Talking points
Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
It was not so long ago that Bashar al-Assad's enemies thought he was finished, as rebels stormed into the Syrian capital Damascus. Today, as the country goes to the polls, the strongman will be returned as president. Buoyed by a sequence of victories over the past year, won in large part through Iran and Hezbollah, its Lebanese paramilitary proxy, Assad will be elected for a third seven-year term, symbolically contested by selected opponents playing mere walk-on roles.
US President Barack Obama and other world leaders will today attend ceremonies in Poland marking 25 years since elections that heralded the demise of communism. While in Warsaw, Obama will meet Ukrainian president-elect Petro Poroshenko as part of a European visit the White House says is aimed at reassuring allies that are nervous about Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Intel president Renée James will deliver the keynote speech at the opening of Computex, one of the world's largest information and computer technology expos, in Taipei today. Leading Taiwanese PC-maker Acer is set to unveil its first wearable device at Computex. Liquid Leap, a 2.54cm touch screen smartband with fitness tracking, phone and text notification and music control, will be sold together with the Liquid Jade smartphone in selected markets later this year, Acer said.
City University of Hong Kong is hosting a symposium and photographic exhibition collectively titled "25 Years after Tiananmen" on the eve of the anniversary of the bloody crackdown. Speakers include Professor Joseph Cheng, Dr Marko Skoric and Jeff Widener, the American photographer who took the iconic "tank man" picture during the 1989 uprising. The exhibition, which runs until Friday, features a portfolio of 25 pictures by Widener.
With the world's largest exhibition of decorated elephant statues set to be unveiled at various Hong Kong venues in August, organisers of Elephant Parade will today announce a collaboration with action star Donnie Yen. Donnie and wife Cecilia Wang will paint an elephant sculpture in support of NGO Heep Hong Society, with the aim of "painting a brighter future" for the Asian elephant and supporting special-needs children.
Retired Indian cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar will take a training session for youngsters in Singapore. Batting great Tendulkar, 41, will conduct a "master class" with more than 20 aspiring stars at the Singapore Cricket Club. Tendulkar retired as the only batsman to score 100 international centuries in one-day cricket and test matches.
