Talking points

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

Donald Tsang revisits his worst fears

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, whose views on the euro-zone debt crisis struck a chord at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, returns to the subject in the second of three interviews with RTHK this week. Speaking at the Swiss ski resort last month, Tsang told world business leaders: 'I've never been as scared as I am now.' One of the world's most highly paid government leaders, Tsang has some experience of scary times during four decades in public service, including the 1997-98 East Asian financial crisis.

Awards go to world's best news photos

The World Press Photo Awards will be announced in Amsterdam. Now the world's most respected awards for news photography, they were first held in 1955 when photojournalists in the Netherlands decided to turn their national competition into an international one. The contest has since been held every year. In its first year, it attracted entries from 42 photographers from 11 countries, who submitted more than 300 photos. Today, it attracts 95,000 submissions from more than 5,000 participants in 125 countries.

Cloning pioneer discusses new opportunities

Professor Ian Wilmut, leader of the University of Edinburgh team that in 1996 cloned Dolly the sheep, the world's first cloned mammal, and a winner of the Shaw Prize for science in 2008, returns to Hong Kong for a seminar on 'Global opportunities in stem cells and regenerative medicine'. One opportunity may be in the realm of 'direct transformation cell technology', which could allow one adult cell to be changed into another directly, without having to grow through an embryonic stage the way stem cells do.

Slimming chain in shape for market debut

Perfect Shape, a Hong Kong-based slimming chain incorporated in the Cayman Islands, makes its trading debut. The company operates beauty centres for women in Hong Kong, Macau and on the mainland. Its draft prospectus says that since 2009 clients have lodged 101 complaints with the Hong Kong Consumer Council and 15 with its Macau counterpart.

Labour forum puts candidates on the spot

The three leading candidates to be Hong Kong's next chief executive attend a forum hosted by the Confederation of Trade Unions and the Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Labour Affairs. The trio are expected to outline their views on labour policies, but one of them, former Executive Council convenor Leung Chun-ying, can expect to be quizzed by the media about his alleged failure to declare a conflict of interest in a tender for a West Kowloon reclamation design competition - for which he was a jury member - in 2002.

Big pay day awaits Barclays banker

Barclays is expected to announce it made GBP6 billion (HK$73.8 billion) in full-year profits in 2011, along with a GBP1.5 billion bonus pool, which could lead to a GBP2.5 million bonus for chief executive Bob Diamond (left). This would take his total package to about GBP11 million, according to estimates in the British media. Bankers' pay has become a sensitive issue in Britain, with Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester last week deciding to waive his GBP1 million bonus after public outrage.