French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo is facing new problems, with a top cartoonist leaving because of the emotional burden after extremists killed his colleagues, and divisions over how to use donations from around the world. Cartoonist Renald Luzier, who drew the newspaper’s first cover after the Jan. 7 attack killed 12 people, said in an interview yesterday in the daily Liberation that each issue is “torture, because the others are no longer there.” He will leave in September. He also says he will no longer draw the Prophet Muhammad. Charlie Hebdo was criticized for its prophet drawings. Meanwhile, the long-struggling paper’s editorial staff and management disagree over the 4.3 million euros in donations received since January. The editor and publisher said a special commission will determine how to use it.
Austria: Vienna’s gay themed traffic signals to stay permanently
Vienna’s gay-themed pedestrian traffic lights are here to stay. Instead of the usual stick man, the lights show couples — a man and a woman, two women or two men. Set up recently at 47 crossings, they were to be taken down in June, after the end of several gay-friendly events. But Vienna Councilwoman Maria Vassilakou, in charge of traffic issues, says they will now remain. State broadcaster ORF quoted her yesterday as saying they have already achieved cult status. The right-wing Freedom Party says it will lodge a criminal complaint against Vassilakou for allegedly contravening traffic regulations and wasting taxpayers’ money at a cost of 63,000 euros ($70,000.) But a Facebook page calling for them to be kept has gathered more than 20,000 likes.
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