Chinese Stock Markets Shut After Shares Fall

The Shanghai Composite Index has fallen to its lowest level in nearly three months, on what was the first trading day of 2016.

An earlier 15-minute break in trading, when shares had fallen by more than 5%, failed to stem the slump.

The FTSE 100 in London has fallen sharply by 2%, with other European indices also in the red.

This is the first time that a new "circuit breaker" system - designed to curb volatility in Chinese stock markets - has been triggered, and trading ended 90 minutes earlier than the usual close.

Poor Chinese manufacturing data was believed to be a factor behind the fall.

An independent report released early on Monday suggested that factory activity in China has been contracting for 10 consecutive months as of December.

Escalating tensions in the Middle East, sparked by Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shia cleric over the weekend, also led to a jump in oil prices.

Financial analysts are also concerned about how the market will react when measures designed to enhance stock market stability expire in the coming days.

At the start of July, major shareholders in Chinese companies were banned from selling their stakes for six months - but this policy is about to expire.

Japan's Nikkei 225, along with the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, have also tumbled by about 3% each.

Charlie Hebdo Condemns Islamist 'Fanatics'

The magazine cover depicts an armed man representing God

The publication on Wednesday will be accompanied by the headline "1 An Apres - L'Asssassin Court Toujors" (One Year On: The Assassin Is Still Out There).

The attack on 7 January 2015 carried out by two Islamic militants in revenge for cartoon depictions in the magazine of the Prophet Mohammed left 12 people dead.

Laurent Sourisseau took the helm at the magazine after the attack

Brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi forced their way into the building with assault rifles, killing 11 people and injuring 11 more. Upon leaving the building they also shot dead a French police officer.

The pair shouted "Allahu akbar" (God is great) during the assault and were later killed in a shoot-out with police during a stand-off on an industrial estate 30km northeast of Paris.

One million copies of the anniversary edition featuring a collection of cartoons by five of the magazine's cartoonists killed in the attack will be distributed for sale in French newsagents, with thousands more exported for sale overseas.

Cartoonist Laurent Sourisseau, who took over the magazine's management following the attack, has written a robust defence of secularism which denounces what he calls "fanatics brutalised by the Koran".

Mr Sourisseau, who was seriously wounded in last year's attack, also takes a swipe at what he describes as those from other religions who hoped for the death of the magazine for "daring to laugh at the religious".

Prior to the attack the magazine's employees received death threats for publishing cartoons featuring Mohammed, and its offices were firebombed in 2011.

Sales fell below 30,000 a week and the magazine was close to shutting down.

But the assault caused revulsion around the world and 7.5 million people bought the magazine's post-attack issue in support of the idea that Islam should not be protected from satire.

Mark Zuckerberg Reveals Plan For AI Butler

Mark Zuckerberg says he tries a new personal challenge every year

Mr Zuckerberg, who commits to a new personal challenge every year, revealed his plan in a Facebook post.

"You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man," he wrote, referring to the artificially intelligent butler who appears in the Marvel comic books and films.

Mr Zuckerberg said he would start the project by exploring existing technology, and then begin teaching the technology to understand his voice so that it can learn to control everything in his home, such as music, lights and temperature.

His plan also includes teaching the assistant to let his friends into his home by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell.

Mr Zuckerberg also wrote in the post that he wants the assistant to visualise data to support him at work.

should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself.

"I'm looking forward to sharing what I learn over the course of the year."

challenges Mr Zuckerberg has taken on in recent years have included reading two books every month and learning Mandarin.

Fighting erupts over control of Yemen's Aden port

Al-Qaeda-linked group is reportedly using the port to run lucrative smuggling operations [Reuters]

Government forces have clashed with fighters for control over the strategic southern port of Aden, Yemeni officials in the southern city say.

The officials said on Sunday that fighters believed to be close to al-Qaeda have refused to hand over the port to the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

At least one armed group is reportedly using the port to run lucrative smuggling operations.

On Thursday, a drive-by shooting in Aden killed Ahmed al-Idrisi, a senior leader of a pro-government group, just hours after he reluctantly agreed to hand over control of the port to government troops.

Security officials said Idrisi publicly backed the government, but maintained secret deals with armed groups and anti-government forces.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters.

A loose alliance of Yemeni loyalists, backed by a coalition of mostly Arab countries assembled by Saudi Arabia, reclaimed control of Aden in July.

The Arab coalition launched an offensive against Yemen's Iran-allied Shia Houthi forces and their allies in March, when Hadi first fled Aden to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Although the war began with air strikes, the coalition went on to provide ground forces in the war.

Pro-government forces have set up a blockade of the capital, Sanaa, as Arab coalition forces continue to launch strikes against the Houthis and their allies.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Riyadh on Sunday, Brigadier-General Ahmed Asiri, spokesman for the coalition, defended the resumption of air strikes.

He took issue with a UN report in December saying that more than 100 tonnes of aid was delivered to Taiz.

"The humanitarian organisation belonging to the UN signed an agreement and they took the money and sent the shipment," he said.

"But they did not get on the ground to distribute the aid, so it got to the Houthis and they used it to humiliate the people. So why did the UN not condemn this action which prevented people from obtaining food and medicine?"

PM's Plan To Build 10,000 New Homes

The Prime Minister is expected to claim the move will be the biggest use of such a policy since Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine sparked the regeneration of London's Docklands in the 1980s.

Downing Street said the policy will see homes being built at a faster rate, with smaller building firms that are unable to take on big projects able to begin construction on Government sites which already have planning permission.

The plan will be backed by an extra £1.2bn to prepare brownfield sites for the building of 30,000 starter homes over the next five years.

These will be available to first time buyers under 40 for at least a 20% discount.

The PM said: "This Government was elected to deliver security and opportunity - whatever stage of life you're at.

"Nothing is more important to achieving that than ensuring hard-working people can buy affordable homes.

"Today's package signals a huge shift in government policy.

"Nothing like this has been done on this scale in three decades - government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.”

The construction of the first wave of up to 13,000 directly commissioned homes - 40% of which will be starter homes - will start this year in Dover, Chichester, Gosport, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire and Old Oak Common in northwest London.

As well as the 30,000 new starter homes, the £1.2bn will fast track the creation of up to 30,000 market rate homes on 500 new brownfield sites by 2020.

The plans form part of the Government's commitment to build 200,000 starter homes before the end of the Parliament.

Shadow housing minister John Healey said the PM was "laying on the rhetoric to hide his failure on new homes".

He said: "Today's statement promises no new starter homes beyond those already announced.

"With home-ownership down to the lowest level in a generation and fewer homes built over the last five years than under any peacetime government since the 1920s, David Cameron needs to do much more to fix his five years of failure on housing."

Children 'Consuming Body Weight In Sugar'

Some of those aged between four and 10 eat around 22kg per annum, the equivalent to the average weight of a five-year-old.

The figure has prompted a new Government campaign called "Change4Life" urging parents to make healthier food choices.

It includes a free smartphone app called "Sugar Smart" which allows users to learn the sugar content of products, in grams and cubes, by scanning barcodes.

The campaign also highlights the risk of tooth decay as well as future health concerns for overweight children.

In 2013, almost a third of five-year-olds and almost half of eight-year-olds had tooth decay, the most common reason for five to nine-year-olds being admitted to hospital.

A fifth of four to five-year-olds and a third of 10 to 11-year-olds are overweight or obese.

Public Health England (PHE) say overweight children are more likely to become overweight adults and to be prone to serious health issues.

Dr Alison Tedstone, from PHE, said youngsters aged five should not consume more than 19 grams, or five cubes, of sugar per day.

She said: "Children are eating too much sugar; more than three times the recommended amounts and it's causing them real problems.

"We as parents need to think about how we encourage our children to eat less ... Parents struggle with knowing how much sugar is in food and labels.

"This app is easy to use. We've tested it with parents and they found it very useful."

Becky Hall, a mother with two sons called Ben and Aaron from Worcestershire, says she would use it, although not all the time.

"I think it's going to help a lot as it gives you a guideline of what children are meant to have and how much is in each product," she said.

"It is harder to read food labels - this app makes it a lot easier to understand what sugar is in foods.

"But I don’t think I would use it in a supermarket. That would be far too much to deal with."

Tam Fry from the National Obesity Forum, however, says he is not "terribly impressed" by the smartphone app and believes the campaign overall does not go far enough.

He said: "I think shock tactics is the way we have to go. We have spent 25 years being namby pamby and that hasn't worked.

"We need to do something that pulls people up short and say: 'These are the consequences'.

"That's the type of message people would understand."

Obesity costs the NHS £5.1bn a year, but it is a figure projected to almost double by 2050.

This Kid Eating an Entire Watermelon at a Cricket Game Is the First Internet Hero of 2016

Everyone, meet Watermelon Boy. Watermelon Boy, everyone.

Watermelon Boy, you see, is a kid who was attending a cricket match in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, when he was filmed in the stands consuming an entire watermelon, rind and all.

The game’s commentators were understandably puzzled and riveted: “That’s… I’ve never seen that before in my life,” one commentator said; the other added, “That is unbelievable.”

Turns out Watermelon Boy has celebrity blood: he’s the son of Melbourne’s SEN 1116 radio host and sports reporter Tony Schibeci, who revealed the Boy’s identity to all the world Saturday.

The kid made some decent progress by the end of the game as well.

Enjoy your time in the spotlight, Watermelon Boy: It’s a whole new week of content starting Monday and the cycle moves pretty quickly. Maybe they’ll be a new cat or a kid saying “apparently” soon or something.