Police say number of dead may still be revised as ‘suspected human bones’ found during search require forensic testing
The death toll in has risen to 159 as officials ordered all scaffolding mesh in the city to be removed by Saturday.
The blaze that last week engulfed Wang Fuk Court in the city’s northern Tai Po district has become the world’s deadliest residential building fire since 1980.

Arguments about history are proliferating as the postwar order led by the United States crumbles.

Power, corruption and negligence. Plus: The rise of extremist Buddhism
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Watching with horror from London last week as flames ripped through seven adjacent apartment blocks in Hong Kong, it was impossible not to think back to the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017, which exposed major systemic failures around UK social housing and eventually led to law changes around safety and accountability for high-rise buildings.
The comparisons with Hong Kong were not just visually obvious but...

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This is from Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, on Nigel Farage’s denial of the FT story. (See .)
A handy reminder that in 2019 Farage did a deal to put Boris Johnson in No10 and push through his disastrous Brexit deal.
But instead of taking responsibility, of course Farage plays the victim.

Commission unveils €3bn strategy to de-risk and diversify supply chains for critical rare earth metals and elements

The EU is considering legally forcing industries to reduce purchases from China to insulate Europe from future hostile acts, the industry commissioner, Stéphane Séjourné, says.
He made his remarks as the European Commission unveiled a €3bn (£2.63bn) strategy to reduce its dependency on China for critical raw materials amid a global scramble caused by Beijing’s �...

The authorities quickly arrested critics demanding accountability, signaling an expansive use of the security law to silence dissent over nonpolitical tragedies.

Joe Kahn, The New York Times’s executive editor, was asked about how we cover the news and make judgment calls in our reporting and editing.

New date to approve site near Tower Bridge in London aligns with Keir Starmer’s planned visit to Beijing
The government has delayed its decision on whether to approve in London until January, when Keir Starmer is expected to visit Beijing.
Ministers are expected to greenlight the controversial plans after formal submissions by the Home Office and Foreign Office raised no objections on security grounds.

Backed by Sam Altman and Peter Thiel, Brinc founder Blake Resnick is on his way to making his quadcopters the top choice for America’s cops—if only he can get the federal government to ban his primary ...

December brings many early holiday celebrations, from lively concerts held at Cambridge’s Club Passim to Boston’s annual production of “Black Nativity” based on a work by Langston Hughes. There is ...