Record-breaking 'Star Wars' movie opens in China

The record-breaking "Star Wars" opened Saturday in China, where it is far from certain to draw in enough moviegoers to knock off "Avatar" as the world's all-time biggest grossing movie.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is the highest ever grossing film in the North American market, where it was released three weeks ago.

But internationally, it still has a long way to go to beat "Avatar," James Cameron's science-fiction movie with blue aliens. The international box office of the latest "Star Wars" movie stands at $1.6 billion, compared to the $2.8 billion "Avatar" made in 2009.

But internationally, it still has a long way to go to beat "Avatar," James Cameron's science-fiction movie with blue aliens. The international box office of the latest "Star Wars" movie stands at $1.6 billion, compared to the $2.8 billion "Avatar" made in 2009.

Richard Huang, an analyst at Nomura Securities, expects the movie to roughly match the $229 million in Chinese box-office sales that "Jurassic World" generated last year.

Not many Chinese are familiar with "Star Wars." The franchise's three prequel films released from 1999 to 2005 were shown in China, but at a time when there were much fewer screens in the country.

Promotional events organized by Disney in the months leading up to the release included the placing of 500 Stormtrooper figures on the steps of the Great Wall and the illumination of the movie's Chinese title on the guard towers for a light show in October.

It enlisted the marketing power of actor and singer Lu Han, who appeared in promotional videos and released a music video on Thursday called "The Inner Force" with images from the film.

In an overt bid to appeal to Chinese audiences in next "Star Wars" film, "Rogue One," bosses have cast Hong Kong martial arts actor Donnie Yen and Chinese actor and director Jiang Wen in it.

China is expected to surpass North America as the world's largest movie market as soon as next year, and Hollywood is casting Chinese actors and incorporating Chinese elements to appeal to the massive audience.

£66m Lotto Jackpot Won By Two Lucky Players

Players are being urged to check their tickets, and the numbers were as follows: 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58. The bonus ball was 48.

Saturday's draw, which had previously been estimated at £57.8m, had to be won - and if nobody had a winning ticket, the fund would have been shared between players who matched five numbers and the bonus ball.

A National Lottery spokesperson said: "What an amazing way to start off the New Year!

"Two players shared the biggest-ever Lotto jackpot, and each ticketholder will be starting 2016 £33m richer.

"We have plenty of champagne on ice ready to welcome these winners into the National Lottery millionaires club."

Technical glitches plagued the National Lottery's website as ticketholders tried to find out if they had defied odds of one in 45 million to scoop the prize.

The inflated jackpot, which rolled over 14 times, came after lottery operator Camelot made controversial changes which experts said would make it three times harder to scoop the top prize.

Under the changes, there are 59 balls instead of 49 - but Camelot has argued the changes have increased the chances of becoming a millionaire.

Lotto rules mean the jackpot has to be won in the first draw after it reaches £50m.

With a new-found wealth of £33m each, the winners are now richer than Ed Sheeran - who has earned about £20m so far in his illustrious music career.

The previous jackpot record was £42m, which was shared between three ticketholders in January 1996.

It will now be business as usual for Wednesday's draw, with a considerably smaller prize of £2.4m up for grabs.

Although a £66m jackpot is certainly enough to bring out the crowds, it pales in comparison to the Powerball prize fund in the US - which has rolled over to a record $1.3bn (£895m).

Thousands in Poland protest new right-wing government

Thousands of opponents of Poland's new right-wing government held protests in Warsaw and other cities on Saturday against policies which they say threaten democracy and media freedom.

The street protests were organized by a new group calling itself the Committee for the Protection of Democracy that rallied tens of thousands of Poles last month against the ruling Law and Justice party.

This time, thousands of people waving national white-and-red flags and European Union flags joined in the capital, as well as in the cities of Wroclaw, Krakow, Katowice, Lodz and elsewhere.

They chanted "Free Poland, Free Media" and "Stop Spoiling Democracy." Some had lips sealed with tape, to suggest freedom of speech was threatened.

The protesters say that changes that the government made to bring a constitutional court and state broadcasters under the control of the ruling Law and Justice party threaten media freedom and democracy.

The new media law took effect Friday, cutting short the terms of the state radio and television heads and transferring the authority to appoint successors to the treasury minister, from a separate media commission that reports to the parliament. The minister immediately appointed right-wing politician and journalist Jacek Kurski to head state television.

Last month, the parliament changed legislation concerning the appointment of judges to the Constitutional Tribunal, a top court.

The moves have also alarmed some European Union leaders and the European Commission will debate Poland's rule of law on Wednesday.

The government, which took power in November, argues it needs to reform some state bodies because they represent only the interests of the previous liberal ruling team.

Powerball Rolls Over To Billion-Dollar Jackpot

It means Wednesday's jackpot will be a world record.

No one matched the numbers - 32, 16, 19, 57, 34 and Powerball number 13 - for the prize of almost $950m  (£654m) which was up for grabs on Saturday.

People queued to buy tickets for the draw in California

Players must match all six numbers to win the jackpot.

The first five can be in any order but the sixth must be the Powerball.

Before this rollover sequence the record was a $656m (£451m) Mega Millions jackpot won in 2012 by three tickets.

The total could grow even larger as people race to buy tickets.

The current jackpot started out as $40m (£27.5m) in November, but has ballooned thanks to huge ticket sales as the potential reward grew.

The new jackpot is larger than the gross domestic product for a number of nations, including the Caribbean islands of Antigua and Barbuda.

The Multi-State Lottery Association changed the rules last year to make the odds of winning 292.2 million to one.

However, the group said it expected 75% of all possible number combinations would have been bought for Saturday's draw. 

The draw is played in 44 states, as well as the District of Columbia, the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. 

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini 'Set To Divorce'

The singer and X-Factor judge has begun formal legal proceedings by filing paperwork which cites "unreasonable behaviour" between her and second husband Jean-Bernard, the Sun On Sunday said.

A decree nisi application expected to be lodged in the next few weeks, the paper added.

The pair married in a small ceremony on Mustique in the Caribbean in August 2014, just three months after they met in Cannes, France.

The Sunday Mirror claimed the pair secretly split five months ago, and that she had realised they had married too soon after a whirlwind romance.

The former Girls Aloud star hinted at her unhappiness on New Year's Eve when she posted to Instagram a photograph of herself kissing her middle finger.

She wrote: "Bye 2015... you've been real!!!!! You have taught me a lot but I am happy to see the back of you!!"

Shortly after the reports of her divorce emerged she posted another picture, without a caption, of her pouting while apparently lying on a bed.

It will be Fernandez-Versini's second divorce after she and footballer Ashley Cole separated in 2010.

Mexico says Sean Penn interview helped catch El Chapo

The interview between Guzman and Penn was purportedly held in late 2015 in a hideout in Mexico [Rolling Stone]

A secret interview given by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the recaptured Mexican drug kingpin, to the American actor Sean Penn helped authorities locate his whereabouts, according to a Mexican law-enforcement official.

The interview between Guzman and Penn, purportedly held in late 2015 in a hideout in Mexico, appeared on Saturday on the  website   of Rolling Stone magazine.

An anonymous Mexican official said it was the Penn interview that led authorities to Guzman in a rural part of Durango state in October. 

News of Penn's secret meeting came as Mexican officials weighed the possibility of extraditing Guzman to the US, something they had ruled out earlier.

Authorities aborted an earlier raid because Guzman was with two women and a child. But they were able to track him to Los Mochis, Sinaloa, where he was captured on Friday.

He was arrested after a shootout in Los Mochis, six months after he escaped Mexico's most-secure prison. Five people were killed during the operation that caught Guzman, who has twice escaped from prison.

Arely Gomez, Mexico attorney general, said on Friday that Guzman's contact with actors and producers for a possible biopic helped give law enforcement a new lead.

In the Rolling Stone's interview, when Penn asks Guzman about whether he is responsible for the high level of drug addiction in the world, he responds: "No, that is false, because the day I don't exist, it's not going to decrease in any way at all. Drug trafficking? That's false."

Rolling Stone says the meeting was brokered by Mexican actress Kate del Castillo.

Asked about who is to blame for drug trafficking, Guzman says: "If there was no consumption, there would be no sales. It is true that consumption, day after day, becomes bigger and bigger. So it sells and sells."

Earlier on Saturday, a federal law-enforcement official said that Mexico was willing to extradite Guzman to the US - a sharp reversal from the official position after his last capture in 2014.

"Mexico is ready. There are plans to cooperate with the US," said the Mexican official, who spoke on condition anonymity because he was not authorised to comment.

Top officials in the party of President Enrique Pena Nieto also floated the idea of extradition.

"He has a lot of outstanding debts to pay in Mexico, but if it's necessary, he can pay them in other places," said Manlio Fabio Beltrones, president of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party.

Deal struck for aid to reach besieged Syrian towns

The death toll in the latest Russian air strikes in Idlib province is expected to rise, volunteer rescuers said [Syria Civil Defence]

Aid agencies say a deal has been reached to send food and medicine into beseiged towns in Syria, where tens of thousands of people are in danger of starving to death.

The aid deal agreed on Saturday will result in humanitarian supplies being sent to the opposition-held town of Madaya at the Lebanese border, and to two villages in the northwestern province of Idlib that are blockaded by rebels.

Aid agencies have warned of widespread starvation in Madaya, where some 40,000 people are at risk.

The UN said on Thursday that Damascus had agreed to allow access to all three areas, but did not say when the delivery would take place.

"Both date and time have been set. Aid will go to three towns on Monday morning, all at the same time," said a source familiar with the matter. A second, pro-Syrian government source confirmed the details.

Images of emaciated bodies and hungry children have led to an international outcry over the use of siege tactics by all sides in the war.

News of the agreement came on Saturday as scores of people were killed and more than 100 others injured in Russian air strikes in Syria's Idlib province.

The volunteer-run Syria Civil Defence told Al Jazeera that Saturday's Russian air strikes targeted the town of Maarat al-Numaan, 290km north of the capital, killing at least 43 people and injuring at least 150 others.

"Our volunteers are still in the area that was targeted by the air strikes. They are still trying to help those injured and affected by the attack," the coordinator for the Idlib Syria Civil Defence told Al Jazeera.

"Many of those injured are in very serious conditions, the death toll is expected to rise," he added.

In another attack in Idlib province, the Syria Civil Defence said at least three people were killed and four others were injured in air strikes that targeted a school and a fire department in Ariha.

Known also as the White Helmets, the Syria Civil Defence is a group of volunteer rescuers formed in 2013 that now numbers more than 2,700 volunteers.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 39, adding that the air strikes targeted a court and a prison in Maarat al-Numaan.

Anas Maarawi, a media activist in Idlib, told Al Jazeera that the attacks targeted a court and a prison controlled by al-Nusra Front in Maarat al-Numaan.

"The first floor of the court was targeted in addition to a prison. We are getting reports that at least 53 have been killed in these air strikes," Maarawi said.

Syria ready to attend Geneva

In another development, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem told the UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on Saturday that Syrian regime was ready to attend the talks in Geneva expected on January 25.

SANA, Syria's state news agency, said that Muallem stressed the necessity of having a list of the opposition groups who are going to attend the talks.

Muallem said that efforts for a political solution and the UN Security Council's latest, relevant resolutions are linked to the credibility of the efforts of fighting terrorism, including forcing the countries which support terrorism to stop backing it, SANA reported on its website.

The conflict in Syria, which has killed over 250,000 people according to the UN, will mark its fifth year in March.

The Syrian Observatory said last week that more than 55,000 people, including almost 30,000 civilians, have been killed in Syria during the year 2015 alone.