Talking points

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

Indonesian president visits Beijing and HK

Indonesian President Dr Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (left) visits Beijing for talks with leaders, including President Hu Jintao, before visiting Hong Kong over the weekend on his way to a nuclear security summit in South Korea. Among projects to be discussed in Beijing is the construction of a 29-kilometre bridge across the Sunda Strait, to link the islands of Sumatra and Java. Beijing is 'positive' on providing assistance for feasibility studies, according to China's state media. The Jakarta Post reports that Yudhoyono's wife, Ani, who has been in hospital for surgery, will be well enough to accompany her husband.

New yardstick for TVB's ratings

TVB and the Association of Accredited Advertising Agencies of Hong Kong announce details of their appointment of an international market research company to measure programme ratings from next year until 2017. The move follows a heated row between TVB and ATV over the accuracy of TVB's ratings. Under the present system a meter is connected to the TV sets of 650 sample households to record viewing habits, but ATV says those households tend to be habitual viewers of TVB.

Theatre stages anti-Islamists' meeting of minds

A play depicting a fictional encounter between Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik (left) and the Netherlands' anti-Islam leader Geert Wilders opens in Amsterdam. In it, the two meet by chance at Heathrow after the British screening of Wilders' anti-Islam film Fitna, which triggered outrage in the Muslim world. De Balie cultural centre says 'Behring Breivik asks Wilders the big question: how far are you willing to go?' Breivik, who killed 77 people in an Oslo bombing and island massacre last year, is likely to be held in an asylum, prosecutors say.

KMT's honorary chairman calls on President Hu

Wu Po-hsiung, the honorary chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), which was recently returned to power in Taiwan, meets President Hu Jintao in Beijing. The summit is the first since Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou was re-elected in January. It is the fifth for Wu since his first visit to the mainland in his previous capacity as KMT chairman in 2008.

Agricultural Bank to report profits surge

The Agricultural Bank, China's third-largest lender, is expected to report a fourth-quarter profit rise of 16.6 per cent to 28.84 billion yuan (HK$35.36 billion). Analysts say China's biggest banks are set to post record profits for a fifth year, but their 2011 results may still be marred by an increase in bad loans.

Myanmese president on regional tour

Myanmese President Thein Sein (left) visits Laos as part of a tour through Southeast Asia that includes stops in Vietnam and Cambodia. Myanmar has sought support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a grouping with about 600 million people, to press the US and Europe to lift sanctions. Myanmar will chair Asean for the first time in 2014 and has invited teams from the bloc to observe its by-elections on April 1.