Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
Indonesian minister bids to salvage 'Asean unity'
Indonesia's foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa (pictured), who has embarked on a hastily arranged tour of Southeast Asian capital cities, is expected in Phonm Penh in the next few days, where, he told reporters, he would attempt to salvage 'Asean cohesion and unity on the South China Sea'. Cambodia has been blamed for the failure at last week's summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations to agree on a joint communique on territorial disputes with China. Marty immediately won support for his mission on his first stop in Manila yesterday and was due in Hanoi last night.
Chinese students polled on attitudes to colonialism
Hong Kong-based student organisations New Youth Forum and Cross Strait Exchange Association will announce the results of a survey that canvassed more than 2,500 Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau and mainland university students on their views of colonialism. The pollsters say initial results indicate Hong Kong students think more favourably of the city's former British colonial government than students elsewhere in China.
Microsoft expected to report first quarterly loss
For the first time since it went public in 1986, Microsoft is scheduled to report a quarterly loss - on paper, at least - when it announces its results. The fourth-quarter figures are expected to reflect the US$6.2 billion writedown of a 2007 internet-advertising acquisition. Last week, Vanity Fair magazine blamed CEO Steve Ballmer's (pictured) 'astonishingly foolish' leadership for a 'lost decade'. Reuters says Wall Street thinks Microsoft still stands a chance of reclaiming its former glory but will want hard reasons to pay more than US$30 for a stock that has not traded above that for any extended period since 2000.