The world's busiest railway station, located at the heart of Tokyo in Japan, is testing whether mobile robotic rubbish bins can ease the workload of sanitation workers, a rail operator representative said on Friday. Shinjuku Station is a sprawling transport complex with multiple rail firms that serve more than 2.7 million passengers every day, and holds the Guinness World Record for the world's busiest rail station. In a part of the station operated by East Japan Railway, the bins are emptied manually more than 10 times a day -- though the number of wastebaskets has been reduced in recent years for cleanliness and security reasons. JR East is testing three automated bins, each standing just over one metre (three feet) tall and moving at a cautious 20 centimeters per second. "We wanted to test how well something like this can operate automatically and safely in an environment like Shinjuku Station," Shinya Kawamichi, a JR East research official, said.

A 13-year-old schoolboy has made his voice-acting debut as Thomas the Tank Engine in a new animated series. Harry Sparkes, from Harpenden, Hertfordshire, stars in Thomas & Friends: Railway Stories alongside Crazy Rich Asians actor Henry Golding, who narrates the series in a role made famous by Sir Ringo Starr. For nine months, Sparkes kept his weekly recording sessions secret from his classmates by telling them he was attending physiotherapy for a foot injury. It feels amazing, because I played and watched Thomas as a kid, and now I get to be Thomas. It just feels insane, he said.

A Russian strike has hit a train near the Ukraine-Poland border shortly after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and other top European officials had passed through. No casualties were reported after the Russian strike, which hit the train's engine. Johnson and some of Europe's most senior security advisers, including the UK's Jonathan Powell, had passed along the same line on their way back from a conference in the capital, Kyiv. Russia said Sunday it struck railway infrastructure in western Ukraine, but the former PM said I don't know what warped logic drove Putin to blow up a stationary Ukrainian locomotive on the Polish border this morning and asked When are we going to give them the air defences they need? Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said a Russian drone had struck 800m from Polish border.

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The country's machines can serve hot ramen, spot fake coins, and even withstand earthquakes. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. From post offices and parks to train stations and even the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan's vending machines are ubiquitous. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

Services using facial recognition technology are expanding in Japan, allowing, for example, touchless or ticketless entry through train station gates and payments at shops without the need to take out a wallet or a credit card. Expectations are growing that the evolution of artificial intelligence will improve accuracy of facial recognition systems and help reduce fraud. Meanwhile, concerns about privacy violations persist, making thorough user information management essential. Trial Holdings, which runs discount stores and other operations, has introduced a payment service using NEC's facial recognition technology at 15 stores in Tokyo and Fukuoka Prefecture. Advance registration allows customers to shop simply by scanning goods at the self-checkout counter without using cash or smartphone payment services.

Railway services were plunged into chaos after a train derailed in Essex. The Greater Anglia service from Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street came off the tracks in Wickford at 14:12 BST on Friday, leading to all trips being cancelled . About 45 passengers were on board the commuter-line train but nobody was injured and it remained upright, according to investigators. It happened less than 24 hours after two passengers were seriously injured in a separate derailment in East Sussex . 'The train swung wildly,' says passenger on board derailed service Network Rail has warned passengers that major disruption will continue until at least Saturday, including for those going to Southminster and Braintree.

Russia says its forces have struck a railway station at the Ukrainian Danube port of Izmail and two vessels near Mykolaiv, as Ukrainian drones hit targets inside Russia, including a Baltic oil export hub and a warehouse near Moscow. The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Friday that the railway station in Izmail was being used to load, store, and transport military cargo and fuel for Ukraine's armed forces, according to state news agency TASS. The developments follow Russian attacks a day earlier that damaged port infrastructure and caused power cuts in Izmail, a vital export hub on the Danube River near the Romanian border. Meanwhile, Russian authorities said a Ukrainian drone attack triggered a fire at Ust-Luga, a major Baltic Sea oil export port in the Leningrad region. Regional Governor Alexander Drozdenko said the fire had been brought under control and cleared with no casualties reported.

'Houses burn and train derails on hottest day' and'Britain on fire' Image caption, A striking photo of homes ablaze under the headline Houses burn and train derails on hottest day dominates the front of the Times. Perhaps unusually, it is a headline that encompasses three separate stories from Thursday - the fires that raged across the West Midlands. It opens its coverage of the hottest day of the year saying: Wildfires caused apocalyptic scenes last night as they engulfed homes. Image caption, A similar photo of the houses on fire is also splashed across the front of today's Daily Mirror beside the headline Britain on fire. It also runs an inset on the train derailment near Lewes as part of its coverage of what it calls Heatwave devastation.

The maglev test vehicle is nearing commercial aircraft speeds. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy . A nearly 2,550-pound, experimental maglev train car in China recently has beat its own short-distance acceleration world record for the third time in six months.