Talking points

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

Murdoch future shadows News Corp meeting

News Corp holds its annual meeting in Los Angeles today amid speculation that rebellious shareholders may push for the ousting of chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch over this summer's phone-hacking scandal. But dissident shareholders may not be able to force boardroom change. Murdoch owns about 40 per cent of the voting shares, according to The Wall Street Journal. Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who owns 7 per cent, has publicly supported Murdoch during the scandal. And the company's shares have jumped about 10 per cent since the scandal broke in July, which may persuade some shareholders to keep the status quo.

Queen Elizabeth pays call to Aussie female leaders

Britain's Queen Elizabeth is holding a meeting with Australia's first woman prime minister today at the official residence of the country's first woman governor-general, Quentin Bryce. The meeting comes after Prime Minister Julia Gillard caused a stir in Australia on Wednesday for failing to curtsey when welcoming the monarch. The Welsh-born Gillard, who favours Australia becoming a republic, shook hands with the Queen instead, a permissible protocol but one that sparked controversy on television, radio and social media. The royal couple are spending most of their 10-day trip in Canberra before leaving for Perth, where the monarch will open the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting on October 28.

Trials and troubles left at door of Tsang's Legco lunch

His soon to end tenure as chief executive may have been marked by stormy sessions in the Legislative Council after his last policy address last week, and punctuated by taunts and the odd physical threat from lawmakers, but today all that will be forgotten when Legco president Tsang Yok-sing hosts a special lunch for Donald Tsang Yam-kuen in the new Legislative Council complex. Members of the Executive Council, senior officials and the city's lawmakers are expected to attend the event - the first special function in the dining hall.

Myanmar-China discuss halting of dam

Myanmar's vice-president, Tin Aung Myint Oo, will arrive in China today for a five-day visit and, as far as Beijing is concerned, he has some explaining to do after the nixing of a massive US$3.6 billion Chinese-backed hydropower project on the Irrawaddy River. Local people had strongly opposed the venture's impact on the river, which would have provided electricity needs for mainly China. It was suspended on September 30 until 2015. The vice-president will attend the opening of a China-Asean Exposition and is expected to 'meet Chinese leaders ... to explain the shelving of the Myitsone mega dam', according to Chinese officials.

Women's status gets airing in Beijing

Song Xiuyan, deputy chairman of the All China Women Federation, will hold a press conference in Beijing on a survey about the status of women in the country. Although the Communist Party boasts its achievements of giving women equal social status after it took power in 1949, women are still in a minority among in senior government posts in China. And it appears a global trend, as the UN says women hold 11.7 per cent of the seats in the world's parliaments.