Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ...
Democrats take Legco ban to High Court
The High Court hears arguments by League of Social Democrats lawmaker 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung and member Anson Wong Hin-wai (left) in a judicial review of a law that bars anyone with a pending prison sentence from being nominated as a candidate or elected to the Legislative Council. Leung was sentenced in March to two months' jail for disrupting a forum last year on a proposal to scrap Legco by-elections. Wong was sentenced to two weeks for disrupting a minister's speech last year in protest against an MTR fare rise. The 14-day nomination period for the election will close in July or August.
Watchdog reports on European corruption
In addition to the stupidity and negligence of its fiscal leadership, Europe also has a corruption problem, according to Transparency International. 'One year ago the European Commission unveiled its anti-corruption policy, but that hasn't stopped corruption scandals from erupting across Europe,' the Berlin-based anti-corruption watchdog notes. 'Past leaders are on trial in France and Italy, have resigned in Germany and governments have fallen in Latvia, Slovakia and Romania.' It says its report on the issue, to be published today, will cover more than 300 national institutions, including political parties, parliaments, judiciaries and private sector players.
WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning faces hearing
Bradley Manning (left), the US Army private accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the WikiLeaks whistle-blowing website, appears at a preliminary hearing in his court martial at Fort Meade, a military base in Maryland. Manning, who was an intelligence analyst in Baghdad, has been in custody since he was charged in May 2010. His treatment at the US Marine Corps' Quantico base, where he was held in virtual solitary confinement for 23 hours a day in a single-bed cell, caused support for him to swell.