News stories Friday 16th January

London newsagent. Image: Graham Holliday. Under Creative Commons Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/

• Queues at bookshops as Charlie Hebdo issue hits shelves
• Video of van driver apparently assaulting a cyclist goes viral
• Sundance London festival 2015 cancelled 
• Forecasters predict snow and sleet for the weekend

Charlie Hebdo magazine arrives in London

Hundreds of people queued from the early hours of this morning to buy the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine as it arrived in London shops.

This is the first issue of the satirical magazine since the deadly shootings at Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris last week.

It features a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammed weeping on the front cover, an image which has triggered protests in Pakistan.

A reported 5 million copies of the magazine have been published, with only around 1,000 available in the UK.

In London, the ‘survivors’ edition’ of the magazine was sold in shops selling French books and papers, including The French Bookshop and La Page in South Kensington.

Shop workers reported that hundreds of copies had been reserved in advance, and people queued from midnight to get their hands on a copy.

Video of van driver argument goes viral

A video posted on YouTube appears to show a cyclist colliding with a van, and then being assaulted by the van driver.

The video has been viewed tens of thousands of times, and the company that owns the van – whose logo can clearly be seen in the footage – has received angry calls and threats.

The incident is thought to have taken place in Hornchurch in east London.

A man attended an Essex police station voluntarily this morning to give an account of the argument, after police called for anyone involved to get in touch.

Sundance London cancelled Embed from Getty Images

The British spin-off of the US film and music festival will not take place in 2015.

Since 2012, Sundance London has hosted film screenings and live music performances in the O2 venue in south east London.

The festival focused on promoting small independent films, and was praised last year for an exciting line-up.

Confirming this year’s cancellation, a spokesperson for the Sundance Institute said:

Though we are not confirmed to host public events in London this year, we hope to be able to return very soon.

Weekend of snow and sleet forecast

Embed from Getty Images 

The Met Office has issued a cold weather alert for London.

Temperatures over the weekend are expected to drop below freezing, and forecasters are predicting that rain may turn to sleet or snow by Sunday.

The Met Office website warns of widespread overnight frosts.

It says that there’s also a ‘good deal of uncertainty about the expected weather over Southeast England on Sunday’ and advises people to keep an eye on the forecasts.