At least four dead as huge fire engulfs Hong Kong highrise apartment blocks

At least 14 people have died after a fire broke out across three blocks of a high-rise Hong Kong housing complex on Wednesday.

Police said they have received multiple reports of people trapped inside homes in the Wang Fuk Court complex, located in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district.

Firefighters are battling to contain the fierce fire amid plumes of thick smoke. Live video from the scene showed firefighters aiming jets of water at the flames from ladder on firefighting trucks. At least one firefighter is reported to be among those killed.

Wang Fuk Court is a 2,000-unit residential complex made up of eight blocks in total.

The blaze erupted at 2.51pm local time and has been upgraded to a No 5 alarm fire, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said.

At least seven people were taken to two hospitals for treatment, the Hong Kong government said.

It said that out of these, “four persons were certified dead, two persons are in critical condition and one person is in stable condition”.

Vulnerable migrants handcuffed for hours, damning report finds

Vulnerable migrants held in UK detention centres are routinely being handcuffed, with some detained for hours, a damning report has found.

Examples of unnecessary force include a frail 70-year-old man being handcuffed during a hospital visit, despite having no history of being disruptive, and another man subjected to rigid bar cuffs and a waist-restraint belt, as well as thigh and ankle restraints, for over four-and-a-half hours.

Force and restraints should only be used as a last resort. Still, inspectors at the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which oversees prisons and detention centres, found this was largely being disregarded by immigration staff.

The IMB report, published on Wednesday, found that force had been disproportionately used against people recorded as vulnerable, and healthcare staff were not notified quickly enough when it did happen. In one case, it took staff more than four hours to tell medics that a man had been restrained despite him banging his head repeatedly on a wooden bed frame.

It said cases, such as those highlighted, were impacting people’s willingness to attend hospital appointments due to the stigma of being handcuffed.

In another case, a man who was at risk of self-harm or suicide was restrained when he was moved from a detention centre to an airport for deportation. The man removed his trousers during the journey and was carried naked from the waist down onto the aircraft, soiling himself in the process. He screamed at the escorting staff and threw off a blanket meant to cover him up. Staff then took turns kneeling or standing on the seat in front to push his head against his own seat, the report found.

An enforcement officer threatened a detained migrant with pain in another case, with a review of the incident failing to acknowledge the threat. In another case, a staff member who used force against a migrant then conducted the review of the incident themselves.

Elisabeth Davies, IMB national chair, said: “The findings of this report are deeply concerning. For the use of force to be lawful, it must be necessary, reasonable, proportionate and justifiable, but what we are seeing is a system where restraint has become routine, oversight is weak, and the dignity of detained individuals is too often disregarded.”

Ms Davies warned that too little was being done to learn the lessons of the Brook House inquiry, which was launched after a 2017 undercover Panorama investigation filmed shocking scenes of abuse against detainees.

“The Home Office is still not doing enough to prevent such failures from happening again,” Ms Davies said.

Kate Eves, who chaired the Brook House inquiry, told The Independent: “Two years after the findings of the statutory inquiry into abuse at Brook House, it is extremely concerning to see the same issues being identified. There should be no doubt that the excessive use of force, combined with a lack of robust safeguards, contributes to a toxic environment where mistreatment of vulnerable people becomes more likely.”

She said the IMB report “suggests that, despite reassurances, lessons have not been learned”.

A spokesperson for the charity Medical Justice, which supports people in detention, said the Home Office had “an inexcusable disregard for the safety of vulnerable people in its care”.

One man named Said, who the charity supported before his removal to France under the UK-France treaty, said belts were used to restrain him during his deportation.

He told the charity: “[Enforcement staff] started to open their bags and take out four different belts, and they started to forcefully use them and tie me. They banged my head against the wall several times while I was screaming in pain, but they were not kind to me.

“The belt that was tied around my shoulders got stuck in my throat. I started screaming and saying I want to die, untie the belt from my neck, but they thought I just wanted to be let go.”

Gatwick immigration detention centre reported that almost all migrants taken to hospital appointments in 2024 and early 2025 were handcuffed, with inspectors finding restraint had become a “default rather than the exception”.

Detainees were also being routinely handcuffed at Luton Airport when escorted to removal flights.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Last week, the home secretary announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times, which will make it easier to remove and deport migrants. As part of this, we are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system.

“We will carefully consider the findings in the report. The Home Office reviews all incidents of use of force to ensure that techniques are used proportionately.”

Richard Branson announces death of wife: ‘My guiding light’

Joan Templeman, the wife of Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, has died.

The couple, who married in 1989, have two children, Sam and Holly. Another daughter, Clare Sarah, was born in 1979 but lived for just four days.

Announcing his wife’s death on social media on Tuesday evening, Sir Richard described her as his “best friend” and “guiding light”.

“Heartbroken to share that Joan, my wife and partner for 50 years, has passed away,” the 75-year-old wrote.

“She was the most wonderful mum and grandmum our kids and grandkids could have ever wished for.

“She was my best friend, my rock, my guiding light, my world.

“Love you forever, Joan x.”

The announcement comes a day after Sir Richard posted a photo of himself and his wife on Instagram with the caption “Love this photo of Joan”.

The throwback photo shows Sir Richard punching the air, with Joan smiling beside him.

Earlier in November, he also shared a picture of Joan dressed in a black dress and a blazer.

She was seen smiling at the camera while Sir Richard kissed her head.

“Everyone needs a Joan in their life,” the caption said.

In an article written for the Virgin website celebrating his wife’s 70th birthday, the entrepreneur previously said he fell in love with Joan “from the first moment I saw her”.

She was working in a bric-a-brac shop in London’s Westbourne Grove at the time.

Sir Richard recalled that he had to “persistently hang around the shop and buy countless objects”, including an old advertising sign, before the pair started to date.

Their relationship began in the mid-70s.

In the piece, the businessman said his wife was a “very private person” who had “always stood by me mentally, emotionally and spiritually”.

“As the saying goes, behind every man there’s a great woman,” he wrote.

Why sensationally bad TV is so successful

If there’s one show that has dominated internet discourse these past few weeks, it’s All’s Fair. The widely panned Kim Kardashian vehicle, about a bunch of high-flying female divorce lawyers in visible thongs, has captured the world’s attention – for all the wrong reasons.

Clips of Kardashian’s comically expressionless face and voice while “acting” have cropped up all over my social media feed; Instagram has shown me countless reels compiling the best – read: most wince-making – lines of dialogue. Then there were the reviews filling up my news feed, notable because the show garnered zero stars – a notoriously difficult feat that only a handful of programmes have managed to accomplish over the years – from several publications.

Critics crowed over the terrible scriptwriting, questionable casting and wooden performances, while expressing surprise that so many big-hitting performers had agreed to participate. Speculation abounded that show creator Ryan Murphy must have some pretty serious dirt on Oscar-winner Glenn Close to secure her involvement through nefarious means.

The result of all this trash-talk? Not only has All’s Fair already been renewed for a second season, but it became the biggest Hulu Original scripted series to premiere in three years. The series immediately went straight to No 1 for Disney+ in the UK upon release.

This perhaps perfectly encapsulates the latest depressing trend in telly: making bad stuff pays. Not mediocre stuff, mind you. Not bang average. Not “schmeh” or fine or shrug. It has to be genuine, solid-gold garbage – so manifestly terrible that it will sink to the dizzying depths of the one-star review. Or, better yet, achieve the hallowed starless status.

In an overstimulated world jammed full of never-ending dopamine hits and distractions, the only way to cut through the noise is to stand out. A three-star review is death: not good enough to be worth seeking out, not bad enough to become its own object of powerful fascination. You must be superlative: the best or the worst. Five stars or zero stars. And, in fact, the latter is harder to get than the former (The Guardian has only ever awarded this accolade 18 times, for example) and likely to guarantee more eyeballs on screens. Managing to make a genuine lemon is the most bankable strategy going amid shrinking TV budgets and the threat of AI hanging over an industry in flux.

It’s easy to see this as an extension of online algorithms that have long created polarisation by rewarding extremes. Anger and rage-bait have historically been incentivised by social media; in 2021, leaked internal documents showed that Facebook prioritised posts that garnered angry reaction emojis over likes because they boosted engagement. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager and whistleblower, told British parliament that “anger and hate is the easiest way to grow on Facebook”. (Meta has since amended its algorithm to “demote” posts that provoke anger.)

Forget sex – these days, hate sells. And that applies to our watching habits, too. The very fact that the term “hate-watch” even exists is a testament to this, while viewing figures prove that a critical disaster is far from a flop. Just look at the “success” of the godawful Sex and the City spin-off And Just Like That…, which people despised and yet ran for three seasons. Or Emily in Paris, which has provoked fury from Parisians and the rest of the world alike while drawing in tens of millions of viewers and spawning soon-to-be five seasons.

Then there are the myriad structured reality shows, from Love Is Blind and MAFS to Selling Sunset and the endless Real Housewives franchise. Viewers don’t put these on in spite of them being trash, but because they’re trash. It’s the perfect fodder to have playing ad infinitum in the background while you cook dinner, do the ironing or – more likely – simultaneously spend time looking at another, smaller screen. All’s Fair could equally fall into this category, too: something to keep half an eye on while occasionally laughing in derision amid a three-hour scrolling session.

Making a certified loser, in fact, is such a winning manoeuvre that it’s hard to believe studios aren’t in on the joke. There are some real Hollywood heavyweights involved in All’s Fair: Murphy has created and presided over numerous hugely popular shows, including Nip/Tuck, Glee and American Horror Story. The cast features Naomi Watts, Sarah Paulson and Niecy Nash-Betts, who are all, alongside Close, listed as executive producers. Are we expected to swallow that no one in this experienced and talented lineup knew they were making a turkey? Far easier to imagine that they created an intentional dud, so sensationally awful it was assured to secure column inches and viral acclaim before the first episode had even aired. No such thing as bad PR, and all that.

My fear is that the more we buy into this hateful, hate-watching fad, the more we ensure our TVs will wind up drowning in dross. After all, when zero stars become more valuable than five, why shoot for the stars at all?

Ella Eyre: ‘I’ve had to unlearn what I was shown early in my career’

Ella Eyre has said she had to “unlearn” much of what she was taught early on in her career, suggesting that she suffered as a young woman growing up in the male-dominated music industry.

The British pop singer, 31, first shot to fame aged 16 when she featured on Rudimental’s No 1 single “Waiting All Night”, which won the Brit Award for British Single of the Year.

“My life changed overnight,” Eyre said of that period. “But the bar was set insanely high from a really young age, and so I’ve had to undo and unlearn what I was shown at a very early stage in my career and just find happiness in what I’m doing.”

Asked how she views those early stages of her career now, Eyre admitted that she feels “quite sad” as there are things she would have done differently.

“I feel strong in myself now because I’ve done the work and I’ve had to do a lot of things to make that happen, but both my managers for the first eight years of my career were men,” she told the Good Vibrations podcast.

“As a 16-year-old girl, not having female opinions or a female touch around me really hindered my self-confidence.”

She clarified that she had a positive relationship with both the managers in question, “but something was missing in terms of the support I needed as a young woman growing up in a very male-heavy industry”.

Last week Eyre released her first studio album in a decade, Everything, in Time, which The Independent praised as a “confident comeback” offering “empowering pop tracks full of warmth and integrity”.

In the same interview, Eyre spoke of the difficult period where she had surgery to remove scar tissue from a vocal cord in 2020, which required “invasive” surgery that left her unable to speak for a month.

“It was something that needed to happen – lockdown in a way was quite a blessing because it meant I could recover while everyone else was at home,” she explained.

“It was very tough, because ultimately when you’re not speaking for a month, you’re very much in your head, and also I’m not allowed to cry, I’m not allowed to laugh, because those things [were] very detrimental to my recovery.”

Eyre said she had to come to terms with her situation and accept her recovery would come “in its own time”.

“I think it’s allowed me to be more vocal in the sense of writing a journal, writing songs… I’ve definitely learnt to channel that in other places,” she said.

Eyre’s new album Everything, in Time is out now.

The full episode of Roisin O’Connor’s Good Vibrations with Ella Eyre will be available on all streaming platforms from Friday 28 November.

Cruise through Cajun Country on this unforgettable Louisiana road trip

A circular route from New Orleans takes you north along the Mississippi through Louisiana’s River Parishes to Baton Rouge. Loop through Lafayette and Houma on Highway 90, before returning to New Orleans. Whilst the 300-mile road trip can be done in a week, a fortnight or more best suits the southern laidback spirit to truly discover treasures along the way.

Best planned for early spring, when Louisiana jumps to its feet with music festivals and parties, or in the calmer autumn months when food festivals, gumbo cook-offs, and fall colours light up the oak-lined avenues. Here’s what not to miss en route…

New Orleans gives main character energy, even though the state capital, Baton Rouge, sits just 80 miles west along the river. Start the journey here with a day (or night) lost in the French Quarter, where lacy iron balconies and pastel facades are the backdrop to Jackson Square street performers and jazz music on every corner. Grab a coffee and oh-so-light powdered sugar beignet at Café du Monde, to fuel exploration of the city’s great cultural institutions, such as The National WWII Museum or the evocative Historic Voodoo Museum. Ride the St. Charles Streetcar past moss-draped oaks and stately mansions in the Garden District, or explore the city by foot to find your own adventure.

For a quirky day trip, drive across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway – the world’s longest continuous bridge over water, according to the Guinness World Records – to find Abita Mystery House in Abita Springs; a curious folk-art installation of animated miniature towns and oddities from the mind of local inventor, John Preble.

Follow the Mississippi River north towards Baton Rouge, with a few stops en route. Explore Houmas House Estate and Gardens: once one of the largest sugar plantations in the country, visitors can now dine at one of the many restaurants and take guided tours showcasing the extensively-restored manor house and expansive gardens. Whitney Plantation, about 30 miles downriver gives a heartbreaking and evocative account of enslavement, and visiting these two plantations gives a sense of how both sides lived.

Baton Rouge emerges like a stately figurehead, rocking on the porch at the top of the Great River Road. A hub for art, music and politics, Baton Rouge is also a food mecca with fine dining, soul food, and the Red Stick Farmers Market – filled with homemade goods on the weekend. The gothic inspired Old State Capitol museum wouldn’t look out of place in a medieval fairytale, whilst climbing the current State Capitol building’s tower unravels views of the Mississippi river snaking through the landscape below.

Drive 55 miles westward, and find yourself in Atchafalaya National Wildlife Refuge – halfway along Interstate 10. The conservation area protects over 15,000 acres of hardwood forest and swamp habitat; spot alligators paddling through the bayous riverways, bird watch for woodpeckers, wrens and warblers, or just take in the impressive scenery.

Follow the sound of zydeco music down the Interstate to the dance halls of Lafayette. The heart of Cajun and Creole country, Lafayette is the ultimate place to tap your feet to this blend of French accordion and Afro-Caribbean beats. Louisiana’s French history is very much alive, as French conversations linger in the porchlight or come to life in Vermilionville folk museum, the re-creation of a 19th-century Acadiana village. Lafayette is also a food lover’s paradise. Try spicy boudin sausage from a roadside meat market, feast on gumbo as dark as a bayou at dusk, or savor po’boys and crawfish étouffée stew at a local café.

U.S. Highway 90 takes you southeast to the coastal wetlands of Houma. If you like it spicy, make a stop off in New Iberia and follow the pepper-scented air to Avery Island, home to the world’s only Tabasco factory and the botanical Jungle Garden of conservationist and hot sauce founder, Edward Avery McIlhenny.

As you travel further south, sing along with the southern leopard frogs on a guided swamp tour, spot another alligator, or drop into Houma’s Bayou Terrebonne Waterlife Museum to hear the story of shrimpers, oystermen, and how this slice of coastline has been shaped by cultural, industrial and ecological events.

With a suitcase full of memories and joie de vivre, head back to New Orleans. Every mile offers a detour worth taking; from the turbulent history and uplifting music, to watery labyrinths and astounding swamp wildlife. A Louisiana road trip invites you to slow down and enjoy a journey into the true Deep South.

For more travel inspiration and information visit Explore Louisiana

Bank customer with ‘phobia of Pride flags’ loses case against NatWest

A bank customer who claimed he has a “phobia” of materials related to Pride has lost a case against NatWest in which he alleged a display in one of its branches caused him “severe psychological distress”.

Mark Jennings said he saw some material that promoted LGBT+ issues when he went to his regular branch of the bank in Herne Bay, Kent, on 16 August.

Mr Jennings, who has Autism Spectrum Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Generalised Anxiety Disorder and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, “describes himself as having a phobia of Pride-related paraphernalia, which exacerbates his mental health conditions”, according to court documents.

He claimed his conditions are compounded by his Catholic faith, while he sees Pride as a movement that “promotes social values which he views as contrary to his religious beliefs”.

His request that NatWest “make reasonable adjustments for his condition” by not promoting Pride at the branch due to the “adverse effect this material had on his mental health” was rejected, the documents added.

Mr Jennings claimed this refusal violated the Equality Act 2010, with his mental health conditions all recognised disabilities under the act, and launched a court case against NatWest.

“He averred that he has since been unable to visit those branch premises without suffering severe psychological distress, causing increased social isolation and poor mental health,” the documents state.

The case was heard at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, with Mr Jennings seeking not only the removal of Pride-related paraphernalia in the bank’s Herne Bay branch but also £35,000 for “distress, anxiety and inconvenience”.

However, the sheriff dismissed the action on the basis that it raised “no relevant or sufficiently specific claim in law”.

An amendment proposed by Mr Jennings and request for an appeal were later opposed by the court.

The documents outline how he had sought to replace the details of his disabilities with an allegation that “exposure to certain visual stimuli associated with Pride branding triggers sensory overload, anxiety spikes, and shutdown/avoidance behaviours, causing him distress”.

Mr Jennings lodged his request for an appeal after he “made submissions using ChatGPT”.

He alleged: “The pleadings made no link between the operator of the bank branch and the respondent. The sheriff had correctly identified a lack of specification, and therefore explanation, of how the facts led to liability. The motion to amend at debate had been correctly refused, as it was vague, late and fundamentally changed the case. Expenses are always a matter for the court’s discretion.”

On 21 November, Sheriff Principal N A Ross concluded: “I will refuse the appellant’s motion to amend in terms of the minute of amendment.

“The minute, even if allowed, does not present a coherent and legally relevant case which could be sent for a hearing on evidence. It does not give fair notice of critical parts of the case, to allow the respondent to prepare and present any defence. It is inexcusably late, both in time and in relation to the stage of proceedings at which it is introduced, with lateness not being either vouched or adequately explained by disability or any other cause.

“The unamended original case remains, for the reasons set out by the sheriff, irrelevant and so lacking in specification as to fail to give fair notice. This appeal must fail.”

Mr Jennings was also ordered to pay NatWest’s appeal expenses.

A NatWest Group spokesperson said: “We welcome the Sheriff Appeal Court’s dismissal of the claims against us.”