At least 128 people have died and hundreds remain unaccounted for following the fire which engulfed several tower blocks.

TEHRAN Irans Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed condolences to the families of victims of the catastrophic residential fire in Hong Kong, where at least 128 individuals have been confirmed dead and nearly 200 remain unaccounted for.

Authorities say 89 bodies are unidentified and 79 people remain injured after Wednesday's blaze.

During a press conference jointly held by the Hong Kong Security Bureau, Fire Services Department and the Hong Kong Police Force on Friday afternoon on the updates about the devastating five-alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po housing estate, Secretary for Security Chris Tang revealed that preliminary investigations show that the external scaffolding nets and protective nets on the buildings engulfed in the fire met fire-resistance requirements, but the foam panels attached to the exterior windows were highly flammable, Global Times reported.

Even two days after the fire began, smoke continued to drift out of the charred buildings from the occasional flare-up.

Questions are mounting as to how the deadly fire spread so rapidly - and who should be held responsible.

Families are desperate for news of loved ones, after a huge fire engulfed seven tower blocks.

Chinese entrepreneurs have ramped up their charitable commitments in recent years to heed Beijing's call to put social responsibility before profits.

Dozens of people have died and hundreds remain unaccounted for after Wednesday's blaze.

Officials said the fire started on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings, a 32-storey tower, and later spread to inside the building and then to nearby buildings.

Footage geolocated by BBC Verify show the blaze taking hold in Wang Cheong House.

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

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Investigators led by the FBI's joint terrorism task force sought clues on Thursday to what drove an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers mere blocks from the White House in what officials called an "ambush" attack on Thanksgiving eve

Two unsafe tower blocks in Kirkby, Merseyside, were closed down by the fire service in July

More than 800 firefighters were still tackling the blaze at Wang Fuk Court this morning.

Global Affairs estimates there are about 300,000 Canadian citizens in Hong Kong, making them the biggest Canadian diaspora outside the United States.

Firefighters are struggling to put out the flames and say they are unsure when the blaze will be fully contained.

Efforts to control the blaze are continuing as locals wait for news of missing loved ones.

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

The blaze started mid-afternoon local time, and after nightfall authorities upgraded it to a level 5 alarm, the highest level of severity.

The victim was reading her phone while riding on a train when the man allegedly doused her with gasoline.

Video footage shows large plumes of smoke billowing up into the sky, as firefighters on cranes try and put out the blaze.

As a containership continues to burn, the head of the Port of Los Angeles has repeatedly asked the Trump administration for help.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukraine struck a major heat and power station in the Moscow region on Sunday with drones, triggering a fire and forcing backup power and heat to be switched on, the governor of the Moscow region said

TEHRAN Nearly 1,370 days into the RussiaUkraine war, President Donald Trumps 28-point peace plan has laid bare the contradictions of Western policy

SEOUL, Nov

Chips sent to China as part of the alleged scheme included Nvidia's A100 and H200 graphics processing units, an indictment says.

Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt was at the UN climate talks in Brazil when a fire broke out.

Thousands of people are attending the UN climate talks in Brazil.

The fire was reported in the health and science pavilion on the next-to-last scheduled day of the conference, known as COP30, officials said.

CATLs Hong Kong shares slid over 8% as early investors were freed to sell roughly 77.5 million previously locked-up shares.

Trump has long pushed for Powell to sharply lower interest rates, but the latest Fed minutes show central bank officials are conflicted over further cuts

Thirty-five people and three institutions are on trial

Local media say one person was killed in the fire in the city of Oita, on the Japanese island of Kyushu.

A nascent revival in Hong Kong initial public offering market offered a long-awaited release valve for private equity firms sitting on aging China portfolios

TOKYO (Reuters) -A fire ripped through more than 170 buildings and killed one person in a southern Japanese coastal city on Wednesday, with military and firefighting helicopters scrambling to extinguish the country's largest urban blaze in almost half a century

Bryonie Gawith and her three children died in the fire at their home in Bradford in August 2024.

HONG KONG, Nov

SKOPJE (Reuters) -Thousands gathered in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje on Saturday in protest over a night club fire in March which killed 63 people

Elon Musk's autos and energy business said it will replace all affected units for Powerwall 2 customers in the U.S.

Italians and others are alleged to have paid large sums to fire at Bosnians risking their lives in besieged Sarajevo.

Two lower federal courts have blocked President Trump from removing Lisa Cook as a governor of the Federal Reserve Board.

Several Palestinians were also injured when settlers launched arson attacks targeting an industrial area, a Bedouin village, and farmland east of Tulkarm.

Sanae Takaichi drew fire after suggesting Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan.

The BBC has come under fire over a Panorama documentary that was accused of misleadingly editing a speech by Donald Trump.

WELLINGTON (Reuters) -New Zealand firefighters have resumed battling an out-of-control wildfire in a national park in New Zealand's central North Island, which is now estimated to cover over 1,000 hectares (3.9 square miles), Fire and Emergency New Zealand said on Sunday

The government wants to make it easier for employers to fire people and to limit some compassionate leave.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered his "deepest condolences to the families" and said the government was investigating.

Staff helped the man, aged in his 50s, into a shower and he was treated for burns to his leg and fingers.

SEOUL (Reuters) -A worker has died and six remain trapped on Friday after the collapse of a large structure at a power station in South Korea that was being prepared for demolition, fire and rescue officials said

The attack comes amid a resurgence of piracy in the region in recent days.

Investors in the region are looking to Chinese autonomous vehicle firms WeRide and Pony.ai's listing debut in Hong Kong later in the day.

Pony.ai, which is already listed in the U.S., raised 6.71 billion Hong Kong dollars (about $860 million) in its initial public offering.

TEHRAN Developments in Gaza show that the occupying Israeli regime continues its attacks across the besieged Gaza enclave, despite a fragile truce agreement

Local officials rule out an attack or act of deliberate violence against civilians as causes of the blaze.

The deadliest fire in the country's history killed 78 people, including many children on holiday.

Edward and Ellen are quite well-off, earning $336,000 a year

Pony.ai said it is the first company to get a permit to operate taxis across all of the Chinese city of Shenzhen on the border of Hong Kong.