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Primark, Currys and Boohoo criticise government for waiting until 2029 to phase out exemption on customs duty
British retailers including Primark, Currys and Boohoo have criticised the government for waiting until 2029 to end a tax break on low-value imported goods that has allowed them to be undercut by the likes of Shein and Temu.
The British Retail Consortium, which represents all the major retailers, said there were 1.6m parcels arriving in the UK every day, double the number from last year, and “businesses cannot afford any delay on scrapping the existing rules”.

Some think leader John Lee’s focus on blaming bamboo scaffolding deflects from actual cause
The residential compound in Hong Kong is still burning, but questions are already being asked about what the deadliest fire in more than 70 years means for Beijing’s grip on power in the city.
The death toll from the blaze, which seven of the eight high-rise apartment buildings in Wang Fuk Court, a residential compound home to 4,800 people, is still rising. Hundreds of people are still missing.

Residents from across the city have quickly organized to donate food, water, clothing and other supplies in Tai Po for the many displaced people.

A fire at a group of residential tower blocks in Hong Kong has killed at least 75 people, with more than 250 still missing. Helen Davidson reports from the scene, where thick smoke still hangs in the air as firefighters continue to douse the flames and try to find any survivors

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 52 to 68 – have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. The trio worked at a construction company, police said

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, few seem to consider the underlying peculiarity: how, exactly, did this South American rodent end up more than 10,000 miles from home, in a bustling Asian metropolis?
Capybara cafes have been cropping up across the continent in recent years, driven by the animal’s growing internet fame. The semi-aquatic animals feature in TikTok posts. In Bangkok, cafe customers pay 400 baht (£9.40) for a 30-minute petting session with them, along with a few meerkats and Chinese bamboo rats. Doors are open 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

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 hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan .

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 Territories. The complex is made up of eight 31-storey towers containing about 2,000 flats that house about 4,800 people.

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 world be able to tackle the climate crisis, he said.