Word: premiers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Thailand's government came one step closer to owning part of English Premier League football team Liverpool last week, with an agreement to buy 30% of the club for $106 million now looking "more than 90%" likely, according to a Thai negotiator. Stalwarts may grumble about the incursion of foreigners (like Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, right), but the Liverpool deal would be just the latest indication of how valuable Asia has become to the finances of football...
...Phone Home Chinese cell-phone company Kejian paid $3.2 million to put its name on the jerseys of English Premier League club Everton through the 2003-04 season. Kejian doesn't sell products in Britain, but Chinese consumers love Everton's mainland-born midfielder Li Tie (below, left). For a New Year's Day game last year, 360 million Chinese watched Everton take on Manchester City, which boasts its own mainland star, defender Sun Jihai. Never before had so many people in one country watched a league soccer match...
...Neither was George W. Bush. In a move that shook the island, Bush, during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's first-ever visit to the White House in December, appeared to side with Beijing by publicly dressing down Chen, signaling that Taiwan's President should not move ahead with the referendum. "The comments and actions made by the leader of Taiwan indicate that he may be willing to make decisions unilaterally to change the status quo," said Bush-a position, he added, the U.S. "opposes." Then last month, the Bush Administration dropped the Washington-based chairwoman of the AIT, Therese Shaheen...
...Still, it's far from certain that China has the policy tools needed to avoid a crash. Premier Wen Jiabao recently likened his country to a speeding car trying to slow down without skidding. "We cannot slam on the brakes," he said. "We have to press the brakes gently." But the country's rickety financial system may not allow gentle pressure, because it has yet to undergo a full capitalist transformation-for example, some bank loans are issued because the government orders them, not because careful analysis indicates that the borrower is a good risk. So Beijing resorts to administrative...
...Outside soccer's World Cup-and even that isn't yet big news in North America or the Indian subcontinent-there are only two exceptions to the rule that sport isn't global. They are the National Basketball Association of the U.S. and the English Premier League. Both organizations recruit worldwide-the NBA now has players from 33 different nations on its roster, while on any given Saturday a 16-man Liverpool squad can include footballers of 10 nationalities. Both leagues provide exciting, all-action games of the kind that offend purists. And both have targeted Asia for growth. Last...