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Golden Globes 2015: Full list of winners

Sonia Pantiss
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Golden Globes 2015: Full list of winners

The 2015 Golden Globes Awards full list of winners:

FILM AWARDS

Best motion picture – drama

Winner: Boyhood

Foxcatcher

The Imitation Game

Selma

The Theory of Everything

Best motion picture – musical or comedy

Winner: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Birdman

Into the Woods

Pride

St Vincent

Best director

Winner: Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ava DuVernay, Selma

David Fincher, Gone Girl

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Birdman

Best actor – drama

Winner: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game

Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler

David Oyelowo, Selma

Best actor – musical or comedy

Winner: Michael Keaton, Birdman

Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Bill Murray, St. Vincent

Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice

Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Best actress – drama

Winner: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Jennifer Aniston, Cake

Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything

Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best actress – musical or comedy

Winner: Amy Adams, Big Eyes

Emily Blunt, Into the Woods

Helen Mirren, The Hundred-Foot Journey

Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars

Quvenzhane Wallis, Annie

Best supporting actor

Winner: JK Simmons, Whiplash

Robert Duvall, The Judge

Ethan Hawke, Boyhood

Edward Norton, Birdman

Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher

Best supporting actress

Winner: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game

Emma Stone, Birdman

Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best screenplay

Winner: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo, Birdman

Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel

Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Graham Moore, The Imitation Game

Best original score

Winner: Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Gone Girl

Antonio Sanchez, Birdman

Hans Zimmer, Interstellar

Best original song

Winner: Glory, Selma – John Legend, Common

Big Eyes, Big Eyes – Lana Del Rey

Mercy Is, Noah – Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye

Opportunity, Annie – Greg Kurstin, Sia Furler, Will Gluck

Yellow Flicker Beat, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 – Lorde

Best foreign language film

Winner: Leviathan (Russia)

Force Majeure (Sweden)

Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Israel)

Ida (Poland)

Tangerines (Estonia)

Best animated feature

Winner: How to Train Your Dragon 2

Big Hero 6

The Book of Life

The Boxtrolls

The Lego Movie

TELEVISION AWARDS

Best TV series – drama

Winner: The Affair

Downton Abbey

Game of Thrones

The Good Wife

House of Cards

Best TV series – comedy or musical

Winner: Transparent

Girls

Jane the Virgin

Orange is the New Black

Silicon Valley

Best mini-series or motion picture made for TVGolden Globes 2015 winners

Winner: Fargo

The Missing

The Normal Heart

Olive Kitteridge

True Detective

Best actor – drama

Winner: Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Clive Owen, The Knick

Liev Schreiber, Ray Donovan

James Spader, The Blacklist

Dominic West, The Affair

Best actress – drama

Winner: Ruth Wilson, The Affair

Claire Danes, Homeland

Viola Davis, How to Get Away with Murder

Julianna Margulies, The Good Wife

Robin Wright, House of Cards

Best actor – comedy or musical

Winner: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent

Louis CK, Louie

Don Cheadle, House of Lies

Ricky Gervais, Derek

William H Macy, Shameless

Best actress – comedy or musical

Winner: Gina Rodriguez, Jane the Virgin

Lena Dunham, Girls

Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Taylor Schilling, Orange is the New Black

Best actor – mini-series or motion picture made for TV

Winner: Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo

Martin Freeman, Fargo

Woody Harrelson, True Detective

Matthew McConaughey, True Detective

Mark Ruffalo, The Normal Heart

Best actress – mini-series or motion picture made for TV

Winner: Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Honourable Woman

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Freak Show

Frances McDormand, Olive Kitteridge

Frances O’Connor, The Missing

Allison Tolman, Fargo

Best supporting actor – series, mini-series or motion picture made for TV

Winner: Matt Bomer, The Normal Heart

Alan Cumming, The Good Wife

Colin Hanks, Fargo

Bill Murray, Olive Kitteridge

Jon Voight, Ray Donovan

Best supporting actress – series, mini-series or motion picture made for TV

Winner: Joanne Froggatt, Downton Abbey

Uzo Aduba, Orange is the New Black

Kathy Bates, American Horror Story: Freak Show

Allison Janney, Mom

Michelle Monaghan, True Detective

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AirAsia Flight QZ8501 black box recovered

Diane A. Wade
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AirAsia Flight QZ8501 black box recovered

The black box flight recorder of crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501, say Indonesian officials.

They believe they have also located the cockpit voice recorder, the second part of the so-called black box, but divers have not yet managed to reach it.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared in bad weather on December 28 with 162 people on board.

The aircraft, which was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore, is thought to be deep in the Java Sea.

Dozens of bodies have been recovered but most of the victims are believed to still be inside the fuselage, which has not been found.

Speaking in Jakarta, the head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency Bambang Soelistyo told reporters: “I received information from the National Transport Safety Committee chief that at 07:11, we succeeded in bringing up part of the black box that we call the flight data recorder.”

He said the flight data recorder was found under the wreckage of a wing.AirAsia black boxes found

Hours later, other officials said the cockpit voice recorder had also been detected but divers had not yet managed to reach it.

The two recorders, usually housed inside the rear part of the plane, are designed to survive a crash and being submerged in water. They contain underwater locator beacons which emit so-called “pings” for at least 30 days.

Suyadi Bambang Supriyadi, operations co-ordinator for Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said that based on initial analysis of the wreckage, the plane could have “exploded” upon landing on the water.

“The cabin was pressurized and before the pressure of the cabin could be adjusted, it went down – boom. That explosion was heard in the area,” he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Over the weekend, three ships detected pings that were thought to be from the black box’s emergency locator transmitter. However, strong currents and high waves prevented the search operations.

The tail section of the Airbus A320-200 was brought to the surface, but the flight recorder was not inside it, as had been hoped.

On January 12, weather allowed for divers to retrieve the flight data recorder.

The international search for the fuselage and the remaining missing passengers and crew is continuing in the Java Sea.

Bambang Soelistyo said all ships now “will be deployed with the main task of searching for bodies that are still or suspected to still be trapped underwater”.

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Amedy Coulibaly video: HyperCacher attacker pledges allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims

Roy Siemens
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Amedy Coulibaly video: HyperCacher attacker pledges allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims

Ahead of a huge rally after 17 people died during three days of deadly attacks in Paris, a video emerged appearing to show HyperCacher supermarket attacker, Amedy Coulibaly, pledging allegiance to the so-called Islamic State.

In the video, Amedy Coulibaly said he was working with the Charlie Hebdo attackers Cherif and Said Kouachi: “We have split our team into two… to increase the impact of our actions.”

Amedy Coulibaly killed four hostages seized at the HyperCacher supermarket on January 9 before being shot dead by police. The four victims will be buried in Israel on January 13.

In the 7-minute long clip, Amedy Coulibaly is seen surrounded by weapons and attempts to justify his attack on the Jewish store, in which four hostages died.Amedy Coulibaly video Paris attacks

Amedy Coulibaly was himself killed when police stormed the supermarket on Friday afternoon, but his message appears to have been filmed sometime over the three days in which terror gripped France last week.

He is also believed to have shot dead a female police officer in Montrouge on January 8, and has now been linked by prosecutors to the shooting and wounding of a 32-year-old jogger in a park in Fontenay-les-Roses, in south-west Paris, on January 7.

Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend, Hayat Boumeddiene, is still wanted by police – although she is thought to have fled France last week. Officials believe Hayat Boumeddiene may have entered Turkey en route to Syria.

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Anita Ekberg dies in Rome at the age of 83

Sonia Pantiss
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Anita Ekberg dies in Rome at the age of 83

Legendary actress Anita Ekberg has died at the age of 83.

The star of La Dolce Vita and a former Miss Sweden, Anita Ekberg was branded a “s** goddess” for her performance in Federico Fellini’s 1960 movie.

The moment where Anita Ekberg wades through Rome’s Trevi Fountain in a strapless dress is considered one of cinema’s most iconic scenes.

Anita Ekberg died in Rome on Sunday morning, her lawyer confirmed. She had been in hospital since Christmas following a series of illnesses.

The actress had been in a wheelchair for several years after being knocked down by one of her pet Great Danes, breaking a hip.

Born in Malmo, Sweden, in 1931, Anita Ekberg was the sixth of eight children.

She said her father, a harbor master and a strict Protestant, was “the apple of my eye”, although she later fell out with all but one of her siblings.

After winning the Miss Sweden title at the age of 20, Anita Ekberg travelled to America where she took part in the Miss Universe contest.

Although she didn’t win and spoke very little English, she was immediately signed to a contract by Universal Pictures.

The studio sent her to work in Italy, where she played Henry Fonda’s unfaithful wife in King Vidor’s War and Peace (1956).

It was in Rome that Anita Ekberg met director Federico Fellini, who cast her in La Dolce Vita as Sylvia Rank – “the most wonderful woman created since the beginning of time” – an actress pursued by news photographers.Anita Ekberg dead at 83

The famous scene in the Trevi Fountain saw Anita Ekberg and her co-star Marcello Mastroianni wading through the chilled waters in sensual abandon.

The sight of the water caressing her impossibly voluptuous body was shocking for audiences in the 1950s.

The Vatican condemned it, but the famously sharp-tongued actress was unrepentant.

“I’m very proud of my breasts, as every woman should be,” Anita Ekberg once said.

“It’s not cellular obesity, it’s womanliness.”

The fountain scene was shot on a chilly March morning in central Rome.

“I was freezing,” said Anita Ekberg.

“They had to lift me out of the water because I couldn’t feel my legs anymore.”

Her co-star, Marcello Mastroianni, found the scene even more difficult, despite the luxury of a wetsuit under his clothes. He needed his acting resolve stiffened by an entire bottle of vodka, Federico Fellini claimed. More than once, he fell over drunk in the freezing water.

“I have seen that scene a few times. Maybe too many times,” Anita Ekberg told Swedish radio in 2005.

“I can’t stand watching it anymore, but it was beautiful at the time.”

Considering that La Dolce Vita gave rise to the term paparazzo, it was ironic that the movie resulted in Anita Ekberg being hounded by the press herself.

She was constantly in the headlines for her romances with Hollywood’s leading men, and her lovers were said to include Errol Flynn, Yul Brynner and Frank Sinatra.

Anita Ekberg also made the front pages when, in 1960, she turned on photographer Felice Quinto with a bow and arrow.

Feice Quinto was amongst a pack of reporters who followed her from a nightclub to her villa in Rome. During the fracas, she was photographed with her knee in one man’s groin.

At 24, Anita Ekberg married British actor Anthony Steel in Florence, Italy.

The police were called in to control the crowds who were trying to get a glimpse of the couple, but the marriage was doomed by Anthony Steel’s heavy drinking.

The couple divorced in 1959. Four years later, Anita Ekberg married Rik Van Nutter, who played CIA agent Felix Leiter in the Bond film Thunderball. That union also ended in divorce in 1975.

Alongside La Dolce Vita, Anita Ekberg also appeared as a foil in Bob Hope’s comedies Paris Holiday (1957) and Call Me Bwana (1963). Her other roles included Blood Alley (1955) and Hollywood or Bust (1956).

Federico Fellini cast Anita Ekberg again in his section of the portmanteau comedy Boccaccio ’70 (1962), where she played a 20ft version of herself with plunging cleavage, stepping down from an advertising hoarding to stalk a prudish doctor.

By the late 1970s, Anita Ekberg had virtually disappeared from the screen, making only rare appearances in forgettable European films, although she appeared as herself in Federico Fellini’s 1987 cinematic memorybook Intervista.

According to several reports, Anita Ekberg was almost penniless at the time of her death. She had been robbed of jewellery and furniture and her villa was badly damaged in a fire, forcing her to move, temporarily, into a care home.

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Paris march: World leaders join 1.6 million people at unity rally

Diane A. Wade
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Paris march: World leaders join 1.6 million people at unity rally

More than 40 world leaders and 3.7 million people have taken part in unity marches across France after 17 people died during three days of deadly attacks in Paris.

Up to 1.6 million are estimated to have taken to the streets of Paris.

World leaders joined the start of the Paris march, linking arms in an act of solidarity.

The marchers wanted to demonstrate unity after the attacks on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, police officers, and kosher supermarket HyperCacher.

The French government said the rally turnout was the highest on record.

The rally, led by relatives of the victims of last week’s attacks, began at the Place de la Republique and concluded in the Place de la Nation.

Several other French cities also held rallies. The interior ministry said turnout across France was at least 3.7 million, including up to 1.6 million in Paris – where sheer numbers made an exact tally difficult.

World leaders, including UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, EU President Donald Tusk, and Jordan’s King Abdullah II joined the beginning of the Paris march.

Photo RT
Photo RT

“Paris is the capital of the world today,” French President Francois Hollande said.

The leaders observed a minute’s silence before the march began.

About 2,000 police officers and 1,350 soldiers – including elite marksmen on rooftops – were deployed in the capital to protect participants.

The Paris march was split into two routes for security purposes.

Marchers chanted “liberte” (“freedom”) and “Charlie”, in reference to Charlie Hebdo magazine.

Some waved French flags, cheered, and sang the national anthem.

Solidarity marches were also held in world cities including London, Madrid, Cairo, Montreal, Beirut, Sydney and Tokyo.

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Cable TV Worth is Worth the Money Say Many US Citizens

Dana R
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Cable TV Worth is Worth the Money Say Many US Citizens

If you are thinking about getting a new TV services package or TV and internet bundle (and you can see some great impartial reviews of DIRECTV internet here), you may be wondering whether it is worth including the premium cable channels like HBO, Showtime and Starz in your bundle, or getting the sports networks that cover the sports you love, when you can usually find a way to see these things online. Here we take a look at some of the pros and cons of subscribing to premium channels.

Cable TV

Wikipedia photo

Why You May Not Actually Need Those Paid Channels

If your intention is just to be able to see things, like your favorite football, baseball, hockey or basketball team playing live or the newest episode of Game of Thrones, then you can usually find ways to stream these things. While not always completely legal, streams do tend to exist, which is how people from outside of the US who want to watch US sports events not televised outside of the States or see American shows before they are aired in their own countries manage to watch these things. The quality will not be great in most cases, and unless you have the hardware to run your computer’s images through your TV you will have to watch them on your laptop or tablet, but you will be able to get the gist of what is going on. If you want to watch the shows on premium cable but don’t care about seeing them as soon as they are aired, you can also just wait for a much cheaper service like Netflix to carry them and marathon watch the whole season or series sometime in the future.

Why It Can Be Worth the Money to Keep Premium Cable

If you use all of the features and watch a lot of live sport or high end drama, then cable can be well worth the money for the enhancement it gives to your home entertainment options. If simply ‘seeing’ something is not enough, and you want the best possible experience (which can make a lot of difference when it comes to lavishly designed TV shows or sports games where you want to truly be able to spot whether you agree with a referee’s decisions), you want to watch it in glorious HD or 3D on your TV. For many, this quality alone is worth the subscription, as is getting the shows the moment they air, helping avoid those pesky Twitter and Facebook friends who post spoilers! By using interactive features that give shows more depth, DVR features that ensure you never miss anything, on demand services that let you catch up and discover new shows, and the facility to watch shows from these networks on the go on your phone or tablet, you can actually get a lot out of your cable package.

In short, whether cable is worth it or not depends on what matters to you with your TV viewing. Do you simply need to see it and know what happened, or do you want it beautifully presented with interactive features, and available instantly at a time to suit you?

Pakistan bus crash kills 57 people near Karachi

Nancy Clayson
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Pakistan bus crash kills 57 people near Karachi

A Pakistani bus has collided with an oil tanker near Karachi leaving more than 50 people dead and injuring score of others, doctors say.

The tanker was reportedly speeding and travelling on the wrong side of the road when it hit the bus head-on. Both vehicles burst into flames.

Some passengers travelling on the roof of the bus were able to jump to safety but many of those inside were trapped.

The driver of the tanker is said to have fled the scene after the incident.Pakistan bus crash January 2015

The bus, which was carrying more than 60 passengers, was travelling to the town of Shikarpur when the incident happened about 31 miles outside of Karachi.

Dr. Seemi Jamali, who heads the emergency department at Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, said they had received 57 bodies.

He said some of the victims were charred beyond recognition and warned that the death toll could rise.

Pakistan has a high number of fatal traffic accidents, with nearly 9,000 crashes and an average of 4,500 deaths on the road each year.

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Hamburger Morgenpost target of arson attack after reprinting Charlie Hebdo’s Mohammed cartoons

Nancy Clayson
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Hamburger Morgenpost target of arson attack after reprinting Charlie Hebdo’s Mohammed cartoons

German newspaper Hamburger Morgenpost (Hamburg Morning Post) that reprinted Prophet Mohammed cartoons from the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was the target of an arson attack early Sunday, police said.

“Rocks and then a burning object were thrown through the window,” a police spokesman told AFP.

“Two rooms on lower floors were damaged but the fire was put out quickly.”

The Hamburger Morgenpost had splashed three Charlie Hebdo cartoons on its front page after the massacre at the Paris publication, running the headline: “This much freedom must be possible!”

No one was hurt in the attack, which police said occurred at about 02:20 local time.

Two people were detained, while state security has opened an investigation, police said.Hamburger Morgenpost arson attack

Whether there was a connection between the Charlie Hebdo cartoons and the attack was the “key question”, the police spokesman said, adding that it was “too soon” to know for certain.

Police declined to provide further information about the suspects.

No one at the Hamburger Morgenpost, known locally as the Mopo and which has a circulation of around 91,000, could immediately be reached for comment.

“Thick smoke is still hanging in the air, the police are looking for clues,” the newspaper said in its online edition.

Media reports said the newspaper’s publishers had ordered private security protection for the building in the western district of Othmarschen.

German news agency DPA reported that the attack had occurred from a courtyard of the building and hit the newspaper’s archive room where some records were destroyed.

It quoted a police spokeswoman as saying that the editorial team should be able to continue work in the building as the damage was relatively minor.

Several German newspapers had published Charlie Hebdo’s Mohammed cartoons on their front pages on January 8 in a gesture of solidarity with the French cartoonists and in defense of free speech.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 main fuselage may have been located in Java Sea

Diane A. Wade
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AirAsia flight QZ8501 main fuselage may have been located in Java Sea

The main fuselage of missing AirAsia flight QZ8501 may have been located in the Java Sea, Indonesian search teams say.

An object resembling the plane’s body was found in a sonar scan of the search area in the Java Sea, an official said.

Officials hope the “black box” flight recorders will be near the object – close to where the tail was found.

AirAsia flight QZ8501, carrying 162 people, was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore when it vanished from radar in bad weather on December 28.

First Marshal S.B. Supriyadi, operations coordinator for Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said the sonar scan had revealed an object on the sea floor that measured 33ft by 13ft by 8ft.

“They suspect it is the body of the plane. There is a big possibility that the black box is near the body of the plane,” he told Reuters news agency.Indonesian teams searching for AirAsia flight QZ8501 main fuselage

A team of divers had been sent to investigate, he added, but poor weather conditions have once again been hampering the search efforts.

“If it is the body of the plane then we will first evacuate the victims. Secondly we will search for the black box,” S.B. Supriyadi said.

Search teams have also been hearing pings, believed to be from the aircraft’s black boxes, near where the tail of the Airbus A320-200 aircraft tail was retrieved from on January 10.

Rescue workers have been pulling bodies and wreckage from the sea but progress has been slow. Forty-eight bodies have been retrieved so far.

The cause of the crash is unknown but the plane had encountered bad weather and asked for a flight path change before communication was lost.

The “black box” flight data recorders are usually housed inside the rear part of the plane.

They are designed to survive a crash and being submerged in water, and contain underwater locator beacons which emit the so-called “pings” for at least 30 days.

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Paris march: World leaders to join huge rally against terrorism

Diane A. Wade
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Paris march: World leaders to join huge rally against terrorism

Some 40 world leaders are expected in Paris ahead of a huge march to show unity after three days of terror that left 17 people dead.

The rally is expected to dwarf Saturday’s marches that saw 700,000 take to the streets.

About 2,000 police officers and 1,350 soldiers are being deployed across Paris to protect marchers.

Police are seeking accomplices of the gunmen who attacked Charlie Hebdo magazine and HyperCacher supermarket.

The interior minister says France will stay on high alert in the coming weeks.

Bernard Cazeneuve will host a meeting on Sunday morning of fellow interior ministers from across Europe to discuss the threat posed by militants.

He promised “exceptional measures” for the massive unity march in Paris on January 11, including positioning snipers on roofs.

The foreign leaders expected to attend the rally include UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

The march, which will be led by relatives of the victims of last week’s attacks, will leave Place de la Republique at 15:00 local time.

Photo AFP
Photo AFP

More than a million people are expected to take part.

Before the march, President Francois Hollande will meet leaders from the Jewish community, which is still in shock after a gunman killed four people at the kosher supermarket in eastern Paris on January 9.

The gunman, Amedy Coulibaly, is believed to have shot dead a policewoman the day before.

In a separate attack on January 7, the Kouachi brothers raided the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Cherif and Said Kouachi killed 12 people – including eight journalists and two police officers – in the attack. Eleven people were also injured.

Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers were shot dead on January 9 after police ended two separate sieges.

Police are still hunting for accomplices of the three gunmen, including Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s partner. However, officials in Turkey believe she may have travelled through the country en route to Syria earlier last week.

Meanwhile, police in Germany say there has been an arson attack at the offices of a newspaper that reprinted Charlie Hebdo cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

No-one was hurt in the assault on the Hamburg Morning Post in the early hours of January 11, according to reports.

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Sri Lanka election results: Mahinda Rajapaksa tried to deploy army after poll defeat

Diane A. Wade
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Sri Lanka election results: Mahinda Rajapaksa tried to deploy army after poll defeat

Sri Lanka’s ex-President Mahinda Rajapaksa tried to deploy the army when he realized that he had lost elections, a spokesman for new President Maithripala Sirisena has alleged.

The spokesman said that the head of the armed forces came under pressure to intervene shortly before Mahinda Rajapaksa conceded defeat on 47.6% of the vote.

There has been no comment from the military about the allegations.

The deposed president’s spokesman denied the claims as baseless.

“There was no such attempt at all,” said Mohan Samaranayake.

“In fact, at 3:30 am on January 9 when the counting was still under way, the president made an assessment and decided what the results would be,” he added.

“Then he gave instructions to all secretaries about a smooth transfer of power… The politician who has made these remarks is in the habit of making baseless allegations.”

Sri Lanka has largely been free of military interference in politics except for a coup in 1962 that failed to oust the government. Since then, there has been no direct military role in the government.

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

President Maithripala Sirisena’s top aide said on January 10 that pressure had been applied by the outgoing leadership onto armed forces head Gen. Daya Ratnayake to intervene in the result in the hours before Mahinda Rajapaksa accepted defeat.

“The army chief was under pressure to deploy but he did not. He declined to do anything illegal,” Rajitha Senaratne, the chief spokesman for the new president, told reporters in Colombo.

“Even in the last hour, he [Mahinda Rajapaksa] tried to remain in office. Only when he realized that he had no other option, he decided to go.”

Rajitha Senaratne did not detail whether the outgoing president himself tried to contact the military chief or whether the approach was made by his younger brother, Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

He also said that the new president has ordered an end to the censorship of dissident websites, the abolition of phone tapping and a stop to the surveillance of journalists and politicians.

The outgoing president was praised by Secretary of State John Kerry for his early concession.

Mahinda Rajapaksa – seeking a third term in office after he changed the constitution to scrap the two-term limit – said on Twitter soon after the vote that he was working to a peaceful transition of power.

His supporters credit him with ending the civil war and boosting the economy, but critics say he had become increasingly authoritarian and corrupt.

Maithripala Sirisena is expected to make an address to the nation from the historic hill resort of Kandy on January 11.

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Elvis first recording sells for $300,000 at Graceland auction

Sonia Pantiss
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Elvis first recording sells for $300,000 at Graceland auction

Elvis Presley’s first recording ever made has sold at a Graceland auction for $300,000.

An unnamed buyer placed the winning bid online for the 78 rpm recording of My Happiness, the first time it has come up for public sale.

The auction was held at Elvis Presley’s former home Graceland on what would have been his 80th birthday.

Elvis Presley recorded My Happiness in 1953 when he was 18-years-old.

He wanted to find out what his voice sounded like on record and paid $4 for the session to record My Happiness and That’s When Your Heartaches Begin onto acetate.

Elis Presley was said to have made the recording partly as a present for his mother.

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

But the family did not have a record player, so he took it to his friend Ed Leek’s house to listen to the results of the session and left it there.

Ed Leek kept the record in a safe for 60 years and after he and his wife died their niece Lorisa Hilburn inherited it.

Lorisa Hilburn from Florida was surprised but “very happy” with how much the record sold for.

“There was adrenaline beforehand … but when it was over, I was numb,” she said.

“It was surreal.”

Lorisa Hilburn plans to use some of the money to put her sons through college.

Other items in the auction included Elvis Presley’s first driving license, scarves worn by Elvis Presley at concerts and gold necklaces with the initials TCB – short for the slogan Taking Care of Business.

Before the auction Priscilla and Lisa Marie Presley hosted a cake-cutting ceremony to mark what would have been Elvis Presley’s 80th birthday.

Fans around the world have also taken part in birthday events, including a five day festival in Sydney, Australia.

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Nigeria: At least 16 people killed in Maiduguri market explosion

Roy Siemens
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Nigeria: At least 16 people killed in Maiduguri market explosion

A market explosion in the north-eastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri has killed at least 16 people and injured several others, medics say.

Some reports say that the market explosion was triggered by a girl suicide bomber who may have been as young as 10 years old.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack.

However, correspondents say that all the signs point to the militant Islamist Boko Haram group.

The market is reported to have been targeted twice in a week by female bombers late last year.

Borno State police spokesman Gideon Jubrin said that the girl suicide bomber let off an improvised explosive device near the area of the market where chickens were sold.Nigeria market explosion

Hundreds of people were killed on January 7 in an assault by Boko Haram militants on the town of Baga, following on their seizure of a key military base there on January 3.

Scores of bodies from that attack – described by Amnesty International as possibly the “deadliest massacre” in the history of Boko Haram – are reported to remain strewn in the bush.

District head Baba Abba Hassan said most victims in the Baga attack were children, women or elderly people who were not able to escape when insurgents forced their way into the town by firing rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles.

“The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous,” Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for a civilian defense group that fights Boko Haram told the Associated Press .

Boko Haram launched a military campaign in 2009 to create an Islamic state.

The group has taken control of many towns and villages in north-eastern Nigeria in the last year.

The conflict has displaced at least 1.5 million people, while more than 2,000 were killed last year.

Paris tightens security after terror attacks

Roy Siemens
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0
Paris tightens security after terror attacks

French authorities have deployed 500 extra troops around Paris after three days of terror in the capital killed 17 people.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said all necessary measures were being taken to protect the country.

Police in France are hunting for any accomplices of three gunmen killed by police on January 9 after two sieges.

More than 210,000 people have taken part in silent marches across France to remember the victims.

After a security cabinet meeting on January 10, Bernard Cazeneuve said France would remain on its highest state of alert “for the next few weeks”.

He promised tight security for a massive unity march in Paris on January 11.

Those set to attend Sunday’s unity rally include UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu, Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

“Sunday, the French people will cry out their love of liberty,” said PM Manuel Valls.

Photo AP
Photo AP

France would be “firm and relentless in the face of the enemies of liberty”, he added, urging all people to “assume their responsibilities”.

Silent marches have held in cities including Paris, Orleans, Nice, Pau, Toulouse and Nantes to remember the victims of this week’s violence.

Some protesters held banners that read “I am against racism”, “unite”, or “I am Charlie”, in reference to Charlie Hebo, the satirical magazine whose offices were attacked on January 7.

The family of Ahmed Merabet, one of the police officers killed during the Charlie Hebdo attack, gave an emotional news conference on January 10.

Ahmed Merabet was “Muslim, and very proud of being a police officer and defending the values of the Republic”, his brother Malek Merabet said.

He added that the family was “devastated by this act of barbarity, and shared the pain of the families of all the victims”.

“I want to say to all the racist, Islamophobic, anti-Semitic people, that one must not amalgamate extremists and Muslims,” Ahmed Merabet’s brother added.

The family said they were “proud” of the gatherings that had taken place to commemorate the victims, saying they proved that France could be united.

The violence began when two brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi, killed 12 people and injured 11 in an attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine on January 7.

On Janaury 9, Cherif and Said Kouachi were killed by police in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris, as they emerged from a besieged warehouse building firing their automatic weapons.

One hostage had earlier been released and a second employee, who was hiding in the building’s cafeteria, was freed by police.

Police shortly afterwards launched an assault on a supermarket in eastern Paris where gunman Amedy Coulibaly had been holding several hostages.

Police killed Amedy Coulibaly and rescued 15 hostages. They found the bodies of four hostages who are believed to have been killed before the assault.

The four victims have been identified as Yoav Hattab, Philippe Braham, Yohan Cohen, and Francois-Michel Saada. Their names were released by the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions.

Police are searching for Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend. She was said to be with Amedy Coulibaly when a policewoman was killed in Paris on Thursday, and is described as “armed and dangerous”.

Security officials have said they were aware of Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers. Said Kouachi was known to have travelled to Yemen in 2011.

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Prince Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson buy Swiss chalet

Lisa.Felice
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Prince Andrew and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson buy Swiss chalet

Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson have bought a luxury chalet in the Swiss resort of Verbier.

The chalet, thought to be worth up to £13 million ($20 million), was bought by the divorced couple on a joint mortgage.

The Duke and Duchess of York have links with the ski resort going back at least 17 years, when they went there on holiday with their two daughters.

The purchase has been described as a “family investment”. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.Prince Andrew buys Swiss chalet in Verbier

The chalet was bought on a joint mortgage for a cost of between £8 million ($12 million) and £13 million ($20 million).

A source close to Sarah Ferguson described the purchase as a “family investment”.

“They holiday in Verbier several times each year as all the family are keen skiers and it makes sense to have their own place there,” the source said.

Although Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced in 1996 after 10 years of marriage, they remained on good terms as they raised their two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and the duchess lives in the family home of Royal Lodge in Berkshire.

Cuba releases at least 36 opposition activists

Diane A. Wade
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Cuba releases at least 36 opposition activists

At least 36 Cuban opposition activists have been released from prison since January 7, according to dissident organizations.

They are believed to be from a list of 53 activists the US requested to be freed as part of efforts to mend links.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the US was pleased with the move.

Cuba and the US announced last month they had agreed to restore diplomatic relations, severed since 1961.

The American government is confident that the Cuban authorities will keep their word and release more political prisoners, said Eric Schultz.

The 53 names put forward by the US have not been disclosed.

Twenty-nine of the activists released since January 7 are from the dissident Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU).

“Our freed prisoners are committed to continue fighting for the democratic Cuba which we all want,” the group’s leader, Jose Daniel Ferrer, said in a statement.

“The UNPACU activists have left prison with more energy, force and motivation than they had when they were jailed.”

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

On January 8, the US announced that Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson would lead a delegation travelling to the capital, Havana, later this month.

These will be the first high level talks since Cuba and the US announced that they were restoring relations.

The US Department of State said the talks – to take place on January 21 and 22 – will focus on migration.

They will also discuss the practicalities of reopening embassies in Washington DC and Havana, said the Department of State.

The rapprochement process was announced by President Barack Obama and his Cuban counterpart Raul Castro on December 17.

Barack Obama’s proposal to restore relations still needs to be approved by Congress, where it faces opposition from many Republicans and anti-Castro lawmakers.

The US says it will continue to push Raul Castro’s government to respect human rights and the freedom of speech.

Senator Marco Rubio, a leading critic of President Barack Obama on the Cuba question, and other Cuban-Americans in Congress have argued that the president’s change of policy could provide legitimacy and money for the Cuban government while it continues to violate human rights.

Last week, the Cuban authorities detained several high-profile dissidents who were planning to stage an open microphone protest in Havana’s Revolution Square.

The US Department of State issued a statement saying it was “deeply concerned” by the reports. The activists were eventually released.

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Keriba Omasker: Cairns children funerals attended by thousands

Nancy Clayson
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Keriba Omasker: Cairns children funerals attended by thousands

The funerals of eight Australian children found dead in the north-eastern city of Cairns last month have been attended by thousands of people.

The service is called Keriba Omasker, which means “our children” in the ancestral language of the children.

Australian PM Tony Abbott, who attended the funerals, tweeted: “Today in Cairns. Sad beyond words. Keriba Omasker.”

The mother of seven of the children has been charged with their murders. The other victim was her niece.Cairns children funerals Keriba Omasker

The four boys and four girls were aged between 18 months and 14 years.

Almost 5,000 people heard prayers and tributes to the children at a memorial service.

Tony Abbott and other Australian political leaders laid wreaths.

Hearses are taking the children’s bodies to Martyn Place Cemetery, where they will be laid to rest.

The mother, Mersane Warria, 37, is being treated in hospital. She is not reported to be attending the funeral.

There are plans to demolish the house where the children died, to be replaced with a public memorial.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket recovery test fails

James J. Williams
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SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket recovery test fails

SpaceX says its experiment to bring part of its Falcon rocket down to a soft landing on a floating sea platform has failed.

The vehicle was launched on a mission to send a cargo capsule to the International Space Station (ISS).

Once the first-stage of the rocket completed its part of this task, it tried to make a controlled return.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the booster hit the platform hard.

“Close, but no cigar,” he added.

“Bodes well for the future tho’. Ship itself is fine. Some of the support equipment on the deck will need to be replaced.”

Elon Musk continued: “Didn’t get good landing/impact video. Pitch dark and foggy. Will piece it together from telemetry and… actual pieces.”

SpaceX intends to keep trying. If this kind of capability can be proven, it promises to dramatically lower launch costs in the future.

It would mean that normally disposable rockets could be recovered, refurbished and re-used.

It might also point to new ways of bringing spacecraft back down to Earth in general.F9 FLT-001

Lift-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, for the Falcon 9 with its Dragon freighter occurred at 04:47 local time. The cargo ship was confirmed in orbit and en route to the ISS nine minutes later – at about the same time the first stage was expected at the drone ship. Dragon’s arrival at the station is set for January 12.

This is the first American re-supply mission to the orbiting platform since October’s spectacular explosion of a freighter system operated by competitor Orbital Sciences Corporation.

Traditionally, rockets have had an expendable architecture.

As they head skyward, they dump engines and empty propellant tanks to save the weight that allows their upper-stage, including the satellite payload, to make the jump to orbit.

Any discarded hardware simply tumbles back towards the planet and is torn apart.

This approach means every new mission needs an expensive new rocket.

SpaceX, on the other hand, believes it can recycle key elements of its rockets.

The company has been testing first-stage boosters that relight their engines to try to slow their fall through the atmosphere, attaching fins to help guide them downwards and legs to make a stable touchdown.

Until January 10, these were all mock landings, in which the stage was brought to a hovering position at the surface of the ocean, where, without a solid platform to set down, every booster was then subsequently lost into the water.

This latest experiment marked the first use of the drone platform.

SpaceX conceded that reaching this touchdown pad at the first attempt would be an immense challenge.

The barge is less than 100m wide, and all previous experiments had been working on a landing accuracy of some 10km.

Nonetheless, SpaceX will be encouraged that it got so close to the platform.

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Heather Cook: Maryland’s first female episcopal bishop faces hit-and-run charge

Nancy Clayson
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Heather Cook: Maryland’s first female episcopal bishop faces hit-and-run charge

Heather Cook, Maryland’s first female Episcopalian bishop, will face charges over a hit-and-run crash that killed a cyclist in Baltimore, prosecutors say.

Bishop Suffragan Heather Cook will be arrested for vehicular manslaughter over the death of Thomas Palermo, 41.

Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby said Heather Cook’s blood-alcohol level was at .22 after the crash, almost triple the state’s legal limit for driving.

Heather Cook, who was elected bishop in September, has been put on leave.

The Maryland diocese previously said Heather Cook initially left the scene but returned 20 minutes later “to take responsibility for her actions”.

The national Episcopal Church has also opened a separate investigation to determine whether Heather Cook violated church law.Bishop Heather Cook hit and run charges

Heather Cook became an ordained priest in 1987 and served in Virginia, New York and Pennsylvania before returning to Maryland.

In a statement, the Palermo family said they “support the prosecutor’s efforts to hold Bishop Heather Cook accountable for her actions to the fullest extent of the law”.

A small makeshift memorial was created near the road where Tom Palermo was killed on December 27. The road had a designated bike lane.

An eyewitness said he found Tom Palermo on the road and while other witnesses called emergency services he went looking for the vehicle and found it at a light.

“The windshield was completely smashed in, with a hole on the passenger side, and from the damage of the car, there was no doubt in my mind that was the car,” Moncure Lyon said.

“I asked the lady who was driving <<Are you all right?>> Then the light turned green, she said <<Yes,>> and she left.”

Heather Cook had previously pleaded guilty to driving under the influence in 2010 and was sentenced to a fine and probation, according to court records.

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Cyprus Airways ceases operations after breaching EU rules

Clyde K. Valle
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Cyprus Airways ceases operations after breaching EU rules

Cyprus Airways has ceased operations after an EU decision saying that the carrier must repay over 65 million euros in illegal state aid.

The EU Commission said the Cypriot government had breached rules on support for struggling companies.

The Cypriot national carrier has repeatedly received aid between 2007 and 2013.

The government, which owns 93% of Cyprus Airways, had searched unsuccessfully for outside investors.

“The company has ceased being a viable entity, and cannot continue to operate,” said finance minister Harris Georgiades.

Harris Georgiades said there would be alternative arrangements covering Cyprus Airways flights from January 10.

Photo Wikipedia
Photo Wikipedia

The Commission undertook an in-depth investigation after the government in Nicosia approved repeated state aid packages to the airline.

Publishing the investigation’s results, the Commission was highly critical of Cyprus Airways’ restructuring plans. It said they were based on “unrealistic assumptions”, failed to address the cause of the airline’s difficulties and were taking longer to implement than EU rules permitted.

Under EU rules, struggling companies can be given aid under what the Commission terms the “one time, last time” principle.

Governments may grant a one-off tranche of aid to support a restructuring process once within a period of 10 years. The rule is intended to prevent companies becoming reliant on government support and gaining unfair advantage over rivals.

“Cyprus Airways has received large quantities of public money since 2007 but was unable to restructure and become viable without continued state support… injecting additional public money would only have prolonged the struggle without achieving a turn-around,” EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement.

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AirAsia plane tail recovered from Java Sea

Diane A. Wade
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AirAsia plane tail recovered from Java Sea

The tail of the AirAsia plane that crashed two weeks ago has been recovered from the seabed, the Indonesian navy has announced.

Divers used an inflatable device to pull the tail to the sea’s surface.

They are also searching for the plane’s “black box” flight recorders, which officials believe have been separated from the tail section.

AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared from radar in bad weather on December 28 with 162 people on board. It was flying from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore.

Forty-eight bodies have been retrieved so far. Search teams believe most of the remains may still be inside the fuselage of the plane, which has yet to be found.

On January 9, pings were detected in the Java Sea near where the tail was found. Officials said they could have come from the plane’s “black box” flight recorders.

Photo AP
Photo AP

The rear part of the Airbus A320-200 was spotted on January 7 by an unmanned underwater vehicle at a depth of about 100ft.

It was upside down and partially buried about 20 miles from the point of last contact with the plane, off the coast of Borneo, authorities said.

Search teams have been pulling bodies and wreckage from the sea but progress has been slow due to high waves and stormy weather.

The cause of the crash is unknown but the plane had encountered bad weather and asked for a flight path change before communication was lost.

The “black box” flight data recorders are usually housed inside the rear part of the plane.

They are designed to survive a crash and being submerged in water, and contain underwater locator beacons which emit the so-called “pings” for at least 30 days.

Finding them has been one of the top priorities for search teams as they provide crucial clues from the last moments of the flight before it came down.

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David Petraeus faces charges for leaking classified information to Paula Broadwell

Diane A. Wade
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David Petraeus faces charges for leaking classified information to Paula Broadwell

Ex-CIA director David Petraeus should be charged with providing classified information to former mistress Paula Broadwell, prosecutors have recommended.

The New York Times first reported the news, citing officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A decorated former general, David Petraeus resigned as CIA chief in 2012 after details of his affair with Paula Broadwell emerged.

He was a commander of US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan before taking the role.

A US Justice Department investigation is focusing on whether David Petraeus gave Paula Broadwell access to his CIA email and other classified information while director of the organization, the newspaper says.

FBI agents discovered classified documents on Paula Broadwell’s computer after David Petraeus quit, according to the New York Times.

Photo AP
Photo AP

The recommendations to press criminal charges from the FBI and US Justice Department would leave Attorney General Eric Holder with a decision on whether to seek an indictment, which could see David Petraeus jailed if found guilty.

David Petraeus has said he never provided classified information to Paula Broadwell, according to the paper.

The affair reportedly began in 2011, while Paula Broadwell was working on a biography of David Petraeus.

In the same year, David Petraeus resigned from his commanding position in Afghanistan to take on the CIA role.

David Petraeus resigned from the CIA in 2012, saying he had shown “extremely poor judgment” in conducting the affair.

President Barack Obama paid tribute to David Petraeus at the time, saying he had “provided extraordinary service to the United States for decades”.

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Hayat Boumeddiene: French police hunt for terror attacks accomplice

Roy Siemens
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0
Hayat Boumeddiene: French police hunt for terror attacks accomplice

French police are hunting for any accomplices of the gunmen who killed 17 people in two days of terror attacks.

One key figure is Hayat Boumeddiene, Amedy Coulibaly’s girlfriend. He was killed when police stormed HyperCacher supermarket in Paris on January 9.

Hayat Boumeddiene was said to be with Amedy Coulibaly when a female police officer was killed and is described as “armed and dangerous”.

Cherif and Said Kouachi, the two gunmen who carried out Wednesday’s deadly attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine, were killed by police on January 9.

President Francois Hollande praised the police but also warned of further threats.

He thanked the security services for their “bravery and efficiency”, saying the week’s violence was “a tragedy for the nation”.

Francois Molins, the chief prosecutor in France, said authorities were urgently focusing on Hayat Boumeddiene.

French newspaper Le Monde published a series of photos said to show Amedy Coulibaly with Hayat Boumeddiene in 2010. In one, the 26-year-old woman is pictured pointing a crossbow at the camera while wearing a full-face veil, which is banned in France.

Francois Molins said the investigation would “focus on determining who their accomplices were, how these criminal actions were financed, and all the instruction and help they may have benefited from whether in France, from overseas”.

He said 16 people had been detained for questioning, including the wife of one of the Kouachi brothers and other members of their family.

French government ministers are meeting on Saturday morning to plan their next steps.

A number of world leaders have called Francois Hollande to express support.

The first siege on January 9 – in Dammartin-en-Goele, 22 miles north of Paris – involved the Kouachi brothers who had attacked the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine on January 7.

Cherif and Said Kouachi were shot dead as they came out of a warehouse building firing at police. Two officers were injured.

One hostage had earlier been released and a second employee, who was hiding in the building’s cafeteria, was freed by police after the shooting ended.

Police shortly afterwards launched an assault on HyperCacher supermarket in Paris, killing Amedy Coulibaly and rescuing 15 hostages. They found the bodies of four hostages believed to have been killed before the assault.

Officials have said they were aware of Amedy Coulibaly and the Kouachi brothers. Said Kouachi was known to have travelled to Yemen in 2011.

Said and Cherif Kouachi are understood to have been on UK and US watch-lists.

While holed up in the warehouse north of Paris, Cherif Kouachi phoned a French TV news network and told them he was acting on behalf of the Yemen branch of al-Qaeda (AQAP).Hayat Boumeddiene Paris shooting

The extremist group released an audio message late on January 9 praising the attacks but stopped short of claiming responsibility.

AQAP senior leader Sheikh Harith al-Nadhari said “some in France have misbehaved with the prophets of God,” adding that “God’s faithful soldiers” had taught them “the limits of freedom of speech”.

Earlier on Friday, a man claiming to be Amedy Coulibaly told French TV station BFMTV that he was a member of the Islamic State militant group, and that he had “co-ordinated” his attack with the Kouachi brothers.

Francois Molins confirmed that Amedy Coulibaly knew one of the brothers and their respective partners had spoken on the phone more than 500 times.

During Friday’s siege, Amedy Coulibaly had threatened to kill his captives if police attempted to capture the brothers, he added.

PM Manuel Valls admitted there had been a “clear failing” in French intelligence.

“If 17 people die, this means mistakes have been made,” he said, including those killed in attacks on January 7 and 8 in the toll.

The violence started on January 7 when the Kouachi brothers killed 12 people and injured 11 in an attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo.

The unprecedented attack shocked France and there has been an outpouring of sympathy and solidarity worldwide.

The French ministers’ meeting on Saturday will make preparations for a huge unity rally due to take place in the heart of Paris on January 11.

Among those attending will be UK PM David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy.

President Barack Obama said he had directed his intelligence agencies to help France deal with any further threats.

Meanwhile, the US state department has updated its travel guidance, warning Americans travelling abroad to maintain a high level of vigilance.

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Montpellier siege: Hostages taken at jewellery store

Nancy Clayson
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Montpellier siege: Hostages taken at jewellery store

A third hostage crisis is underway after a gunman locked himself in a jewellery store in Montpellier, Southern France.

The new incident is evolving shortly after hostages were freed in Paris and Charlie Hebdo attack suspects Cherif and Said Kouachi killed in Northern France.

According to the media, two people are being held in a jewellery shop on La Rue du l’Argenterie, in the center of Montpellier. The police have surrounded the area.

The suspect had been holding the two employees – women of 30 and 40 years old – for several hours, threatening them with a gun before a police negotiator managed to establish a contact with him. No one was killed or wounded, local Midi Libre said.Montpellier hostage crisis

Special police forces arrived on the scene along with the region’s prosecutor and Montpellier mayor.

According to Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret, cited by Midi Libre, the situation is “very calm“ and there is no reason to connect the new siege with the events in Paris and in Northern France.

“It was a robbery, it has nothing to do with what is happening in Paris,” Christophe Barret said.

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Keystone XL pipeline: House passes controversial bill

Diane A. Wade
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Keystone XL pipeline: House passes controversial bill

The House of Representatives has passed the controversial bill approving the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Senate is expected to pass a similar bill soon, which President Barack Obama has said he will veto.

Earlier in today, a court in Nebraska dismissed a case that would have stalled construction of Keystone XL pipeline.

The project has been one of the most contentious issues between President Barack Obama and Republicans who now lead Congress.

It is 1,179-mile extension of an existing pipeline that would bring additional oil from the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to refining facilities near the Gulf of Mexico.

The bill was the first piece of major legislation to be introduced by the newly Republican-controlled Congress. It passed the House by a vote of 266-153, with 28 Democrats supporting the measure.

“We shouldn’t be debating it, we should be building it,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said.

The Senate will consider a similar bill on January 12, which it will likely pass in the coming weeks.House passes Keystone XL bill

The $5.4 billion project was first introduced in 2008.

The bill is controversial because the tar sand oil that the pipeline will transport is said to be more polluting than other types of oil.

However, an official environmental review released last year raised no major environmental objections to the pipeline’s construction.

Many Republicans and some trade unions support the bill because they say it will generate jobs.

Because the pipeline would cross an international border, the state department has to grant a permit for its construction.

But in voting today, Congressional Republicans have set the stage to bypass this review process and allow construction to begin immediately.

Earlier in the week, the Obama administration said it opposes the bill because it “prevents the thorough consideration of complex issues that could bear on US national interests,” and because of “uncertainty due to ongoing litigation in Nebraska”.

On January 9, the Supreme Court in Nebraska dismissed the lawsuit on which Barack Obama’s veto threat was party based.

The lawsuit was considered a major obstacle to the pipeline’s construction.

Despite passing, the bill failed to garner the two-thirds majority in the House that it would need in the future to override a presidential veto.

The Senate would likely be unable to override a veto as well.

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