Reuters World News - DC ambush, Hong Kong inferno and Thanksgiving costs

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Two National Guard soldiers are critically injured in a shooting near the White House. Dozens are killed and hundreds are still missing after a huge fire engulfs an apartment complex in Hong Kong. Discounted turkeys keep Thanksgiving costs down this year but go easy on the sweet potato. Plus, Pope Leo heads to Turkey in his first papal trip abroad. Listen to Morning Bid podcast here.  Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter here.  Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices.  You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Kim Vinell in Wanganui, New Zealand. It's Thursday, November 27th. Today, two members of the National Guard are shot in an apparent targeted ambush in Washington, D.C. Hundreds are missing as a huge fire burns out of control in Hong Kong. And it's Thanksgiving, but hold the sweet potatoes. We look at the more expensive elements of your dinner. This is Reuters World News, bringing you. everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. First responders surround two National Guard members lying on the sidewalk. One appears to be receiving CPR. Near the other, two National Guard soldiers hug after an attack

authorities are calling a targeted ambush, all just blocks from the White House. Michael Ryan was heading out for lunch at the time. As soon as I got 17th Street, we heard like rapid gunshots. He says the area was quickly swarmed by police officers and other National Guard members. They had a person pinned on the ground yelling at him to stay down. President Donald Trump, who's in Florida, is calling the shooter an animal who will pay a very steep price. Wojta's correspondent Leah Douglas was at the scene. So when I arrived at the area where the shooting took place, Farragut Square, which is the park that the shooting was near, was already taped off with yellow crime scene tape.

And there were dozens of fire trucks, police vehicles of all kinds, and a helicopter circling, and several National Guard members standing on a corner, kind of watching the situation unfold. The suspect who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was. was arrested, has been identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanala La Canwal, an Afghan national. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Agency says its halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely. Leah says no motive has been given so far, but that officials say the suspect was a lone gunman. So we heard from officials, and what they described was that the suspect had come around a corner at an intersection, which is in a part of D.C., that's a lot of office buildings.

It's just two blocks from the White House complex. The park that it took place near is like a popular lunch destination, lots of cafes, lots of pedestrians, things like that. And so this person, the suspect, came around the corner and, quote, ambushed them, according to someone from the Metropolitan Police Department in D.C. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says the Pentagon will beef up National Guard numbers in D.C. as a result of the incident. A huge apartment tower block is on fire in Hong Kong, with firefighters still trying to reach residents potentially trapped on the upper floors of the

high-rise buildings. The blaze in the Wang Fook Court housing complex in Tai Po has been burning for more than 24 hours. More than 40 people are dead and hundreds are still missing. Hong Kong police say the fire may have spread due to unsafe materials, including the bamboo scaffolding and mesh surrounding the building. Police superintendent, Eileen Chong, pointing the finger at the construction company carrying out maintenance work. Three people from that company have already been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Reporter Faro Master in Hong Kong is covering the story. It's a complex of eight buildings, and they're all high rises, with 31 floors.

So they're really tall buildings, and they're all stacked very close to each other. So what had happened was one caught on fire and then it spread very quickly to the others. There are around 2,000 department units within these eight residential high-rise blocks, and there are around 4,600 people living in these blocks. And the fire authorities are trying hard

to get to the higher floors of these residential buildings, and it's been very difficult There are many, many of these cases where people are trying to find their loved ones that are still stuck in or that are missing. We've had really harrowing cases of one man who was outside and his wife was trapped in. He's 70 years old and he just broke down. So it was really terrible. And there's another case of a lady she's looking for her daughter. Her daughter just graduated from university here.

And she hasn't had contact with her daughter since yesterday afternoon when she was inside the block. Fara says there are concerns that the fire could trigger discontent in the city, where housing is already an issue. I think it's definitely going to be a really hot-button issue. Housing has always been a really tough issue in Hong Kong. It's super expensive to live here. And these people, you know, they've paid so much money to get an apartment in this complex. So there'll be a lot of anger as to how could this happen in Hong Kong, which is so developed.

You might be settling down today to a Thanksgiving meal. And for one thing, you might be thankful that prices were a bit cheaper than last year. According to the American Farm Bureau, the average price per person of what it calls the Thanksgiving staples, everything from turkey and sweet potatoes to peas, stuffing and pumpkin pie, will cost around $5.50 a person. That's down 5% from last year. But as our Fed reporter Howard Schneider has been reporting, some shoppers are still feeling the strain.

They found that the overall price did drop a little bit this year. That's a third straight year of decline. Now, it's still higher than it was in 2019 before the pandemic by about 13%. And here's the deal. There's a little bit of sticker shock under the hood when it comes to the sides because the wholesale price of turkey is higher. But the retailers, particularly at the time when stores are very sensitive about market share, being very aggressive about discounting.

So some stores we've found are even given away turkeys for free if you spend a certain amount of money. Things like sweet potatoes costing a lot more than they did last year. A lot of the other sides are up as well. Russia says the leak of a recording of a call between top advisors to Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was an unacceptable attempt to undermine peace negotiations and amounts to hybrid warfare. Bloomberg News published the transcript of an October 14th, telephone call in which Trump envoy, Steve Whitkoff, advised Putin's foreign policy aid, Yuriushikov, on how to pitch a Ukraine peace plan to Trump.

Russia says it won't make major concessions on a peace plan for Ukraine. Witkoff is due in Moscow next week for talks with Russian leaders. A Georgia prosecutor has dropped all criminal charges against President Trump for trying to overturn the state's 2020 election results, ending what was once seen as one of the most serious legal threats the president faced. The case was brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fannie Willis in 2023, but collapsed after she was removed over ethics complaints. It's the latest in a string of criminal prosecutions against Trump that have fallen apart since his return to the White House. Now, you might not want to hear

about belt tightening today of all days, but in the UK, they don't have Thanksgiving and instead have a government keen to balance the books. British finance minister Rachel Reeves has announced a big tax-raising budget aimed at giving her more room for deficit reduction targets. And I do recognise that I was asking ordinary people to pay a little bit more, but I've managed to keep that contribution as low as I possibly can. As well as a so-called mansion tax on properties above £2 million, pounds, there were higher taxes for Britons on everything from milkshakes to electric vehicles.

Reeves also announced some measures to lower the cost of living, cutting energy bills and removing a cap that had prevented low-income families from receiving further benefits when they have more than two children. Pope Leo is heading to the Muslim majority nation of Turkey today in his first papal trip abroad. He'll also head to Lebanon. On Leo's agenda is a meeting with President Recep type Erdogan. And in a departure from normal practice, Leo is expected to speak English in his speeches in Turkey. Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate. As you digest your turkey, you might already be browsing for the more popular deals for Black Friday. So for today's recommended read, we dive into what shoppers are looking for in the shopping season, which typically

accounts for a third of American retailers yearly profits. There's a link in the description. For more on any of the stories from today. Check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.