Million copies printed of last issue as journalists at newspaper that was forced to close mourn ‘historical moment’

Across Hong Kong on Thursday morning the queues stretched for hundreds of metres, wrapping around corner after corner. Starting before dawn, crowds in the city of 7.5 million people lined up for hours to buy the final print edition of the Apple Daily newspaper, forced to close by authorities which had accused it of national security offences.

Normally selling 80,000 copies a day, they printed a million. It was in such hot demand that by mid morning Hongkongers were crowdsourcing an online spreadsheet of convenience stores that still had copies for sale.

Judiciary committee want to know if officials violated policies in issuing secret subpoenas against congressional Democrats

Top Democrats in the House are investigating whether Trump justice department officials ran an unlawful shadow operation to target political enemies of the former president to hunt down leaks of classified information, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The House judiciary committee chairman, Jerry Nadler, is centering his investigation on the apparent violation of internal policies by the justice department, when it issued subpoenas against Democrats Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell in 2018.

Campaigners fear for victims of trafficking, modern slavery and the elderly as 30 June deadline looms

Campaigners for EU citizens have warned that the Home Office’s plan to send 28-day enforcement notices to anyone who has not applied for settled status by the 30 June cut-off date is a “recipe for disaster”.

“We know the types of people who will not be making applications. They are the vulnerable, people like victims of trafficking, modern slavery, the elderly, children.

Singer directly addresses the court: ‘This conservatorship is doing me way more harm than good’

Britney Spears has called for an end to the “abusive” conservatorship that has governed her life for 13 years, delivering an emotional speech to a Los Angeles court and saying: “I just want my life back.”

Spears addressed the court during a hearing on the unusual legal arrangement that has stripped the singer of her independence since 2008. The conservatorship has given her father, Jamie Spears, control over her estate, career and other aspects of her personal life.

More than 80 fire-and-rescue units attend a partial building collapse in Miami, Florida

More than 80 fire-and-rescue units have attended the scene of a partial building collapse in Miami, Miami-Dade fire rescue department has said in a tweet.

There are no confirmed reports of death or injury so far, but an image posted on Miami Beach police’s Twitter account on Thursday showed rubble with debris spilling from the remains of the building’s balconies in the darkness.

After incident between UK and Russia, George Eustice denies reports HMS Defender ‘harrassed’

UK warships would again be prepared to pass through disputed waters around Crimea, a cabinet minister has said, after Wednesday’s unexpected diplomatic and military clash with Russia in the Black Sea.

George Eustice, the environment secretary, reiterated the denial from the Ministry of Defence that no warning shots had been fired at HMS Defender by Russian vessels. Instead a “gunnery exercise” was taking place nearby, which is “not uncommon for Russians to do” in that area, he said.

Asked on Sky News if the Royal Navy would enter the waters again, he said “of course, yes”, adding: “We never accepted the annexation of Crimea, these were Ukrainian territorial waters.”

Eustice disputed reports from a BBC journalist on board the destroyer that the Russian military had “harassed” the ship, closely following HMS Defender as it passed near Crimea with firing heard in the distance. “This was something quite different,” Eustice said.

He added: “Under international law you can take the closest, fastest route from one point to another. HMS Defender was passing through Ukrainian waters, I think on the way to Georgia, and that was the logical route for it to take.

“This is a very normal thing, it’s quite common actually … so I think it’s important people don’t get carried away.”