Talking points

The 10th annual Hong Kong Asia Film Festival opens today with the world premiere of Benny Chan's The White Storm, a drug trafficking drama starring Sean Lau, Louis Koo and Nick Cheung. The closing film, on November 19, will be Korean director Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer, a science fiction action thriller starring Tilda Swinton and Chris Evans. Other highlights include Tsai Ming Liang's Stray Dogs, winner of the Special Jury Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival; and three classics from Satyajit Ray - The Lonely Wife, The Coward and The Holy Man.

Britain will release its third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) figures, with expectations of modest growth pointing to an economic recovery taking hold in the country. But some economists worry that a new housing bubble is being formed, especially after London home prices surged by 10 per cent in October alone, driven by demand from overseas investors. The Bank of England has said it won't consider raising interest rates until unemployment falls.