There is a thickness to the air outside Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.

The smoke catches in your throat and the emotion catches you off guard.

Seven of the eight tower blocks that make up this complex have been all but blackened. And through the shells that used to be windows, you can only imagine the horror and the panic that must have played out inside, the screams that went unanswered.

More than 30 hours after the blaze began here there was still a sense that it is far from under control. At various points during the day the flames sprung up from different windows, as if the fire has found fresh tinder.

Debris falls from the buildings periodically, ash still floats in the air.

As of Friday morning here, 94 people are now confirmed to have died.

There is no doubt the community is reeling. Along the surrounding streets hundreds came out to look on in horror, mostly in a stunned sort of silence.

Occasionally the air was pierced with the terrible cries of relatives, who had received the news they were dreading.

But much of the grief was quiet and held close, an arm around the shoulders or a quiet embrace.

Among the survivors is the Lam family, three generations of which had been living in the building for 40 years. They have lost their home and haven’t heard from their neighbours.

“The alarm was all off because of the renovation of the outside. So there is no alarm to let all the people know. Many old people, elderly people, they were all having an afternoon sleep. So nobody knew,” Ms Lam, whose father survived the fire, said.

“Once they know the fire has already burned down everything, and they cannot escape, they were all trapped in the house. This is a disaster, actually.”

Another survivor said: “I feel sadness and hopeless and don’t know what [I’m] going to do. I don’t know. Cannot describe. So sad.”

Hong Kong is one of the world’s most densely populated cities, fire in places like this has a significantly more deadly potential.

And it also means many are displaced. Over 4,500 lived in this complex alone and are in need of emergency shelter.

The government has offered temporary accommodation to many, but the community is filling the gaps.

Armies of volunteers handed out food, water, blankets and clothes, including to those who had opted to sleep on the floor of a nearby shopping area.

One man, who wanted to sleep on the floor close to his home, said he doesn’t feel supported by the government.

There is a thin line between grief and anger, and there’s a feeling it’s narrowing here.

Many fingers have pointed towards the construction company running extensive renovations in the complex.

A netted mesh, bamboo scaffolding and polystyrene that may have been used as part of the works have all been cited as potentially speeding the spread.

Three construction bosses have already been arrested.

But there is a sense that distrust of the authorities more broadly runs deep.

“It is very serious and people are starting to feel furious about the construction company and the construction materials,” one woman said.

“There are so many layers of anger among the people. People feel that every party should take responsibility.”

Read more:
At least 83 dead as police make arrests over fire
Almost 280 people missing as blaze engulfs flats

Everyone we spoke to wanted to wear a mask to avoid being targeted, with volunteers actively encouraging the masks, and many hinted that the system shoulders its share of responsibility for what happened.

This fire is already the worst disaster in the modern history of Hong Kong; many of the victims are elderly and many will struggle to rebuild.

There will many days of pain to come, but many days of questions too.

If you’re still under any illusions about how seriously Ukraine’s allies view the wider threat from Russia, the wave of countries bringing back military service should help clarify that.

France is the latest, today announcing a new national service for over 18s.

Ahead of the plan being unveiled, President Emmanuel Macron said: “If the French want to protect ourselves, we must show that we are not weak in the face of one power that threatens us the most.”

That threat primarily comes from Russia, a country that numerous military chiefs have warned may be ready to attack a NATO member by 2030.

In essence, with today’s announcement, Mr Macron is trying to prepare a force to help protect France if attacked.

The young recruits would help bolster the military, which is already the second largest in the EU after Poland.

As more countries look to strengthen their defences, Moscow has accused European leaders of warmongering and consistently denied any threat to wider Europe.

However, its seeming unwillingness to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine, the recent drone and jet incursions into NATO airspace, and the intensifying hybrid war it’s accused of carrying out across Europe mean few of Ukraine’s allies still trust the Kremlin’s word.

Read more:
Does Germany need to be ready for war?

Uncertainly about whether the US could be relied upon in a fight has fuelled the unease.

That hasn’t been helped by the fact the first 28-point peace plan presented by the US appeared to come straight out Moscow’s playbook.

In these uncertain times, France isn’t alone in looking to bolster its defences. Ten EU countries already have compulsory military service, while nations including Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are opting for voluntary schemes.

After years of neglecting its military, Germany is massively boosting defence spending, with the chancellor pledging to build the strongest conventional army in Europe.

The German parliament is expected to vote on the military service plan in December.

As one German general told me: “We are not at war, but we are no longer living in peacetime…

“We do not want war, but we must be ready to defend our country.”

A man suspected of opening fire on two members of the National Guard a few streets from the White House is an Afghan national who worked with a CIA-backed unit in Afghanistan, according to officials.

He worked with “the US government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar” during the US’s war with the Taliban, CIA director John Ratcliffe has said.

The suspect, who has been pictured for the first time, was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested.

He was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29.

Attorney general Pam Bondi said the US government plans to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum”.

“A lone gunman opened fire without provocation, ambush style, armed with a .357 Smith & Wesson revolver,” she told reporters.

US attorney for Washington DC Jeanine Pirro identified the two wounded Guard members as Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24.

Ms Pirro said the suspect ambushed them while they were patrolling near the White House. He is alleged to have shot one guardsman who fell and then shot again before firing multiple times at the second guardsman with the Magnum handgun.

Numerous electronic devices seized from suspect’s home

The suspect “drove his vehicle cross-country from the state of Washington with the intended target of coming to our nation’s capital,” Ms Pirro said.

The FBI searched multiple properties in Washington state and San Diego on Thursday in what officials said was a terrorism probe into the DC shooting.

Investigators seized numerous electronic devices from the suspect’s house in Washington state, including cellphones, laptops and iPads, FBI director Kash Patel told a news conference.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era programme to resettle Afghans who assisted the US during the war and feared reprisals from the Taliban after the withdrawal.

An unnamed relative of the suspect has said that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US special forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.

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The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon the last time they spoke several months ago, according to Sky’s US partner NBC News.

A Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on 23 April of this year.

Lakanwal had no known criminal history, the official said.

US President Donald Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror”.

He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who arrived in the US during the presidency of his predecessor, Joe Biden.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency has said it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols”.

In the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the president requested an additional 500 National Guard troops to bolster the more than 2,000 already deployed in the nation’s capital.

In August, Trump ordered the National Guard to the city to combat rising crime, a move that drew objections from District of Columbia officials who argued in court that it violated local authority.