South Korean police are trying to establish what caused the crush that killed more than 150 people as they celebrated Halloween in an alley in Seoul. The authorities say they have identified nearly all of those who died in the tragedy in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon on Sunday night. A period of national mourning has been declared. Crowds had been large in the area following the recent lifting of Covid restrictions. A local fire chief said almost all the deaths occurred in one narrow alley. Janelle Story was among those who witnessed the crowd surge:

The stampede in South Korea has sparked renewed concerns about holding major celebrations in narrow and steep streets. Police have urged revellers who plan to mark Halloween in Lan Kwai Fong to avoid crowding on slopes and steps. The tragedy has revived memories of a crush in the entertainment district on New Year’s Day in 1993, when 21 people died. Damon Pang reports:

President Xi Jinping is among over a dozen world leaders who sent their condolences to South Korea. The Chinese embassy in Seoul said four Chinese nationals were among those killed in the deadly stampede. Priscilla Ng reports:

The Financial Services Secretary, Christopher Hui, has expressed confidence that this week's Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit can showcase Hong Kong's advantages. Hui said the city's unique strengths would not be taken away by just a few comments. He was responding to recent criticism from US politicians against guests attending the event. Kelly Yu reports:

Hong Kong's sole delegate to the country's top legislature, Tam Yiu-chung, says the SAR needs to do a lot more to tackle deep-rooted conflicts and integrate into the nation's development. As Priscilla Ng reports, he called for more political and legal integration:

Epidemiologist Benjamin Cowling says he does not think it will make much difference to the city if Covid travel restrictions are dropped, such as the testing of arrivals and restrictions on their movements in the first few days. Hong Kong's daily Covid caseload has hovered around the 5,000 mark for weeks. Professor Cowling from the University of Hong Kong told Janice Wong that travel measures were only critical for countries trying to stay at zero cases, such as Macau and the mainland:

Macau authorities have ordered all residents to undergo three consecutive days of rapid antigen tests, after the gaming hub reported three new Covid infections involving the same family. As Joanne Wong reports, those who fail to upload the test results will be banned from public venues:

The Standby Signal Number 1 is in effect as Severe Tropical Storm Nalgae moves across the South China Sea. The Observatory says it will stay in force at least before 10 am on Monday. Sean Kennedy reports:

A green group has expressed disappointment with the government's “enhanced” voluntary scheme on external lighting, which will ask shop owners to switch off their outdoor lights an hour earlier at night. Under the existing Charter on External Lighting, lights should be off between 11pm and 7am. But the Environment and Ecology Bureau said from New Year's Day, those participating in the scheme will have to turn their lights off at 10pm. Edmond Lau, a senior project manager at Green Earth, said the change was an improvement, but he still felt the scheme was a "toothless tiger" because of its voluntary nature. He spoke to Damon Pang:

The billionaire behind SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, now calls himself Chief Twit after sealing the deal to buy the social media platform for US$44 billion on Thursday. Some analysts say it is one of the most overpaid tech acquisitions in the history of deals on Wall Street. Meanwhile, Musk has denied a New York Times report about laying off Twitter employees before the end of the month, in order to avoid paying out stock grants due on November 1. As RTHK’s US economics correspondent, Barry Wood, explains to Samantha Butler, Twitter's most high-profile executives, including the CEO and CFO, have been let go: