Talking points

Almost 60,000 applicants are eagerly waiting to find out if their number has come up in the ballot for flats in the Housing Society's latest project. Some 988 flats will become available at Greenview Villa in Tsing Yi. Families earning no more than HK$40,000 and single people earning HK$25,000 or less were eligible to apply. The flats are priced at 30 per cent below the market rate.

More details will emerge of when a successor to Pope Benedict XVI will be elected as the pontiff formally ends his near eight-year spell in the Holy See. Traditionally, the conclave of cardinals, which chooses the new pope, does not start for at least two weeks after a pope's death. But, after announcing on February 10 his intention to resign today, Benedict made a last-minute change to the rules, allowing the conclave to start earlier on the assumption that the cardinals had been given sufficient notice of his departure and enough time to make their travel plans.