Newsfirst.lk

26/11/25

1,917 friends

Posts

At least 36 dead and hundreds missing after fire engulfs Hong Kong tower blocks

BBC NEWS

By Hafsa Khalil and Kathryn Armstrong

26 November 2025.

At least 36 people have been killed in a huge fire that has engulfed multiple high-rise buildings in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.

There are reports that some residents were trapped in the building, and police say 279 people are still missing.

More than 760 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze on Wednesday afternoon, with pictures showing flames and thick clouds of grey smoke billowing from the towers, dominating the city’s skyline.

Three men have since been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter connected to the fire, according to local media reports, and an investigation has been launched.

The blaze broke out at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex at 14:51 local time (06:51 GMT) and was classified as a level five – the highest in severity – by the fire department at 18:22.

The cause is unknown, but the flames are believed to have spread quickly through the bamboo scaffolding that covered the outside of the buildings, which were undergoing renovations.

Among those killed was firefighter Ho Wai-ho, 37. He was found collapsed at the scene about 30 minutes after contact with him was lost.

A further 29 people are being treated in hospital, with seven reported to be in a critical condition, Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee said.

“I extend my deepest condolences to the deceased and my heartfelt sympathies to their families and the injured. We will provide all possible support,” he said.

The fierce heat of the blaze, as well as dangerous debris has hampered rescue efforts.

“The temperature inside the buildings concerned are very high, so it’s quite difficult for us to enter… and go upstairs to conduct firefighting and rescue operation,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, the deputy director of fire services.

The fire has yet to be extinguished and officials have said they were unsure when it would be.

Wang Fuk Court was built in 1983 and is made up of eight tower blocks that provide 1,984 apartments for some 4,600 residents, according to a 2021 government census. Seven of the towers have been affected by the fire.

Live: Follow latest updates on the fire

What we know about the Hong Kong apartment fires

Published

21 minutes ago

Some residents have told local media that the fire alarms did not sound, and when the elevators stopped working, they struggled to get out. A local councillor said many of the people who lived at Wang Fuk Court are elderly.

There were also reports on Wednesday night of blasts being heard from inside the buildings, and fire hoses were struggling to reach the upper levels of the 31-storey towers.

Preliminary investigations found that the rapid spread of the fire was suspicious, Hong Kong’s security secretary, Chris Tang, was quoted to have said in local media. This included the use of polystyrene to seal windows.

Police have also evacuated nearby buildings, and several temporary shelters have been opened. One of the shelters, located over the road from the housing complex, was deemed unsafe as the fire continued to rage, and evacuees were directed to another further away.

An officer at a temporary shelter told the AFP news agency it was unclear how many people were unaccounted for because residents were still trickling in late into the night to report missing family members.

There is a large evacuation zone around the fire, roads are closed and more than 30 bus routes have been diverted, Hong Kong’s Transport Department says.

Destroyed tower with debris falling from it. The remains of the scaffolding – its frame – is still visible. Most of the fire on this part has been put out but there is still glows of it certain areas

The blaze is expected to have a profound effect on both the community and the estate itself

A line of five fire department vehicles below the towers which are on fire. Hoses on three of the trucks are shooting water at them

Image source,VCG via Getty Images

Image caption,

The fire department said that 767 firefighters were deployed to the scene

A elderly woman is wrapped in a foil blanket as she receives medical attention. Sitting next to her is an elderly man in a red blanket. In the background are many people also seeking shelter

People have gathered in temporary shelters set up by the government

Slide 1 of 6, Destroyed tower with debris falling from it. The remains of the scaffolding – its frame – is still visible. Most of the fire on this part has been put out but there is still glows of it certain areas, As the fire continues to burn, the extent of the damage is yet to be assessed

China’s President Xi Jinping has expressed sympathy for the victims and urged that every effort be made to put out the fire and minimise the losses, state media reported.

The use of bamboo scaffolding is common in Hong Kong and it is one of the last cities in the world to still use it in modern construction.

According to local media reports in March, the government’s development bureau has been trying to phase it out, in favour of metal scaffolding, due to safety concerns.

It has been 17 years since Hong Kong faced a level five fire, when a building constructed in 1962, Cornwall Court, burnt down. Four people were killed in that fire.

Additional reporting by Tiffany Wertheimer.

One spouse is enough, Vatican tells world’s Catholics
Daily Mirror lk News(Reuters )
26 November 2025
Views – 605

Happily ever after doesn’t require any complicated maths, the Vatican said on Tuesday for Catholics, one spouse is enough.

In a new decree approved by Pope Leo, the Vatican’s top doctrinal office told the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics they should seek to marry one spouse for life and should not have multiple sexual relationships.

Criticizing the practice of polygamy in Africa, including among members of the Church, the Vatican reiterated that it believes marriage is a lifelong commitment between one man and one woman.

The decree, which did not discuss same-sex relationships, focused on what it called the “richness and fruitfulness” of traditional marriage. It encouraged Catholics to find one spouse and become committed to them.

“Every authentic marriage is a unity composed of two individuals, which requires such an intimate and totalising relationship that it cannot be shared with others,” said the decree.

“Since (marriage) is a union between two people who have exactly the same dignity and the same rights, it demands exclusivity,” it said.

The question of how to better enforce the Church’s teachings on marriage was debated at two Vatican summits in 2023 and 2024, which the late Pope Francis hosted to discuss the future of Catholicism with hundreds of cardinals and bishops.

Polygamy in Africa, where many Catholics take part in long-standing cultural practices of maintaining more than one committed relationship, was a topic of heated discussion at those summits.

Also discussed was the rise of polyamorous relationship structures, where individuals date multiple people at the same time, in some Western countries.

“Polygamy, adultery, or polyamory are based on the illusion that the intensity of the relationship can be found in a succession of faces,” the new decree said.

The document does not discuss divorce, which the Church does not recognise as it views marriage as a lifelong commitment.

The Church however has an annulment process, which evaluates whether marriages were properly contracted, and stresses that partners are not expected to stay in abusive relationships.

ගතවූ මාස දහයේ මෙරට අපනයනය ආදායම ඇ.ඩො. බිලියන 14.4 ඉක්මවයි
25 No

vember 2025

2025 මුල් මාස දහය තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන ආදායම අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 14.4 ඉක්මවා ඇති බව අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලය පවසයි.

එම මණ්ඩලය සඳහන් කරන්නේ, 2025 ජනවාරි සිට ඔක්තෝබර් දක්වා කාලය තුළ ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයනය 6.0%ක සැලකිය යුතු වර්ධනයක් සහ ස්ථාවර ප්‍රගතියක් පෙන්නුම් කරන බවය.

මැණික් හා ස්වර්ණාභරණ සහ ඛනිජ තෙල් නිෂ්පාදන සඳහා ඇස්තමේන්තුගත සංඛ්‍යාලේඛන සමඟ ශ්‍රී ලංකා රේගුව විසින් නිකුත් කරන ලද දත්තවලට අනුව, මුළු අපනයන ආදායම අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 14,433.82 කි.

එය 2024 වසරේ එම කාලයට වඩා සාපේක්ෂ වර්ධනයක් පෙන්වන අතර, වසරක මුල් මාස දහය තුළ අපනයන ආදායම ඩොලර් බිලියන දාහතර ඉක්මවා ගිය පළමු අවස්ථාව ද මෙය වේ.

මෙම කාලය තුළ පොල් ආශ්‍රිත නිෂ්පාදන අපනයනය ප්‍රථමවරට අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 1 සීමාව ඉක්මවා යාම විශේෂත්වයකි.

අපනයන සංවර්ධන මණ්ඩලයේ (EDB) සභාපති සහ ප්‍රධාන විධායක නිලධාරී මංගල විජේසිංහ මහතා මේ සම්බන්ධයෙන් මෙසේ අදහස් දැක්වීය.

“මෙය ශ්‍රී ලංකා ඉතිහාසයේ ජනවාරි-ඔක්තෝබර් කාලය තුළ වාර්තා වූ ඉහළම අපනයන අගයයි. ප්‍රධාන බටහිර වෙළෙඳපොළවල් අඛණ්ඩව යථාතත්ත්වයට පත්වීම සහ දේශීය කර්මාන්ත විසින් පවත්වාගෙන යනු ලබන ස්ථාවර නිෂ්පාදන ධාරිතාවය මෙම වර්ධනයට දායක වී ඇත. අපගේ අපනයනකරුවන්ගේ ශක්තිමත්බව සහ කැපී පෙනෙන ක්‍රියාකාරිත්වය පිළිබඳව මම ප්‍රශංසා කරමි. විශේෂයෙන්, මෙම කාලය තුළ වාර්ෂික අපනයන ඉලක්කය වන අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් බිලියන 18න් 80%ක් දැනටමත් සාක්ෂාත් කර ගෙන ඇත.

2025 ඔක්තෝබර් මාසයේදී වෙළෙඳ භාණ්ඩ සහ සේවා අංශයන්හි මුළු අපනයන ආදායම අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 1,474.38ක් විය. එය 2025 සැප්තැම්බර් හා සසඳන විට මාසිකව 2.2%ක වැඩිවීමක් පිළිබිඹු කරයි. ඔක්තෝබර් මාසයේ කාර්ය සාධනය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන අංශයේ ශක්තිමත් බව, වෙළෙඳපොළ ප්‍රවේශය පුළුල් කිරීම සහ ගෝලීය තරගකාරිත්වය ශක්තිමත් කිරීම අරමුණු කරගත් උපාය මාර්ගවල අඛණ්ඩ ඵලදායීතාවය අවධාරණය කරයි. සේවා අපනයනය සමස්ත අපනයන වර්ධනයට ප්‍රධාන ශක්තියක් වී ඇත. 2025 ඔක්තෝබර් මාසයේදී සේවා අපනයන ආදායම අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 316.14 කි. වසරේ මුල් මාස දහය තුළ සේවා අපනයන ආදායමේ වර්ධනය 4.01% කි. එය අමෙරිකානු ඩොලර් මිලියන 3,060.21 ක් වේ. මෙම ප්‍රවණතාවය ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ දැනුම පදනම් කරගත් ආර්ථිකය වර්ධනය වීමේ වැදගත්කම සහ එය ජාතික අපනයන ආදායම සඳහා ඉවහල් වන ආකාරය පිළිබිඹු කරයි.

තොරතුරු හා සන්නිවේදන තාක්ෂණ (ICT)/ව්‍යාපාර කළමනාකරණ (BPM), ඉදිකිරීම්, මූල්‍ය සේවා සහ ප්‍රවාහන හා සැපයුම් යන අංශයන්ගෙන් සමන්විත සේවා අපනයන අංශය, ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ අපනයන ක්ෂේත්‍ර‍ය විවිධාංගීකරණය කරමින් දිවයින පුරා ඉහළ වටිනාකමක් ඇති රැකියා අවස්ථා නිර්මාණය කිරීම අඛණ්ඩව සිදුකරයි.”
(Aruna lk news)

BBC chairman vows to stay to ‘fix’ problems
‘Most important job right now is to recruit a DG’: BBC chairman BBC NEWS
By ByIan Youngs- Culture reporter
24/11/25

The chairman of the BBC has said he is “not someone who walks away” after criticism of his handling of the recent crisis over Panorama’s edit of a Donald Trump speech.

Speaking to a committee of MPs, Samir Shah apologised for “the mistakes that have been made and the impact that has had”, but said he intends to “fix it”.

The controversy arose after the publication of an internal memo by former editorial adviser Michael Prescott, who told the MPs that “systemic problems” in BBC News were getting worse, but that he didn’t think the corporation was institutionally biased.

The parliamentary committee also heard from BBC board member Sir Robbie Gibb, who dismissed claims of a politically-motivated “coup” at the top of the corporation as “ridiculous”.
‘Steady the ship’

The outcry over the Prescott memo led to the resignations of director general Tim Davie and head of news Deborah Turness earlier this month, and sparked a fierce debate about the state of the BBC and its journalism.

Beginning his evidence, Shah apologised to “all the people who believe in the BBC and care for it”.

Asked if he was considering his position, he said: “My job now is to steady the ship, put it on even keel.

“I’m not somebody who walks away from a problem. I think my job is to fix it. That’s what I’m doing.”
BBC chair survives MPs’ questions – but crisis at corporation is not over

Senior BBC figures questioned by MPs on Trump speech edit
A job advert for the new director general was published shortly before Monday’s parliamentary hearing began, with Shah saying he’d also like to create a deputy role because the top job is “too big for one person”.

The BBC has faced criticism for failing to do enough to tackle the concerns when Prescott raised them, or to address the row when it was made public after being leaked to the Telegraph.
“Looking back, I think we should have made the decision [to apologise] earlier,” Shah said.

“I think there is an issue about how quickly we respond, the speed of our response.”

He said it took time to investigate the issue properly and agree on an apology, explaining: “It took time to get it right, what the actual apology was for.”

The MPs were told there had been a “continuing and sharp difference of opinion” between some board members and executives over what the apology should say.

The dispute centred around whether the BBC should apologise for giving the impression that Trump had made a “call to violent action”, or simply for not making clear that two sections of the speech had been edited together, Shah said.

Another board member, Caroline Thomson, said a number of fellow board members felt the Panorama clip had given a “misleading impression” of Trump’s message, whereas she said the News department had argued it was fair given the content of the speech as a whole.

She said: “News continued to maintain that actually the impression given, despite the edit, was correct because the gist of the speech by Trump had, for example, the use of the word ‘fight’ 15 times and only talked about peace once.

“And they felt that the edit was justified but it should have been a more transparent edit. We felt that the edit had led to a more profound problem.”

Shah said he “applauded” Turness for doing the “honourable and proper” thing and stepping down as CEO of News, but said he did not think “that meant that the director general had also to resign”.
“The board wishes that the director general had not resigned.
“He had our full confidence throughout,” Shah said.

The role of Sir Robbie, a former BBC editor and director of communications for former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May, who joined the BBC board in 2021, was also in the spotlight in the parliamentary session.

Committee chairwoman Dame Caroline Dinenage noted that he had “come in for quite a lot of stick in the media for somehow wielding his right-wing bias to influence the board”, and asked about speculation of a politically-motivated “board-level orchestrated coup”.

In response, Sir Robbie said: “It’s up there as one of the most ridiculous charges… it’s complete nonsense.”
Sir Robbie told the MPs he had “been the victim of that weaponisation” of the debate about the BBC.

He said the two years he spent as Downing Street director of communications was much less than the 25 years he spent working as a producer and editor for the BBC, and insisted he had been “hugely impartial” while on the broadcaster’s board.

Prescott on BBC: ‘I do not think it’s institutionally biased’
Meanwhile, Prescott told MPs he sent his memo to the BBC board after growing increasingly frustrated by a lack of action to tackle “systemic” failings in BBC News while an editorial adviser to the board between 2022 and 2025.

As well as the Panorama edit, his memo documented other “troubling matters” including claims of bias in BBC Arabic’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war, and one-sided coverage of trans issues.

“We kept seeing incipient problems which I thought were not being tackled properly, and indeed I thought the problems were getting worse,” he told the House of Commons committee.
“It became pretty clear to me the board was not taking stuff as seriously as I hoped and assumed it would.”

He said he was a “strong supporter” of the BBC and that Davie was “a supreme talent”, but that the outgoing director general had “a blind spot on editorial failings” that led to his downfall.

Prescott also said he was often met with denial by BBC managers when he raised concerns about issues identified in internal reports commissioned by the BBC board from former Newsnight journalist David Grossman.

“You do get levels of denial, as per my memo. Whether it was the issues within covering the US presidential race or Israel-Gaza or whatever, you got these reports through from David Grossman, and the management’s response was just to plain deny and say, ‘Well, we don’t agree with them’.”

He was “in despair” when BBC management originally “would defend and stand by” Panorama’s edit of Trump’s speech, he said.
But he said he had hoped the matter could be “sorted out quietly”, and didn’t know how the memo had been leaked.
Caroline Daniel, who along with Prescott, also used to be an external editorial adviser, was asked if she thought her former colleague’s memo was biased.

“I would not choose to characterise it in that way, I think it’s a personal account of what Michael wanted to bring before the board.”

She also told the MPs there was a “robust debate” about some issues, but the BBC did take action as a result.
“In my view, was the BBC willing to have a proper conversation, debate, and actually take action? In my view, yes, they were,” she said.

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Gerty Ajith Perera

24 November 2025

Views – 486

– The government is planning to conduct a feasibility study next year on constructing a separate terminal for domestic flights at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Aruna Karunathilake said today.

He told Parliament that it is important to develop domestic airports for tourism promotion in the country.

The Minister said the government has allocated funds from the budget to develop the Hingurakgoda domestic airport as well.(Daily Mirror lk news)

Plans to construct separate terminal for domestic flights at BIA: Minister

By Ajith Siriwardana and Yohan Gerty Ajith Perera

24 November 2025

Views – 486

– The government is planning to conduct a feasibility study next year on constructing a separate terminal for domestic flights at the Bandaranaike International Airport, Minister of Ports and Civil Aviation Aruna Karunathilake said today.

He told Parliament that it is important to develop domestic airports for tourism promotion in the country.

The Minister said the government has allocated funds from the budget to develop the Hingurakgoda domestic airport as well.(Daily Mirror lk news)

Sri Lanka urges Canada to prevent activities that promote separatist ideologies in Sri Lanka
BY AJITH SIRIWARDANA
24 November 2025 05:33 pm
Views – 890

Sri Lanka has urged the Canadian Government to prevent activities that promote separatist ideologies in Sri Lanka, including the recognition of the LTTE insignia and activities aimed at fostering divisions among the ethnic communities in Sri Lanka.

Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath raised these concerns during a meeting with Canadian High Commissioner Isabelle Catherine Martin today.

“It was conveyed that these actvities by localised groups in Canada run against action taken by the government to ensure national unity,” the Minister said in a post on X.

He said the High Commissioner stated that the LTTE remains a banned organisation in Canada and that the Canadian federal government does not recognise such insignia associated with the LTTE or separatist ideologies.

“She conveyed that Canada remains committed to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka,” he said.(DAILY MIRROR LK NEWS)

බැංකු කාඩ්පත් මඟින් බස් ගාස්තු ගෙවීම හෙට සිට

23 November 2025

බැංකු කාඩ්පතින් බස් රථයේ ප්‍රවේශපත්‍ර මිලදී ගැනීමේ අවස්ථාව හෙට සිට ක්‍රියාත්මක කිරීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

ඒ අනුව මෙහි සමාරම්භක වැඩසටහන හෙට පෙරවරුවේ මාකුඹුර බහුවිධ ප්‍රවාහන මධ්‍යස්ථානයේදී සිදු කිරීමට නියමිතය.

ඩිජිටල් අමාත්‍යාංශ සහ ප්‍රවාහන අමාත්‍යාංශය එක්ව මෙහෙයවන මෙම වැඩසටහන ප්‍රවාහන, මහාමාර්ග සහ නාගරික සංවර්ධන අමාත්‍ය බිමල් රත්නායක මහතාගේ ප්‍රධානත්වයෙන් පැවැත්වීමට නියමිතව තිබේ.

පසුගියදා පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී අදහස් දක්වමින් අමාත්‍ය බිමල් රත්නායක මහතා පැවසුවේ බස් ගාස්තු ලබා දුන් පසු ඉතිරි මුදල් ලබා නොදීම විශාල ගැටලුවක් ව තිබූ බවත් එයට විසඳුමක් ලෙස මෙසේ බැංකු කාඩ්පතක් හරහා බස්‍ ගාස්තු ගෙවිය හැකි ක්‍රමය හඳුන්වා දෙන බවය.

එමෙන්ම බස් රථයේ මගී ප්‍රවේශපත්‍රයෙන් වංචා දූෂණ රැසක් සිදුවන බවත් මේ හේතුව මත බස් රථයේ ප්‍රවේශපත්‍ර බැංකු කාඩ් මගින් ගෙවීමට අවස්ථාව සලසා දෙන ලෙස විශාල ඉල්ලීමක්ද ලැබුණු බවත් අමාත්‍යවරයා එහිදී පැවසීය.(Aruna lk news)

22 November 2025

රුසියා – යුක්‍රේන යුද්ධය අවසන් කිරීම සඳහා අමෙරිකාව මැදිහත්ව කෙටුම්පත් කළ, කරුණු 28කින් සමන්විත යෝජනාවලියක් පසුගිය දිනෙක විදෙස් මාධ්‍ය වෙත අනාවරණ වී තිබුණි.

එම යෝජනාව අනුව, මේ වන විට රුසියාව අත්පත් කරගෙන සිටින යුක්‍රේන භූමි ප්‍රදේශ රැසක් රුසියානු පාලනය යටතේම තැබීමටත්, නේටෝ සංවිධානයට එක්වීමේ අපේක්ෂා අත්හැරීමටත් මෙන්ම සිය හමුදාවන්ගේ ප්‍රමාණය අඩු කිරීමටත් යුක්‍රේනය කටයුතු කළ යුතු වේ.

රුසියාවේ ද සහාය ඇතිව කෙටුම්පත් කෙරුණු මෙම යෝජනාවලිය සකස් කිරීමට යුක්‍රේනයේ කිසිඳු නියෝජනයක් ලබාගෙන නොතිබීම විශේෂත්වයකි.

මෙවන් පසුබිමක අදාළ යෝජනාවලිය සඳහා එකඟවීමට යුක්‍රේනයට නොවැම්බර් 27 වැනිදා දක්වා පමණක් කාලය ලබාදෙන බව අමෙරිකානු ජනාධිපති ඩොනල්ඩ් ට්‍රම්ප් ඊයේ (21) පවසා තිබේ.

මේ අතර ජාතිය අමතා ප්‍රකාශයක් සිදු කරමින් යුක්‍රේන ජනාධිපති වොලැදිමීර් සෙලෙන්ස්කි ඊයේ පවසා තිබුණේ අදාළ යෝජනාවලිය හේතුවෙන් යුක්‍රේනය මේ වන විට සිය අභිමානය නැතිකර ගැනීම හෝ සිය සමීප මිතුරෙකු වන අමෙරිකාව නැති කරගැනීම යන අවධානමට මුහුණ දී සිටින බවය.

රුසියාවට වඩාත් හිතකර බවට පෙනී යන අදාළ යෝජනාවලිය සම්බන්ධයෙන් අදහස් දක්වා ඇති රුසියානු ජනාධිපති ව්ලැදිමීර් පුටින් පවසන්නේ එය ස්ථීර සාමයක් සඳහා වන පදනමක් වනු ඇති බවය.

2022 වසරේ පෙබරවාරි මාසයේ ආරම්භ වූ රුසියා – යුක්‍රේන යුද ගැටුම මේ වන විට වසර හතරකට ආසන්න කාලයක් දිග්ගැස්සෙමින් පවතින්නේ දෙපාර්ශ්වයේම ජීවිත සහ දේපල රැසක් විනාශ කරමිනි.(Aruna lk news)