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PROD

Reform on the menu at C.Y. Leung lunch
Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying holds a lunch for academics and political figures - including government critics and moderate members of the pan-democratic camp. The meeting is being painted as an attempt to break the deadlock over political reform as the pressure mounts on Leung to come up with a suitable formula to hold the 2017 chief executive election by universal suffrage.
 
Guangzhou introduces 72-hour transit visa
Guangzhou welcomes its first visitors under its new 72-hour transit-visa-on-arrival scheme. Eligible travellers from 45 countries arriving at Guangzhou's Baiyun International Airport will be allowed to stay for three days, provided that they remain in Guangdong province. Guangzhou is the third mainland city to introduce such a scheme after Beijing and Shanghai.
 
PLA celebrates Army Day
The People's Liberation Army celebrates its 86th anniversary on the nation's Army Day. Military commands across the nation will put on parades and cultural performances to celebrate the annual holiday. The 2.3-million-strong army has been under the spotlight as President Xi Jinping looks to clean up graft and impropriety across the nation.
 
Hutchison announces interim results
Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa group releases interim results, with analysts closely watching for any further hints on the conglomerate's plans for its ParknShop supermarket unit. Reports in recent weeks have suggested that Li is looking to sell ParknShop for US$2 billion in order to step up his investment in utilities in Europe or the lucrative mainland beauty industry.
 
Spanish PM speaks on corruption scandal
Troubled Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appears before parliament to speak about the ailing nation's economic situation and the corruption scandal engulfing his party. Rajoy's ruling Popular Party has been implicated for receiving illegal payments and has seen its poll ratings slip to the extent it is now level with the opposition Socialists.
 
Cleveland kidnapper gets 1,000-year sentence
An American man will have his 1,000-year prison sentence for kidnapping and raping three women whom he held in his Cleveland home for more than a decade confirmed. Bus driver Ariel Castro agreed to the jail term in a plea bargain that avoided the possibility of a death sentence and meant the woman he abused, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight and Amanda Berry, would not have to testify in court.


Talking points

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