bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Hong Kong elects its NPC delegates
The 36-strong delegation that will represent Hong Kong in China's parliament for the next five years is elected. Some 52 candidates, including former security chief Ambrose Lee Siu-kwong and incumbents Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai and Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun, will attempt to sway the votes of some 1,620 electors to serve as delegates to the National People's Congress.
 
UBS set to agree rate-fixing punishment
Swiss banking giant UBS is expected to confirm that it will pay about US$1.5 billion to settle charges that some traders at a Japanese unit rigged Libor interest rates. While it is lower than the settlement recently announced by HSBC, it would be the latest in a series of blows to UBS, which suffered a US$2.3 billion loss through a rogue trader in London last year, and a US$780 million fine after a US tax investigation in 2009.
 
Balotelli challenges City fine in tribunal
Controversial soccer ace Mario Balotelli finds himself in the headlines again as he takes English Premier League champions Manchester City to a tribunal in an attempt to overturn a fine for poor discipline. The Italian striker had £340,000 (HK$4,265,000) deducted from his salary - two weeks' wages - after missing 11 games last season because of suspensions.
 
Talks to apply pressure on intellectual property
Vice-Premier and newly elected Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Qishan will join the Sino-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade in Washington. Wang, who will spend two days in the US capital, will co-chair the 23rd session of the joint commission with US Deputy Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank and trade representative Ron Kirk. The talks are expected to see the US press for stronger intellectual property protection in China, the largest supplier of US goods imports.
 
South Korea picks new president
South Korea goes to the polls in a too-close-to-call presidential election. Ruling conservative party candidate Park Geun-Hye is looking to make history as the first female president of a still male-dominated nation. Standing between Park and the presidential Blue House is the liberal Moon Jae-In from the main opposition party, a former human rights lawyer.
 
Strauss-Kahn case back in court
A Paris court delivers a verdict on the former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of participating in a suspected prostitution ring that operated out of the luxury Carlton Hotel in the French town of Lille. The court is due to decide whether the investigation should be continued or, as Strauss-Kahn has argued, dropped.


Beijing official’s speech signals Hong Kong has never been ‘independent’, experts say

Investors look past Beijing’s debt clean-up plan as minister pledges more proactive policy

China unveils debt-relief plan, keeps further stimulus salvo in reserve arsenal

China’s lawmakers focus on local debt, Xi heads to Peru for Apec summit and more

Talking points

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