Halloween comes early to Hong Kong as festivities draw crowds, lift bar business

South China Morning Post - Oct 24, 2026

Halloween has arrived early in Hong Kong, with costumed revellers and families thronging the city’s streets a week early and some establishments seeing business increase by up to 20 per cent. The streets of Central were packed on Saturday as visitors and locals alike joined events held under the Tourism Board’s inaugural “Hong Kong Halloween Month”. The campaign, which started last Saturday, involves street celebrations in Central, including Lan Kwai Fong, Kai Tak, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui...

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Spring comes earlier, autumn foliage later as climate change alters forests

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Birdwatching takes off among young Koreans

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N. Korea's Kim calls for 'strongest army' in speech for military meeting in Pyongyang

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for the regime's military to build the "strongest army" as he addressed a meeting of commanders in Pyongyang, the North's state media reported Saturday. Kim made the remarks as he supervised a meeting of company commanders on Oct. 22 and 23 in the North's capital, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim told the commanders that "the main spirit of the Third Meeting of Company Leaders of the Korean People's Army is to build the strongest army and accelerate the Korean-style military revolution by training the strongest companies," the KCNA reported. Kim also instructed company commanders to "firmly carry forward the true nature of our army as the army of the Party and the army of ideology and core elements." The meeting was the first gathering of the North's entire army after Pyongyang's Ninth Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea, the KCNA reported.

US Army activates air defense battalion in Guam amid N. Korean, Chinese missile threats: report

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Chinese FM meets UN high commissioner for refugees

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US-China strategic competition to keep escalating as world watches on, Rudd says

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US, allies and China vie for influence through Pacific security deals

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What will China’s fifth plenum mean for the root-and-branch corruption drive?

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Zelensky hopes Beijing can use ‘influence’ over Moscow to help stop Ukraine war

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