Screen legend Sir Sean Connery will not take part in the human-chain rally next week, Connery's public relations agent said yesterday.
"Sean Connery is not now nor was he ever planning a trip to Taiwan or Japan," Nancy Seltzer, head of California-based Nancy Seltzer and Associates, told the Taipei Times in an e-mailed statement.
Seltzer said that the James Bond star and Scottish independence activist was booked to appear at the Oscars the day after the human-chain rally took place and will be in the US prior to the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
"We have no idea where this rumor got started, it is a complete mystery," Seltzer said in the statement.
On Thursday a main organizer of the human-chain rally said that Connery was considering taking part in the event -- which will protest China's missile threat against Taiwan -- and would announce his decision at a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday.
Peter Wang (王獻極), deputy executive director of the Hand-in-Hand Rally, said that the star was approached by Presidential Office officials after meeting President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at Panama's centenary celebrations last November.
Seltzer's office, however, contradicted Wang, saying that while Chen and Connery did meet in Panama, at no time was the human-chain rally mentioned.
The office said that Connery was contacted after the Panama event by the Taiwan consulate, which extended an invitation from Chen to visit Taiwan as the president's guest. Connery's schedule could not permit a visit, said the office, which also represents singer Whitney Houston and Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman.
A member of the rally organizing team said that she was unaware that Connery was not coming to Taiwan.
"One thing for sure that we know, he hasn't made a decision to come here yet," Wang Ching-wen (王靖雯) said. "That's what we know and what everybody knows."
In response to Seltzer's comments that Connery will not come to Taiwan to attend the rally, Peter Wang said he was "surprised" by Connery's decision when first contacted by the Taipei Times by telephone earlier yesterday.
However, when asked by the reporter again later yesterday about Connery's visit to Taiwan, Wang said "everything is OK and runs smoothly so far."
additional reporting by Chang Yun-ping
An Emirates flight from Dubai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday afternoon, the first service of the airline since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday. Flight EK366 took off from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at 3:51am yesterday and landed at 4:02pm before taxiing to the airport’s D6 gate at Terminal 2 at 4:08pm, data from the airport and FlightAware, a global flight tracking site, showed. Of the 501 passengers on the flight, 275 were Taiwanese, including 96 group tour travelers, the data showed. Tourism Administration Deputy Director-General Huang He-ting (黃荷婷) greeted Taiwanese passengers at the airport and
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
STRAIT OF HORMUZ: In the case of a prolonged blockade by Iran, Taiwan would look to sources of LNG outside the Middle East, including Australia and the US Taiwan would not have to ration power due to a shortage of natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday, after reports that the Strait of Hormuz was closed amid the conflict in the Middle East. The government has secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies for this month and contingency measures are in place if the conflict extends into next month, Kung told lawmakers. Saying that 25 percent of Taiwan’s natural gas supplies are from Qatar, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) asked about the situation in light of the conflict. There would be “no problems” with
PLANE HIT: The Israeli military said it shot down an Iranian Air Force fighter over Tehran, while an Iranian warship sank off Sri Lanka, with no cause known The US and Israel yesterday hit Iran’s capital and other cities in multiple airstrikes on the fifth day of the war with Iran. Israel targeted the Iranian leadership and security forces, while the Islamic Republic responded with missile barrages and drone attacks on Israel, and across the region. Tehran residents woke to dawn blasts and Iranian state television showed the ruins of building in the center of the capital. The Shiite seminary city of Qom and multiple other cities were also targeted. With fighter jets roaring overhead, those still in Tehran looked anxiously to the skies. One man, who ran a clothing shop,
RSS