Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
Electoral officials draw lots for Legco ballot
Electoral Affairs Commission officials draw lots to determine the order of the 292 candidates on ballot papers in next month's Legco election, and to allocate locations for the display of election posters. The lots will be drawn at the Rotunda, Kowloon Bay, where candidates will be briefed on the September 9 vote by commission chairman Mr Justice Barnabas Fung Wah (left) and representatives of the Independent Commission Against Corruption and Hongkong Post.
Unions seek pay rise for domestic workers
Trade unions meet representatives of the Labour Department in Admiralty to press for an increase in the minimum monthly wage for foreign domestic workers to HK$4,000. In June last year the department agreed to order a 4.5 per cent increase in the minimum to HK$3,740, an extra cost to employers of HK$160 a month. The present rate is still below the HK$3,800 level paid until 1998, when wages were cut.
Activists plan new mission to disputed islands
Activists supporting China's claim to the Diaoyu Islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands, hold a briefing in Xiamen on their latest plan to sail to the disputed archipelago. The meeting comes only days after Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto warned that Japan would use force to defend the islands. The activists, from Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and the mainland, include Hongkonger Chan Miu-tak (left), whose attempt to lead an expedition to the East China Sea archipelago two years ago was stopped by Hong Kong's marine police.