Harrison Ford Just Became the Highest-Grossing Actor in U.S. Box Office History

Bolstered by the insane ticket sales of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the 73-year-old star has grossed more at the box office in the U.S. than any other actor. His leading number currently sits at $4.71 billion, according to Box Office Mojo.

Ford took the crown from another member of the Star Warsfranchise: Samuel L. Jackson, who starred in all three prequels. Jackson was also in a handful of Marvel movies, including The Avengers. He’s at $4.63 billion.

The top five is rounded out by a formidable trio of Tom Hanks ($4.33 billion), Morgan Freeman ($4.32 billion), and Eddie Murphy ($3.81 billion). The highest-placed actress is Cameron Diaz at No. 15 with $3.03 billion.

As of now, The Force Awakens has raked in over $770 million domestically.

Merkel Backs Tougher Laws After Sex Attacks

It comes as police in Cologne fired water canon to disperse protesters from the far-right group PEGIDA, who have been staging a rally in response to the attacks.

The reports of attacks on women in Cologne by gangs of men described by police as mostly of "Arab or North African" origin has ramped up pressure for stricter measures in Germany, which took nearly 1.1 million migrants last year.

Police in Cologne have fired water canon at supporters of PEGIDA

Some 121 women are reported to have been robbed, threatened or sexually assaulted during New Year's celebrations near the city's twin-spired Gothic cathedral.

It has served to heighten tensions over immigration and fuelled criticism of Mrs Merkel's refusal to cap the number of migrants entering the country. 

Speaking at a meeting of the Christian Democrats on Saturday, Mrs Merkel said: "If a refugee flouts the rules, then there must be consequences, that means that they can lose their residence right here regardless of whether they have a suspended sentence or a prison sentence.

"Serial offenders who consistently, for example, return to theft or time and again insult women must count on the force of the law."

She added: "This is in the interests of the citizens of Germany, but also in the interests of the great majority of the refugees who are here."

Under current laws, asylum seekers are only deported if they have been sentenced to jail terms of at least three years, and if their lives are not at risk in their countries of origin.

 deportation threshold, the proposal put forward by Mrs Merkel's party would also strengthen the ability of police to conduct checks of identity papers.

The moves, which would need a change to German law, come as around 1,700 police gathered on the streets of Cologne to supervise a rally by PEGIDA supporters.

There was also a separate demonstration staged by mostly women to protest against the assaults.

The city's chief of police was sacked for his handling of the incidents amid claims officers covered up the involvement of large groups of migrants.

Earlier in the week, German police said they had identified 32 people who were suspected of playing a role in the Cologne attacks of whom 22 were asylum seekers.

Mrs Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) party has said it aims to reduce and control migration to Germany.

The proposal did note "a continuation of the current influx would overwhelm the state and society even in a country like Germany in the long run".

Plaque Unveiled For Charlie Hebdo Policewoman

Francois Hollande unveiled a plaque and laid a wreath in Montrouge in the outskirts of Paris where the officer was involved in a shootout with Islamist gunman Amedy Coulibably.

The open day at the Strasbourg Grand Mosque

Events have been taking place all week to mark the anniversary of the attacks on the satirical magazine and a Jewish supermarket, which left 17 people dead.

The first plaque was unveiled on Tuesday outside the former offices of Charlie Hebdo, but it was quickly covered up as a victim’s name, Georges Wolinski, had been spelt incorrectly.

The president later uncovered more plaques at a spot where a policeman was shot and at the supermarket where four of the victims were killed.

The 7 January attacks were carried out by two Muslim extremists in revenge for publication in the magazine of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Meanwhile hundreds of French mosques are inviting visitors the opportunity to come in for tea and a chat about Islam in a country rocked by jihadist attacks.

The French Council of the Muslim Faith said the event aims to stimulate dialogue about Islam and create a greater sense of "national cohesion".

Following the Paris terror attacks in November in which jihadists killed 130 people, France declared a state of emergency which has seen police staging around 20 raids on Muslim places of worship.

At least three have been closed on suspicion of radicalising their members.

In strong finish to year, US employers add 292,000 jobs in December

American employers added a strong 292,000 jobs in December — robust hiring that suggests the U.S. economy is so far defying more downcast global economic trends.

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate remained 5 percent for a third straight month. More Americans started looking for work, and most found jobs.

The government also said employers added a combined 50,000 more jobs in October and November than it had previously estimated. Hiring averaged 284,000 a month in the fourth quarter, the best three-month pace in a year.

The strong figures underscore the resilience of the U.S. economy at a time of global turmoil stemming from China's slowing economy and plummeting stock market. Most economists expect solid U.S. consumer spending will offset any overseas drag, though many forecast only modest growth.

For months, U.S. employers have steadily added jobs even as global growth has flagged and financial markets have sunk. Stronger customer demand has given most businesses confidence to hire even though some sectors — notably manufacturing and oil and gas drilling — are struggling.

While labor market resilience would favor another interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve in March, economists say financial market turmoil and concerns among policymakers over low inflation suggest the U.S. central bank may stay on the sidelines a bit longer.

The Fed last month raised overnight interest rates by a quarter percentage point to between 0.25 and 0.50 percent, the first increase in nearly a decade, and a subsequent move at its next meeting this month was already seen as off the table.

Wage growth will come under scrutiny this year. Despite the drop in average hourly earnings in December, the year-on-year gain in earnings was 2.5 percent in December compared to 2.3 percent in November. That was mostly because wages were unusually weak in December 2014.

Wage growth is expected to accelerate by the middle of the year as the labor market settles into full employment.

If employers continue to hire steadily and to raise wages consistently, consumers are expected to keep spending and to support U.S. economic growth even if foreign economies struggle.

Still, stumbling growth in countries like China, the world's second-largest economy, and financial market turmoil could pose long-term challenges for the U.S. economy. A strong dollar and faltering global growth have cut into exports of factory goods.

The dollar has climbed about 10 percent in value in the past year compared with overseas currencies. That has made U.S. goods more expensive globally while lowering the price of imported products.

In November, exports fell to their lowest level in nearly four years and helped shave about 0.6 percentage point from the economy's growth in 2015, according to Goldman Sachs. Most analysts estimate that the economy expanded at a modest pace 2.5 percent last year.

Another blow to manufacturing has been oil prices, which fell to their lowest level in 12 years Thursday. Oil and gas drillers have responded by slashing payrolls and sharply cutting spending on steel pipes and other drilling equipment.

Manufacturers added just 17,000 jobs last year through November. Yet manufacturing makes up just 10 percent of the U.S. economy and oil and gas drilling even less. Consumer spending accounts for roughly 70 percent.

For now, Americans are confident enough to buy more homes. Sales of newly built homes jumped nearly 15 percent in 2015 and helped spur building and construction hiring: Construction companies added 215,000 jobs last year, a 3.4 percent gain.

In another sign of consumer health, auto sales rose to a record high last year as cheap gas and low interest rates led to booming sales of SUVs and pickup trucks.

Lower gas prices may have hurt the oil patch, but they should benefit consumers by cutting their gas bills. Chris Christopher, an economist at IHS, a forecasting firm, estimates that American households saved, on average, $722 last year from cheaper gas. He expects them to save an additional $217 in 2016 given the continuing drop in oil prices.

German police chief sacked over sexual assaults

The police chief of the German city of Cologne has been dismissed amid mounting criticism of his force's handling of New Year's Eve sexual assaults and robberies.

The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia said on Friday it was sending Wolfgang Albers into early retirement, and the 60-year-old commander said he understood the reasons why.

Police chief Wolfgang Albers has been dismissed [Rolf Vennenbernd/DPA]

Many of the crimes have been blamed on foreigners in the country, which last year accepted about 1.1 million refugees - more than any other European nation.

But none of the 31 suspects has been accused of specifically committing sexual assaults, the aspect of Cologne's disturbances that attracted most public outrage at home and abroad.

Cologne police say they have received 170 criminal complaints connected to the New Year's festivities, 120 of them sexual in nature.

The German government said 31 suspects were briefly detained for questioning after the New Year's Eve trouble, among them 18 asylum seekers.

They include nine Algerians, eight Moroccans, five Iranians, four Syrians, two Germans and one person each from Iraq, Serbia and the US.

The state's interior minister, Ralf Jaeger, said police chief Albers' removal was "necessary to restore public trust and the Cologne police's ability to act with a view to upcoming major events." Cologne's annual Carnival is next month.

Albers had faced mounting criticism for the police response to New Year's Eve attacks on women by groups of men within a 1,000-strong crowd described by police as predominantly Arab or North African in origin.

Reports of the harassment have fuelled calls for tighter immigration laws.

Government spokesman Georg Streiter said trouble in Cologne "doesn't just harm our rule of law but also the great majority of completely innocent refugees who have sought protection."

Police failed to mention the attacks around Cologne's main train station in their initial morning report on New Year's Day, describing overnight festivities as "largely peaceful".

Albers acknowledged that mistake earlier this week, but he dismissed widespread criticism that his officers reacted too slowly in response to reports of assaults and harassment of women.

However, an internal police report published in German media on Thursday characterised Cologne's police as overwhelmed and described how women were forced to run through gauntlets of drunken men outside the station.

Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker suggested on Friday that police had withheld information from her, including on the origin of suspects. She said that her "trust in the Cologne police leadership is significantly shaken".

Earlier, Germany's interior ministry said federal police had detained 31 men on suspicion of committing crimes including theft, assault and, in one case, verbal abuse of a sexual nature.

Assaults elsewhere 

Police in other European nations reported other cases in public places.

In Sweden, police said at least 15 young women reported being groped by groups of men on New Year's Eve in the city of Kalmar.

Johan Bruun, police spokesman, said two men, both asylum seekers, have been told via interpreter that they are suspected of committing sexual assaults. He said police are trying to identify other suspects.

In Finland, police said they received tip-offs on New Year's Eve that about 1,000 predominantly Iraqi asylum seekers were intending to gather near the main railway station in Helsinki and harass passing women.

Police there said they received three complaints of harassment and detained several asylum seekers at the scene for alleged inappropriate behaviour.

Solo Pilot's 13,000-Mile Trip In Vintage Plane

Tracey Curtis-Taylor, who calls herself a "Bird in a Biplane", set off from Farnborough in Hampshire in October last year.

Since then she has crossed 23 countries and made 50 refuelling stops in her 1942 Boeing Stearman Spirit of Artemis aircraft.

She flew over Europe and the Mediterranean to Jordan, over the Arabian desert, across the Gulf of Oman to Pakistan, India and across Asia before reaching Australia.

Once there, her stops included Darwin, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, the famous Uluru in the Northern Territory and Broken Hill in New South Wales.

The 53-year-old told reporters at Sydney airport that the flying had been "sensational and that's why you do it".

She added: "To fly something like this, low level, halfway around the world seeing all the most iconic landscapes, geology, vegetation ... it's just the best view in the world.

"It's the best adventure in the world."

Ms Curtis-Taylor was following the path of Amy Johnson, the British pilot who became the first woman to fly solo from Britain to Australia in 1930.

Before Ms Curtis-Taylor began her mission, she had spoken of how she was "moved by the achievements of pioneers like Amy Johnson".

She added: "My own flight to Australia is the realisation of a burning desire to fly my beloved Boeing Stearman around the world following in their footsteps."

The recreation of Johnson's flight extended to the open cockpit, stick and rudder flying with basic instruments from that time and the short distance between stops.

Most of her problems were not related to the plane's vintage controls, however, as she revealed she had spent seven hours trying to get fuel at one airport.

"I've lost my rag several times dealing with people on the ground," she said, recalling the incident.

"In the end, I just lay down on the tarmac and went to sleep with my head on my handbag."

Maureen Dougherty, president of Boeing Australia and South Pacific, which sponsored the adventure, said: "Tracey's flight is a wonderful reminder of how far aviation has advanced and the role women have played since those early days of flight."

Four People Missing After Australian Bushfires

WA police confirmed they have found human remains while searching for two men, aged 73 and 77, missing in the Yarloop, a small town south of Perth which was almost completely destroyed by the fire.

The remains have not yet been formally identified but police said families had been told.

Fire Commissioner Wayne Gregson would not release the names of those missing but one was named by the AAP news agency as 73-year-old Malcolm Taylor.

A family member said Mr Taylor, who wears a hearing aid, has not been heard from since Thursday evening when he had vowed to stay with his house as the fire approached.

She said: "He goes to bed early, around 7.30pm, so we're worried that he turned off his hearing aid and went to sleep and then the houses went up so quickly."

Mr Gregson said that he was hopeful that the missing people "got out early and heeded the warnings".

Around 250 firefighters are battling the fires, which have destroyed at least 131 homes in the state and been declared a natural disaster.

The fires continued to burn on Saturday with authorities issuing an emergency warning for the town of Harvey, south of Perth, saying there was a threat to lives and property.

Mr Gregson said firefighters were getting tired but they would be bolstered by the imminent arrival of dozens more from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

He said: "We've got additional resources coming in not because we don't have the capability or the capacity here, it's just around fatigue management.

"There are some very tired firefighters out there in need of some relief."

Yarloop resident Denice Willis told the ABC: "We had black soot just dropping onto the houses and the cars.

"I went out the back and it was all around us.

"We just threw our clothes in the car, our animals, our photos and we just left.

"Everyone is just shocked and heartbroken about what happened.

"I don't know if they will re-build Yarloop because it's only a little town.

"I think we'd still live there anyway, it's just the best place, the loveliest people."

The fire has so far burnt about 70,000 hectares of land with a perimeter of more than 220 kilometres (137 miles).