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Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday it has trimmed about 30 jobs in Hong Kong as discussion with the local government to expand its theme park remains uncertain.

The latest layoff also came a month after the Burbank, California-based entertainment giant said it would shed an unspecified number of workers amid the global financial turmoil.

Disney has been in talks with the Hong Kong government about expanding Hong Kong Disneyland, which is a joint venture between the two parties. Local media had reported the government, which shouldered the bulk of the park’s $3.5 billion construction cost, is reluctant to invest more public money.

“After two years of Disney investment in creative and design work and extensive negotiations with our partner, the Hong Kong government, we have not yet reached a final agreement to expand Hong Kong Disneyland,” Leslie Goodman, executive vice president of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, said in a statement.

The layoff on Monday included about 30 Hong Kong-based employees after the company suspended all creative and design work of the expansion plan, Disney said in the statement.

Responding to Disney’s decision, the Hong Kong government said it is “puzzled” and urged the company to reconsider.-AP

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Bernard Madoff, who pleaded guilty to operating a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme, is worth up to $826 million, according to a document filed with a federal court on Friday.

Madoff was ordered to jail Thursday after pleading guilty to all 11 criminal counts in one of Wall Street’s biggest swindles ever. The Ponzi scheme is estimated to have bilked thousands of investors out of billions of dollars.

The document was included in a filing Friday in connection with an appeal to have Madoff freed from jail until his sentencing, which is set for June 16. Madoff faces up to 150 years in prison

Bernard Madoff arrives at a federal courthouse Thursday. He pleaded guilty to conducting a Ponzi scheme.

Bernard Madoff arrives at a federal courthouse Thursday. He pleaded guilty to conducting a Ponzi scheme.

Madoff values his business — Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, which is currently being liquidated — at $700 million, said the document, which estimated his wealth totals at least $823 million.

Real estate from around the world worth $22 million is listed, including a New York City apartment valued at $7 million and a home in Palm Beach, Florida, worth $11 million, another in Montauk, New York, worth $3 million and one in Cap d’Antibe, France, worth $1 million.

All of the residences except for the Montauk home are listed as being bought by his wife, Ruth Madoff.

Listings of other nonbusiness assets paint a luxurious picture of Madoff’s life: a 50 percent stake in a charter aircraft worth $12 million, a $7 million yacht in France, and more than $2 million in jewelry.

The latter two, along with approximately $17 million in cash and three cars — a 1999 and 2001 Mercedes and 2004 Volkswagen — are listed under Ruth Madoff’s name. – CNN

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MADRID, March 9 (Reuters) – Spain’s pilots union Sepla said
on Monday that talks over a preliminary collective agreement
with the Spanish carrier Iberia has been broken.

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