UK extends registration deadline

Britain will extend the voter registration period for its June 23 referendum on EU membership by 48 hours after a late surge in applications crashed a key website shortly before the Tuesday night deadline.

More than a million potential voters applied to register online over the last week, half of them on the final day, the government said, with a peak of more than 200,000 per hour ahead of the previous deadline of midnight on Tuesday.

Turnout is expected to be important in determining the outcome of the close-fought referendum, with young people considered to be more pro-EU but also less likely to vote. More than half of those who registered on Tuesday were under 34.