12:30 AM
9:39 AM
Fifty Shades of Grey whips North American box office
Erotic film adaptation
Fifty Shades of Grey sizzled at North American box offices this weekend,
taking an estimated $81.7m (£53m).
It was the second-highest February debut ever, behind The Passion of the Christ's $83.9m opening in 2004.Based on EL James' best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey is directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson and stars Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson.
According to Universal Pictures, North American audiences were 68% female.
The film's takings were more than double those of its nearest box office rival, Kingsman: The Secret Service, which earned $35.6m (£24m), according to studio estimates.
The book has been translated into more than 50 languages
Around the world, Fifty Shades of Grey took an estimated $158m (£102m) from 58 countries.
James's trilogy of Fifty Shades books have reportedly sold more than 100 million copies worldwide and been translated into more than 50 languages.
The film, which contains "strong sex and nudity", is R-rated in the US - meaning those under 17 years old can watch it if accompanied by an adult - and has an 18 certificate in the UK.
Animated children's film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water came third on the box office chart with $30.5m (£19.8m) in its second weekend on release.
Rounding out the top five were the Oscar-nominated American Sniper with $16.4m (£10.6m), and sci-fi fantasy Jupiter Ascending with $9.4m (£6.1m).
9:36 AM
Louis Jourdan, French actor and star of Gigi, dies aged 93
The French actor Louis Jourdan, best known for his role in the multi-Oscar winning 1958 musical Gigi, has died in California aged 93.
Born in Marseilles, he began his career acting in French films before being lured to the US.Often seen in roles that capitalised on his Gallic charm, he described himself as Hollywood's "French cliche".
His later years saw him play evil villains, including in the 1983 Bond film Octopussy.
Jourdan died at his home in Los Angeles, his official biographer Olivier Minne said.
"He embodied French elegance and Hollywood offered him the parts to go with that," he told the AFP news agency.
Among those paying tribute on Twitter was Indian film star Kabir Bedi, who played Jourdan's bodyguard Gobinda in Octopussy.
Deeply saddened to hear, from @twitter friends, of the passing of Louis Jordan," he wrote.
Cassian Elwes, producer of films including Monster's Ball and Dallas Buyers Club, wrote: "Louis Jourdan was an absolutely charming man who was always elegant in everything he did it was no wonder he was friends w [sic] everyone he met."
American actress Rose McGowan, whose films include The Black Dahlia, wrote: "Louis Jourdan, thank you for the entertainment. Your elegant beauty and wit were a joy to behold."
French resistance Born Louis Gendre in 1921, he changed his name to Pierre Jourdan, then Louis Jourdan when he became an actor.
Louis Jourdan felt his dashing good looks and French accent often meant he was typecast
His early career in France was interrupted by World War Two. He refused to star in Nazi propaganda films and escaped to join the French resistance.
After the war, he resumed his film career, eventually becoming one of Hollywood's favourite French actors.
Jourdan played opposite leading ladies Joan Fontaine, Jennifer Jones, Grace Kelly and Shirley MacLaine in films during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s.
Gigi, a musical romantic comedy in which he played the suave Gaston Lachaille, was one of the most successful films of the 1950s. It won nine Oscars, including best picture.
Despite this, Jourdan did not consider Gigi his best achievement, reportedly saying: "It was a wonderful story for Leslie and Maurice Chevalier, but I played a colourless leading man.
"You'll note that none of the actors was nominated for Academy Awards."
'Perpetually cooing' Other key roles included a part in Alfred Hitchcock's 1947 film The Paradine Case, and with Grace Kelly in The Swan.
He played concert pianist Stefan Brand opposite actress Joan Fontaine in the 1948 film Letter from an Unknown Woman.
He also showed that he could play a villain in the 1956 film Julie, in which he played Doris Day's husband, a psychopathic killer.
But despite his 15 years as a leading man, Jourdan felt he was often subject to Hollywood typecasting.
"Any actor who comes here with an accent is automatically put in roles as a lover," the Associated Press news agency reported him as once saying. "I didn't want to be perpetually cooing in a lady's ear."
Jourdan has two stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame and in 2010 he was given France's highest honour, Legion D'Honneur.
His wife of more than 60 years, Berthe Frederique Jourdan, died last year.
9:23 AM
Denmark attacks: Two men charged in Copenhagen
"He was known by the police for several criminal acts,
including severe violence, and he was also known to be linked to a
criminal gang in Copenhagen. "But I want to also make very clear that we have no indication at this stage that he was part of a cell."
Danish police have accused two men of aiding the gunman who killed two people in the weekend attacks in Copenhagen.
The suspected gunman, named by Danish media as Omar
El-Hussein, 22, was shot dead by police after he attacked a free speech
debate and a synagogue.Denmark's PM said he was not a member of a terror cell, according to what was known so far.
The shootings left a film director and a Jewish man dead and five police injured.
The two men being held are charged with providing and disposing of the weapon used in the shootings, as well as with helping the gunman to hide.
Michael Juul Eriksen, a defence lawyer for one of the men, said they denied the charges.
The suspects, who have not been named, appeared in a closed custody hearing on Monday.
The national flag flew at half-mast on official buildings across the capital.
Floral tributes have been placed by mourners at the site of the two attacks.
Some also put flowers at the place where police shot the suspect dead. One told Danish TV2: "I did it because I am Muslim and because I knew him."
In a separate development, controversial cartoonist Lars Vilks - who believes he was probably a target of one of the attacks - now says he has gone into hiding.
'Criminal links' The attacker was a Danish-born man aged 22, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told a news conference.
Radicalised in jail? Michael Gjorup, head of the country's prison and probation service, told Danish media that authorities were concerned about changes in El-Hussein's behaviour in prison and passed on information to Danish intelligence before the attack.
The head of Danish intelligence, Jens Madsen, acknowledged that El-Hussein had been "on the radar" of his services.
Mr Madsen said investigators were working on the theory that he could have been inspired by the shootings in Paris last month.
8:42 AM
Egypt bombs IS in Libya after beheadings video
Egypt says it has bombed Islamic State targets in Libya, hours after the militants released video of apparent beheadings of 21 Egyptian Christians.
State TV said the dawn strikes had targeted camps, training sites and weapons storage areas. A second wave of strikes was reported hours later.Libyan officials said Egypt hit targets in the militant-held city of Derna.
The strikes came amid widespread condemnation of the killings. The US and UN described them as "cowardly".
A video emerged on Sunday showing militants forcing a group of men to the ground and decapitating them.
The kidnapped Egyptian workers, all Coptic Christians, were seized in separate incidents in December and January from the coastal town of Sirte in eastern Libya, under the control of Islamist groups.
The video of the beheadings was posted online by Libyan jihadists who pledge loyalty to IS. It was one of the first such videos to come from an IS group outside its core territory in Syria and Iraq.
The video describes the Copts as "crusaders" and refers among other things to two women, wives of Coptic priests, whose alleged conversion to Islam triggered a sectarian dispute in Egypt in 2010.
IS militants claim to have carried out several attacks in Libya, which in effect has rival governments.
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