Lai See
KIDNAPPED
When PCCW asked one of our reporters to a 'casual' lunch at Cyberport the other day, there was little indication that the rendezvous would turn into an abduction.
Not only did Robert Lee, property head of PCCW, preside over the lunch, he first took the reporter on a 90-minute tour of the already well-known Bel-Air on the Peak residence to work up an appetite.
Along the way, Mr Lee enthused about the company's new property arm Dong Fang Gas Holdings - whose shares come out today - and listed 'French interior design' and 'residents' luxurious lifestyle' among reasons for Dong Fang's success.
When PCCW's PR offered our reporter - by this time exhausted after three consecutive hours of marketing - a post-lunch coffee at the Le Meridien hotel followed by yet another tour, he thought it best to part ways.
FROTHING AT THE MOUTH
Anheuser-Busch, the world's largest brewer now engaged in a tug-of-war with SABMiller over Harbin Brewery Group, certainly has a knack of putting a lid on frothy talk.
Last month, Anheuser-Busch came down hard on dieting guru Arthur Agatston's best-selling South Beach Diet, which singles out beer as 'the king of all sugars' that guarantees drinkers a 'storage of fat around the midsection'. The reason for this, says Dr Agatston, is beer's high maltose (a form of sugar) content.
However, tests commissioned by Anheuser-Busch show that beer does not contain maltose, and the company ran advertisements nationwide in the United States to correct Dr Agatston.
No doubt the brewer of 'the king of beers' hopes it can rebuff SABMiller with similar dispatch.
