Talking points

Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...

Suu Kyi heads for Europe to deliver 1991 Nobel speech

Myanmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves for Europe, returning to the continent for the first time in 24 years. She will visit Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Britain and France after not daring to leave her country - even to see her sons or British husband before his death from cancer in 1999 - fearing the military junta would not let her return. In Oslo she will give the speech she was unable to deliver when awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She will also address both houses of Britain's parliament, an honour bestowed on few foreign dignitaries, and accept an honorary doctorate at Oxford.

Participants in the website name game revealed

The agency in charge of website addresses discloses the applicants for generic top-level domain names ranging from .web to .porn and beyond at a news conference in London. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (Icann) has received more than 1,900 applications for names that break the .com mould. Registration costs US$185,000 plus a US$25,000 annual fee. Icann has already raked in US$352 million in fees.

Nasa launches scope to hunt black holes, supernovas

Nasa launches its NuSTAR satellite, a telescope it says will bring black holes and supernovas into unprecedented focus, from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Researchers are betting on catching a supernova in the act of exploding because in a galaxy like the Milky Way, they typically go off once every 30 years.

Interviews begin for new undersecretaries

The office of chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying begins interviewing 39 applicants to be undersecretaries in his administration. The candidates were selected from more than 1,100 applications for positions as undersecretaries and political assistants. Staff first sifted through the 300 keen to serve as undersecretaries, including serving undersecretaries. A political assistants shortlist is being prepared from the remaining 800.

Courts due to give verdicts on football bosses, players

Four courts in Liaoning province are to hand down verdicts on former football bosses and national team players in the nation's biggest sports scandal. A Dandong court is to give its verdict on Nan Yong (left), former director of the Chinese Football Administration, who was charged with 17 counts of taking bribes worth 1.48 million yuan (HK$1.81 million). Nan's predecessor, Xie Yalong , accused of accepting 1.7 million yuan in bribes, will hear his verdict in Tieling .

Palm oil giant unfazed by uncertain market

Felda Global Ventures, Malaysia's biggest palm oil and rubber producer, is expected to price its initial public offering. Felda is braving a choppy market to raise 10.2 billion ringgit (HK$24.85 billion), making it the year's second biggest IPO after Facebook and defying the conditions that deterred Graff Diamond from listing in Hong Kong recently. Felda is expected to find plenty of support. It has signed up 12 cornerstone investors, including local pension funds, to take up 19.8 per cent of its enlarged share capital, Bloomberg says.