Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (
Tung told members of his Cabinet and other key officials on Monday that he had decided to resign and had discussed his departure with China's leaders, the South China Morning Post reported, citing one of the Cabinet members.
"He said he is resigning because he is tired and his health is not good," the paper quoted the Cabinet minister as saying, adding that Tung had not yet formally tendered his resignation.
Tung, who has so far made no official comment on his early resignation reported by Hong Kong and international media last week, said the time was right to step down because the economy was rebounding, the Post reported.
The embattled leader met senior aides in a steady stream of meetings throughout Monday, including his deputy Donald Tsang (
A Chinese-language newspaper, the Sing Pao Daily News, reported Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) will formally announce his acceptance of Tung's resignation on Saturday.
Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said Donald Tsang will take over Tung's duties as of Monday.
Opposition politicians, meanwhile, declared the delay in announcing Tung's resignation an embarrassment, saying it made Hong Kong a laughing stock.
"How can anyone take this seriously, it's just ridiculous," said lawmaker Emily Lau (
Lau said keeping Hong Kong in the dark over the future of its political leader was disrespectful.
It also undermined the autonomy granted Hong Kong by China when it took control of the city at the end of British colonial rule in 1997, she said.
"Beijing has definitely moved from the side of the stage to center stage," Lau said. "This is not good for our future autonomy."
In Beijing on Monday, State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan (
Tang, the most senior Chinese official yet to comment on Tung's reported resignation, said any successor would only complete the two years left in Tung's term and not the full five years of a chief executive's term.
The two-year arrangement is likely to spark concern among analysts and democrats who say it would suggest China intends tightening its control over the territory.
Tung's resignation had been mooted since July 2003 when more than 500,000 people marched in protest at an unpopular anti-subversion law proposed by China. The rally sparked a political crisis from which he never recovered.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image