Talking points
Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
Judge Thokozile Masipa hands down her judgment in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius over the killing of his girlfriend. The prosecution alleged that the Paralympian deliberately shot Reeva Steenkamp through a toilet door in his home on Valentine's Day last year. The defence argued that the runner mistook Steenkamp for an intruder. If convicted, Pistorius could face a minimum of 25 years in prison. The trial in Pretoria has gripped the world given the runner's fame.
Sombre ceremonies are held in New York and Washington to mark the 13th anniversary of the 2001 al-Qaeda terror attacks on the two cities. Terrorists flew two planes into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre and another into the Pentagon in the US capital. A fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers tried to overcome the hijackers. The attacks killed almost 3,000 people and caused damage worth at least US$10 billion.
A meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) takes place in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. The organisation, founded in 2001, comprises China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Among the leaders taking part are President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Participants will decide whether to admit India and Pakistan as regular members.
Catalonia celebrates its national day with a large pro-independence demonstration. The region's national day is held on the day in 1714 that Spanish soldiers under King Philip V defeated Catalan troops at the end of a 14-month siege of Barcelona. The defeat ended Catalonia's historical rights and institutions. Many Catalans will be looking to Scotland's independence referendum next week for inspiration in their own campaign for separation from Spain.
Electricity provider CLP Power launches a green public education project among students. The accreditation programme is aimed at motivating primary schools and their pupils to develop green living habits. The event will take place at a primary school in Tseung Kwan O. Among those attending are Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing and CLP Power managing director Paul Poon Wai-yin.
The latest Guinness World Records book is released today - the 60th anniversary of first publication. The 2015 edition contains the latest records, as well as those which still stand. The publisher says the total print run weighs as much as a Space Shuttle at launch and would make a single pile of books equivalent to six Mount Everests.
