Talking points
Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
Thousands of protesters will take to the streets in Tokyo and elsewhere tomorrow to protest against government plans to restart reactors taken offline after the Fukushima nuclear tragedy. Groups in Taipei will also use the anniversary to press the Taiwanese government on nuclear power. The protests come ahead of the second anniversary on Monday of the Fukushima disaster.
China releases inflation and industrial output figures today, a day after publishing encouraging figures on exports. Consumer inflation may have accelerated to three per cent last month, according to the median analyst forecast collected. It was two per cent in January and 2.6 per cent for all of last year. The median forecast of 40 economists is for a 3.1 per cent rise in 2013.
A court in Cairo delivers its verdict today on the fate of 52 Al Masry soccer fans involved in a massacre in Port Said last year. Another 21 were sentenced to death for their roles in the wave of violence that left 74 people dead. Fans of the Cairo-based Al-Ahly club, many of them strong opponents of the regime of former strongman Hosni Mubarak, were crushed to death fleeing an attack by Al Masry supporters following a game in Port Said.
Voters in the Falkland Islands go to the polls tomorrow to decide if they want to remain a British overseas territory. The poll, which is expected to result in a big vote in favour of British rule, comes amid a background of increase sabre-rattling from Argentina, which claims sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war over the islands in 1982.
Some 50 universities from 11 countries set up shop at the Hong Kong Central Library in Causeway Bay for the European Higher Education Fair. The fair, which runs today and tomorrow from 1pm to 6pm, will see universities from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom attempt to attract local students. Hong Kong graduates who studied in Europe will be on hand to share their experiences.
Young fans of William Shakespeare will fill the spacious ArtisTree venue at Taikoo Place today and tomorrow for a free carnival called "Pop Up! Shakespeare". More than 100 volunteers as well as professional actors and theatre workers will host workshops, exhibitions and student theatre performances. Organised by Shakespeare 4 All, a performing arts education organisation, many of the workshops are full already.
