Hurricane Milton is hurling rain, tornadoes and tropical storm-force winds at the US coast, on its potentially-catastrophic march toward Florida. Officials there have issued a final plea to residents to evacuate or face grim odds of survival. The Federal Emergency Management Agency says it has moved millions of litres of fresh water, meals and other supplies and personnel into the state. The hurricane has the potential to be one of the most destructive ever to hit the region, just two weeks after it was battered by Hurricane Helene. Fema administrator Deanne Criswell told residents to prepare for massive storm surges, high winds and severe flooding:

Milton is threatening the Tampa Bay area, which is home to more than 3.3 million people and which has managed to avoid a direct hit from a major hurricane for more than 100 years. Chris Watts is a former Hong Kong resident who now lives on the west coast of Florida. He spoke to Jacqueline Guico about the situation there:

Local enterprises and professionals will be able to access mainland markets more easily from March, thanks to the latest amendment to the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement. The Ministry of Commerce signed off on an agreement to amend the Cepa framework on trade in services. Kelly Yu reports:

The expanded deal covers seven sectors, including tourism, television and film. The executive director of the Travel Industry Council, Fanny Yeung, welcomed the new tourism-related measures. Under the new agreement, the 144-hour visa-exemption policy for foreign tour groups entering Guangdong from Hong Kong will be optimised. Mainland visitors will also be allowed to join cruise trips in Hong Kong by presenting their passports. Yeung told Kelly Yu what she thought of the changes:

Financial Secretary Paul Chan says Hong Kong made massive strides in green and sustainable finance and it should further push the envelope by positioning itself as Asia's leading green financing hub. Altis Wong reports:

An interior design company has come under heavy criticism after a wall-mounted television cabinet set it designed collapsed and killed a cat. Cat owner Chris Au Yeung shared on Facebook that the structure gave way while he was away from home, tragically crushing his eight-year-old feline. A photo provided by the owner appeared to show that the collapsed cabinet was secured to the wall with only two bolts. Simon Tang, the principal of Deco Academy - a training centre that teaches 'do-it-yourself' decoration, told Natale Ching that the numbers of screws used were "far from enough":

Customs officers say they arrested three people aged between 44 and 55 last month after finding more than HK$130 million worth of suspected cannabis buds inside a shipment of soya beans. The illicit 500-kilogramme shipment came in from Canada and was found at the Kwai Chung Customhouse. Charlie Chun reports:

Mannings says it is highly concerned about an incident on Tuesday where a customer was allegedly wrongly accused of theft and mistreated by security guards. Kelly Yu reports:

Five universities in Hong Kong have again been ranked in the top 100 by Britain's Times Higher Education magazine. Three of them did better than last year, as Damon Pang reports:

Castle Peak Hospital has designed a strategy kit to help young people manage their emotional problems. It has been distributed to about 500 secondary schools. The kit was designed as a board game to enhance students' knowledge of mental health issues and skills to deal with different emotions. Dr Jessica Wong from the hospital's institute of mental health told Vanessa Cheng that the kit was aimed at helping those students who were reluctant to seek help from adults:

There was a rather unusual incident at the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department headquarters a couple of days ago. Out of all places, its lift malfunctioned, trapping not only the department's director, Raymond Poon, but eight lawmakers who were paying a special visit. The legislators were at the EMSD Kowloon Bay head office on Tuesday to learn about smart city development, only to find themselves stuck inside the lift for over 20 minutes. Lawmaker Chan Siu-hung was one of them. He told Carlos Leung what happened:

Beijing has urged Washington to lift sanctions on Chinese firms as soon as possible. The call came in a phone conversation between Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and his US counterpart Gina Raimondo. Frank Yung reports:

MG Motor, BYD and other Chinese electric car manufacturers have promised to keep their low prices in Europe for now. Starting at the end of the month, Chinese EVs imported into Europe will be hit with tariffs as high as 45 percent. The European commission said the move was necessary to “create a level playing field”. Jamie Clarke reports:

Israel’s defence minister has warned of a major retaliatory strike on Iran following Iran’s missile barrage against Israel a week ago. The comments on Wednesday came on the same day that Israel conducted a deadly, large-scale operation in northern Palestine and expanded a week-long ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Jamie Clarke reports:

A record 9.3 million people in Britain are struggling with hunger and hardship, according to the country's biggest food bank network. As Janice Lo reports, the figure includes three million children:

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has dissolved parliament ahead of snap elections on October 27, banking on his political honeymoon and a fragmented opposition to lead his scandal-tainted party to victory. His Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has governed Japan almost uninterrupted for decades and is almost certain to be re-elected, as Raymond Yeung reports:

Japan's largest retailer and operator of the 7-Eleven convenience stores, Seven & i Holdings, announces its quarterly earnings on Thursday, an event that will be closely watched by the markets. The company is the target of what could be the largest-ever overseas buyout of a Japanese firm. On Wednesday, Seven & i confirmed receiving an increased takeover offer from Canada's Couche-Tard, the Circle K owner. It did not disclose the amount. But an earlier Bloomberg report said Couche-Tard had upped its bid by more than a fifth to US$47 billion. Natale Ching reports:

The Japanese owner of casual wear giant Uniqlo is projected to beat its own forecast and bank a third straight year of record profit. That is thanks to the brand making inroads in western markets and its business in China recovering, post-Covid. Jamie Clarke reports:

The Hong Kong men's football team is on an historic visit to Europe for a friendly match-up. It is the team's first-ever visit to Europe and a rare chance to face a non-Asian opponent. They left Hong Kong on Monday in preparation to face-off against Liechtenstein on Thursday. RTHK's Asia football correspondent, Chris KL Lau, has his preview of what fans can expect:

You might expect that the rising price of gold would put people off the yellow metal. But China's largest jewellery market is seeing a surge in sales. And the soaring price means it is not just the fashion-forward who are shopping for the precious metal, as Jamie Clarke reports:

RTHK's new podcast, Fact Focus, aims to dispel misinformation, disinformation and fake news that is all too easily propagated online these days. Each episode will focus on a couple of viral posts that are making false or misleading claims and, hopefully, set the record straight. In this inaugural edition, Vanessa Cheng and Tony Sabine take a look at a potentially harmful teeth-whitening tip that has been going viral on social media, as well as an online video that has been taken out of context, claiming to show the destructive force of Super Typhoon Yagi in Hainan last month: