Applications open for cross-border driving

Car owners may apply to the Transport Department from today for permits to drive across the Shenzhen border. Only 50 permits will be issued to private car owners each day under the first phase of the cross-border driving scheme. Residents who own cars with a capacity of not more than five seats may apply for a permit valid for up to seven days' driving on the mainland.

Consultation on columbariums closes

The government's public consultation on a licensing scheme for private columbariums ends today. In December, the government proposed a system for licensing private columbariums - places where funeral urns are stored - under which all operators of private urn facilities will be required to obtain a five-year, renewable permit from a statutory licensing board to be established under the Private Columbaria Ordinance.

Birthplace of the Titanic opens visitor centre

The ' million (HK$1.2 billion) Titanic Belfast interactive visitor centre, in the Northern Irish city where the ship was built, opens tomorrow, two weeks before the centenary of the liner's sinking. The centre, built with the help of government funding, promises visitors 'an amazing story of Belfast in the 1900s' and a chance to help 'solve some of the many mysteries surrounding that fateful night' on April 15, 1912, when more than 1,500 people died. The centenary is also being marked by a 3D version of Titanic, which opened this week in London, 15 years after the original by director James Cameron (left at the London premiere with his wife Suzy Amis).

Estate agents offered a guide on ethics

The Estate Agents Authority makes public a practical guide for estate agents jointly published with the Independent Commission Against Corruption. The guide is a best-practice checklist designed for the real estate industry. The authority's chief executive, Rosanna Ure, will attend the ceremony.

Clinton on a mission to pressure Assad

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sets out on a tour to raise pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to end his deadly crackdown on opposition. In the second such push in a month, Clinton travels to Riyadh for talks today and tomorrow with Saudi and other Gulf Arab leaders before joining broader meetings on Sunday with Arab, Turkish and Western officials in Istanbul. In Riyadh she will meet Saudi King Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal as well as ministers of Saudi Arabia's five Gulf Arab neighbours - Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman.