Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
Obama focuses on Asia for Japanese PM's visit
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (left) meets President Barack Obama at the White House, starting two weeks of intense US diplomacy on Asia. The push comes as the US seeks to rekindle friendly ties with Japan and India while managing an often fractious relationship with China. Washington has repeatedly said it has no strategy to contain China, but it has been shoring up relations with neighbouring countries, many of which are nervous about Beijing's rise. Obama's talks with Noda will be followed by a gala dinner thrown by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will fly out immediately afterwards for major talks in Beijing and then head to Bangladesh and India.
Pan-democrats raise issues with C.Y. Leung
Representatives of pan-democrats are expected to meet chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying and to raise with him enactment of the national security law, restructuring of the cabinet and the pace of democratisation. Another topic may be whether Leung will lead a government committee to fight poverty. Failed chief executive candidate Henry Tang Ying-yen has been criticised for poor performance when head of the Commission on Poverty.
PLA ships throw open the gangplanks
Two People's Liberation Army warships open to the public for three days. Some 6,000 tickets have been distributed to visit the destroyer Haikou and the frigate Yuncheng, berthed at the PLA barracks on Stonecutter's Island. The ships are part of a Chinese task force returning home from its escort mission in the Gulf of Aden. The ships were invited to help mark the 15th anniversary of the handover.