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Talking points

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Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...

A White House welcome for Aquino

Philippine President Benigno Aquino visits US President Barack Obama at the White House, highlighting his nation's growing importance in Washington's strategic thinking. The meeting comes after the United States began helping Manila beef up its modest military capacity in the face of a confrontation with Beijing over conflicting territorial claims in the South China Sea. The US is formally neutral on the issue, which also pits China against Vietnam and other Southeast Asian nations.

Democrats keep up pressure on Donald Tsang

Democratic Party lawmakers will table motions in a meeting of Legco's House Committee urging Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to resign and repay the cost of his luxury accommodation on overseas trips. Another motion will ask the government to submit to Legco an audit report on Tsang's spending on foreign trips. The motions are expected to be defeated.

Nuclear watchdog seeks access to Tehran's sites

Representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran hold a meeting in Vienna at which Tehran will come under pressure for access to sites at where its engineers are suspected of working on nuclear weapons, particularly at the Parchin military base. The Iranians insist their nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only, but Western powers and Israel suspect otherwise. The UN agency will be looking for progress after its director-general, Yukiya Amano (left), signalled that differences between the two parties had 'narrowed'. However, the US has dampened expectations that a deal can be struck in Vienna.

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