Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Issues 2012
Candidates 2012
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Editor's choice
Our top photos from the last 24 hours. Full Article
Images of February
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Marine sergeant faces discipline for Facebook critique of Obama
22 Mar 2012
Fed officials clash on view of economy
22 Mar 2012
Kroger joins rival grocers in rejecting "pink slime" beef
22 Mar 2012
Apple's new iPhone will use bigger 4.6-inch display: report
21 Mar 2012
Madonna vows to defy anti-gay law on Russian tour
22 Mar 2012
Discussed
195
Dozens arrested at Occupy’s 6-month anniversary rally
158
Republican budget plan seeks to play up tax reform
130
Bernanke says gold standard wouldn’t solve problems
Watched
Artworks preview in LA prior to sale
Thu, Mar 22 2012
Amateur video shows police assault on Toulouse suspect's home
Wed, Mar 21 2012
Rhino calf moves into public spotlight
Thu, Mar 22 2012
Hackers attack Hong Kong "civil referendum" ahead of poll
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Protests loom as Hong Kong braces for new leader
Wed, Mar 21 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Essential tax and accounting reading: Another Deloitte China resignation, Volcker backs rotation, Scholastic gets sales tax bill, and more
How to stop the Whac-a-Mole of insider trading
Related Topics
World »
HONG KONG |
Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:45am EDT
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hackers have disabled an independent Hong Kong "civil referendum" aimed at gauging how people might have voted if allowed in a scandal-laced, undemocratic leadership election on Sunday, the director of the initiative told reporters on Friday.
The Hong Kong chief executive will be chosen by a 1,200-strong election commission, stacked with Beijing loyalists, as public frustration grows over the two leading candidates amid a series of highly publicized scandals.
Hong Kong's seven million people have no say in their choice of leader. The territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the British pushing China to grant it democracy, despite offering no such luxury themselves during over 150 years of colonial rule.
The University of Hong Kong's "civil referendum" was launched to gauge how the people might have voted if given a choice.
It allowed people to vote by mobile phone or the Internet on the website (popvote.hk/) and operated normally when it opened on Thursday but then crashed given what Robert Chung, the director, called "high-level cyber attacks" that crippled servers.
"We do not quite understand the motive," Chung told reporters.
Chung's polls have in the past triggered the ire of mainland Chinese media outlets and officials. A December poll on the extent to which Hong Kong people identified themselves as Chinese citizens dropped to 17 percent, the lowest level in 12 years.
Chung was subsequently denounced by a mainland propaganda official in Hong Kong while mainland media accused Chung of fomenting unpatriotic sentiment and of having "evil" political aims.
Chung said around 14,000 responses had been received in the civil referendum. Despite the technical difficulties, he said he was hopeful of 100,000 eventual responses.
"We hope we can preserve this opportunity for people to vote," Chung added.
Textiles tycoon and former senior official Henry Tang was once widely considered Beijing's preferred candidate for the top job, but political sources and the media have suggested a shift in allegiance to his rival, Leung Chun-ying.
Tang has been tarnished by an illegal construction scandal and self-confessed marital infidelities, while Leung faces a conflict of interest probe connected to a construction project and accusations of running a dirty election campaign.
With China facing a critical leadership transition later in the year, scandals are an unwelcome distraction in the small but influential city whose moves towards full democracy have antagonized China's Communist leaders since 1997.
(Reporting by James Pomfret; Editing by Nick Macfie)
World
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.