Talking points

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

Press get chance to ask Cardinal Zen about gifts

Joseph Zen Ze-kiun will host a press conference today, two days after confidential documents leaked on the internet claimed he had received donations amounting to at least HK$20 million from media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying. The Hong Kong Catholic Diocese's communications office said Zen would meet the press to focus on the Court of Final Appeal ruling which takes away control from the church over some 80 schools operated by the diocese. The cardinal is expected to be bombarded with questions about the alleged private donations he received from Lai, who is said to be aiding his projects on the mainland and in Hong Kong.

Japan's Noda seeks historical amends with Korea

Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will join his South Korean counterpart, President Lee Myung-bak, for a summit in Seoul today amid reports he will return looted historical documents to try to improve ties strained by a territorial dispute. Noda will bring several volumes of historic Korean royal texts taken out of the country during Japan's 1910-45 colonisation, Seoul newspapers say. When Noda took office in late August, South Korea urged his government to 'look squarely' at the past. Japan imposed harsh rule over Korea in the first half of the 20th century, and relations remain prickly.

Republican fever muted as Australia hosts queen

Australia's republican movement has long argued it is a matter of when, not if, the royals will be ditched. But as Queen Elizabeth visits from today, enthusiasm for severing ties is ebbing. The former British penal colony voted against becoming a republic in a 1999 referendum, and republicanism has declined since. As the queen prepares to make her 16th trip Down Under, few are expecting any protests on what could be her farewell tour of the country. Opinion polls had consistently shown about 60 per cent favoured a republic, but ahead of the wedding of Prince William to Catherine Middleton in April, support fell to a 17-year low. Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her ruling Labor party insist the ultimate goal is for Australia to become a republic.

Sino-Russian security talks resume in Beijing

Russian Security Council secretary Nikolai Patrushev, in Beijing today, will meet State Councillor Dai Bingguo for the China-Russia sixth-round strategic security talks. The previous round of meetings was held in Moscow in January.

Foreign minister ventures to Denmark and Bahamas

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi starts a four-day visit to Denmark and the Bahamas, the first official visit by a Chinese foreign minister to Denmark in 11 years and first high-level contact between China and the new Danish government.