Housing Secretary Winnie Ho Wing‑yin submitted her resignation on 28 Oct 2026, taking political responsibility for the November 2025 blaze that killed 168 people at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Chief Executive John Lee Ka‑chiu apologized on 29 Oct and announced a suite of reforms, including criminalising bid‑rigging in building maintenance and overhauling supervision of contractors. An independent, judge‑led panel produced a more than 1,000‑page report detailing safety failures across four government departments and recommending criminal charges for several officials and firms.
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4 stories since 28 October 2026, newest first
29 October 2026
Microsoft reported free cash flow of 18.6 billion USD, double analysts' expectations, while its Azure cloud segment grew 48 % in the quarter, up from 43 % before. Its AI-related capital spending reached 45.2 billion USD, about 5 billion USD below plan. Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius expects the AI investment peak in late 2026 or early 2027. Alphabet's shares fell more than 10 % after hours, erasing over 400 billion USD in market value, while Microsoft's shares rose 3.5 %.
The French government has offered €4 billion in loans for school renovations and plans a new university admissions system, after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu met student groups on Monday. Planned cuts of 800 public high school jobs are halted, with 500 new teachers to be hired instead. First-year high school classes will be capped at 28 students, phased in during 2027 and 2028. Student leaders say they will keep protesting because not all demands were met. Earlier violence in cities including Paris, Lyon and Marseille involved arson and looting, and police say they arrested or detained more than 6,000 people.
28 October 2026
Kylian Mbappé, Real Madrid and La Liga have apologised to China after Mbappé called Mao Zedong a Chinese dictator in a French talk-show meme comment. Mbappé, France captain, said his remark was ill-judged and hurt many people in China. Dongpeng, Mengniu and Milkground ended their agreements with him, and China Media Group suspended La Liga broadcasts. China's foreign ministry said on Wednesday 28 Oct it takes the apology seriously. Real Madrid's games remained unavailable to viewers in China on Wednesday.