At least 55 people have died after a at the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Wednesday. At least 45 people are in a critical condition and almost 300 people are missing.

By Thursday morning, the fires had not been fully extinguished at the site, which comprises eight 32-storey towers containing about 2,000 flats. About 4,800 people live on the premises, which were being renovated at the time. Three men – two directors and an engineering consultant whose ages range from 5...

The death toll continues to rise and hundreds are missing, as firefighters struggle to put out the fire.

Three construction industry employees arrested after police allege unsafe scaffolding materials may have been behind fire’s rapid spread


Hong Kong police have alleged unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work may have been behind the rapid spread of a devastating fire at a group of residential tower blocks that has killed at least 55 people and left more than 250 missing.
Firefighters were still battling to reach residents who may be trapped on the upper...

At least 44 people have been killed in the fire, which took local authorities 18 hours to bring under control.

A boom in places offering petting sessions is linked to a rise in the illegal movement of exotic and endangered species, say experts
The second floor of an unassuming office building in central Bangkok is a strange place to encounter the world’s largest rodent. Yet here, inside a small enclosure with a shallow pool, three capybaras are at the disposal of dozens of paying customers – all clamouring for a selfie. As people eagerly thrust leafy snacks toward the nonchalant-looking animals,...

China and Japan are in a diplomatic feud over Taiwan, with President Trump in the middle.

The report comes after the Wall Street Journal claimed the US president told Sanae Takaichi to ‘dial down the volume’ in dispute over Taiwan
Donald Trump asked the Japanese prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, to avoid further escalation in a dispute with China during a call this week, according to two Japanese government sources who spoke to the Reuters news agency.
Takaichi sparked the biggest diplomatic bust-up with Beijing in years when she told parliament earlier this month that a...

China and Japan are in a diplomatic feud over Taiwan, with President Trump in the middle.

Hong Kong is one of the last places in the world where bamboo is widely used by construction workers




A deadly fire in an apartment complex in Hong Kong appears to have spread in part because the buildings were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding, a traditional building material that the authorities have been phasing out for safety reasons.
in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades. The blaze tore through the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po, in the northern New...

Exclusive: Former US secretary of state calls for more demanding steps from Australia as it takes over presidency of next year’s UN climate summit

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Australia’s government, which will , should gather the world’s 25 biggest greenhouse gas emitting countries and push them to draw up a , former US secretary of state John Kerry has said.
Only by “hard-nosed” confrontation with fossil fuel producers, and reducing their consumption in major economies, would the...