CL The claim that Hong Kong funds reached an Iranian terror network will travel through diplomatic channels long before it appears in any local briefing room. For a city that has spent years making the case that its financial infrastructure remains clean and credible, the silence from official quarters this morning is its own kind of answer. The story is out; the response is still being decided.-- CL

MB Taiwan announces it can strike China's coastal bases and cuts its defense budget in the same week, a coherent strategy only if someone else is expected to do the paying. That someone arrived in Beijing this morning. The meeting will be described as a showdown, which is the word used when neither side wants to say negotiation.-- MB