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Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: June 26th, 2023

Archived version: https://archive.ph/3PdeS

We’ve been focused on creating a great gaming experience for our members since 2021 when we added mobile games to Netflix. Our goal has always been to have a game for everyone, and we are working hard to meet members where they are with an accessible, smooth, and ubiquitous service. Today, we’re taking the first step in making games playable on every device where our members enjoy Netflix — TVs, computers, and mobile.

We are rolling out a limited beta test to a small number of members in Canada and the UK on select TVs starting today, and on PCs and Macs through Netflix.com on supported browsers in the next few weeks. Two games will be part of this initial test: Oxenfree from Night School Studio, a Netflix Game Studio, and Molehew’s Mining Adventure, a gem-mining arcade game. To play our games on TV, we’re introducing a controller that we already have in our hands most of the day — our phones. Members on PCs and Macs can play on Netflix.com with a keyboard and mouse.

This limited beta is meant to test our game streaming technology and controller, and to improve the member experience over time. Games on TV will operate on select devices from our initial partners including: Amazon Fire TV Streaming Media Players, Chromecast with Google TV, LG TVs, Nvidia Shield TV, Roku devices and TVs, Samsung Smart TVs, and Walmart ONN. Additional devices will be added on an ongoing basis.

By making games available on more devices, we hope to make games even easier to play for our members around the world. While we’re still very early in our games journey, we’re excited to bring joy to members with games. We look forward to hearing feedback from our beta testers and sharing more as we continue on the road ahead.

Two American tourists have been found sleeping inside the Eiffel Tower after getting stuck while drunk, according to prosecutors.

The two men were found by security guards in the early hours of Monday.

They paid to scale the Parisian landmark at around 22:40 (21:40 BST) on Sunday and hopped security barriers while climbing down, police said.

They were found in an area normally closed to the public between the tower’s second and third levels.

The men “appear to have got stuck because of how drunk they were”, Paris prosecutors told the AFP news agency.

A specialist firefighter unit for rescuing people from heights were sent to recover the men, the agency reported.

The usual opening time of 09:00 was delayed due to the discovery of the inebriated pair.

They did not pose any threat, said Sete, the publicly-owned Eiffel Tower operator.

Both men were questioned by police in Paris, while Sete said it would file a criminal complaint.

It comes after two bomb scares at the tower on Saturday forced the monument to be evacuated twice in the same day.

French police have launched an investigation after the false bomb threats were made via posts on a gaming site and a platform for online contact between citizens and police.

The Eiffel Tower, which was built in the 1880s and stands at 984ft (300m), attracted 5.8 million visitors last year.

WipeOut was Sony’s initial first-party exclusive for the original PlayStation when it launched back in 1995. The anti-gravity racing game was phenomenal. Now it’s abandoned. So one dedicated programmer took it upon himself to excavate the game’s leaked source code and make it playable for free in any web browser.

“Either let it be, or shut this thing down and get a real remaster going,” he told Sony…

Archived version: https://archive.ph/opd7m

A senior UK cabinet minister has signalled the government may be prepared to leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) if it will help the UK tackle the problem of migrants arriving on small boats crossing the Channel.

Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, said the government would do “whatever is required”, even if that meant pulling out of the ECHR, the 70-year-old pan-European treaty that protects human rights and political freedoms in the continent.

His comments are an escalation of the government’s previous statements that leaving the ECHR was not an immediate step it was going to take. It has insisted it can deliver on Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” within the convention.

However, ahead of an election, the Conservatives could dial up their rhetoric against the ECHR in order to create a dividing line with Labour.

The government’s plan to send some migrants to Rwanda for processing of their asylum claims is still facing a supreme court battle. The first flight was stopped at the 11th hour in June last year after an appeal to the European court of human rights, which ensures the rights enshrined in the convention are upheld by its 47 signatory countries. It is separate to the EU, which the UK voted to leave in 2016.

Ahead of that, there are already calls from some within the Conservatives to withdraw from the ECHR. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, who is also a lawyer, has previously expressed a view that the UK should leave.

On Times Radio, Jenrick would not rule out withdrawal from the convention, saying the government would do “whatever is necessary”.

“You can see from the prime minister, the home secretary and myself, our total commitment to this challenge,” he said.

“That’s why we’re working on every possible front. That’s why we have produced the most comprehensive plan, I believe, of any European country to tackle this issue.

“And we’ll do whatever is necessary, ultimately, to defend our borders and to bring order to our asylum system.”

Pressed directly on whether that could include leaving the ECHR, he said: “We will do whatever is required, take whatever necessary action is needed.”

Jenrick gave his assessment as he announced the government had struck a deal with Turkey to focus on coordinated actions to “disrupt and dismantle” people-smuggling gangs.

On Tuesday night, the government announced the establishment of an operational “centre of excellence” by the Turkish national police and supported by the UK. The centre would aim to strengthen collaboration between the National Crime Agency and Home Office intelligence staff based in Turkey and their Turkish counterparts, the British government said.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/fj7IK

Qatar Airways has been flying near-empty, and sometimes entirely empty large passenger jets every day between Melbourne and Adelaide to exploit a loophole allowing it to run extra flights to Australia.

Qatar’s ghost flights – an open secret within the aviation sector – are “taking the piss” out of Australia’s strict aviation laws, industry sources say, and are occurring despite the Albanese government rejecting the airline’s formal request to increase flights out of concern the extra capacity would go against Australia’s “national interest”.

The Qatari-government owned airline is currently limited to running 28 weekly services into Australia’s four major airports – Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth – allowing it to run once daily return flights from Doha into each of these cities.

However under the existing bilateral agreement, there is no limit placed on how many services Qatar is able to run to non-major airports.

In November 2022, Qatar Airways introduced a second daily, non-stop flight between Doha and Melbourne, but with Adelaide registered as its destination and departure port in Australia.

By flying the 354-seater Boeing 777-300ers between Melbourne and Adelaide, it means the airline does not exceed the 28 weekly services into major airports it is allowed to operate under the existing bilateral agreement.

However, the airline is not permitted to sell tickets on the leg between Melbourne and Adelaide to domestic passengers under Australia’s aviation laws. It can only carry the few international passengers booked through to Doha who have chosen the two-legged route instead of the separate daily non-stop flight between Adelaide and Doha that Qatar Airways also operates.

Qatar’s QR988 arrives from Doha into Melbourne at 11.30pm each night, where almost all passengers disembark. However, any passengers booked to stay on the plane for the Adelaide leg must endure a six-hour layover in Tullamarine airport’s international terminal before the flight departs at 5.35am, because of Adelaide airport’s 11pm to 6am curfew.

The QR989, which flies the outbound direction to Doha, departs Adelaide at 11.40am each day, lands in Melbourne 1hr 30min later, and travellers have a shorter 1hr 45min layover in the international terminal before the majority of passengers board for the non-stop flight to Doha.

Passenger numbers on the 354-seat aircraft average in the single digits on the inbound QR988 leg from Melbourne to Adelaide with the overnight layover, according to Guardian analysis of government flight data and confirmed by sources with knowledge of the flights. This flight sometimes carries no passengers at all.

The outbound QR989 Adelaide to Melbourne service has proved slightly more popular with travellers to Adelaide – there are between 20 and 35 passengers on this flight on average, according to the analysis.

Patronage is so low on both Melbourne-Adelaide legs of these trips they are considered ghost flights – the term for a usually loss-making service operated with zero passengers or fewer than 10% capacity in order to meet an obligation.

The separate, non-stop flight between Doha and Adelaide that Qatar Airways flies as part of its Auckland-Doha service is a significantly more popular option with Adelaide travellers, the government data shows.

Qatar Airways previously ran a second daily service between Doha and Sydney by extending the final port to Canberra, exploiting the same legal option.

While flights with a secondary port can encourage global airlines to better serve smaller cities in Australia, the scheduling of QR988 and QR989 have led to a view within the aviation sector that they are primarily functioning as second daily Melbourne services, multiple sources said.

Such was the case that when Qatar Airways launched the flights in November, it was not selling tickets on the Melbourne-Adelaide legs to international passengers for the initial weeks of the service. The overnight layover was originally more than 11 hours.

Frustrated by Qatar exploiting the loophole, the department of infrastructure and transport placed a condition on the timetable approval “for these flights on this route that they must be available for sale for passengers and cargo arriving and departing from Adelaide”, a spokesperson for transport minister Catherine King said.

The department now continuously monitors Qatar Airways sales to ensure “this condition is being met by the airline”, the spokesperson said.

An industry source said: “The whole purpose is to get to Melbourne … I mean they weren’t even selling tickets (to Adelaide) for the first few weeks.”

“They were taking the piss out of the industry and the laws,” the source said.

The extra flights will be allowed to continue even after the Albanese government rejected Qatar Airways’ push to fly an additional 21 services into major airports – something supported by most in the aviation and tourism industries as well as state premiers – after “taking into account all national interest considerations”.

The Guardian understands foreign policy factors influenced the decision. Others including Australian women suing Qatar Airways for damages over forced invasive bodily examinations, and Qantas, were opposed to the greater air rights for the airline.

The rejection has fuelled claims that refusing Qatar additional air rights benefits Qantas, as it and other global airlines remain constrained from increasing international flight capacity to Australia, at a time of stubbornly high air fares and record operator profits.

Qatar Airways declined to comment.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/rXLlw

A man has been arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm after a stabbing near the British Museum in central London, Scotland Yard has said.

Officers said a man was being treated for a stab wound to his arm and his condition was being assessed after the incident at the junction of Great Russell Street and Museum Street at about 10am on Tuesday.

“This was an isolated incident and there is no outstanding risk to the public,” the Metropolitan police said. “It is not being treated as terror-related.”

An area was cordoned off while officers investigated and police said they expected it to remain in place for much of Tuesday. A police tent was erected on the pavement on the museum side of Great Russell Street, just metres from the entrance.

The London ambulance service said its medics treated the man at the scene for his injury “before taking him to a major trauma centre as a priority”.

A 27-year-old woman from New York said she was about to enter the queue at the museum when police told her to leave because someone had been stabbed.

She told PA Media: “I was standing across the street at the Starbucks walking out to get into the line. We decided it was a good time to go, then we walked out and a cop directly in front of us told us we needed to leave and that the crime scene was large.

“I heard that someone was stabbed and the ambulance was parked inside near the grass area and then rushed down the street, right by me, with police following behind. A cop told me the museum is completely closed until tomorrow.”

The museum is one of the country’s most popular tourist attractions, receiving about 2 million visitors between April 2021 and March 2022.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/q7BZB

For five long years, the ZX Spectrum magazine Crash tried to get an interview with the people behind Ultimate Play the Game, which had become one of the UK’s premier games developers. They heard nothing until, one day early in 1988, Crash got a phone call. It was them. And they wanted to talk.

Ultimate Play the Game, a trading name of Ashby Computers and Graphics, began in 1982, owned by one family: the Stampers – brothers Chris and Tim, and Tim’s future wife Carole Ward, alongside programmer John Lathbury. Even at this stage, the Stampers were supremely confident in their own abilities, honed during the development of several arcade games. “We chose [this] company’s name because we felt it was representative of our products: the ultimate games,” Tim Stamper declared in an August issue of Home Computing Weekly. The brothers designed and created games while Carole juggled administrative roles and contributed art to several of its first hits. Those early titles included Jetpac, the home computer game that thrust the company into the big time, and turns 40 years old this year.

Initially, Ultimate focused on the UK’s predominant home computer, the ZX Spectrum, despite reservations about its technical constraints. “When the Spectrum came out, we thought ‘what a piece of garbage,’” proclaimed Tim Stamper in his 1988 interview for Crash. But the Sinclair computer grew on the brothers and its ubiquity (at least in the UK) led them to appreciate the commercial opportunities. Having begun their games-development careers creating arcade games in a minimal UK market, the brothers turned their talents towards this home computer.

For some of Ultimate’s longest-standing fans, their first game remains their best. Coded in under 16K, Jetpac was by necessity an uncomplicated game, but it perfectly replicated arcade-style thrills at home. Its hero – Jetman, who would become an unofficial Ultimate mascot – scoots from platform to platform, picking up pieces of his rocket before fuelling it up and heading upwards to the next alien-infested rock. “What puts it to No 1 in this review is the fantastic quality of the graphics,” noted ZX Computing magazine at the time. “But the thing that really caught my eye was the incredible smoothness of it all.”

Buoyed by the astonishing success of Jetpac, the Stampers created several more impressive hits for the Spectrum. Pssst, Cookie and the driving game Tranz Am all appeared in the summer of 1983, before Ultimate left the 16K Spectrum behind, moving to the heady heights of the 48K model. Lunar Jetman was released in the autumn of 1983 to massive praise throughout the dedicated Spectrum press. “Well, what can you say? Marvellous seems inadequate,” gushed one Crash reviewer.

Lunar Jetman was another smash, and the Stampers quickly followed it up with the brilliant adventure game Atic Atac. At the same time, with incredible foresight, the brothers were already investigating a new console emerging from Japan, “the Nintendo”. Ultimate’s contacts in the Japanese arcade industry had led them to this new, dedicated games machine. “It had colossal potential,” said Tim in the Crash interview. “We looked at this, and we looked at the Spectrum – and the Spectrum was hot stuff – but this was incredible.”

Tim and Chris spent several months learning all about what would soon become the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), while simultaneously working on a game that would redefine the ZX Spectrum and create a new genre. With six high quality games under its belt in less than a year, Ultimate had established itself as one of the UK’s finest games publishers. Incredibly, it was about to get even better.

In 1984 Ultimate released Sabre Wulf, the first adventure for a new hero, Sabreman – quickly followed by his second. Then there was Knight Lore. Presented in trademarked “Filmation”, the isometric graphics – a thing of cartoon beauty on such limited technology – predictably wowed reviewers, gamers and programmers alike. “I was handing over Match Day to Ocean when [Ocean boss] David Ward said I needed to look at this game they were distributing,” says Jon Ritman, the coder behind Spectrum isometric classics Batman and Head Over Heels. “I loaded it up and was just blown away. It was like a Disney film you could play … I didn’t even understand how they made the graphics overlay each other … cleanly as well, not in straight lines, but diagonals. It was just great.”

Like many of his peers, Ritman soon worked out and even improved upon the Knight Lore engine, so similar games proliferated, particularly on the Spectrum. The Stampers had an inkling this would happen: Knight Lore, and a considerable portion of its follow-up, Alien 8, were already completed when the company released Sabre Wulf. All these games received glowing reviews, and with its output now retailing at a pocket-money-busting £9.95 (compared to the average of £6-8 at the time), Ultimate was at its peak. So naturally, in 1985, the Stamper brothers decided it was time to bail out of the home computer market. Rival software publisher US Gold purchased the Ultimate brand, and the Stampers reinvented their company as the console-focused Rare.

It was the biggest switch in UK gaming history: the country’s most critically and commercially successful programmers (at least on the ZX Spectrum – things weren’t quite so rosy for Ultimate on the Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC) had suddenly left behind the computer that had made them. Ultimate’s entire home computer catalogue appeared to be merely a calling card for bigger things. “It was sort of an introduction process,” said Chris in 1988. “We had to show Nintendo that we had the capability before they could give us the rights to go ahead and produce for their system.” After the video game crash in the US, the Stampers saw that the market was returning, and predicted that the Nintendo Entertainment System would be at the forefront of this revival. “We knew a market was going to boom in Japan and America, and we set up Rare to handle that,” noted Tim in Crash.

By 1988, Rare had released several NES games including the downhill skiing simulation Slalom, and action platform game Wizards & Warriors. The company was rapidly approaching 20 employees, one of whom was Ritman, the creator of one of the most revered homages to Knight Lore, Head Over Heels.

“They were very mysterious, mainly because they were so busy and didn’t have the time,” says Ritman. “They had decided to start this new company [and] there was this huge interview in Crash. So I called the magazine, got a phone number and gave them a ring!” Supremely confident, it never occurred to Ritman that Rare might not be interested in his talents. “Fortunately, they’d played my games. Years later, Tim told me he’d never seen someone so certain they would be offered work!”

Rare established a foothold in Japan via the US and its sister company, Rare Coin-it. After it reverse-engineered the console, Nintendo, impressed by its technical prowess, made Rare its first western developer.

And once established, the Stampers continued with their prolific output, focusing once again on a single platform.

By the early 90s, Rare had published more than 30 games for the NES. And then the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-inspired Battletoads became its conduit into Nintendo’s next-generation console, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). By now, so confident was Nintendo in its premier western partner it even entrusted the developer with one of its own properties, Donkey Kong. “[Shigeru Miyamoto] was admirably hands-off, actually,” recalled Rare’s Gregg Mayles in Retro Gamer magazine. “I mean, he handed one of his characters over to us, and we changed the look of it completely.”

Arcade beat-’em-up Killer Instinct followed, together with two further Donkey Kong Country games. But it would be with Nintendo’s next console that Rare would achieve its highest fame. Renowned today as one of the best movie licence video games of all time, GoldenEye 007 energised FPS gaming on consoles and, along with the underrated Blast Corps and manic Banjo-Kazooie, cemented Rare’s position in the top tier of UK games developers.

Then the 00s brought a new era of consoles, and Rare struggled to hit the heights of the previous decade. Microsoft purchased the developer in 2002, and the Stampers departed in 2007. The family atmosphere of the 90s, when Chris and Tim sat in on interviews and left their talented developers to work unhindered, offering occasional golden nuggets of advice, was long gone. “Microsoft and Rare was a bad marriage from the beginning,” Rare’s Martin Hollis told Eurogamer in 2012. “The groom was rich. The bride was beautiful. But they wanted to make different games, and they wanted to make them in different ways.”

Like most enduring marriages, the couple found a way to manage the relationship. The Stampers may be gone but Rare continues today, tasting success again with a popular online pirate game, Sea of Thieves. Despite its travails, Rare is still a hotbed of talent. “With all the talent in the UK and with all those thousands of people writing games, I feel it should be UK companies producing the No 1 arcade games,” signed off Chris Stamper in that 1988 Crash magazine interview. “And then everyone in the world following that – because Britain’s got the best talent, without a doubt.”

Iraq’s prime minister has ordered an investigation into how a bear escaped from its crate in the cargo hold of an Iraqi aircraft as it was due to depart from Dubai airport, leaving passengers disgruntled over the delay and causing a stir on social media.

Iraqi Airways said it wasn’t to blame for the bear’s escape and that the aircraft’s crew had worked with authorities in the United Arab Emirates, which dispatched specialists to sedate the animal and remove it from the plane.

A video clip circulating on social media showed the plane’s captain apologising to passengers for Friday’s takeoff delay because of the bear’s escape from its crate in the cargo hold.

Iraqi Airways said on Saturday that procedures to transport the bear were carried out in accordance with the law and with procedures and standards approved by the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The airline said the bear was being flown from Baghdad to Dubai. But a person speaking on the video clip making the social media rounds suggested otherwise, saying the aircraft was an hour late for its trip to Baghdad and that passengers were being asked to disembark until the issue was resolved.

Dubai international airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, declined to comment.

An Iraqi Airways official confirmed to the Associated Press on Sunday that the bear was, in fact, being transported to the Iraqi capital. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak about the matter publicly, declined to name the animal’s owner.

Keeping predatory animals as pets in Iraq – especially in Baghdad – has become popular among wealthy residents.

Authorities have struggled to enforce legal provisions to protect wild animals. Baghdad’s police have previously called on citizens to assist authorities in preventing such animals from being let loose on the city’s streets or ending up as meals in restaurant by reporting such cases

Police say they plan to charge US YouTuber Kai Cenat after a video games console giveaway event he organised sparked mayhem in New York.

Thousands of people rampaged through Union Square in anticipation of free PlayStation 5 devices, hurling bottles, stones and tins of paint.

Mr Cenat could be charged with multiple counts of inciting a riot and unlawful assembly.

Police say they made more than 60 arrests.

People first gathered at about 13:00 local time (17:00 GMT) after Mr Cenat posted on social media - where he has more than 10 million followers and subscribers - that he would be handing out 300 PlayStations.

By 15:00, hundreds had piled on to streets surrounding one of New York’s busiest train stops.

They climbed cars and the train station entrance’s roof and threw bottles at responding police officers.

During a livestream inside a vehicle near Union Square as the disorder was unfolding, Mr Cenat said: "They’re throwing tear gas out there.

“We’re not going to do nothing until it’s safe. Everybody for themselves, because it’s a war out there man.”

Mr Cenat was taken into police custody at around 17:00. The crowd was finally dispersed about an hour later.

According to a CBS affiliate, Mr Cenat did not have a permit for the event, which was reportedly a collaboration with Bronx YouTube star Fanum.

NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey said: “We have encountered things like this before, but never to this level of dangerousness, where young people would not listen to our commands.”

He added: "You had people walking around with shovels, axes and other tools from the construction trade.

“In addition, individuals were also lighting fireworks. They were throwing them towards police and they were throwing them at each other.”

Mr Cenat made headlines in March after he broke the record for attracting the most Twitch subscribers by reaching 300,000.

Twitch is a livestreaming platform, where people typically play video games while chatting to viewers.

In the build-up to breaking the record, Mr Cenat launched a round-the-clock drive to boost his subscribers - chatting, gaming and interviewing guests, as well as sleeping, all on camera - for 30 days.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/ALGwq

More than 50 people have been injured and dozens detained in Stockholm after opponents of the Eritrean government stormed an event in the Swedish capital organised by regime supporters.

About 1,000 anti-government demonstrators who had been authorised to hold a protest nearby broke through a police barrier, tearing down festival tents and setting booths and vehicles on fire.

“Another public gathering took place close to the festival site, during which a violent riot broke out,” police said, adding in a statement they had detained “around a hundred people”.

Police said they remained at the scene, in a suburb north-west of Stockholm, and were “continuing their efforts to disrupt criminal acts and restore order”.

Between 100 and 200 people were detained, according to a police spokesperson. Police said they had also opened an investigation into violent rioting and arson as well as obstruction of the work of police and rescue services.

Police said at least 52 people had required medical attention, either at the scene or at local clinics and hospitals. By 7pm (15.00 GMT), 15 people had been taken to hospital, the Region Stockholm healthcare authority said in a separate statement. Eight of the people had “serious injuries”, with the other seven sustaining “minor injuries”, according to the authority, which said it had multiple units at the scene.

Sweden is home to tens of thousands of people with Eritrean roots. The festival devoted to the cultural heritage of Eritrea is an annual event that has been held since the 1990s, but it has been criticised for allegedly serving as a promotional tool and source of money for the African nation’s government, according to Swedish media.

“This is not a festival, they are teaching their children hate speech,” protester Michael Kobrab told Swedish broadcaster TV4.

Human rights groups describe Eritrea as one of the world’s most repressive countries. Since winning independence from Ethiopia three decades ago, the small Horn of Africa nation has been led by a president, Isaias Afwerki, who has never held an election. Millions of people have fled conditions such as forced military conscription.

A festival participant, Emanuel Asmalash, also spoke to TV4, accusing the protesters of being “terrorists” from Ethiopia.

Sweden’s justice minister, Gunnar Strömmer, said in a written statement to the Swedish news agency TT: “It is not reasonable for Sweden to be drawn into other countries’ domestic conflicts in this way.

“If you flee to Sweden to escape violence, or are on a temporary visit, you must not cause violence here. The police’s resources are needed for other purposes than keeping different groups apart from each other.”

Canada will be the first nation to start printing warnings directly onto individual cigarettes in a bid to deter young people from starting smoking and encourage others to quit.

The warnings, which will be in English and French, will include phrases like “Cigarettes cause cancer” and “Poison in every puff”.

The new regulations go into effect on Tuesday.

Starting next year, Canadians will begin to see the new warning labels.

By July 2024 manufacturers will have to ensure the warnings are on all king-size cigarettes sold, and by April 2025 all regular-size cigarettes and little cigars with tipping paper and tubes must include the warnings.

The phrases will appear by the filter, including warnings about harming children, damaging organs and causing impotence and leukaemia.

In May, Health Canada said the new regulations “will make it virtually impossible to avoid health warnings” on tobacco products.

A second set of six phrases is expected to be printed on cigarettes in 2026.

The move is part of Canada’s effort to reduce tobacco use to less than 5% by 2035 and follows a 75-day public consultation period that was launched last year.

Canada has required the printing of warning labels on cigarette packages since 1989 and in 2000 the country adopted pictorial warning requirements for tobacco product packages.

Health Canada said it plans to expand on warnings by printing additional warning labels inside the packages themselves, and introducing a new external warning messages.

Dr Robert Schwartz, of the University of Toronto, told BBC News it was good news that Canada was “moving forward with this innovation”.

“Health warnings on individual cigarettes will likely push some people who smoke to make a quit attempt and may prevent some young people from starting to smoke,” he said.

He also pointed to New Zealand, which has introduced very low nicotine cigarettes, as a leader in limiting the use of tobacco.

Mr Schwartz added: “These are the kinds of measures needed if we are serious about decreasing tobacco use.”

Tobacco use continues to kill 48,000 Canadians each year.

“Tobacco use continues to be one of Canada’s most significant public health problems, and is the country’s leading preventable cause of disease and premature death in Canada,” Public Services Minister Jean-Yves Duclos has previously said.

The Canadian Cancer Society, Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Lung Association have all praised the warning labels, saying they hope the measures will deter people, especially young people, from taking up smoking in the first place.

Cigarette smoking is widely regarded as a risk factor for lung cancer, heart disease and stroke.

In Canada, the rate of smokers aged 15 years or older is around 10%, according to a national 2021 Tobacco and Nicotine survey but electronic cigarette use has been on the rise.