■Vivendi
Bronfman may sell home
Vivendi Universal SA Vice-Chairman Edgar Bronfman Jr. put his 4,600m2 New York townhouse up for sale for US$40 million, the Globe and Mail reported, citing a real-estate broker. The Upper East Side dwelling is five stories high and once contained nine apartments, according to a New York Times profile on the home, the Globe said. Bronfman bought the building for US$4.4 million in 1994 and spent five years rebuilding it into a single-family home, with a two-story atrium and the top two floors of bedrooms concealed by a secret passage. Other homeowners on the block off Fifth Avenue include Donatella Versace, Ivana Trump and Sony Music Group Chief Executive Tommy Mottola, the Globe said.
■ Telecoms
C&W to decides to cut jobs
Cable & Wireless Plc will announce a charge of as much as ?1 billion (US$1.6 billion) when it announces its first-half earnings on Wednesday, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without citing anyone. The world's biggest manager of Web sites for businesses is also expected to say it will cut as many as 3,000 jobs, the newspaper said. The charge is linked to its unprofitable international business, C&W Global, the Sunday Telegraph said. The loss will cut the company's ?2.2 billion cash pile almost in half, the newspaper reported. A large proportion of the loss is thought to come from the termination of leasing agreements with other telecommunication companies as well as property-related costs, the paper said.
■ Sotheby's
Former CEO in house arrest
Sotheby's Holdings Inc's former Chief Executive Officer Diana "DeDe" Brooks finished her six-month term in home detention yesterday for her role in a price-fixing plot with rival Christie's, AP reported. Brooks, whose sentence also includes a US$350,000 fine, three years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service, returned the electronic-monitoring device she wore on her ankle to federal court yesterday, AP said. Brooks, the first woman to lead a major auction house, pleaded guilty in October 2000 for conspiring to fix prices on art, antiques and other valuables. She also was a witness against her former boss, A. Alfred Taubman. Taubman, the controlling shareholder in Sotheby's, was convicted of plotting with his counterpart at Christie's International Plc, Anthony Tennant, to rig sellers' fees. Clients of the world's two leading auction houses paid US$43 million in inflated commissions, the government said.
■ Airlines
Virgin may order new jets
Virgin Blue Airlines Pty, Australia's second-biggest carrier, may announce an order of between 30 and 40 aircraft next month, founder Richard Branson told Channel Nine's Business Sunday program. Branson said the order will most likely be announced in the next four or five weeks, as the company continues its push to expand market share in Australia and find new routes offshore. The discount carrier has "a couple of extremely attractive deals on the table," he said, without being specific. "We're talking about ordering 30-to-40 jets," the UK billionaire told the television program. "It's the best time perhaps in the history of aviation to be buying new planes because after Sept. 11 there aren't many airlines in a position where they're expanding.
Agencies
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique