Talking points

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

Islamic world watches for start of Ramadan

Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and a holy month of fasting for Muslims, begins today or tomorrow, subject to visual sightings of the new moon. For the next 29 or 30 days hundreds of millions of believers will neither eat nor drink from sunrise to sunset, to show their devotion and to seek forgiveness for sins. With Ramadan lasting until August 18, the start of the Guantanamo Bay hearings on mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four others accused of planning the attacks of September 11, 2001, has been postponed 10 days to August 22.

Apple starts selling iPad on the mainland

Apple starts selling its iPad on the mainland after paying US$60 million to settle a dispute over the ownership of the tablet computer's name. Apple's announcement last week followed the end of a long legal battle over the use of the iPad name on the mainland. Apple paid the court-mediated settlement last month to Proview Technology (Shenzhen), which has transferred to the California-based firm its two mainland iPad trademarks.

US court sentences al-Qaeda 'drone' plotter

A federal court in Boston sentences a 26-year-old al-Qaeda sympathiser who has pleaded guilty to plotting to bomb the Pentagon and the Capitol using model planes laden with C4 explosives (left). Rezwan Ferdaus had called his models 'small drone airplanes', according to the FBI's reports, in an echo of America's contentious drone strikes against militants in such countries as Afghanistan, Yemen and Pakistan.

Beijing court rules on Ai Weiwei's tax challenge

A court in Beijing gives its verdict on a lawsuit filed by Beijing Fake Cultural Development, producer of artist Ai Weiwei's artwork, against the city's tax bureau. Ai says the government broke the law by imposing a 15 million yuan (HK$18.4 million) penalty for tax evasion on the company and has asked the court to overturn the bureau's rejection of his appeal against it.

Civic Party faces split over election plans

Former Civic Party chairman Dr Kenneth Chan Ka-lok and Civic Party lawmaker Tanya Chan are expected to register to contest the Hong Kong Island constituency, raising the prospect that Dutch-born district councillor Paul Zimmerman (left) will leave the party to contest the constituency on his own. Such a move could hurt the party's chances of winning two seats in the constituency, particularly those of Tanya Chan, who is placed second on the party's ticket.

Ministers hold briefing on aviation policy

Two senior government officials - General Administration of Civil Aviation Minister Li Jiaxiang and Vice-Minister of Finance Li Yong - hold a briefing in Beijing on a State Council plan to promote civil aviation. A council policy document says the government will introduce measures to improve the competitiveness of China's aviation industry in the international market, as well as its safety, and make the industry more environmentally friendly.