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 also because the semi-autonomous city’s worst fire in decades appears to have followed months of complaints from residents about shoddy materials used in building works.
Hong Kong is of course a very different place to London, with politicians facing less public accountability in a political climate that makes it much harder for citizens to express dissent. But, as anger rises, hard questions are nevertheless being asked of authorities amid accusations of negligence and corruption.
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
The big story | Can Europe unite to tame Russia – without the US? Washington’s Putin-appeasing plan for peace in Ukraine has failed, but many heard the death knell sound for European reliance on US protection, writes Patrick Wintour
Spotlight | If Rachel Reeves goes, will Keir Starmer fall with her? British prime ministers rarely sack their chancellors – and when they do it almost inevitably leads to their own downfall. After last week’s budget, Starmer knows the same is true of him and Reeves, says Jessica Elgot
Feature | The dangerous rise of extremist Buddhism Buddhism is still largely viewed as a peaceful philosophy – but across much of south-east Asia, the religion has been weaponised to serve nationalist goals. Sonia Faleiroinvestigates
Opinion | From the West Bank to Syria and Lebanon, Israel’s onslaught continues Broken ceasefires, bombing, ground incursions and mounting deaths: Israeli imperialism is now expanding across the region, says Nesrine Malik
Culture | Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater: two men on the moon As their 11th movie together, Blue Moon, is released, the actor and director tell Xan Brooks about musicals, the legacy of Philip Seymour Hoffman and what being bald and short does to your flirting skills
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could face President Trump’s wrath if the person chosen as the next Federal Reserve chair does not quickly lower interest rates.
Adm. Frank Bradley will soon face questions from lawmakers, as Republicans and Democrats express concerns about a Sept. 2 attack on a boat in the Caribbean.
Officials are accusing Russia of smaller-scale assaults. President Vladimir V. Putin sought to turn the tables, saying that if Europe were to start a war, Russia is ready.
Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted in the U.S. of drug trafficking charges, was released from a federal prison in West Virginia, his lawyer said.
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s envoy, and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, are expected to present President Vladimir Putin with a proposal to end the war.
Zelensky Turns to Europe as Witkoff Is Expected to Meet Putin in Moscow
Volodymyr Zelensky was meeting with France’s leader in Paris. Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for President Trump, was expected to travel to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin.
The Justice Department is trying to access ballots cast in 2020, while several officials who fought over the election outcome are seeking higher office.
Electoral authorities said partial results showed the two conservative candidates were virtually tied — and far ahead of the governing left-wing party.
Top Republicans have joined Democrats in demanding answers about the military campaign the Trump administration says is aimed at targeting drug traffickers.
David Sacks, the Trump administration’s A.I. and crypto czar, has helped formulate policies that aid his Silicon Valley friends and many of his investments.
President Trump’s social media posts about Venezuela and a former Honduran president demonstrated a dissonance in his campaign against drug trafficking.
Mamdani, a Sharp Critic of Police Surveillance, Will Soon Oversee It
Despite his criticism, Zohran Mamdani, New York’s mayor-elect, has reappointed the police commissioner who helped create a ubiquitous web of monitoring.
Fed Up With the Taliban, Pakistan Expels Masses of Afghans
Labeling Afghans a national security threat, Pakistan has forced out about a million this year, depriving them of a haven from Afghanistan’s turmoil.
Andriy Yermak had ensured internal discipline in Ukraine’s politics for President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also led peace negotiations, which must go on without him.
President Trump’s ever-growing vision has caused tension with contractors. His architect has taken a step back as the president personally manages the project.
The pardon for Juan Orlando Hernández, who prosecutors said had taken bribes from a drug kingpin, would come amid U.S. strikes on alleged cartel vessels in the Caribbean.
How Fraud Swamped Minnesota’s Social Services System on Tim Walz’s Watch
Prosecutors say fraud took root in pockets of the state’s Somali diaspora. President Trump has called attention to the scandal amid his crackdown on immigration.
Firefighters were trying to fully extinguish the blaze more than 24 hours after it engulfed several towers in the complex. Dozens of people were still missing.
Bitter rows, implacably opposed delegations, threatened walkouts and then, hours after the planned deadline with fear of failure stalking the delegates, a statement towards which recalcitrant countries have been nudged into agreeing is produced. Cop30, which concluded last Saturday in Belém, Brazil, was little different from its recent predecessors, despite the growing urgency of needing to find a solution to our ever hotter planet. For this week’s big story, environment editor Fiona Harvey details how weak consensus was forged between states on the frontline of climate change and the petrostates that sought a rollback from the need to “transition away from fossil” fuels agreed two years ago in Dubai.
Five essential reads in this week’s edition
Spotlight | Is Ukraine edging closer to a peace deal? A whirl of international diplomacy was sparked by a US-Russian authored ‘peace plan’ to end the Ukraine war. Luke Harding and Pjotr Sauer cast a critical eye over the prospects for an agreement.
Spotlight | Trump, Saudi Arabia and shifting Middle Eastern sands Pageantry and trillion-dollar promises reveal how Washington’s regional loyalties may be tilting away from Israel and towards the Gulf, writes Julian Borger
Feature | Is Alex Karp the world’s scariest CEO? His company, Palantir, is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool. Now, Alex Karp’s biographer reveals what makes him tick. BySteve Rose
Opinion | An improbable new adversary for Trump – the Catholic church Inequality, immigration and civil rights are the battlegrounds on which the church – and some other Christian denominations – are fighting the Trump administration, writes Simon Tisdall
Culture | Edmund de Waal’s loose ends The celebrated ceramicist explains to Charlotte Higgins why he turned his decades-long f ixation with Axel Salto – the maker of unsettling stoneware full of tentacle sproutings and knotty growths – into a new show
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