Talking points

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

Historic police station reborn as boutique hotel

Tai O's historic 110-year-old police station is reborn after a year-long restoration project, an opening ceremony ushering in its new life as a boutique hotel, the Tai O Heritage Hotel. The Antiquities Advisory Board classified the old police station (pictured before restoration) as a grade two historic building in 2010. The restoration took place under the Development Bureau's 'Revitalising historic buildings through partnership' scheme. The building is now managed by the Hong Kong Heritage Conservation Foundation, a non-profit social enterprise.

Beijing forums tackle issues at home and abroad

World Bank president Robert Zoellick addresses a high-level conference in Beijing to launch the report 'China 2030: Building a modern, harmonious and creative high-income society'. The report, the result of a joint study by the World Bank and the Development Research Centre of the State Council, examines China's strategic choices towards 2030 and makes proposals on the future structure of its growth model. Conference participants include central and local government officials, noted Chinese and international economists, and ministers of some middle-income countries, including India, Russia and South Africa. Also in the capital, the head of the economic and financial section of the European Union delegation to China, Annika Melander, addresses a forum organised by the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges, a top government think tank, on the development of the European debt crisis. The commerce ministry said last week a European investigation into imports of Chinese-made specialised steel products 'would undermine' efforts to combat the euro-zone debt crisis. A top State Council think tank also cautioned that the debt crisis would slow China's export growth.

Ever-enduring example of a PLA role model

The Communist Party's propaganda department hosts a media briefing on 'practising the spirit of Comrade Lei Feng '. Lei (left), a soldier in the People's Liberation Army who died in 1962, was portrayed by Chairman Mao Zedong as a role model symbolising selflessness, modesty and dedication. Party propaganda continues to hold him up as an icon of altruism, encouraging the nation's youth in particular to follow Lei's example.

S Korea, US train together despite North's threat

Annual South Korean-US military drills get under way despite North Korean leader Kim Jong-un warning that North Korea will launch a powerful retaliatory strike against the South if provoked. South Korean and American officials have said the 12-day, largely computer-simulated war games are defensive. The North has regularly voiced such rhetoric against joint South Korean-US military training exercises.

Party vote brings Gillard-Rudd battle to climax

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the man she deposed in 2010, Kevin Rudd, face off in a party ballot for the leadership after months of tension and damaging speculation. Gillard said she was confident of surviving. Rudd dramatically quit as foreign minister last week to launch his bid for the top job. Rudd - widely expected to lose, with just 30 to 35 votes in the 103-member caucus - said he had the backing of some top cabinet ministers and urged colleagues to remember his achievements.