Newsagents have said they “cannot act as a censor of what people want to access” after it emerged the current edition of Charlie Hebdo, containing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, will be on sale in Ireland.

Buoyant banks helped the FTSE 100 Index return to winning ways as shares in state-backed Lloyds Banking Group passed a key threshold today.

A British baggage-handling company today said an internal investigation was under way after five of its US employees were arrested over the alleged theft of more than 150 pieces of luggage.

A Japanese financial services group said today it had snapped up UK hotel operator Menzies for £120m (€169.4m).