Talking points

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

Briton vies to take He Kexin's gymnastics crown

Gymnastics attracts enthusiastic attention at the Olympics, with Britain's Beth Tweddle hoping to give the home crowd another gold to cheer in the uneven bars, but reigning Olympic champion He Kexin (left) of China will provide stiff opposition. Tweddle has yet to win an Olympic medal and considered retiring after Beijing, but has all of Britain rooting for her. Elsewhere, the hosts hope to continue their track-cycling gold rush when Jason Kenny takes part in the individual sprint, and in women's soccer Japan and the US aim to set up a repeat of last year's World Cup final when they face France and Canada respectively in the semis. China's men's and women's table tennis teams play their semi-finals in their drive to continue the country's dominance in the event.

State, federal ministers meet over Indian blackouts

The power ministers of all 28 Indian states and the federal government meet to discuss ways to avoid a repeat of last week's grid failures, which left almost half of India without power. The failures were blamed on greedy states consuming more than their allotted power quotas as they sought to meet increased demand. Part of the demand surge comes from increasingly affluent Indians adopting electricity-guzzling lifestyles, adding to the strain on the grid from industrial users and businesses.

High alert as third typhoon in days approaches

Authorities responsible for flood control and relief in coastal areas are on high alert, with heavy rain lashing many areas in the south and east of the mainland as Typhoon Haikui moves northwest from Okinawa, Japan. Downpours will sweep parts of Guizhou , Yunnan , Guangdong and Hainan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, as well as southern parts of some central and northern provinces, over the next three days. The National Meteorological Centre says rainstorms will also lash eastern coastal regions, including Zhejiang , Jiangsu and Shanghai, today and tomorrow. Haikui comes hard on the heels of the twin typhoons Saola and Damrey, which caused extensive flooding (left).

Carrie Lam steps up while C.Y. takes a break

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor goes to work as acting chief executive for the first time since she began her tenure as chief secretary on July 1. She will stand in for Leung Chun-ying until he returns from a holiday on Friday.

Hiroshima marks 67th anniversary of bombing

Today marks the 67th anniversary of the 1945 US nuclear attack on Hiroshima. A grandson of the late US President Harry Truman, who ordered the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the second world war, is in Hiroshima to attend a memorial service for the victims - a first by a member of the Truman family. The visit by Clifton Truman Daniel (pictured with survivors) is sponsored by the peace group Sadako Legacy, named after Sadako Sasaki, an A-bomb victim who died of leukaemia at the age of 12. The US sent a representative - its ambassador to Japan - to the annual commemoration for the first time two years ago. Ambassador John Roos is to attend the Hiroshima ceremony today.