Our editors will be looking ahead today to these developing stories ... Regina Ip introduces New People's Party to Beijing New People's Party chairwoman Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee will meet the director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Wang Guangya , in Beijing, accompanied by deputy chairman Michael Tien Puk-sun and Dr Louis Shih Tai-cho. She will formally introduce her party to the top Beijing official for Hong Kong affairs. The meeting will be one of many in the five-day visit to the capital by a delegation of more than 20 party members, professionals and scholars. All eyes on Fed's assessment of US economy With global financial markets reeling, the US Federal Open Market Committee, the Federal Reserve's policy-setting panel, is set to discuss interest rates. They are expected to remain unchanged, but investors will be pouring over the accompanying statement for the central bank's assessment of the US economy and any hints of new measures to stimulate growth. Commemorations move from Hiroshima to Nagasaki Commemorations will be held to mark the 66th anniversary of the 1945 nuclear attack on Nagasaki, as Japan fights the nuclear disaster triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. About 50,000 people attended a memorial in Hiroshima on Saturday to mark its atomic bombing on August 6, 1945. The death toll by the end of the year was estimated at about 140,000 out of the city's population of 350,000. The US dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki on August 9. Japan surrendered six days later. Sha Tin auction tests state of property market The auction of a residential site near Lai Ping Road in Kau To, Sha Tin, will be the first test of the property market since global financial markets took a dive. Surveyors predict the attractiveness of the site will offset a requirement that at least 970 flats are built on it. They estimate a price of HK$7.24 billion to HK$9.27 billion, or HK$7,019 to HK$8,987 per buildable square foot. Disney to release quarterly profit figures The Walt Disney Company, the world's biggest theme park operator, whose assets include a park in Hong Kong and one under construction in Shanghai for 24.5 billion yuan (HK$29.6 billion), releases its quarterly profit figures. The Hong Kong park has struggled to gain market share from Ocean Park, posting HK$718 million in net losses last year, down from HK$1.3 billion in 2009. Ministry faces queries on shutdown of blood market The Ministry of Health will report on national public health initiatives. But the media may be more concerned about its explanation for the recent shutdown of the blood market and blood stations in Guizhou , which supplies up to 30 per cent of the nation's blood plasma. Focus on development for women and children The State Council will talk about its new 10-year development blueprint for women and children. The goal is to promote women's social status, ensuring equal opportunity in economic and social development, and to narrow the development gap between urban and rural children. The government concedes there is a long way to go in fighting gender discrimination.
