bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

sponsorType

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

All the news that fits; oversexed bears unmasked 
The global financial crisis claimed yet another victim in the hard-hit media industry yesterday with Britain's  Guardian newspaper announcing it would end 188 years in print by switching to a Twitter-only distribution format. 
The paper said all future content would be tailored to fit the format of Twitter's brief text messages, known as 'tweets,' which are limited to 140 characters each. At the same time, the newspaper would begin converting its formidable archive into brief article abstracts compatible with the popular instant text-messaging service. 
'[Celebrated Guardian editor] C.P. Scott would have warmly endorsed this,' a spokesman for the paper was quoted as saying. 
'His well-known observation 'Comment is free but facts are sacred' is only 36 characters long,' the spokesman said, in a tweet that was itself only 135 characters long, including spaces.
The Guardian's unlikely reinvention was not the only piece of circumspect reportage to appear in newspapers yesterday, which was of course April Fool's Day. 
The Taipei Times ran an expose on two 'pandas' donated by the mainland to the Taipei Zoo last year that were in fact revealed to be Wenzhou brown forest bears whose fur had been dyed black-and-white. 
The paper quoted the zoo's head of 'ursidae ex-procyonidae care' saying she became suspicious when the 'pandas' - Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - began to spend almost all of their waking hours having sex. Pandas are notorious for their low libidos, which make them difficult to breed in captivity.
'Let's just say Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan would tuan yuan at every chance,' the zoo official was quoted as saying - a reference to the combination of the panda's names, which means 'to reunite' in Mandarin Chinese.
Heir of mystery
Yesterday's appointment of a new top manager at Esprit Holdings sheds light on the continuing  saga of the shake-up at the fashion retailer.
John Gunn, an executive at rival Tommy Hilfiger in North America, has been hired as Esprit's president of the Americas and will start work next month. 
Mr Gunn is succeeding Jerome Griffith, who resigned on February 1, one of the three executive directors to leave the firm within nine months. 
The biggest departure was last week's resignation of Thomas Grote - the 'heir apparent' of  chairman and chief executive Heinz Krogner. John Poon Cho-ming quit as chief financial officer in July last year. 
News of Mr Grote's exit has seen shares in the blue chip tumble 17.2 per cent since last Thursday. 
 Esprit held a teleconference with analysts on Friday in an attempt to reassure jittery shareholders that all was well, but  Mr Krogner did not show up for the call, and the shares continued to slide on Monday. 
So the firm held another teleconference - this time with the chairman, who assured investors he would stay in his current role until 2010, adding that an unnamed new chief executive had already been selected. 
'Esprit is my baby, and I would not want anything bad to happen to it,' Mr Krogner said. 'I'll keep working for the group as long as I can crawl.' 
Mr Gunn's appointment appeared to be a step in the right direction, as the shares recovered slightly yesterday, closing  at HK$39.60. 
But now all eyes are watching for news of the identity of the mystery chief-executive-in-waiting. 
Crossing over
Yet another former senior civil servant has taken up a role in the private sector. Local conglomerate Chevalier International said yesterday it had appointed William Ko Chan-gock as a non-executive director on an annual salary of HK$100,000. 
Mr Ko is a 38-year veteran of public service who retired in 2007 after stints at the Water Supplies Department, Highways Department, Civil Engineering and Development Department and the Works Branch, including serving as director of water supplies. 
No doubt his experience and contacts cultivated as a public servant will translate into private gain for Chevalier, whose key businesses include construction and engineering.



Lai See