Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’ sells 3.2M copies in 1st week

The total sales announced for “Spare” are for print, audio and digital editions in the major English-language markets. ()
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Updated 20 January 2023
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Prince Harry’s memoir ‘Spare’ sells 3.2M copies in 1st week

NEW YORK: Prince Harry’s “Spare” sold more than 3.2 million copies worldwide after just one week of publication and will likely rank among the bestselling memoirs of all time.
Penguin Random House announced Thursday that Prince Harry’s headline-making memoir sold 1.6 million copies in the US alone. It’s a number comparable to first week sales for blockbusters such as former President Barack Obama’s “A Promised Land” and former first lady Michelle Obama’s “Becoming,” which has sold more than 17 million copies since coming out in 2018.
The British publisher announced last week that “Spare” sold 400,000 copies in the United Kingdom in all formats — hardback, e-book and audio — on its first day.
The total sales announced for “Spare” are for print, audio and digital editions in the major English-language markets: the US, UK, Canada and Australia. The book has come out in 15 other languages, and editions in 10 additional languages are expected.
“Spare” may set records for nonfiction, but no book in memory approaches the pace of the final Harry Potter novel, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” which in 2007 sold more than 10 million copies in its first 24 hours.
Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, worked on his book with American novelist J.R. Moehringer, who also helped write Andre Agassi’s acclaimed “Open” and is the author of “The Tender Bar,” a memoir adapted by George Clooney into a movie starring Ben Affleck.


Egypt to adopt restrictions on children’s social media use to fight ‘digital chaos’

Updated 59 min 44 sec ago
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Egypt to adopt restrictions on children’s social media use to fight ‘digital chaos’

  • Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s has called for restrictions until children are mature enough to handle social media responsibly
  • Australia, the United Kingdom and France are considering similar measures to protect children from online risks

CAIRO: Egypt’s Parliament is looking into ways to regulate children’s use of social media platforms to combat what lawmakers called “digital choas,” following some western countries that are considering banning young teenagers from social media.
The House of Representatives said in a statement late Sunday that it will work on a legislation to regulate children’s use of social media and “put an end to the digital chaos our children are facing, and which negatively impacts their future.”
Legislators will consult with the government and expert bodies to draft a law to “protect Egyptian children from any risks that threaten its thoughts and behavior,” the statement said.
The statement came after President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Saturday urged his government and lawmakers to consider adopting legislation restricting children’s use of social media, “until they reach an age when they can handle it properly.”
The president’s televised comments urged his government to look at other countries including Australia and the United Kingdom that are working on legislations to “restrict or ban” children from social media.
About 50 percent of children under 18 in Egypt use social media platforms where they are likely exposed to harmful content, cyberbullying and abuse, according to a 2024 report by the National Center for Social and Criminological Research, a government-linked think tank.
In December, Australia became the first country to ban social media for children younger than 16. The move triggered fraught debates about technology use, privacy, child safety and mental health and has prompted other countries to consider similar measures.
The British government said it will consider banning young teenagers from social media while tightening laws designed to protect children from harmful content and excessive screen time.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged his government to fast-track the legal process to ensure a social media ban for children under 15 can be enforced at the start of the next school year in September.