The Asian reporter., May 21, 2018, Page Page 2, Image 2

Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
May 21, 2018
Snoopy joining Sony? Music unit buying stake in Peanuts
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics maker Sony Corp.’s music unit is buying
a stake in Peanuts Holdings, the company behind Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
Sony Music Entertainment said it signed a deal with DHX Media, based in Nova
Scotia, Canada, to acquire 49 percent of the 80 percent stake DHX holds in
Peanuts. Under the deal, Sony Music will own 39 percent and DHX 41 percent.
Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, will continue to own 20 percent of
Peanuts. The parties hope to complete the acquisition on or about June 30,
according to Tokyo-based Sony. Sony said it sees Peanuts as “world class,” and
hopes to use its character business expertise to strengthen the brand. Sony has
under its wing a range of characters, including those from its PlayStation video
games.
Gap apologizes for China map t-shirt that omitted Taiwan
HONG KONG (AP) — U.S. clothing retailer Gap has apologized for selling
t-shirts with a map of China that didn’t include self-ruled Taiwan, the latest
example of corporate kowtowing to Beijing. “Upon the realization that one of our
t-shirts sold in some overseas markets mistakenly failed to reflect the correct
map of China, we urgently launched an internal investigation across the group
and have decided to immediately pull back this t-shirt from all the concerned
global markets,” the company said in a statement, adding that the shirts had
already been pulled from Chinese shelves and destroyed. The company took
action after photos began circulating on Chinese social media of a t-shirt
showing a map that didn’t include Taiwan, a self-ruled island that Beijing
regards as Chinese territory. The map also appeared to leave out southern Tibet
and the disputed South China Sea, the state-owned Global Times said, adding
that it drew hundreds of complaints on China’s Weibo microblogging platform.
The photos were taken at a Gap shop in Canada’s Niagara region, Global Times
said. The shirt could not be found on Gap websites and it wasn’t clear whether it
was still being sold in shops in some countries.
Americans freed one hour before flight out of Pyongyang
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — After months of anticipation and drama,
North Korea’s release of three American detainees played out amid high-stakes
diplomacy and was only sealed about an hour before the top U.S. diplomat was
wheels-up from Pyongyang. The three men — Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak Song,
and Tony Kim — walked on their own from a van and onto the plane of U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the end of his daylong visit to North Korea.
After meeting leader Kim Jong Un, Pompeo had given a fingers-crossed sign
when asked if there was good news. A North Korean emissary came to the hotel
shortly after to say the detainees were being freed. The three men finally left
custody at 7:45pm local time, and by 8:42pm they were flying home.
Indonesia’s most active volcano erupts, spews ash into sky
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s most active volcano, Mount Merapi,
erupted May 11, spewing sand and pyroclastic material and sending an ash
column as high as 18,045 feet into the sky. The sudden eruption was
accompanied by a rumbling sound with medium to strong pressure, Disaster
Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. People living within
3.1 miles of the crater evacuated to barracks set up for the displaced or left for
other safe places. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Nugroho said
Adi Sucipto airport in Yogyakarta was closed for about one hour due to the
spread of volcanic ash. The eruption, however, did not raise the alert status of
Merapi, which was at a normal level with no eruption expected in the
foreseeable future. The 9,737-foot mountain between Yogyakarta and Central
Java provinces is the most active of 500 Indonesian volcanoes. Its last major
eruption in 2010 killed 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.
Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 250 million people, is prone to
earthquakes and volcanic activity because it sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire,”
a horseshoe-shaped series of fault lines.
Chinese tourists spark anger in Vietnam over map on shirts
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — A group of Chinese tourists wearing t-shirts
depicting the country’s territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea has
sparked anger in Vietnam. The tourists arrived at the Cam Ranh international
airport and after going through immigration, took off their coats to reveal
t-shirts featuring the so-called “nine-dash line” demarcating Beijing’s claims to
nearly the entire South China Sea. Vietnam is one of the rival claimants.
State-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported that Vietnamese authorities confiscated
the shirts. Some readers commenting on the newspaper’s website called for the
deportation of the Chinese tourists. “Deport them immediately, put them on the
blacklist, and ban them from entering in the future,” reader Huynh Tan Dat
wrote. More than 4 million Chinese arrived in Vietnam last year, accounting for
about 30 percent of total foreign arrivals in the Southeast Asian country. It was
not the first time the Vietnamese were enraged over the controversial maps. In
2016, a border agent at the Ho Chi Minh City airport defaced a Chinese passport
with the words “f— you” scribbled twice over maps of the contested South China
Sea. China issued new passports starting in 2012 with revised maps to include
the “nine-dash line.” Some Vietnamese border agents have begun to issue
separate visas rather than stamp Chinese passports to demonstrate that they do
not recognize the new map. China and Vietnam have had long-running
territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Other claimants include the
Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan.
LOFTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS. Nepalese veteran Sherpa guide Kami Rita is seen in a photograph that shows the
climber on Mount Everest during a past climb of the mountain. The photo is on display at his rented apartment in Kath-
mandu, Nepal. Kami Rita reached the summit the morning of May 16, 2018 with a team of foreign climbers and a fellow
Sherpa guide and was already safely descending to a lower camp by the afternoon, according to Gyanendra Shrestha, a
government official stationed at base camp. “My goal is to reach the summit of Everest at least 25 times,” Rita told The
Associated Press before his latest climb, which was his 22nd summit. (AP Photo/Niranjan Shrestha, File)
Two Sherpa guides scale
Everest, set new records
By Binaj Gurubacharya
The Associated Press
ATHMANDU, Nepal — A veteran
Sherpa guide scaled Mount Everest
May 16 for the 22nd time, setting a
record for the most climbs of the world’s
highest mountain, while a female Sherpa
made it to the summit for the ninth time,
shattering her own record for the most climbs
by a woman.
Kami Rita reached the summit the morning
of May 16 with a team of foreign climbers and a
fellow Sherpa guide and was already safely
descending to a lower camp by the afternoon,
said Gyanendra Shrestha, a government
official stationed at base camp.
The 48-year-old was among three men — all
Nepalese Sherpa guides — who had tied the
previous record of 21 successful ascents of the
29,035-foot peak.
Before leaving for the mountain in April,
Kami Rita told The Associated Press that he
wanted to scale Everest at least 25 times.
Mountaineering has been his family
tradition. His father was among the first
professional guides after Nepal opened to
foreign trekkers and mountaineers in 1950.
His brother has scaled Everest 17 times. Most
of his male relatives have reached the top at
least once.
Kami Rita first scaled Everest at age 24, and
has made the trip almost every year since. He
has also climbed many of the region’s other
high peaks, including K-2, Cho-Oyu, Manaslu,
and Lhotse. In the autumn, he guides clients to
smaller peaks in Nepal.
K
Both of the other previous record holders are
retired from climbing.
Apa, a 58-year-old guide who uses only one
name, retired in 2011 and moved to Utah.
Phurba Tashi, 47, retired from high-altitude
climbing in 2013 but still works at Everest’s
Base Camp helping organize expeditions.
From the Chinese side of the mountain,
Lhakpa Sherpa, 44, reached the summit for a
record ninth time, shattering the record for
women she set last year.
Rajeev Shrestha of the Seven Summit
Adventure agency in Kathmandu said he
received a message from base camp about the
successful climb. Lhakpa Sherpa lives most of
the year in the U.S. state of Connecticut and
has a son and two daughters.
Shrestha said a total of 94 climbers reached
the summit that day because of good weather
conditions.
The route to the summit was opened up by a
team of Sherpa guides prior to the trips.
Meanwhile, a 69-year-old double amputee
climber from China flew on a helicopter from
Everest to Kathmandu, two days after
climbing the mountain.
Xia Boyu is not the first double-amputee to
reach Everest’s peak, but he is the oldest. He
lost his legs after a failed Everest attempt in
1975.
His son, Xia Dengping, who was with him at
the airport, told reporters his father is a hero.
He was taken to a hospital for a checkup but
appeared to be in good condition.
More than 340 foreign climbers along with
their local guides are attempting to climb
Everest this month.
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Asian Currency
Exchange Rates
Units per U.S. dollar as of 5/18
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83.625
4042.9
6.38
2.0797
7.8499
68.01
14156
42025
110.78
8331.6
3.9722
108.82
115.78
3.2626
52.312
62.356
3.7502
1.3434
1077.6
157.75
29.91
32.195
22597