Cinemagoers flock to Zombieland

The film stars Harrelson alongside Jesse Eisenberg
Comedy Zombieland has topped the North American box office, scoring Woody Harrelson the biggest film opening of his career.

The movie, which features the star as a killer fighting an epidemic of the undead, took $25m (£15.7m) in its opening weekend.

Harrelson's previous best opening was 1993's Indecent Proposal which took $18m (£11.3m)

Family animation Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs slipped to number two.

The top 10 featured four other new releases in a weekend where sales were generally down.

US BOX OFFICE TOP FIVE
1 Zombieland -$25m
2 Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs - $24.6m
3 Toy Story & Toy Story 2 3D - $12.5m
4 The Invention of Lying -$7.4m
5 The Surrogates - $7.3m
Source: Hollywood.com

A 3D double-feature re-issue of Pixar's Toy Story and Toy Story 2 opened at three with $12.5m (£7.4m), ahead of the release of Toy Story 3 in 3D next June.

Ricky Gervais comedy The Invention of Lying, which takes place in an alternate reality where everyone tells the truth, debuted at number four.

Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story took $4.85m (£3m) despite only showing in 962 cinemas.

It tied in sixth place with Drew Barrymore's directorial feature debut Whip It starring Ellen Page as a teenager who attempts to escape small town life by taking up roller derby, a contact sport of speed roller skating.

Latin artist Mercedes Sosa dies

Dubbed the 'voice of Latin America' Sosa fought against military rule
Argentine folk singer and activist Mercedes Sosa has died aged 74 after suffering kidney problems.

Sosa's popularity in Latin America spanned four decades, but she fell foul of the Argentine junta in the 1970s.

Her latest album has been nominated for three Latin Grammy awards, which are due to be announced in November.

Dubbed "the voice of the silent majority", Sosa was credited with championing the poor and fighting for political change.

Along with her first husband, Manuel Oscar Matus, she became a founding member of the mid-60s Nueva Cancion movement.

At a 1979 concert in the Argentine city of La Plata, Sosa was searched and arrested on stage along with all those attending the concert.

She was subsequently banned from recording, and left the country to live in Paris and Madrid. She returned to her homeland in 1982 just before the collapse of military rule.

A Unicef goodwill ambassador, Sosa produced 40 albums over her long career and collaborated with musicians including Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, Shakira and Joan Baez.