Plus: Two National Guardsmen killed in Washington DC shooting - official ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
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BREAKING NEWS | Two National Guardsmen have been killed in a shooting in Washington DC, West Virginia's governor has said. The incident happened just blocks from the White House. Police have said a suspect has been taken into custody. Follow live updates here. | |
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| Hello. Dozens of people have died and scores are missing after a fire tore through a high-rise development in Hong Kong. We'll bring you the latest developments. We hear from Greenlandic parents calling for their children's return after they were taken into care following a test they say was biased against them. And finally, take a look at a rare, and arguably ugly, plant not seen for 13 years. | |
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TOP OF THE AGENDA | Death toll rises as firefighters work to bring Hong Kong blaze under control |
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| | In the early hours of Thursday, around 800 firefighters were working to bring the blaze under control. Credit: Yan Zhao/AFP via Getty Images | The death toll from a major fire that is engulfing apartment blocks in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong currently stands at 36, with 279 people unaccounted for, amid reports that some are trapped. Video shows the night sky lit-up by the flames, believed to have spread quickly through bamboo scaffolding surrounding the towers. One eyewitness the BBC spoke to told of how he saw a body being removed. "It's a disaster," Thomas Liu said as he described feeling the heat coming from the blaze and told how the air was "heavy" with smoke. You can read more from witnesses here, and learn everything we know so far here. |
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| Election interference case against Trump dropped | The Georgia state charges were part of the last criminal case against the president stemming from the 2020 election. | Read more > |
| | Mystery over Spain flood leader's hour in car park | Carlos Mazón is under scrutiny over a period of several hours he spent with a journalist when deadly floods hit Valencia. | What we know > |
| | US to charge tourists $100 to access national parks | The price hike will come in from 2026 and aims to put "American families first". US citizens will not see fees increase. | What to know > |
| | NYC 'dine-and-dash diva' arrested over unpaid meals | The self-styled food influencer would reportedly dress expensively and arrive at restaurants with a camera and lighting. | More on this > |
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| Our babies were taken after 'biased' parenting test | | Keira is only allowed to see Zammi, who is in foster care, once a week for an hour. | Greenlandic parents in Denmark are 5.6 times more likely to have their children taken into care than their Danish counterparts. Involved in these decisions were parental competency tests, but following decades of criticism, their use on Greenlandic families is now banned. The government said it will review 300 cases in which children were taken from their families but not adopted. |
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| | Sofia Bettiza and Woody Morris, BBC Global Health Reporter and BBC World Service |
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| | When Keira's daughter was born last November, she was given two hours with her before the baby was taken into care. "Right when she came out, I started counting the minutes," Keira recalls. When the moment came for Zammi to be taken from her arms, Keira says she sobbed uncontrollably, whispering "sorry" to her baby. "It felt like a part of my soul died."
Keira is now preparing for Zammi's first birthday in her absence. She still has a cot next to her bed. "I will not stop fighting for my children," she says. "If I don't finish this fight, it will be my children's fight in the future." |
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| | - Contraception scandal: In September, Denmark's PM apologised for a campaign that saw Inuit women fitted with birth control devices.
| - Bebiane's story: When Bebiane was struggling to get pregnant, she was horrified to find out she had a contraceptive coil she didn't know about.
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