■ Media
Comcast, Disney pen deal
Comcast Corp and the Walt Disney Co said on Tuesday they signed a landmark multibillion-dollar distribution deal that allows the cable operator to distribute Disney content through its video-on-demand service. As part of the multiyear deal, Comcast, the largest US cable TV operator, also agreed to buy Disney's 39.5 percent stake in the E! Entertainment Television channel for US$1.23 billion. Comcast currently holds a 60 percent interest in the channel. No other financial terms of the deal were disclosed.
■ Property
China raises project fees
The Chinese government will double land use fees for new construction projects from Jan. 1 to cool frantic expansion in the property market, state media reported yesterday. This means that the fee will rise to up to 140 yuan (US$18) per square meter, according to a notice issued by the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Land and Resources and the central bank. The aim is to curb excessive growth in fixed asset investment, the 21st Century Business Herald said, citing a notice published by the central bank.
■ Computers
Dell looking up
Driven by solid sales of laptops and a more diverse product line, computer maker Dell Inc finally had some good news for investors amid an ongoing federal investigation of the company's accounting and financial reporting. In a delayed, preliminary earnings report for the last quarter, Dell beat analysts' expectations, earning US$677 million, or 30 cents per share, on revenue of US$14.4 billion, compared with earnings of US$606 million, or 25 cents per share, in the same quarter a year ago. Analysts had been looking for quarterly earnings of 24 cents per share on sales of US$14.44 billion, a survey by Thomson Financial said.
■ Internet
Livedoor strips segment
Japanese Internet startup Livedoor Co plans to sell all its financial segment to investment firm Advantage Partners LLP, news reports said yesterday. Business daily Nihon Keizai reported the plan, adding that Livedoor will convene a board meeting as early as this week to approve the sale of Livedoor Financial Holdings Co, whose seven firms include brokerage and consumer credit operations. Livedoor's financial businesses generated 80 percent of the group's operating profit and the sale would mark the collapse of a business model built by former President Takafumi Horie, the business daily said.
■ Mergers
French energy deal delayed
French government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said yesterday that a court decision that delays the proposed merger of energy groups GDF and Suez did not fundamentally put the deal in question. "There was certainly a decision by the appeals court but it does not put the project's relevance in question," Cope told the television channel I-Tele. On Tuesday, the Paris appeals court upheld a decision by a lower court in favour of Gaz de France's works council -- institutions in French companies through which trade unions have a voice in operations -- that sought a postponement of a company board meeting on the merger, scheduled for yesterday.
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