Entertainment: Muppets on the block
PHOTO: AP
Kermit and Miss Piggy are set to wake up with a new boss in a few days, with the German owners of the Muppet Show reportedly close to a deal to sell all rights to the lovable figures to US based entrepreneur Haim Saban. EM.TV of Germany has been hunting for a buyer for months for the Hollywood-based unit. Werner Klatten, the EM.TV chief executive, said on Germany's Spiegel Online Web site Tuesday the negotiations were going "at full pace." The site said Saban was the other party. Earlier, the Financial Times Deutschland reported a bid of 65 million euros (US$62 million) cash. Direct confirmation was not available.
Logistics: DHL buys Cathay stake
DHL Worldwide Express Inc has agreed to purchase a 30 percent stake in Cathay Pacific Airways' cargo unit Air Hong Kong Ltd as part of a plan to build a shared regional freighter fleet, the companies announced yesterday. The deal is a step toward turning Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport into a regional cargo hub. DHL plans to build a new US$100 million express cargo terminal there. Together, DHL and Cathay Pacific will invest US$300 million in the Air Hong Kong joint venture, the companies told reporters.
Taiwan’s Lee Chia-hao (李佳豪) on Sunday won a silver medal at the All England Open Badminton Championships in Birmingham, England, a career best. Lee, 25, took silver in the final of the men’s singles against world No. 1 Shi Yuqi (石宇奇) of China, who won 21-17, 21-19 in a tough match that lasted 51 minutes. After the match, the Taiwanese player, who ranks No. 22 in the world, said it felt unreal to be challenging an opponent of Shi’s caliber. “I had to be in peak form, and constantly switch my rhythm and tactics in order to score points effectively,” he said. Lee got
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it has lodged a protest with Pretoria after the name of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa was changed to the “Taipei Commercial Office” on the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (DIRCO) Web site. In October last year, the South African government asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office, the nation’s de facto embassy, out of Pretoria. It later agreed to continue negotiating through official channels, but in January asked that the office be relocated by the end of this month. As of the middle of last month, DIRCO’s Web
RSS