Macau's former consumer chief appears to have committed suicide during an ongoing corruption probe, a government official said Wednesday.

China's state council on Monday appointed Fernando Chui as the next leader of the China-ruled gambling haven of Macau, with his five-year term to begin in December, state media reported.

Casino mogul Stanley Ho, the father of Macau's fabled gambling industry, has been hospitalized in Hong Kong, local newspapers reported Tuesday.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) called for Macau Monday to consider establishing a liaison office in Taiwan to help bolster bilateral relations and exchanges.

A low-key official was endorsed on Sunday by a small, pro-Beijing electoral college as Macau's next chief executive, with no changes expected in gaming policy in the Chinese-ruled gambling hub.

The upcoming election of Macau's new leader offers something of a rarity in this Chinese gambling city: a sure thing.

Fernando Chui, the sole candidate in Macau's chief executive election, said Saturday that he was not involved in a controversial government land deal involving his elder brother's company.

Two men surnamed Chen and Lau suspected to be involved in the Jilin tea house shooting in 2000 were repatriated and escorted back to Taiwan by the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) from Macau yesterday.

A Chinese businesswoman who has blown 6.8 million U.S. dollars in the gaming haven of Macau in two years, scooped a slot machine jackpot just as she was threatening to sue the casino, a report said Thursday.

Macau authorities have arrested a woman suspected of laundering money for her husband - reportedly a relative of the chief executive of the Chinese gambling enclave.