-Men film.
Patrick Stewart, 74, said on Larry King’s show: “It is going to be looking very much at the earlier lives of all our characters. And so I don’t think we’ll be making an appearance. Nor Sir Ian McKellen, either.”
X-Men: Apocalypse is due for release in 2016.
It’s expected to focus on the cast of X-Men: First Class, which included James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have played the roles of Professor X and Magneto in the X-Men series since 2000.
2014’s installment X-Men: Days of Future Past featured a time travel plot that meant those original stars could appear alongside their younger counterparts from X-Men: First Class.
The film had a cliffhanger ending which some have suggested could leave the door open for the veteran actors to appear in future X-Men films or one of the upcoming X-Men related films, Gambit or Deadpool.
There have been seven films in the X-Men franchise so far, including two Wolverine spin-off movies.
X-Men: Apocalypse, which will be directed by Bryan Singer, is due for release in 2016.
It is an adaptation of the popular comic book storyline of En Sabah Nur and his Four Horsemen.
Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen have a long history of working together in both film and theatre, dating back to the 1970s.
Spain’s Supreme Court will examine one of two paternity suits against former King Juan Carlos, it was reported this week.
On January 14, the court announced that it will hear the case of Belgian housewife Ingrid Jeanne Sartiau, born in 1966, who claims that King Juan Carlos is her father.
It is the first lawsuit to be brought against Juan Carlos, 77, who lost his total immunity from prosecution when he abdicated in favor of his son Felipe in 2014.
A spokesman for the royal palace declined to comment, saying only that it respected the judiciary’s independence.
The court dismissed a second paternity suit lodged by Spanish waiter Alberto Solá Jiménez, 58, who claims to be King Juan Carlos’s son. A court official told AP that Alberto Solá Jimenez’s claim lacked legal basis.
Photo AFP
Alberto Solá Jimenez has claimed that his mother, the daughter of a well-known Barcelona banker, may have had an affair with King Juan Carlos before he married Queen Sofia.
Ingrid Jeanne Sartiau and Alberto Sola Jimenez joined forces in 2012 and underwent DNA tests that showed there was a 91% chance that they had a parent in common.
Their bid to make King Juan Carlos take a paternity test at the time failed due to his protection from prosecution as a serving monarch.
The reign of King Juan Carlos was marred in later years by a series of scandals, including an extravagant elephant-hunting trip to Botswana during the economic recession.
Juan Carlos’ youngest daughter, Princess Cristina, is due to stand trial on charges of tax fraud following a long-running corruption scandal.
Infanta Cristina and her husband Inaki Urdangarin, who is accused of embezzling public funds, both deny any wrongdoing.
King Felipe VI has been trying to clean up the image of the Royal institution and restore its waning popularity.
North Korean prison camp escapee Shin Dong-hyuk, who is now a high-profile human rights campaigner, has apologized for inaccuracies in his story.
Shin Dong-hyuk, 32, was the subject of a best-selling book after he fled North Korea in 2005.
The book described how Shin Dong-hyuk was tortured, and his relatives killed.
On January 17, author Blaine Harden said that although the key elements of Shin Dong-hyuk’s accounts were correct, the time and date of some events were wrong.
“From a human rights perspective, he was still brutally tortured, but he moved things around,” Blaine Harden told the Washington Post.
Shin Dong-hyuk was born inside a North Korean labor camp. He said that he spent 23 years in captivity before his escape, and that during his time inside, he was starved, tortured and saw his mother and brother executed.
He managed to flee after climbing through an electric fence, and eventually settled in South Korea.
Blaine Harden wrote about Shin Dong-hyuk’s experiences in his book Escape from Camp 14, which became a best-seller and was translated into 27 languages.
Blaine Harden said he had learned that Shin Dong-hyuk “had told friends an account of his life that differed substantially from my book”, and spoke to him to clarify the changes.
Photo Getty Images
One inaccuracy in Shin Dong-hyuk’s account was where his mother and brother were executed, the Washington Post said.
In the book, Shin Dong-hyuk had said that they were killed in Camp 14, a prison camp in North Korea. However, Shin Dong-hyuk now said that the execution took place while they were in another camp, known as Camp 18.
In his original account, Shin Dong-hyuk had also described being burned and tortured when he was 13, after he was suspected of plotting an escape. However, Shin Dong-hyuk now says that that torture occurred when he was 20, the Washington Post said.
On January 18, Shin Dong-hyuk wrote on his Facebook page that he was “very sorry”. He said that he had wanted to “conceal and hide” part of his painful past.
“We tell ourselves that it’s okay not to reveal every little detail, and that it might not matter if certain parts aren’t clarified,” he wrote.
Shin Dong-hyuk also said that he might end his work against North Korea’s prison camps, but urged supporters to continue campaigning against rights abuses.
North Korea has previously sought to discredit Shin Dong-hyuk, including by releasing a video of Shin’s father saying that his son had never been in a labor camp.
Human rights experts have argued that the inaccuracies in Shin Dong-hyuk’s account are minor, and do not alter the extent of the torture he suffered.
In 2013, Shin Dong-hyuk gave evidence to a UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea’s human rights.
In addition to public testimonies from more than 80 North Korean defectors and witnesses, the commission also drew on confidential interviews with about 240 other witnesses who were afraid to speak publicly, fearing reprisals against their families.
The commission said detainees in prison camps were subject to “deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide”.
In December, the UN Security Council discussed North Korea’s human rights record, after the UN General Assembly voted in favor of referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity.
According to Secret Service officials, shots were fired near Vice-President Joe Biden’s house in the state of Delaware, but he was away at the time.
The shots were fired on January 17 from a public road in Greenville, outside a security perimeter, Robert Hoback said.
The road is several hundred feet from the house, and officials were searching to see if the shots had hit anything.
The incident, which happened at about 20:25 on Saturday, is under investigation.
The Secret Service said the vehicle from which the shots were fired “drove by the vice president’s residence at a high rate of speed”.
“The shots were heard by Secret Service personnel posted at the residence, and a vehicle was observed by an agent leaving the scene at a high rate of speed,” it said.
Joe Biden’s office says the vice-president and his wife, Jill, were later briefed on the incident.
One man was arrested later nearby but it is not known if he was directly involved in the shooting.
The Bidens spend many weekends at the Delaware house, the Associated Press news agency reports.
The incident comes four months after an intruder armed with a knife managed to dodge guards and enter the White House.
Egyptian film icon Faten Hamama has died at the age of 83.
Faten Hamama was only a child when she made her screen debut. She went on to appear in almost 100 films.
The actress was the former wife of Egyptian actor Omar Sharif. They were married for nearly 20 years and appeared in many films together in the 1950s.
Faten Hamama died on January 17 after health problems, according to Egypt’s official news agency Mena.
Her son Tarek Sharif confirmed that the actress had passed away but did not give a cause of death.
Born in 1931, Faten Hamama was known as the “Lady of the Arabic Screen” and was a star of the golden age of Egyptian cinema.
Faten Hamama’s career was at its peak in the 1950s when she met fellow actor Omar Sharif.
Born a Christian, Omar Sharif converted to Islam to marry Faten Hamama and described her as the only love of his life, reports the AFP news agency.
After their marriage they went on to star in many films together, including the 1961 film River of Love which was based on the Russian classic Anna Karenina.
Omar Sharif and Faten Hamama divorced in 1974.
Faten Hamama also starred in romantic films with the Arab singer Abdel Halim Hafez.
She appeared in films advocating women’s rights and condemning social injustices, reported AFP.
Faten Hamama is survived by her son Tarek Sharif, her daughter Nadia Zulficar, and third husband Mohammad Abdel Wahab Mahmoud.
Millions of people are expected to attend an outdoor Mass celebrated by Pope Francis in the Philippine capital Manila.
An estimated three million people had already gathered at Rizal Park two hours before the Mass began.
Twenty years ago, more than five million people attended a Mass celebrated here by Pope John Paul II.
The Vatican said Pope Francis would dedicate the service in part to the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the country in 2013.
The Mass will be Pope Francis’ final full day in the Philippines, where there are 80 million Catholics, concluding his six-day tour of Asia.
Pope Francis arrived in a “popemobile” based on the design of the local minibuses, known as jeepneys.
Crowds sang and cheered as the pontiff stopped at various points to greet worshippers.
Some people had camped outside the park overnight to be the first ones admitted when the gates opened early on Sunday morning.
Before the final mass, Pope Francis held morning meetings with religious leaders and young people at the University of Santo Tomas which is the biggest Catholic university in Asia.
Pope Francis opened his meeting with over 20,000 students by remembering the 27-year-old woman who had died during his visit to Tacloban on January 17.
Earlier, police had reported that she had been killed when scaffolding collapsed after Saturday’s Mass.
The Pope then listened to several children speak about their experiences of growing up on the streets.
One of the children, 12-year-old Glyzelle Palomar, wept as she told her story and asked why God had allowed it to happen.
A visibly moved Pope Francis replied: “Only when we are able to cry are we able to come close to responding to your question.”
He added that the world needed to learn how to cry with those in need.
“Those on the margins cry. Those who have fallen by the wayside cry. Those who are discarded cry. But those who are living a life that is more or less without need, we don’t know how to cry,” he said.
Pope Francis, who comes from Argentina, was applauded when he told students that sometimes men were too macho, and that women had much to tell today’s society, seeing the world through different eyes, and asking different questions.
At least 200 members of the Yazidi religious community, mainly elderly people, have been released by the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group in northern Iraq.
The freed Yazidis people crossed out of ISIS-controlled territory and were received by Kurdish officials near the city of Kirkuk.
It is not yet clear why militants released them.
ISIS attacked the Yazidi minority community in Iraq last year, killing and abducting thousands of people.
Almost all of those released on January 17 were elderly or unwell, said Reuters. An early estimate of their numbers was put at 350, but later reports said there were some 200 in the group.
The group, including several sick infants, was taken directly by Kurdish Peshmerga forces to a health centre for treatment.
Khodr Domli, a leading Yazidi rights activist, was at the centre.
“Some are wounded, some have disabilities and many are suffering from mental and psychological problems,” he told the AFP news agency.
“These men and women had been held in Mosul,” Khodr Domli added.
One elderly Yazidi among those released said some of them feared they would be executed when the militants ordered them onto buses.
Instead, they were taken to a crossing point between ISIS-controlled Hawija and the Kurdish city of Kirkuk.
One of them, an elderly Yazidi man in a wheelchair, told AFP that they had spent months in captivity.
“It was so hard, not only because of the lack of food but also because I spent so much time worrying,” he said.
The circumstances surrounding the group’s release are still unclear.
Kurdish Peshmerga forces drove back Islamic State militants in north-western Iraq last month, breaking a long siege of Sinjar mountain where thousands of Yazidis had been stranded for months.
However, many Yazidi villages remain under ISIS control. Yazidi women and girls have been forced to marry or been sold into slavery by ISIS.
The Yazidi community estimates that around 3,000 women and children are still being held captive.
Brazil is “outraged” by the execution of Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira in Indonesia for drug trafficking.
Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, was arrested in 2003 after police at Jakarta airport found 13.4 kg of cocaine hidden in his hang glider.
Brazil says Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira was the first Brazilian national to be executed abroad and has warned it will damage relations.
Five other convicts from Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam and the Netherlands, were executed on January 18.
Convicted of drugs charges, they faced a firing squad in Central Java province shortly after midnight local time.
Five were executed on the island of Nusa Kambangan and the other one, a Vietnamese woman, was executed in the small central Javanese town of Boyolali.
Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said in a statement that she was “outraged and dismayed”.
“Relations between the two countries have been affected,” she said.
“The Brazilian ambassador to Jakarta has been recalled for consultations,” the president added.
The Netherlands has also recalled its ambassador, after Foreign Minister Bert Koenders called the execution of Dutch citizen Ang Kiem Soe, 52, “an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity”.
Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest drug laws. The country resumed executions in 2013 after an unofficial four-year moratorium.
Indonesia’s Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said “hopefully, this will have a deterrent effect”.
President Joko Widodo has said that he will show no mercy towards drug criminals because they have ruined the lives of so many.
Dilma Rousseff had made a plea for clemency on January 16, but it was rejected by Joko Widodo.
She told her Indonesian counterpart that she respected the sovereignty and judicial system of his country but as a mother and head of state she was making the appeal for humanitarian reasons.
Brazil says Joko Widodo said he understood the Brazilian president’s concern but said he could not commute the sentence as the full legal process had been followed.
Human rights group Amnesty International urged the Indonesian government to halt executions immediately, and eventually abolish the death penalty.
Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira said in a video recorded by a friend that he regretted trying to smuggle cocaine into Indonesia.
“I am aware that I committed a serious offence, but I believe I deserve another chance. Everyone makes mistakes.”
A second Brazilian national, Rodrigo Muxfeldt Gularte, remains on death row in Indonesia, also convicted with drug trafficking offences.
Brazil abolished the death penalty in times of peace when it became a republic in 1889.
PGA golfer Robert Allenby says he was kidnapped from a bar in Honolulu, Hawaii, robbed and beaten, before being dumped in a park.
Robert Allenby, 43, says he may have been drugged before he was taken from the bar on January 16.
The Australian was helped back to his hotel by a retired military man.
“I didn’t think I was going to survive this one,” he told the AAP news agency.
Robert Allenby had been planning to fly out of Hawaii after missing the cut at the PGA Tour’s Sony Open.
Local television said the incident was being investigated as second-degree robbery.
“I was separated from my friend in the bar after we had paid the tab at 22:48 and he went to the bathroom and next thing you know I’m being dumped in a park miles away,” he said.
Robert Allenby said a homeless woman spotted him being dumped from a car, after being robbed of his phone and wallet.
The military veteran paid for a taxi for him back to the hotel, he said.
Pictures shown on the Golf Channel showed Robert Allenby with cuts on his nose and forehead and bruising around his eye.
His caddie Mick Middlemo told the channel Robert Allenby woke up groggy with no initial recollection of what happened to him.
Robert Allenby is ranked 271 in the world and has won four titles on the elite PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association] TOUR.
A US Congressional delegation has arrived in Havana in the first such visit since the United States and Cuba agreed to restore ties severed in 1961.
The Democrat politicians plan to meet Cuban officials and civilian leaders to discuss practical measures required for the normalization of relations.
The thaw in relations was announced on December 17 by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro.
Earlier this week, Cuba completed the release of 53 political prisoners.
The measure was agreed as part of the agreement.
“We have all been to Cuba before, and we strongly support the president’s new direction for our policy towards Cuba,” said Senator Patrick Leahy.
New travel and trade rules between the US and Cuba came into effect on January 16, also as part of the historic deal.
Americans will be able to take home up alcohol and tobacco from Cuba up to the value of $100.
US credit and debit cards can be used there and there will be no more limits on how much money US citizens can spend in Cuba each day.
While ordinary tourism is still banned, the new regulations will allow US citizens to travel to Cuba for any of a dozen specific reasons without first obtaining a special license from the government.
Although the latest moves put a large dent in the US trade embargo against the island’s communist government, only Congress can lift it completely.
The first high-level talks between Cuba and the US will be held in Havana on January 21 and 22.
The US delegation will be led by Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson.
Charlie Hebdo has announced it is printing a total of 7 million copies of the once-obscure French satirical magazine.
The new total reflects extraordinary demand for what has become known as Charlie Hebdo survivor’s issue.
The latest edition was produced in the days immediately following a terrorist attack at the magazine’s office in Paris. The attackers were apparently motivated by the magazine’s criticisms of Islam and depictions of the Prophet Mohammed.
The cover of the new issue has a cartoon of the prophet holding up a sign that reads ” Je suis Charlie” (I Am Charlie).
Customers at newsstands continue to seek copies of the issue – not just in France, where there were long lines observed earlier this week, but also in Germany, where the magazine went on sale on January 17.
There were local reports that the copies quickly sold out in cities like Berlin and Hamburg.
“We could have ordered 500 copies — they would have sold out,” a vendor at the main train station in Stuttgart told DPA, Germany’s main news agency.
Photo Reuters
For some, buying a copy is a way to show solidarity with the magazine and support freedom of expression.
Charlie Hebdo‘s French distributor, MLP, has been trying to keep pace with demand.
Roughly one million copies each were distributed on January 14, 15 and 16. Technical problems limited the number of copies available in France over the weekend, so it’ll take several days to reach the 5 million mark.
On January 17, MLP boosted the planned total to 7 million.
Le Figaro newspaper called it “a record in the history of the French press”.
A small number of copies began to reach the US on January 16, and more are expected to go on sale in the coming days.
To put the 7 million figure in perspective, only a small number of US magazines print that many copies – AARP The Magazine, Better Homes and Gardens, and Game Informer Magazine.
While support for the new issue has been widespread, opposition to the Mohammed drawing on the cover has been expressed by Islamic leaders and government officials in a number of countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Charlie Hebdo’s cover has been described as insulting to Muslims and needlessly provocative.
Protests against the new cover were reported in Pakistan, Jordan, Algeria, Niger, Mali, Somalia, Senegal, and Mauritania.
Meanwhile, Charlie Hebdo’s surviving editors of the magazine have said little about their plans for future issues, but they have vowed to keep publishing.
Charlie Hebdo has sold 1.9 million copies of its survivor’s edition, which has provoked protests by Muslims around the globe over a new cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad.
The French satirical magazine’s distribution has been hit by printing problems, with only 230,000 copies ready against the one million that had been expected to ship this weekend, its distributor MLP said.
The technical problem had been resolved and “distribution will resume normally on Monday”, MLP said.
The latest issue was the first since two Islamist gunmen stormed Charlie Hebdo‘s Paris office on January 7 and massacred 12 people, saying they were taking revenge for previous publications of Muhammad cartoons – considered deeply offensive to many Muslims.
Charlie Hebdo defiantly published what it called the “survivors’ issue” on January 14, featuring Prophet Mohammed in a white turban and holding a sign that reads “Je suis Charlie” under the words: “All is forgiven”.
News agents on January 16 received another million copies of the issue, which “is still selling well” but not in the frenzy seen the previous two days after the issue came out, according to the French printing union UNDP.
On January 14 and 15, the 27,000 news outlets in France sold out within hours, with newspaper vendors selling a total of 1.2 million copies.
In addition, hundreds of thousands of copies have been bought by companies, institutions and communities.
Parisian theatres bought 25,000 copies to distribute to patrons and Air France took tens of thousands for its passengers, said MLP.
A further 150,000 are being shipped abroad. Germany is the largest buyer, with MLP to deliver 55,000 copies by January 19.
A total of five million copies of the issue will be printed, with deliveries continuing next week.
Prior to the attacks, the magazine sold around 60,000 copies a week.
Charlie Hebdo has also launched an app that let readers download the magazine.
An Iranian court has ordered the closure of Mardom e-Emruz (Today’s People) newspaper after publishing a picture of George Clooney wearing a badge backing French magazine Charlie Hebdo, which was attacked last week.
The Mardom e-Emruz newspaper ran a picture of the actor headlined “I’m Charlie too”.
Conservative elements in Teheran were incensed by a catchphrase they regard as “anti-Islamic”.
Charlie Hebdo has published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, which many Muslims see as an offensive act.
The cover of Charlie Hebdo‘s latest edition, published after the attack in which 12 people were killed, featured a cartoon of the Prophet weeping while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”.
Seven million copies of the edition are being printed in view of extraordinary demand, distributors announced on January 17.
“The court in charge of cultural affairs and the media imposed the ban on the newspaper for publishing a headline and a picture which it deemed insulting,”Mardom-e Emrouz director Ahmad Sattari told the Irna news agency.
The newspaper was only in its first month of publication, but that its political position was seen as close to that of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.
The court’s ruling is pending a final decision due later, but is unlikely to be overturned.
Said Kouachi, one of the two brothers who launched a deadly attack against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo last week, has been buried in an unmarked grave.
Said Kouachi, 34, was buried secretly late on Friday in the eastern city of Reims, where he had lived before the attack.
The mayor of Reims said he had opposed the burial, fearing a grave could become a shrine, but had been forced to accept it by law.
Attacks in Paris killed 17 people last week, 12 of them at Charlie Hebdo.
On January 9, two days after attacking the magazine, Said Kouachi and his younger brother Cherif were killed by police at an industrial estate north of Paris.
Cherif Kouachi, 32, is expected to be buried in his hometown of Gennevilliers, outside Paris.
There has been no announcement on plans for burying Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people at Jewish supermarket HyperCacher in Paris on January 9 and is suspected of killing a policewoman in the French capital a day earlier.
Earlier in the week, Reims mayor Arnaud Robinet said he would “categorically refuse” a family request for Said Kouachi to be buried in the city.
Arnaud Robinet said he did not want “a tomb that could become a shrine for people to gather around or a pilgrimage site for fanatics”.
However, on January 17 he said he had been forced by the government to accept the burial.
“He was buried last night, in the most discreet, anonymous way possible,” Arnaud Robinet told French TV.
The city said in a statement: “Given the risk of disturbance of the peace and in order to quickly turn the page of this tragic episode, it was decided to do the burial quickly.”
A lawyer for Said Kouachi’s widow said she had not attended the burial for fear that journalists would follow her and the location of the grave would be discovered.
Fresh protests against French magazine Charlie Hebdo‘s cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad have sparked in Niger.
At least two churches have been set on fire in the capital, Niamey.
Saturday’s protests began outside Niamey’s grand mosque with police using tear gas a day after at least four were killed in the second city of Zinder.
The French embassy has warned its citizens to stay indoors.
Last week, Islamist gunmen killed 12 people at Charlie Hebdo‘s Paris offices.
Eight of them were journalists. Subsequent attacks in Paris killed another five people, four at Jewish supermarket HyperCacher.
The cover of Charlie Hebdo‘s latest edition, published after the attack, featured a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad weeping while holding a sign saying “I am Charlie”.
Many Muslims see any depiction of Islam’s prophet as offensive.
Protests against Charlie Hebdo were also seen on January 16 in Pakistan, where protests turned violent in Karachi, the Sudanese capital of Khartoum and the Algerian capital, Algiers.
People in Somalia took to the streets on January 17.
In Niger, a former French colony, hundreds of demonstrators gathered at Niamey’s grand mosque, shouting “God is Great” in Arabic.
At least two churches were set on fire – similar to Friday’s demonstration in Zinder where protesters also raided shops that were run by Christians.
The French cultural centre in Zinder also came under attack.
The centre’s director, Kaoumi Bawa, said an angry crowd of around 50 people had smashed the building’s door and set fire to the cafeteria, library and offices.
Eurostar train services have been suspended after the Channel Tunnel was closed “until further notice” following a fire on a truck.
Eurostar says all its services for January 17 have been cancelled and trains have returned to their stations.
It has told people expecting to travel to postpone their journeys and not go to the station.
Kent Police said the fire happened at the French end of the tunnel and that no-one was hurt in the incident.
The spokesman said the fire had led to the closure of both tunnels, and that there are currently no trains in either.
The truck is being recovered and the fire was being dealt with by the French authorities, he added.
“Rail passengers are advised to expect significant delays whilst the vehicle is being recovered and fumes are cleared from the tunnels,” the spokesman said.
Eurostar, which operates train services through the tunnel between Paris, London and Brussels, said in a statement: “We are sorry but we are unable to run any further trains today because Eurotunnel has been closed due to smoke detected in the north tunnel.
“If you were planning to travel today, we advise you to postpone your journey and not to come to the station.”
Eurostar’s customer care number is 03432 186 186 in the UK, or +44 1233 617 575 for people outside the UK.
John O’Keefe, a spokesman for Eurotunnel which transports freight through the Channel Tunnel, said inspectors were sent into the tunnel after two smoke alarms had been triggered.
“The investigation into the two alarms is going on at the moment so as soon we know more we’ll let [everyone] know.”
Eurotunnel also said that passengers on a Calais to Dover train were evacuated from the Channel Tunnel “without incident”, following the smoke alert.
President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts Cheryl Boone Isaacs says she would like to see more diversity in Oscar nominations, after a row about this year’s nominees.
All 20 contenders in the main acting categories are white and there are no female nominees in the directing or writing categories.
The Academy, which picks the contenders, has faced strong criticism.
However, Cheryl Boone Isaacs said she was proud of the nominees and that the body was “making strides” towards diversity.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is the first African-American president of the Academy, told AP the organization is “committed to seeking out diversity of voice and opinion”.
“In the last two years, we’ve made greater strides than we ever have in the past toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive organization through admitting new members and more inclusive classes of members,” she said.
She added she would “love to see” greater diversity among the nominees.
After the nominees were announced, people mocked the make-up of the awards using the “OscarsSoWhite” hashtag.
There has been much focus on Martin Luther King biopic Selma, with director Ava DuVernay and star David Oyelowo both missing out.
At the Critics’ Choice award, another Selma actor, Wendell Pierce, said there would be “amazement” David Oyelowo was not nominated once people saw the film.
Cheryl Boone Isaacs said acclaim for Selma was reflected in its Best Picture nomination, which is chosen by all the academy members.
She said that while the Academy continued to make efforts to become more diverse, the wider industry needed to do the same.
“We hope the film industry will also make strides toward becoming more diverse and inclusive.”
Individual branches of the Academy choose the nominees, with actors choosing the acting categories, for example.
The more than 7,000 members then vote for a winner.
Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel lead the race for this year’s Oscars with nine nominations each.
Yemen president’s chief of staff Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak has been abducted by gunmen, officials have said.
Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak and two of his guards were kidnapped early on Saturday in the centre of the capital Sanaa.
Yemeni officials suspect Shia Houthi rebels, who control much of the capital, of being behind the abduction.
Yemen has been plagued by instability since mass protests forced former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to step down in 2011.
Scores of people have been killed in clashes between the Houthis and Sunni militants.
One source told Reuters Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak was kidnapped by the Houthis to stop him presenting a draft of the new constitution to a presidential meeting.
The rebels blocked Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak’s appointment as prime minister last year.
Europe is on high alert over terrorist threat following anti-terror raids and arrests of suspected Islamist militants.
More than 20 people have been arrested in Belgium, France and Germany.
Belgium has joined France in deploying troops alongside police.
Security has been tightened in several countries after last week’s attacks in Paris left 17 people dead.
There are increased concerns about the return of young Europeans who have gone to fight with Middle East militants.
In Belgium, five people were charged on January 16 with “participating in the activities of a terrorist group” following a series of raids that began on Thursday evening and left two suspects dead.
Guns, munitions and explosives, as well as police uniforms and a large amount of money, were all seized by police overnight.
Eric Van Der Sypt, an official at the prosecutors’ office, told AFP that: “The investigation… has shown that these people had the intention to kill several policemen in the street and at police commissariats [police stations].”
Photo AFP/Getty Images
Thirteen people were arrested in total but only five would be prosecuted, he said. Belgium would also seek the extradition of two suspects held in France.
On January 16, the Belgian government also announced new measures to deal with terrorist suspects.
They include making travelling abroad for terrorist activities a crime and expanding the cases where Belgian citizenship can be revoked for dual nationals who are thought to pose a terror risk.
No link has been established between the terrorist plot in Belgium and last week’s attacks in Paris.
French PM Manuel Valls said on January 16 that, despite this, both countries face the same threats.
Twelve suspects are being held by police in the Paris region over last week’s attacks in the French capital that killed 17 people.
Police carried out raids in five towns, iTele reported. Those arrested are now being questioned about “possible logistical support”, such as weapons or vehicles, they could have given the three gunmen, according to police.
France remains on its highest terrorism alert level and authorities have said that some 120,000 police and soldiers have been mobilized across France.
In a separate incident on January 16, authorities shut down and evacuated the Gare de l’Est train station after a bomb scare.
The incidents in France and Belgium have had a wider impact on their European neighbors.
Spain has launched an investigation into the visit of one of the Paris gunmen, Amedy Coulibaly, to Madrid just days before the attacks in Paris.
Police in Germany have also arrested two men following raids on 11 properties on January 16, involving some 250 officers.
One of the men was suspected of leading an extremist group of Turkish and Russian nationals.
Police said that the group was preparing a serious act of violence in Syria but that there was “no indication” that the group had been planning attacks inside Germany.
