Talking points
Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
China Guardian Auctions, a mainland auction house specialising in Chinese artwork, will hold a two-day Spring Auction Sale Series of ceramics, painting and calligraphy including Hong Kong ink paintings at the Island Shangri-La in Central. Highlights include ink paintings by modern masters Wu Hufan, Zhang Daqian, Ren Yi and Huang Zhou, with some works expected to fetch up to HK$22 million. Work by Hong Kong artists including Liu Kuo-sung, Liu Shou-kwan, Kan Tai-keung, Luis Chan and Wucius Wong will be sold.
Today is the Ching Ming (tomb sweeping) festival and the Conservancy Association of Hong Kong will take the opportunity to give away free flowers to grave sweepers to raise public awareness of hill fire prevention. The association will be handing out blooms at the bus terminus in the Landmark North, Sheung Shui MTR. In the afternoon the Buddha's Light International Association of Hong Kong will hold a Ching Ming Buddhist service at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom.
In Male, former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed will appear in court on abuse-of-power charges. Nasheed is accused of illegally detaining the chief judge of the country's criminal court for releasing a politician charged for anti-government activities during his presidency. If convicted, Nasheed risks disqualification from a presidential poll due on September 7.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets members of a commission who will prepare a report on the peace process with Kurdish militants. The Kurdistan Workers' Party declared a ceasefire with Turkey last month in response to an order from its jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan, after months of talks with Ankara, to halt a conflict which has killed more than 40,000. The so-called "wise people" commission will prepare a report within a month.
Egypt's President Mohammed Mursi is due to begin his first visit to Sudan, where he will meet President Omar al-Bashir. Mursi's spokesman said during the one-day visit the president would discuss ways of strengthening bilateral relations in various fields and expanding economic, trade and investment cooperation. The talks would also cover the participation of Egyptian companies in the development process in Sudan.
Many countries around the world celebrate the United Nations International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action. This day aims to raise awareness about landmines and progress toward their eradication.
