Talking points

Pakistan's new prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, heads to China on his first foreign tour, with one eye on high-impact Chinese-backed infrastructure projects as an answer to his country's economic malaise and energy crisis. During his five-day visit, Sharif is due to meet President Xi Jinping , Premier Li Keqiang , and financial and corporate leaders. He will also visit major industrial centres and special economic zones.

German Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel hosts EU talks on reducing sky-high youth unemployment less than three months before Germany goes to the polls. Merkel has come under fire for championing public spending cuts and thereby helping create a "lost generation". Days after EU leaders approved up to €8 billion (HK$81 billion) for initiatives to help get the region's 5.6 million jobless under 25-year-olds into work, Merkel will gather leaders and labour ministers in Berlin to come up with concrete plans.
 

A Tokyo court hands down its ruling on three former executives at Olympus who pleaded guilty to a cover-up of massive investment losses at the Japanese camera and medical-equipment maker. The scandal was revealed in 2011, when the company's top executive, Michael Woolford, turned whistle-blower, only to be fired for exposing the US$1.7 billion accounting fraud.