round-trip fare to travel from Bermuda to New York and then on to London via Concorde will be pleased to hear that the supersonic jet is being given a 7 million ($10.5 million) new look by British Airways.

BA's flagship airplane will get new seats, new overhead lockers, new cabin lighting, a state-of-the-art audio in-flight entertainment system and new kitchens.

The new audio system will feature five channels of in-flight entertainment, including programmes exclusive to Concorde.

A new in-flight entertainment guide will also enable passengers to attempt crosswords from The Times of London newspaper.

The overhaul is part of a 100 million ($150 million) programme of improvement to BA's portfolio of long-haul premium brands, announced last fall and now nearing completion.

The changes have been driven by extensive research among Concorde passengers, including Bermuda-based travellers.

Ms Sallie Singleton, BA's public affairs consultant in Bermuda, said: "Concorde is extremely popular with corporate travellers from Bermuda.'' * * * TOU HOTEL and services company Marriott Corporation, which runs Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, last week reported an operating profit of $36 million for the second quarter of its current fiscal year -- but an accounting change required by the Securities and Exchange Commission wiped out most of the gain.

Marriott, which has a controversial plan to split the company by separating its debt-laden real estate division from its thriving hotel management business, said the $36 million in operating profit compared with a profit of $29 million for the same period the year before.

But after a one-time accounting charge of $32 million, net income was just $4 million, compared with $29 million a year earlier.

Revenues rose in the second quarter to $2.16 billion from $2.04 billion a year ago.

Shareholders will vote on the restructuring plan at the company's annual meeting later this month. The plan has been challenged in court by Marriott's bondholders and preferred stockholders.

The SEC, which reviewed Marriott's financial reporting in light of the restructuring, challenged how the company valued some of its hotels that had been for sale.

The agency insisted that they be valued on a property-by-property basis and forced Marriott to reschedule its annual meeting.

* * * CTS TWO tourists aboard a cruise ship who provided law enforcement officials with videotaped evidence of the crew's overboard dumping of garbage received a $250,000 reward on Friday.

In 1991, passengers Alvin and Marilyn Levett videotaped crew members of the Regal Princess tossing more than 20 plastic bags of garbage into the sea about five miles off the Florida coast.

Princess Cruises, Inc. was convicted for knowingly dumping the garbage and fined $500,000 for the incident, the maximum fine allowed under US law.

The law under which the cruise line was convicted also provided that up to one-half the amount of the fine could be awarded to tipsters leading to the conviction.

A federal judge in Miami agreed with a recommendation from the US attorney's office in Miami that the two passengers get a $250,000 reward for their help.

* * * TV US cable station Music Television (or MTV as it is more popularly known) began broadcasting for the first time in Russia over the weekend.

Until reforms in the mid-1980s, rock music was condemned by Soviet leaders as evidence of Western decadence. The management of MTV, which has an audience of 46 million in 32 countries outside the US, expects to draw some 90 million new viewers in the former Soviet Union.