Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbles nearly 9% on Monday as Hong Kong’s Hang Seng down 8% and South Korea trading temporarily halted amid Trump tariff concerns

Hong Kong stocks have plummeted more than 9% at open, while Singapore stocks dropped over 7%, according to reports.

Hong Kong and Chinese stocks dived on Monday as markets around the world crumbled in the face of the widening global trade war and fears it will unleash a deep recession, Reuters says.

Combatants’ testimonies describe how areas were destroyed to create ‘a death zone of enormous proportions’

Israel’s military razed huge swathes of land inside the perimeter of Gaza and ordered troops to turn the area into a “kill zone” where anybody who entered was a target, according to testimony by soldiers who carried out the plan.

Israeli combatants said they were ordered to destroy homes, factories and farmland roughly 1km (0.6 miles) inside the perimeter of Gaza to make a “buffer zone”, with one describing the area as looking like Hiroshima.

Exclusive: 136 organisations call on PM to stop using ‘demonising language’, after his remarks before crime summit

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More than 130 refugee and human rights organisations have called on Keir Starmer to stop using language that demonises migrants, after he made controversial remarks before an international people-smuggling summit.

The criticisms are contained in a letter to the UK prime minister, coordinated by the campaign coalition Together With Refugees. It has been sent to the prime minister in response to comments he made before the Organised Immigration Crime Summit on 31 March, where more than 40 countries came together in London to focus on tackling organised immigration crime including people-smuggling gangs.

John Lithgow, Imelda Staunton, Romola Garai and Layton Williams are among the winners at the annual stage awards

• Olivier awards: full list of winners
• ‘To my wife for managing my vast collection of neuroses!’ – the night’s best quotes

The play Giant, which portrays children’s author Roald Dahl amid an outcry about his antisemitism, has triumphed at the Olivier awards on a star-studded night at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

US star John Lithgow took home the best actor prize for his performance as Dahl, Elliot Levey won best supporting actor (for playing publisher Tom Maschler) and Mark Rosenblatt received the award for best new play.

South Wales officer was driving van that followed Harvey Evans, 15, and Kyrees Sullivan, 16, in May 2023

A police officer who was driving a van that followed two teenage boys before they died in an e-bike crash in Cardiff, triggering hours of disorder in the city, will not face charges, prosecutors have said.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it had decided not to bring criminal charges against the South Wales police officer following the deaths of Harvey Evans, 15, and Kyrees Sullivan, 16, in Ely, Cardiff, on 22 May 2023.

Ex-secretaries of state and ministers could also be required to take part in hearings into Manston scandal

A roll-call of former UK prime ministers, secretaries of state and ministers could be called to give evidence into a scandal at a controversial processing centre in Kent for small boat arrivals, according to an internal government memo disclosed to the Guardian, following a legal challenge.

The inquiry into Manston, a former military base used as a short-term detention facility to process people who crossed the Channel in dinghies, “will probably be reputationally damaging for the Home Office”, the memo said.

Analysis suggests prioritising projects that give quick local results may hold back support for populism

Areas that received money from the last government’s much-criticised levelling up fund tended to have lower votes for Reform UK in the general election, a study has found, indicating that projects delivering quick results may hold back support for populism.

The study by the Social Market Foundation (SMF) thinktank, billed as the first to examine a mass of data factors linked to support for Reform at the level of individual seats, identified a series of factors likely to make voters more likely to back Nigel Farage’s party.

Transport secretary says overhaul in response to Trump tariffs supports car firms and climate goals

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Labour’s changes to electric vehicle (EV) rules in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs will have a negligible impact on emissions, the transport secretary has said.

Keir Starmer has confirmed plans to boost manufacturers, including reinstating the 2030 ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars.

Hospital waiting lists among worst in UK and children with special needs waiting a year for support, report finds

Northern Ireland’s public services, including hospitals, schools and police, are being “crippled” by lack of funding, impinging on the quality of life for many people, a report by a government committee has concluded.

The Northern Ireland select committee found patients waiting more than 12 hours to be seen in accident and emergency departments and mental health needs 40% greater than anywhere else in the UK. Hospital waiting lists are among the worst in the country.

London gallery’s competition marks 200th anniversary and opening of Sainsbury Wing after two-year overhaul

As far as sleepovers go, it’s a one of a kind: an overnight stay in a luxury bed in the middle of the National Gallery’s exhibition rooms, dreaming under the world’s greatest paintings.

Perhaps you’ll be inspired by the venerated artworks to pick up a paintbrush, or you’ll have a surreal experience like Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum, whose character – a night security guard – finds its exhibits come to life after sunset. You could even unearth a long-buried conspiracy, and find your discoveries adorning the pages of the next Dan Brown novel.