Charlie Hebdo writers take break to recover

This week, Charlie Hebdo won't be appearing on newsstands. Nearly a month later after a deadly attack on the French satirical magazine, its surviving employees have decided to suspend their work briefly.

"There will be a future," Michel Salion said, speaking on behalf of the publication, saying that the staff needed a break to recover from the loss it had sustained.

No return date has been given. According to its website, the print edition will come back to kiosks in the coming weeks.

On the morning of January 7, staff members at French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo convened for their editorial meeting. They were suddenly interrupted when two gunmen stormed the offices. Within minutes, the men shot dead 12 people, eight of whom made up the backbone of Charlie Hebdo.

The heavy loss didn't stop the survivors from returning to the drawing board in the days that followed, in the end distributing 7 million copies of their next edition in France and abroad.

In direct response to the killers' revenge attack for a depiction of the Prophet Mohammed, they once again depicted the prophet, this time holding a sign: "All has been forgiven."

Cologne cancels Charlie float

The terrorist attack sparked a worldwide solidarity movement known by the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie and condemnation of Islamist extremists' attempts to silence free speech. Discussions about press freedom and national security have continued, as have protests by followers of Islam who object to what they consider blasphemy.

In Germany, a planned Carnival float featuring a Charlie Hebdo-themed design drew concerns over public safety in Cologne, where the city's famous Rose Monday parade draws hundreds of thousands of people each year.

The parade's committee announced last week that the float had been cancelled.

kms/gsw (AP, AFP)