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Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter:
Beijing warns ‘anti-China disrupters’ after HK fire
Swiss voters reject tax on super-rich
OpenAI rivals threaten ChatGPT maker’s lead
We start in Hong Kong with the aftermath of the city’s deadliest fire in decades. Police said more bodies had been recovered as Chinese authorities warned they would use strict national security laws to respond to any “disruption” after the disaster. Here’s what you need to know.
The latest: The blaze in the Tai Po district had claimed 146 lives as of yesterday afternoon, police said, with 54 bodies yet to be identified and more than 40 people unaccounted for. Authorities have so far arrested 11 people in connection with their investigation into the fire. The apartment complex was under renovation at the time of the blaze and authorities are examining safety standards and the materials used in the project.
Hong Kong began a three-day period of mourning on Saturday, with all official festivities cancelled.
Authorities warn ‘anti-China disrupters’: As the investigation continues, authorities have moved quickly to contain wider fallout from the deadly event. The South China Morning Post reported on Saturday that Hong Kong’s national security police had detained a man on suspicion of inciting sedition in relation to the fire. China’s national security authorities in Hong Kong on Saturday warned unspecified “anti-China disrupters” not to use the disaster to “create chaos” — and drew parallels with the massive protests that engulfed the city in 2019. Read the full story.
Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:
Economic data: Indonesia reports November inflation data and October trade balance figures.
New Zealand: Swedish economist Anna Breman becomes the first female governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. The RBNZ is hoping to end a period of turmoil at the central bank and steer the country away from the brink of a “double-dip” recession.
Five more top stories
1. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and other western banks have been the biggest beneficiaries of Hong Kong equity sales this year, shrugging off US-China tensions as dealmaking booms in Asia’s financial hub. Hong Kong’s capital markets have been revived by a wave of Chinese companies raising billions of dollars in the city, which is on track for a four-year high in IPO fundraising.
2. China’s factory activity fell for an eighth straight month in November while activity in services hit a three-year low. The data shows how persistent weak demand is affecting the country’s economic outlook despite a trade truce with the US.
3. Swiss voters yesterday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to impose a 50 per cent inheritance levy on the super-rich, in a contentious referendum that came as governments around the world wrestle with how to tax the wealthy. Opponents of the initiative warned it would damage Switzerland’s appeal as a stable home for internationally mobile wealth.
4. Nato is considering being “more aggressive” in responding to Russia’s cyber attacks, sabotage and airspace violations, according to the alliance’s most senior military officer. Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone told the FT that the western military alliance was looking at stepping up its response to hybrid warfare from Moscow.
War in Ukraine: Ukrainian negotiators said they held “difficult but productive” talks with US officials in Florida yesterday, ahead of what could be a pivotal week of diplomacy to end Russia’s years-long invasion.
China-Russia ties: The owner of a major Chinese drone parts supplier has taken a stake in one of Russia’s leading drone companies.
5. Senior Democrats said US defence secretary Pete Hegseth may have committed war crimes by allegedly ordering a strike on surviving crew members of a suspected Venezuelan drug smuggling vessel in the Caribbean in September. The Senate and House armed services committees, both led by Republicans, have vowed to probe the alleged order by the defence secretary.
News in-depth
OpenAI’s huge early lead in the race to dominate artificial intelligence is under pressure. Three years on from the debut of ChatGPT, the $500bn start-up is grappling with the reality of soaring data centre costs, the technical challenges of remaining at the frontier of AI and the constant battle to retain key talent. It is also facing challenges from rivals, including Google and its new Gemini 3 chatbot, which many consider superior to OpenAI’s GPT-5.
We’re also reading . . .
‘A full-blown crisis’: US national correspondent Guy Chazan reports from West Virginia, where disaster looms over rising healthcare costs.
How the pope went pop: Efforts to attract young audiences to religion can be fraught, but the pizza-loving, Wordle-playing Leo XIV has struck a chord, writes Amy Kazmin.
Leave me alone, AI: The technology recently went from being a topic of largely theoretical interest to an actively intrusive pest, writes Pilita Clark.
Graphic of the day
Flooding across much of south-east Asia fuelled by a rare cluster of three tropical storms has claimed the lives of more than 900 people in five countries. Exacerbating these weather patterns, meteorologists said, was the coincidence of two naturally occurring phenomena — La Niña in the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean Dipole.
Take a break from the news . . .
Should you be yourself at work? Miranda Green examines the pros and cons of preserving a professional persona.
