Retail sales have grown at their fastest pace in more than a year and a half. And as Chloe Feng tells us, the government says the outlook for the trade is positive.

The Retail Management Association says retail sales were boosted by Beijing's visa relaxation, allowing more mainland visitors to visit Hong Kong. Its executive director is Bond Law:

Hong Kong has recorded 454,000 arrivals after the second day of the National Day golden week. Nearly half of them, or 215,000, were from the mainland. A tourism sector representative believes more will be arriving in the coming days, giving the economy a welcome boost. Sophie Hui with that story.

Residents continued to flock to the People's Liberation Army's naval base on Ngong Shuen Chau - or Stonecutters Island - for a tour of two visiting vessels. The visitors said it gave them a rare chance to see China's military up close. Wendy Wong with the details.

A 31-year man will appear in court on Friday on suspicion of drug trafficking, after police seized cocaine with a street value of over HK$140 million in Sai Kung on Wednesday. Wendy Wong reports.

The Centre for Health Protection has reported Hong Kong's 24th case of chikungunya fever this year, involving a man who recently visited Jiangmen in Guangdong province. Damon Pang reports.

Youngsters should pay more attention to cybersecurity and fraud prevention -- that's according to a study on financial literacy by the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The study, involving more than 2,000 primary four to secondary three pupils, gave them a rating of "B minus" -- indicating children generally have basic financial knowledge and proper spending attitudes. But its president, Edward Au, also says 10 percent of the respondents have fallen victim to scams. He believes schools could do more to boost financial education and life planning. Au spoke to Elvis Yu about the study.

US President Donald Trump says soybeans will be a major topic of discussion in his upcoming meeting with President Xi Jinping. Altis Wong has details.

An attacker has ploughed a car into a crowd outside a packed synagogue in the city of Manchester in Britain before going on a stabbing spree. Two people were killed and three others were wounded, in what authorities say was an act of terrorism. Police shot and killed the suspect and arrested three other people within hours of the attack, which happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Jamie Clarke reports:

This could be single most deadly attack ever on a British religious site, according to RTHK's UK correspondent, Gavin Grey. He also told Ben Tse that it was unusual for police to name the suspect so quickly:

US President Donald Trump is eyeing cuts to so-called "Democratic agencies" in the United States' government shutdown. Trump has already frozen federal transit and green-energy funding for Democratic-leaning states. He's also threatened to fire more federal workers during the shutdown, which began on Wednesday due to a partisan standoff in Congress. Jamie Clarke reports:

People in the central Philippines are staying alert for possible aftershocks after a powerful earthquake struck late on Tuesday. The death toll has risen to 72 with nearly 200 injured. Wendy Wong reports.

Hopes are fading of finding more survivors after a school collapsed in Indonesia earlier this week. Sixty teenagers at the boarding school in East Java are still missing, while the death toll has climbed to five with over 100 injured. Azam Khan with the details.

Israeli forces have boarded most of the vessels in a flotilla attempting to break Israel's blockade of Gaza. They've detained dozens aboard, including European lawmakers, drawing widespread condemnation. The organisers of the flotilla said at least 39 of their boats were intercepted or assumed intercepted in a night-long Israeli operation. Israeli authorities later said only one boat remained "at a distance", and would be intercepted if it approached. Jamie Clarke has more:

Business news...The Hong Kong Monetary Authority says it has so far received applications from 36 financial and tech firms for a licence to issue stablecoins. As Chloe Feng reports, this comes after the Stablecoin Ordinance to regulate the industry took effect on August the First.

A Kenyan survivor of human trafficking has been speaking about how he was forced to use AI to run cyberscams at one of Myanmar's notorious scam centres. The victim ended up spending four months in a compound, where he used ChatGPT to trick Americans into making bogus cryptocurrency investments. Jamie Clarke has more:

In football...SAR outfits Tai Po and Eastern have both suffered defeats in their AFC Champions League Two encounters against sides from Vietnam. RTHK's Asian football correspondent Chris KL Lau has more:

Meanwhile -- Aston Villa have earned their second win in two matches in the Europa League, this time with a 2-nil win at Feyenoord. Todd Harding has more: