Hong Kong's government agrees to talks with pro-democracy student protesters and said they could start within days.
The government assured the students that the meetings would be open to the public, assured undersecretary for constitutional and mainland affairs Lau Kong-wa.
"We hope to have a friendly mutually acceptable dialogue," Lau said, noting "We made good progress tonight" at preparatory meetings.
"We agreed on three principles: the first that there will be more than one meeting; the second for the government and the students to be on equal footing; and the third that, if there is consensus, the government would execute the decisions."