HONG KONG (AP) — The death toll of Hong Kong’s high-rise apartment blaze rose to 159 on Wednesday, as authorities arrested six people on suspicion of deactivating some fire alarms during maintenance work at the housing complex.

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The youngest person who died in the fire was a 1-year-old, police said. The oldest was 97.

Police said they have completed a search for bodies inside all seven of the eight high-rise residential towers ravaged in the fire that first broke out a week ago and took more than 40 hours to be extinguished. About 30 people were still reported missing.

“We have not finished our work yet,” Commissioner of Police Joe Chow told reporters, adding that officials found suspected human bones in different apartments and would attempt DNA testing to identify them.

Officials will also continue to search through piles of fallen bamboo scaffolding to check if any remains or bodies were buried there, he said.

The deadly blaze broke out at Wang Fuk Court, in the northern suburban district of Tai Po, which was undergoing a monthslong renovation project with buildings covered by bamboo scaffolding and green netting.

The city’s anti-corruption body and police said Tuesday that they had arrested 15 people, including directors at construction companies, as authorities probe corruption and negligence in relation to the renovation work.

Police said Wednesday that six others, from a fire service installation contractor, were arrested. They were believed to have deactivated some fire alarms at the housing complex during the renovation works, according to police, and were suspected of making false statements to the fire services department.

Residents at Wang Fuk Court and officials have previously said that some fire alarms in the buildings failed to sound when the blaze broke out, though it was not immediately clear how widespread that problem was within the complex.

Authorities also pointed to substandard plastic nylon netting covering scaffoldings erected outside the towers at Wang Fuk Court, and foam boards installed on windows, for contributing to the fire’s rapid spread to seven of the eight buildings at the complex.

On Wednesday, government officials ordered the removal of all external scaffolding nets from up to hundreds of buildings across the city that are undergoing major renovation or maintenance work. The materials will need to be tested before they are allowed to be installed again.

The removal was triggered by initial findings at two housing complexes in the territory where fire safety inspection reports for scaffolding nets were suspected to have been falsified, said Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security. Police are investigating the companies that they believe could have provided the test reports, including the Binzhou Inspection and Testing Center in China.

The initial cause of the fire was still under investigation.

Nineteen bodies among the 159 were still unidentified, police said. Ten migrants who worked as domestic helpers at the housing complex, including nine from Indonesia and one from the Philippines, as well as one firefighter, were among those killed.

By JEFFREY COLLINS

A deadly UPS cargo plane crash in Kentucky stemmed from corporate choices that favored profits over safety, according to a lawyer who filed two wrongful death lawsuits Wednesday, which allege the company kept flying older aircraft without increasing maintenance beyond what’s regularly scheduled.

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Federal officials said last month’s fiery crash of the MD-11 jet happened during takeoff after the engine on the left wing detached and flew off. Cracks were found where the engine connected to the wing, according to the National Transportation Safety Board report.

The cracks show the now-grounded MD-11s, which average more than 30 years old, are too dangerous for package delivery companies to keep in the air, said Robert Clifford, a lawyer who has represented victims in plane crashes for more than 45 years.

The plane that crashed “was old, tired and should have been never taken out of mothballs,” Clifford said. Saving money by keeping older planes in the air and not increasing the number of inspections “is putting profits over safety,” Clifford added.

UPS and GE, which made the plane’s engines and is also being sued, said in a statements that safety is a top priority as they assist the federal investigation, and extended their heartfelt sympathies to the families of those killed. They said they do not comment on pending lawsuits.

The suit by Clifford Law Offices of Chicago and Sam Aguiar Injury Lawyers are names Boeing, which acquired the original manufacturer of the plane McDonell Douglas, and VT San Antonio Aerospace, Inc., which inspected and maintained the plane. The two companies did not immediately respond to email and phone messages seeking comment.

The crash killed 3 pilots and 11 people on the ground

Clifford and other lawyers filed the wrongful death suits in state court on behalf of the families of Angela Anderson, 45, who was shopping at a business by the airport and Trinadette “Trina” Chavez, 37, who was working at Grade A Auto Parts. Both died in the fire caused by the 38,000 gallons (144,00 liters) of jet fuel on board the plane as it headed for Hawaii, the attorneys wrote in court papers.

The three pilots and 11 others on the ground were killed in the Nov. 4 crash near Muhammad Ali International Airport.

The legal battles stemming from the crash are likely just beginning. UPS was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit filed last month accusing it of negligence and wanton conduct. The crash “acted like a bomb” and the plaintiffs had their lives and businesses “turned upside down” as a result, the suit said.

Plane had just finished six weeks of extensive maintenance

The plane that crashed underwent more than six weeks of extensive maintenance that ended on Oct. 18. Crews repaired significant structural issues, including a crack in the center wing fuel tank and corrosion on structural components. Some of the parts involved in attaching the engine to the wing were also lubricated during the work that VT San Antonio performed, according to the lawsuits.

The engine mount hadn’t undergone a detailed inspection since 2021. And the plane wasn’t due for another detailed inspection of that part for another 7,000 takeoffs and landings

When Clifford saw the video of the Nov. 4 crash, his mind immediately went back to the 1979 crash of an American Airlines DC-10 which killed 273 people. The DC-10 was the predecessor of the MD-11.

The left engine fell off in the 1979 crash too. But back then, a forklift driver damaged the engine mounts. In this year’s crash, it appears to be a function of age.

“When you extend the life of the plane, it keeps it in service. It saves money. It saves downtime. It saves maintenance and inspection costs but there is an exponential increase in the risk of fatigue fractures and that’s what you got here,” Clifford said.

Federal investigators ground all similar planes

Federal investigators grounded all MD-11s used by UPS, FedEx and Western Global after the crash for inspections and repairs, but the Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t said what will be required.

UPS announced last week it didn’t expect the MD-11s to be back in the sky until at least after the holiday season.

The 109 remaining MD-11 airliners, averaging more than 30 years old, are exclusively used to haul cargo for package delivery companies. MD-11s make up about 9% of the UPS airline fleet and 4% of FedEx’s fleet.

If massive repairs or overhauls are ordered, experts said package delivery companies may find replacing them the better option.

Associated Press reporter Josh Funk in Omaha, Nebraska, contributed to this report.

By LORNE COOK and ILLIA NOVIKOV

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine and its European allies accused Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday of feigning interest in peace efforts after five hours of talks with U.S. envoys at the Kremlin produced no breakthrough.

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The Russian leader “should end the bluster and the bloodshed and be ready to come to the table and to support a just and lasting peace,” said U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha urged Putin to “stop wasting the world’s time.”

The remarks reflect the high tensions and gaping gulf between Russia on one side and Ukraine and its European allies on the other over how to end a war that Moscow started when it invaded its neighbor nearly four years ago.

A day earlier, Putin accused the Europeans of sabotaging the U.S.-led peace efforts — and warned that, if provoked, Russia would be ready for war with Europe.

Since the 2022 invasion, European governments, along with the U.S., have spent billions of dollars to support Kyiv financially and militarily. Under President Donald Trump, however, the U.S. has tempered its support — and instead made a push to end the war.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Tuesday’s talks at the Kremlin between Putin and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were “positive” but wouldn’t release any details.

Unclear where peace talks go now

Where the peace talks go from here depends largely on whether the Trump administration decides to increase the pressure on Russia or on Ukraine to make concessions.

A U.S. peace proposal that became public last month was criticized for being tilted heavily toward Moscow because it granted some of the Kremlin’s core demands that Kyiv has rejected as nonstarters.

Many European leaders worry that if Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine, he will have free rein to threaten their countries, which already have faced incursions from Russian drones and fighter jets, and an alleged widespread sabotage campaign.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an international forum of civil participation “We Are Together” in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (Alexander Shcherbak, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

The Russian and American sides agreed Tuesday not to disclose the substance of their Kremlin talks, but at least one major hurdle to a settlement remains — the fate of four Ukrainian regions Russia partially seized and occupies and claims as its own.

After the talks, Ushakov told reporters that “so far, a compromise hasn’t been found” on the issue of territory, without which the Kremlin sees “no resolution to the crisis.”

Ukraine has ruled out giving up territory that Russia has captured.

Asked whether peace was closer or further away after the talks, Ushakov said: “Not further, that’s for sure.”

“But there’s still a lot of work to be done, both in Washington and in Moscow,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday it was “not correct” to say that Putin had rejected the U.S. peace plan. He declined to elaborate on the talks.

“We’re deliberately not going to add anything,” he said. “It’s understood that the quieter these negotiations are conducted, the more productive they will be.”

Europeans step up assistance for Ukraine

Foreign ministers from European NATO countries, meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, showed little patience with Moscow.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde speaks during a committee meeting at the European Parliament in Brussels, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

“What we see is that Putin has not changed any course. He’s pushing more aggressively on the battlefield,” Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said. “It’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t want to have any kind of peace.”

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen struck the same note. “So far we haven’t seen any concessions from the side of the aggressor, which is Russia, and I think the best confidence-building measure would be to start with a full ceasefire,” she said.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said Ukraine’s partners will keep supplying military aid to ensure pressure is maintained on Moscow.

“The peace talks are ongoing. That’s good,” Rutte said.

“But at the same time, we have to make sure that whilst they take place and we are not sure when they will end, that Ukraine is in the strongest possible position to keep the fight going, to fight back against the Russians,” he said.

Canada, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands announced they will spend hundreds of millions of dollars more together to buy U.S. weapons to donate to Ukraine.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, center, and European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity, Implementation and Simplification Valdis Dombrovskis, right, address a media conference regarding Ukraine’s financing needs for 2026-2027 at EU headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Harry Nakos)

Unlike the Biden administration, the Trump administration has not approved donations of weapons to Ukraine. Instead, it has sold them directly to Kyiv or to NATO allies that give them to Ukraine.

The war claims more lives

Russia and Ukraine are engaged in a grim war of attrition on the battlefield and are using drones and missiles for long-range strikes behind the front line. Many analysts have noted that the slow slog favors Russia’s larger military, especially if disagreements between Europe and the U.S. or among Europeans hampers weapons delivery to Ukraine.

Russian drones hit the town of Ternivka in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, killing two people and injuring three more, according to the head of the regional military administration, Vladyslav Haivanenko. Two people were in critical condition, he said, after the attack destroyed a house and damaged six more.

Overall, Russia fired 111 strike and decoy drones overnight, Ukraine’s air force said.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed 102 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Falling drone debris sparked a fire at an oil depot in the Tambov region, about 120 miles south of Moscow, Gov. Yegveniy Pervyshov said.

Cook reported from Brussels.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s transport ministry said Wednesday that a private firm will resume a deep-sea hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 later this month, more than a decade after the jet vanished without a trace.

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The search will be carried out by Texas-based marine robotics firm Ocean Infinity, which signed a new “no-find, no-fee” contract with Malaysia’s government in March.

It is unclear if the company has new evidence of the plane’s location. Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett reportedly said last year that the company had improved its technology since 2018, when the firm made its first seabed search operation under a similar deal and found nothing. Punkett has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.

Earlier this year the firm restarted the seabed search operation at a new 5,800-square-mile site in the Indian Ocean after Malaysia’s government gave it the greenlight, but the search was halted in April due to bad weather.

Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.

The Boeing 777 plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. Apart from those small fragments, no bodies or wreckage have ever been found.

FILE – A family member of passengers on board of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 holds a flower during the tenth annual remembrance event at a shopping mall, in Subang Jaya, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, March 3, 2024. (AP Photo/FL Wong, File)

Malaysia’s transport ministry said in a brief statement Wednesday that Ocean Infinity will search intermittently from Dec. 30 for a total of 55 days, in targeted areas believed to have the highest likelihood of finding the missing aircraft.

“The latest development underscores the government of Malaysia’s commitment in providing closure to the families affected by this tragedy,” it said.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said, “We … appreciate the efforts made by the Malaysian side.”

Ocean Infinity declined to comment on the search Wednesday in response to an Associated Press email requesting details.

Associated Press writer Ken Moritsugu in Beijing contributed.