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Once rivalling film premieres for theatrics, could Smyths' revival of the midnight launch tap into a desire for shared real-world experience?There was a time when certain shops would resemble nightclubs at about midnight: a long queue of excitable people, some of them perhaps too young to be out that late, discussing the excitement that awaits inside.The sight of throngs of gamers looking to get their hands on the latest hardware when the clock strikes 12 is growing increasingly rare. But if you happen to walk by a Smyths toy shop at midnight on 4 June, you may encounter a blast from the past: excitable people, most in their teens or 20s, possibly discussing Mario Kart. Continue reading...

Biometrics app not ready, meaning travellers through Port of Dover will have to exit vehicles to have identity verifiedBritish citizens who travel frequently to the EU face having their fingerprints individually checked each time they cross the border into the Schengen area because of delays in developing an app to verify biometrics digitally, it has emerged.It will be business as usual" this summer but a big change" in travel will be phased in from November, Doug Bannister, the chief executive of the Port of Dover has said. Continue reading...

Threat by Israel Katz comes as UN warns that the entire population of Gaza is at risk of famine

The man pushed and pulled' the ancient clay warriors and damaged them to varying degrees, said authoritiesA domestic tourist climbed over a fence and jumped into a section of the world-famous display of China's terracotta army, damaging two ancient clay warriors, authorities said on Saturday.The 30-year-old was visiting the museum housing the terracotta army in the city of Xi'an on Friday when he climbed over the guardrail and the protective net and jumped", public security officials said in a statement. Continue reading...

Another child in critical condition after suffering serious injuries in south Gloucestershire crash involving a BMWTwo adults and a teenager have died after a single-vehicle collision on the M5 in south Gloucestershire on Friday evening, Avon and Somerset police said. Another child is in a critical condition after suffering serious injuries in the crash, which involved a BMW car.A police statement said: A white BMW car left the northbound carriageway at approximately 9pm last night (Friday 30 May) between junction 14 (Falfield) and the Michaelwood services. As a result, the M5 remains closed in both directions between junctions 14 and 13 (Stroud). Continue reading...

Exclusive: Ex-minister to call for wealth tax, and Andy Burnham to demand focus on housing and educationNext month's spending review must be an economic reset" based on a bold wealth tax and higher public investment, the former cabinet minister Louise Haigh will argue, as Keir Starmer faces renewed pressure from within Labour to change course.Haigh's comments come as Andy Burnham called for Labour to re-establish itself unequivocally once again as the party of working-class ambition" with ambitious offerings on housing and education. Continue reading...

Dissatisfaction among MPs has created a febrile mood, with ambitious cabinet ministers assessing their optionsA lesson in comms for any prime minister: when asked whether you will serve another term, try to express some enthusiasm at the prospect.When at the end of his first term, David Cameron breezily told a reporter he would not serve a third, he inadvertently fired the starting gun for leadership jostling between his potential successors. Keir Starmer fell into the same trap this month when he was asked whether he would fight the next election. You're getting way ahead of me," he said. Continue reading...

Study interviewing councillors and officials shows transport projects can be hampered by toxic' online debatesFew local policies generate more debate than cycle lanes. But a report has unveiled a surprising obstacle for local councils when planning bike infrastructure: some cyclists.The study, based on interviews with dozens of councillors and local officials who lead on transport projects across the UK, found that opponents of bikes lanes and similar projects were the most uniformly hostile, but sceptical cycle campaigners were some of the harshest critics. Continue reading...

Data reveals notable increase' in scammers tricking people into sending money abroadUK banks and payment firms have been urged to strengthen their anti-fraud systems for international payments after a rise in scammers tricking people into sending money abroad.After years of horror stories about people losing huge sums through bank transfer scams, rules came into force last October requiring UK banks and other payment firms to refund those who have been manipulated into sending money to criminals. This week, industry data revealed that the number of cases of this type of crime had fallen to its lowest level for five years. Continue reading...

Almost 25 years after an experiment was ditched to caution rather than arrest those carrying small amounts of the drug, a rethink is on the cards - but the British government remains cautiousThe last time London dabbled in decriminalising cannabis, it brought one part of the capital to a brief but giddy high. In 2001, an enterprising Scotland Yard borough commander empowered his officers in Lambeth to caution rather than arrest those carrying small amounts of the drug for personal use - freeing them, according to the scheme's proponents, to concentrate on more serious crimes.The softly-softly approach was controversial in some political and policing quarters, but wildly popular in the borough - and some of its results were dramatic. Over six months, more than 2,500 hours of police officers' time were saved on processing cannabis arrests, while arrests for dealing class A drugs rose by almost a fifth. Continue reading...

The ban, enforced from Sunday, is designed to reduce youth vaping and tackle environmental damageVapers have been warned not to stockpile soon-to-be-banned disposables before Sunday's outright ban as they pose a significant fire risk".The Local Government Association (LGA) said users were stocking up on single-use e-cigarettes while they could, as shops would face fines for selling them after the ban takes effect. Continue reading...

Polls show close-run contest after first round in which one rural municipality was decided by a single voterPoles will cast their votes on Sunday in the closest presidential runoff since the fall of communism, in an election that pits two different visions of the nation against each other.

Examples from six countries include segregated housing for Roma and holding centres for asylum seekersHundreds of millions in European Union funds have been used in projects that violate the rights of marginalised communities, a report alleges, citing initiatives such as segregated housing for Roma, residential institutions for children with disabilities and holding centres for asylum seekers.The report, based on information compiled by eight NGOs from across Europe, looks at 63 projects in six countries. Together these projects are believed to have received more than 1bn in funding from the European Union, laying bare a seemingly low understanding" of fundamental rights across the bloc, according to one of the authors of the EU-funded report. Continue reading...

Don Farrell says US president's latest tariffs announcement an act of economic self-harm' and he will continue to advocate for their removal

This liveblog is now closed.The Republican nominee for governor of Virginia has recently tried to distance herself from her longstanding, hardline anti-abortion record, declining recently to state whether she would support any restrictions on abortion access if she is elected to lead the state this fall. But her record reveals a candidate staunchly opposed to the procedure.Winsome Earle-Sears, now the state's lieutenant governor, supported a 15-week abortion ban and has previously said she wants to make abortion illegal in almost all cases. In audio obtained by the Guardian, Earle-Sears also suggested an equivalence between consenting to sex and consenting to pregnancy. Continue reading...

MoD document expected to highlight dangers posed by Russia and China, and shortfall in UK troop numbersBritain is facing a new era of threat" with drones, artificial intelligence and other technologies changing the nature of warfare more fundamentally than at any other point in history, the government's strategic defence review is expected to conclude on Monday.The 130-page document written by three advisers to the prime minister, Keir Starmer, will warn of the immediate and pressing" danger posed by Russia and is expected to try to draw heavily on lessons learned from the war in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Attack follows announcement of indirect talks between Damascus and Israel aimed at reducing tensions between the longterm antagonistsIsraeli airstrikes have struck western Syria, the Israeli military and Syrian state media have said, and reportedly one civilian has been killed in the first such attack on the country in nearly a month.Earlier this month Damascus had announced indirect talks with Israel to calm tensions, and the US called for a non-aggression agreement" between the two countries, which are technically at war. Continue reading...

Weiner makes comment as he campaigns for New York City council seat years after sexting scandalAnthony Weiner says politicians such as him and Donald Trump can survive scandals while qualified candidates including Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton lose elections because women get judged much more harshly than men do".I do believe that," Weiner said Friday on ABC's The View amid his run for a New York City council seat years after he crashed out of Congress in the wake of a sexting scandal that some argue aided Trump in clinching his first presidency in 2016. Continue reading...

The actor, who won two Emmy awards, was best known for being one of longest-serving cast members on the hit seriesLoretta Swit, who won two Emmy awards for playing Major Margaret Houlihan, the demanding head nurse of a behind-the-lines surgical unit during the Korean war on the pioneering hit TV series M*A*S*H, has died. She was 87.Publicist Harlan Boll says Swit died on Friday at her home in New York City, likely from natural causes. Continue reading...

Republicans have shown the president great deference, but when it comes to tariffs, he has put them in their placeWhen it comes to cutting taxes or paying for mass deportations, Donald Trump is happy to work with Congress. But if the issue is his prized and disruptive tariff policy, the president has made clear that he has no time for their legislative wrangling.Trump underscored his sentiment towards Congress after a US trade court this week briefly put a stop to his controversial policy of placing levies on a wide range of countries, before a different court reversed that decision while legal proceedings continue. Continue reading...

Ruling reverses hold on Trump administration's ending humanitarian parole of Venezuelan migrants and others

Organizer points to president's anti-diversity push as companies join Adidas and Clorox in withdrawing supportIn another blow to one of the largest celebrations of LGTBQ+ people in North America, Pride Toronto has unexpectedly lost two more major corporate sponsors, just weeks before the festival in a setback the festival's organizer says is direct result of Donald Trump's campaign to eradicate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in the US.Google and Home Depot both announced their plans to abandon the festival in the form of one-line emails, said Kojo Modeste, the executive director of the Canadian event. Continue reading...

Ex-president gave speech to commemorate fallen service members and said he had no regrets' after election loss

Mission to deliver help is one of most obstructed aid operations in recent history', humanitarian agency saysGaza is the hungriest place on Earth", according to the UN, which has warned that the Palestinian territory's entire population is at risk of famine.Jens Laerke, a spokesperson for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said the territory was the only defined area - a country or defined territory within a country - where you have the entire population at risk of famine. One hundred per cent of the population at risk of famine," he said on Friday. Continue reading...

Move comes as Trump administration also moved to stop student visa interviews at all US embassies worldwide

Pen Green, a model for Labour's Sure Start, could face closure if Reform-led North Northamptonshire council fails to actA world-renowned children's centre that provided the model for Sure Start is on the brink of collapse, with its future in the hands of the newly elected Reform UK leadership of its local council.The Pen Green Centre, which pioneered wrap-around care and learning for preschool children in one of the most deprived areas of the UK, was the blueprint for Labour's totemic early years Sure Start programme in the late 1990s. Continue reading...

French president espouses shared principles and cooperation on security and trade to counteract superpowersEuropean and Asian countries should form a positive new alliance" based on shared principles, security, defence and trade, away from the battling superpowers of the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has said.Addressing the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Friday, the French president said the division between the US and China was the biggest threat in the world right now, but he also warned of the threat from Russia and North Korea. He said it was crucial that allied nations act together to maintain credibility against aggressors. Continue reading...

Official register reveals presents included 300,000 car from king of Bahrain, as well as trees and a model shipKing Charles received coronation gifts ranging from a luxury Rolls-Royce to a feather crown and two hand-woven coconut leaf hats, according to an official register.The Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II, thought to be worth at least 300,000, was given by the king of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. As an official gift to Charles as head of state, the car will become part of the royal mews to be used on official occasions and not for private use, sources indicated. The Bahraini king also gave Charles a decorative clock. Continue reading...

International students and employees are afraid to speak out' as White House escalates push to control enrollmentLabor unions representing undergraduate, graduate, postdoctoral and academic workers at Harvard University criticized the Trump administration's efforts to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, calling it one of the single largest concentrated deportation threats against a unionized workforce in our nation's history".A judge on 29 May extended an injunction blocking the Trump administration from revoking Harvard's ability to host international students, which would affect 5,000 current students and 2,000 graduates in a post-graduation work programme. Some 4,000 student workers represented by unions at Harvard who would be impacted. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pentagon officials expect a space-based weapon to be ready only for a demonstration by 2028Donald Trump's so-called Golden Dome missile defense program - which will feature space-based weapons to intercept strikes against the US - is not expected to be ready before the end of his term, despite his prediction that it would be completed within the next three years.In the Oval Office last week, when he announced that the US space force would oversee the project under Gen Michael Guetlein, the president said he was confident that it would be fully operational" before he left office. Continue reading...

Doge head at times took dissociative daily, along with ecstasy and psychedelic mushroom use, according to NYT

Author says she won't revisit the beloved character because it would seem inappropriate' to discuss her sex lifeJacqueline Wilson has said she would feel very wary" about writing an adult novel about Tracy Beaker because it would seem inappropriate that we would learn about her sex life".Last year the beloved children's author published her first novel for adults since the 1970s. Think Again was a sequel to her Girls series for teenagers, which was published between 1998 and 2002, and revisited its protagonist Ellie, who in the new book is turning 40. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sources reveal closely guarded membership numbers as average age hits 68 in Victoria

As John Pesutto scrambles to raise funds to pay $2.3m owed to Moira Deeming, the saga threatens to engulf the entire party', including its new leader

Badenoch and Farage seize on Richard Hermer's clumsy' remark in speech made in defence of international lawThe attorney general has apologised for a clumsy" remark that compared Conservative and Reform calls to disregard international treaties and quit the European convention of human rights (ECHR) with the early days of Nazi Germany.In a speech on Thursday, Richard Hermer defended the government's commitment to abide by international law and likened those who wanted to ignore it to German jurists in the 1930s, such as Carl Schmitt. Continue reading...

Laila Soueif continues protest against detention of Alaa Abd el-Fattah in CairoThe mother of the imprisoned British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah has been admitted to hospital after spending more than 240 days on hunger strike.Laila Soueif's family said she had been admitted to St Thomas' hospital in London on Thursday night with dangerously low blood sugar levels, but continues to refuse medical intervention that would provide her with calories. Continue reading...

Paul Doyle appears in court charged with multiple offences after 70 people injured as vehicle drove into crowdA former Royal Marine has been remanded in custody accused of driving into and injuring fans at Liverpool football club's Premier League victory parade.Paul Doyle, 53, looked shaken and tired as he appeared at Liverpool magistrates court on Friday charged with offences including wounding and causing grievous bodily harm to six people, including an 11-year-old. Continue reading...

Joshua Schulman's pay includes 380,000 in moving costs as ailing brand plans to cut a fifth of its global workforce

Former Sinn Fein leader sued broadcaster over allegation in documentary that he sanctioned murder of MI5 informantGerry Adams has won a defamation action against the BBC over a documentary that carried a claim that he sanctioned the murder of an MI5 informant in 2006.A jury at Dublin's high court on Friday found that the BBC had not acted in good faith or in a fair and reasonable way and awarded the former Sinn Fein leader 100,000 (84,000) in damages Continue reading...

Alan Taylor voted for a 0.5-point cut last month and feels recent economic figures are led by one-off factors

This year's tiny harvest casts doubt on the spirit's recent resurgence, once a bright spot in the island's economyIt's a crisis that would have sent a shiver down Ernest Hemingway's drinking arm. Cuba's communist government is struggling to process enough sugar to make the rum for his beloved mojitos and daiquiris.As summer rains bring the Caribbean island's 2025 harvest to an end, a recent analysis by Reuters suggests that Cuba's state-run monopoly, Azcuba, is likely to produce just 165,000 metric tonnes of sugar this year. That compares with harvests of 8m in the late 1980s. Continue reading...

Spectacle of royal visit evoked a model of national identity at odds with efforts to confront Canada's own violent history of colonizationKing Charles's speech to Canada's parliament this week was framed as a subtle rebuke to Donald Trump's threats of annexation and an assertion of the country's sovereignty.But for many Indigenous people, the elaborate spectacle of the royal visit - with its protocol, regalia, thrones and mounties in pith helmets - evoked a model of national identity at odds with ongoing efforts to confront Canada's own violent history of colonization and dispossession. Continue reading...

Comedian and actor pleads not guilty to five sexual offence charges at Southwark crown courtRussell Brand has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault.During a brief hearing at Southwark crown court in London on Friday, the comedian and actor pleaded not guilty to the five sexual offence charges. Continue reading...

Agreement reached after protracted negotiations will bring an end to industrial action, NSW government says

Research strengthens case for families to have right to second opinion under Martha's rule being piloted by NHS EnglandParental intuition is more likely to predict critical illness among children than vital signs used to monitor health, according to a study that strengthens the case for families to have a right to a second opinion under Martha's rule being piloted in the NHS.Experts from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, said parents should be treated as part of a child's care team in hospital after data on almost 190,000 emergency hospital visits involving children. Continue reading...

High pressure across much of Europe comes amid worst drought in decades, while Canada braces for hot spellRecord-breaking heat has been sweeping southern and central Spain, Portugal and southern parts of France this week, with some areas soaring to the mid- to high 30s celsius.On Wednesday, Amareleja in Portugal climbed to 39.5C (103.1F) - the joint-highest May temperature recorded. El Granado in Spain, hit 39.1C, while Canet-en-Roussillon in France peaked at 32.3C. Continue reading...

Watchdog says fines reflect potentially serious risk to the public' because of missed callout targetsThe energy watchdog for Great Britain has fined three companies 8m for failing to respond to some gas leak emergencies quickly enough, potentially putting the public at serious risk".Ofgem said the three firms - Cadent Gas, Scotland Gas Networks (SGN Scotland) and Southern Gas Networks (SGN Southern) - had agreed to pay the fine after missing callout targets that require them to attend suspected gas leaks within one to two hours in 97% of cases. Continue reading...

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Complex built during second world war is to include military equipment, interactive exhibitions and a barDuring his time in military intelligence, Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond novels, regularly worked with Winston Churchill's spy organisation based 30 metres below ground in a labyrinth of tunnels in central London.The Kingsway Exchange tunnels complex, stretching out across 8,000 sq metres beneath High Holborn, near Chancery Lane underground station, hosted the Special Operations Executive (SOE) and is said to have inspired Q Branch in Fleming's novels. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Lawyer for 24-year-old's family asks NT police to appoint independent body from another state or territory to undertake investigation' after Alice Springs death