“Les Miserables” soundtrack tops UK albums chart

LONDON (Reuters) – The soundtrack of the Oscar-nominated movie “Les Miserables” climbed to the top spot in the UK albums chart, the first film cast recording to do so since Madonna’s “Evita” in 1997, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday.

A film version of a hugely successful stage musical based on a novel by 19th century French writer Victor Hugo, “Les Miserables” has already picked up a Golden Globe award for best movie musical, and is nominated for a best picture Oscar.

The recording of songs performed by the actors in the movie, including Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, had entered the UK albums chart in fifth position a week ago. It knocked Emeli Sande‘s “Our Version Of Events” off the top spot.

Hathaway, who plays a character called Fantine, also had the 22nd spot in the singles chart with her performance of “I Dreamed A Dream”, one of the most popular songs from the musical.

At the very top of the singles chart, U.S. producer will.i.am’s collaboration with Britney Spears, “Scream & Shout”, held onto the number one ranking, fending off stiff competition from new entrants 50 Cent and Justin Timberlake.

U.S. rapper 50 Cent’s new release, “My Life”, featuring Eminem and Maroon 5′s Adam Levine, came in at number two while Timberlake, the former ‘N Sync star, nabbed the number three spot with his “Suit and Tie” featuring Jay-Z.

(Reporting By Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Sophie Hares)

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Investigators probe 787 battery maker

U.S. and Japanese aviation safety officials investigating problems with Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner visited the headquarters of the plane's battery maker on Monday, seeking clues into why one of the technologically advanced aircraft made an emergency landing last week.

A spokesman for GS Yuasa Corp., which makes batteries for the 787, said the company was fully cooperating with the investigation, and its engineers were working with the officials from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau (CAB) at the company's compound in Kyoto, where it makes airplane batteries.

CAB official Tatsuyuki Shimazu told reporters the investigating team had been briefed by GS Yuasa and had toured the plant, looking at battery design, production and quality. The Japanese investigation at the plant will continue on Tuesday on a more detailed level, including tracking battery batch numbers and production dates, he said.

Authorities around the world last week grounded the new lightweight Dreamliner, and Boeing halted deliveries after a problem with a lithium-ion battery prompted an All Nippon Airways 787 into the emergency landing at Takamatsu airport during a domestic flight. Earlier this month, a similar battery caught fire in a Japan Airlines' 787 parked at Boston Logan International Airport.

EXPANDED PROBE

U.S. safety investigators on Sunday ruled out excess voltage as the cause of the Boston battery fire on Jan. 7, and said they were expanding their probe to look at the battery's charger and the jet's auxiliary power unit. The battery is one part of the 787's complex electrical system, built by French company Thales SA.

“Results have shown the battery was abnormal in both the Boston and Takamatsu (incidents). They were the most damaged,” Shigeru Takano, a senior safety official at the CAB, told reporters ahead of the on-site visit to GS Yuasa. “We will look into if the work that took place, from design to manufacturing, was appropriate.”

Shares in GS Yuasa, valued at close to $1.5 billion, rose 1 percent on Monday, having dropped nearly 10 percent since the Boston fire. The benchmark Nikkei fell 1.5 percent.

The company, which employs nearly 12,300 staff, expects revenue of 288 billion yen ($3.2 billion) in the year to end-March - with only around 1 percent of that coming from its aircraft battery business. The company's batteries are used primarily in motorbikes, industrial equipment and power supply devices.

GS Yuasa, in which automaker Toyota Motor Corp has a 2.7 percent stake, reported an operating profit of around $160 million in the year to last March.

MORE FLIGHTS CANCELLED

The grounding of the Dreamliner, an advanced carbon-composite plane with a list price of $207 million, has forced ANA to cancel 151 domestic and 26 international flights scheduled for Jan. 23-28, affecting more than 21,000 passengers, the airline said on Monday.

The cancellations add to the 72 flights scheduled for Jan. 19-22 that ANA called off last week. ANA, which flies the most Dreamliners of any airline, said it will announce on Thursday its plans on flight cancellations for dates from Jan. 29.

ANA said it had not yet decided whether to seek compensation from Boeing for losses as a result of the 787's grounding. “At this point we're concentrating on getting the Dreamliner back in service, rather than considering requesting compensation,” said spokesman Ryosei Nomura.

Rival JAL said it cancelled four flights on its Tokyo-San Diego route for Jan. 27-28, adding to the 8 flights originally scheduled for Jan. 19-25 on the same route it called off last week. It said it had yet to decide changes for flights slated for Jan. 26.

“We've been able to rearrange routes originally scheduled to use the Dreamliner with alternative aircraft,” said JAL spokeswoman Sze Hunn Yap, adding there was no talk about compensation at this stage.

Japan is the biggest market to date for the Dreamliner, with JAL and ANA flying 24 of the 50 passenger jets that Boeing has delivered.
 

data by YCharts

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Obama sworn in for second term in White House ceremony

Chicago Tribune reporter Jenniffer Weigel talks with Chicago Tribune/Washington D.C. Bureau reporter Katherine Skiba about the demand for inauguration tickets and the comparison between this year and 2009. (Posted: January 20, 2013)

Washington—

President Barack Obama took the official oath for his second term on Sunday at the White House in a small, private ceremony that set a more subdued tone compared to the historic start of his presidency four years ago.

Gathered with his family in the Blue Room on the White House's ceremonial main floor, Obama put his hand on a Bible and recited the 35-word oath that was read to him by U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts.

Obama hugged his wife Michelle and said, "Thank you," after she congratulated him at the swearing-in.

Obama, who became the first African-American U.S. president four years ago, will be sworn in publicly for his second term on Monday in a much bigger ceremony before an audience of as many as 800,000 people outside the U.S. Capitol.

Sunday's ceremony was needed because the U.S. Constitution mandates that the president take office on January 20. Planners opted to go with a private ceremony on the actual date and then hold the symbolic inaugural activities the next day.

Obama will have been sworn in four times, two for each term, putting him equal to Franklin Roosevelt, who served four terms. A second swearing-in was needed in 2009 when Roberts flubbed the first one.

Obama, who won a second term on November 7 by defeating Republican Mitt Romney, opens round two facing many of the same problems that dogged his first term: persistently high unemployment, crushing debt and a deep partisan divide over how to solve the issues.

This has taken some of the euphoria out of Obama's second inauguration, but he got a boost at a rousing service at Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church in downtown Washington where he and his wife Michelle, who is sporting a new hair style featuring bangs, clapped and swayed to gospel music.

"Forward, forward," shouted Pastor Ronald Braxton to his congregation, echoing an Obama election campaign slogan.

Early Sunday morning, Vice President Joe Biden was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, making her the first Hispanic judge to administer an oath of office for one of the nation's two highest offices.

Obama and Biden then joined forces to lay a wreath of flowers at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in a solemn remembrance of those killed in the line of duty.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Alistair Bell and Jackie Frank)

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Galaxy S IV benchmarks may confirm 1.8GHz CPU and Android 4.2

Apple needs a new product targeting its next generation of customers which will be fueled by this newly announced product

“iPotty: Brilliant, or worst idea ever? Experts weigh in on new potty training device – Unveiled last week at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the base of the iPotty looks like a regular ol’ plastic toilet with removable bowl— but there’s an adjustable stand attached, specifically for an iPad.”

Something easy to clean which will survive toddlers dropping them into their training potty.

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Chastain bests Arnold, Wahlberg at box office

NEW YORK (AP) — Jessica Chastain easily outmuscled Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mark Wahlberg over the weekend, topping the box office with her supernatural horror film “Mama.”

According to studio estimates Sunday, “Mama” earned $ 28.1 million. Chastain held the top two spots with both “Mama” and the Osama bin Laden manhunt drama “Zero Dark Thirty,” for which she’s nominated by the best actress Oscar. In its second week of wide release, “Zero Dark Thirty” took in $ 17.6 million.

Schwarzenegger‘s post-governorship comeback got off to a poor start. His action flick “The Last Stand” opened with just $ 6.3 million, one of the worst debuts for the brawny 65-year-old star.

The Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe New York crime film “Broken City” didn’t fare much better. It premiered with $ 9.1 million.

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Steel company forges ahead with new South Side plant

One evening during a Cubs game in 1988, A. Finkl & Sons Co. received a frantic phone call: The ballpark's lights were flickering. Could the steelmaker please turn off its furnaces to ward off a potential outage?

The anecdote illustrates one reason why Finkl is phasing out production at its century-old facility just west of the city's Lincoln Park neighborhood as it completes its move this year to 1355 E. 93rd St. on the South Side.

The new factory, equipped with the latest technology, improved production lines, better access to transportation and its own electric substation, will enable Finkl to boost its production fivefold to a half-million tons of steel a year.

"It's a huge step forward for Finkl," said John Guliana, the company's vice president of engineering and planning, explaining that workers will operate machines by pressing buttons on computer monitors. In contrast, the North Side plant, laid out over 22 acres separated by city streets, depended on manual labor, people working "with shovels and things like that," he said. Space was so tight that recycled metals and finished product sat out in the open.

So far, Finkl has spent more than $180 million on equipping buildings on the 53-acre South Side site that will house the melt, forge and machining shops, and offices as well as recycled metals and finished product. The new site is making steel and executives say it will handle 100 percent of production by the end of the year.

Finkl produces specialty steels made from recycled metals that are melted and forged into blocks. The blocks are sold to make molds, dies and large parts primarily used in the oil and gas industry.

At the old plant, those blocks sat out for up to two weeks before Finkl could load them onto rail cars, said Bruce Liimatainen, Finkl's chairman and chief executive. In that same amount of time, Finkl can now deliver steel to as far away as California, because the new plant's rail lines connect to the Norfolk Southern Railway yard just a few miles away.

"Literally, we can call them and within an hour they would be here," Liimatainen said. "It's the difference between competing overseas or not."

With its new capacity, Finkl is aiming to increase market share outside the U.S. and tap into the stainless steel market, sell bigger blocks of its specialty steels and offer roughly finished products.

Finkl's investments stand in contrast to what some other players are doing. Big steelmakers are battling declining prices and growing inventories of steel as China's economy cools and Europe continues to struggle with its own economic crisis. In December, ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker by volume, took a $4.3 billion write-down of its European businesses. Europe's economic crisis, it said, led to lower demand for its steel, which is used to build bridges, car parts and pipes.

At the end of 2012, Finkl's sales were essentially flat from the year before, Liimatainen said.

Meanwhile, future development of the company's property on the North Side could lead to debate over the future of manufacturing there. Some residents want the site cleared for housing because it has river views. To do so, however, aldermen would have to end the area's designation as a "planned manufacturing district," which protected it from encroaching residential development a quarter-century ago.

"The site is a very important site to my ward and presents us with a historic opportunity, and we are looking at it very closely," said Ald. Michele Smith, 43rd. "Certainly, we would like jobs to come from there." Finkl's factory is in Smith's ward but will become part of the 2nd Ward in 2015.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, 32nd, said one idea is to try to attract green manufacturers, which might blend more easily with the neighborhood.

Some also have questioned Finkl's move from an upscale, predominantly white neighborhood to a predominantly black neighborhood dotted with boarded-up houses. Finkl has ringed the site with pine trees.

"What can we do now? Nothing," said Peggy Montes, president of the Bronzeville Children's Museum, located two blocks east of the new factory. She said the time to question Finkl's move has long passed. Going forward, Montes said, the conversation should be focused on how the company can help the community. "We don't have a YMCA; we are missing a lot of community-type services."

A 2008 Tribune investigation found that among Chicago factories, Finkl ranked worst for dangerous air pollution. At the time, its emissions of chromium, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc accounted for nearly a third of the city's total health risk from industrial pollution, according to the newspaper's analysis of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

Liimatainen said equipment purchased for its new plant is the most energy-efficient on the market and therefore produces the lowest emissions. The investment, he said, makes the company more cost-competitive.

"The best way (to be environmentally conscious), is to use the lowest amount of energy," Liimatainen said.

For example, Finkl purchased a 70-ton electric arc furnace to make molten steel. The furnace's technology has reduced the time to make a batch of steel to about 40 minutes from roughly 4.5 hours.

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Ricketts asks for easing of landmark restrictions on Wrigley

Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts said Saturday the team is willing to pay for much of its renovation plan if the city will ease some of the restrictions surrounding Wrigley Field. 

“The fact is that when you look at all of the limitations that we have, whether that’s signage in the outfield, which we are not allowed to do, or what kind of stuff we do in the park or around the park, I think we’d just like a little more flexibility to have some options on that stuff,” Ricketts told the media after a question-and-answer session with fans at the Cubs Convention.

“We have an opportunity cost there that’s tremendous. Just give us some relief on some of these restrictions, and we’ll take care of (renovating) Wrigley Field.”

Ricketts said the team is looking at “other alternatives” to fund the renovations after a proposal to try and use future revenues from their amusement tax contributions fell flat.

“We’re not talking about (the plan) right now,’ he said.  “We’re looking at other things instead. One of the ways we look at it is ‘treat us like a private institution and let us go about doing our business and then we’ll take care of ourselves.”

Due to a landmarking ordinance, the Cubs have to ask for city approval for signage, which was granted for the Toyota sign in the left field bleachers.

Asked if he was aware of the landmarking restrictions when he bought the team, Ricketts replied: “When we bought the team we kind of understood some of the restrictions. What I didn’t understand was we were the only team in baseball to have these restrictions.”

Ricketts said the team has been in discussions with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and feels they’re close to an agreement after talks stalled last year. Emanuel reportedly wouldn’t return Ricketts’ calls after a New York Times report that a PAC run by family patriarch Joe Ricketts considered funding an inflammatory ad campaign against President Obama.

“I hope (we’re close),” Tom Ricketts said. “I think everyone has an incentive. We lost a year this year. We want to get the project rolling. It’s a big economic development for the city. It’s a lot of jobs. It’s something everyone should have incentive to want to get done.”

Earlier, Ricketts told fans the Cubs pay the second-highest taxes among major league teams, and an easing of restrictions would be only fair.

“Just let us run out own business,” he said. “We’re not a museum.”  

The Cubs will release their renovation plans later this afternoon at the convention.

Ricketts also told the media they’d like to open up Sheffield Avenue to a street-fest before games, as the Red Sox have with Yawkey Way outside Fenway Park.

“We think it’s a good idea,” he said. “We think it can really add to the fan experience. We’ve been to Yawkey Way and we think we can do something comparable. (Sheffield) is already closed. Why can’t we put something on it that’s nice for families or for fans coming to games?”

Regarding the decision not to invite former Cubs star Sammy Sosa to the convention, Ricketts said they will “revisit” that in the future.

“I think that, you know when we got here, there wasn’t much communication and we really haven’t focused on it,” he said. “But maybe it’s an issue we pick up this year and see what we can do about it.”

Ricketts declined to say whether the organization snubbing of Sosa has more to do with his 2004 walkout than widespread suspicions he used performance-enhancing drugs during his career.

psullivan@tribune.com

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Dotcom says new site legal, no revenge for Megaupload saga

AUCKLAND (Reuters) – Kim Dotcom, founder of outlawed file-sharing website Megaupload, said his new “cyberlocker” was not revenge on U.S. authorities who planned a raid on his home, closed Megaupload and charged him with online piracy for which he faces jail if found guilty.

Dotcom said his new offering, Mega.co.nz, which will launch on Sunday even as he and three colleagues await extradition from New Zealand to the United States, complied with the law and warned that attempts to take it down would be futile.

“This is not some kind of finger to the U.S. government or to Hollywood,” Dotcom told Reuters at his sprawling estate in the bucolic hills of Coatesville, just outside Auckland, New Zealand, a country known more for sheep, rugby and the Hobbit than flamboyant tech tycoons.

“Legally, there’s just nothing there that could be used to shut us down. This site is just as legitimate and has the right to exist as Dropbox, Boxnet and other competitors,” he said, referring to other popular cloud storage services.

His lawyer, Ira Rothken, added that launching the site was compliant with the terms of Dotcom’s bail conditions. U.S. prosecutors argue that Dotcom in a statement said he had no intention of starting a new internet business until his extradition was resolved.

CODES AND KEYS

Dotcom said Mega was a different beast to Megaupload, as the new site enables users to control exactly which users can access uploaded files, in contrast to its predecessor, which allowed users to search files, some of which contained copyrighted content allegedly without permission.

A sophisticated encryption system will allow users to encode their files before they upload them on to the site’s servers, which Dotcom said were located in New Zealand and overseas.

Each file will then be issued a unique, sophisticated decryption key which only the file holder will control, allowing them to share the file as they choose.

As a result, the site’s operators would have no access to the files, which they say would strip them from any possible liability for knowingly enabling users to distribute copyright-infringing content, which Washington says is illegal.

“Even if we wanted to, we can’t go into your file and snoop and see what you have in there,” the burly Dotcom said.

Dotcom said Mega would comply with orders from copyright holders to remove infringing material, which will afford it the “safe harbor” legal provision, which minimizes liability on the condition that a party acted in good faith to comply.

But some legal experts say it may be difficult to claim the protection if they do not know what users have stored.

The Motion Pictures Association of America said encrypting files alone would not protect Dotcom from liability.

“We’ll reserve final judgment until we have a chance to analyze the new project,” a spokesman told Reuters. “But given Kim Dotcom’s history, count us as skeptical.”

The German national, who also goes by Kim Schmitz, expects huge interest in its first month of operation, which would be a far cry from when Megaupload went live in 2005.

“I would be surprised if we had less than one million users,” Dotcom said.

A YEAR ON

Mega’s launch starts the next chapter of the Dotcom narrative, dotted with previous cyber crime-related arrests and whose twists and turns have been scrutinized by all facets of the entertainment industry, from film studios and record labels to internet service companies and teenage gamers.

The copyright infringement case, billed as the largest to date given that Megaupload in its heyday commanded around four percent of global online traffic, could set a precedent for internet liability laws and depending on its outcome, may force entertainment companies to rethink their distribution methods.

A year on, the extradition hearing has been delayed until August, complicated by illegal arrest warrants and the New Zealand government’s admission that it had illegally spied on Dotcom, who has residency status in the country.

Last January, New Zealand’s elite special tactics forces landed by helicopter at dawn in the grounds of Dotcom’s mansion, worth roughly NZ$ 30 million ($ 25.05 million) and featuring a servants’ wing, hedge maze and life-size statues of giraffes and a rhinoceros, to arrest him and his colleagues at the request of the FBI.

Police armed with semi-automatic weapons found Dotcom cowering alone in a panic room in the attic, while outside, a convoy of police cars and vans pulled up in the driveway. Around 70 officers took part in the raid.

They left with computers, files and some of Dotcom’s fleet of Rolls-Royces, Mercedes and a vintage pink Cadillac tricked with personalized license plates screaming “HACKER”, “EVIL”, and “MAFIA”.

“Every time you hear a helicopter, you automatically think, ‘Oh, another raid’, so it’s something that stays with you for a long time,” said Dotcom, who says he and his wife still panic when they hear sudden, loud noises in the house.

Dotcom was coy about the details of the launch party as builders put the finishing touches to a festival-sized concert stage in the mansion’s grounds, while two helicopters circled overhead.

But if the impromptu, Willy Wonka-styled ice cream social he threw in Auckland earlier in the week is any indication, the party could be a more wholesome affair compared with the well-documented soirees of Dotcom’s past, where nightclubs, hot tubs and scantily clad women were a common fixture.

“I had to grow up, you know, I was a big baby,” he said. “Big baby with too much money usually leads to baby craziness.

“I am going to be more of a person that wants to help to make things better and help internet innovation to take off without all these restrictions by governments. That is going to be my primary goal if this business is successful.”

($ 1 = NZ$ 1.2)

(Editing by Daniel Magnowski and Nick Macfie)

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Lance Armstrong biopic in the works from Paramount, J.J. Abrams

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Paramount Pictures and “Star Trek” producer J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot company have purchased the film rights to a forthcoming book about cyclist Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace, according to a person with knowledge of the transaction.

Armstrong, whose name and celebrity status helped build a multimillion dollar cancer foundation, admitted on Thursday that he used performance-enhancing drugs to win a record seven consecutive Tour de France championships after denying doping allegations for years.

The forthcoming book, “Cycle of Lies: The Fall of Lance Armstrong” by New York Times reporter Juliet Macur, traces his recovery from cancer, inspirational return to cycling, and his fall to disgraced ex-champion.

The book is set for a June publication by HarperCollins.

Neither Paramount nor Bad Robot would comment on the deal, which was first reported on the Deadline Hollywood entertainment site.

Abrams, the producer and director of the forthcoming science-fiction thriller film “Star Trek into Darkness,” co-founded Bad Robot with producer Bryan Burk.

Paramount will distribute the big-budget “Star Trek,” which is scheduled for release in May. Paramount has distributed other Abrams-produced films, including 2011′s “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” starring Tom Cruise.

Paramount Pictures is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc and HarperCollins is owned by News Corp.

(Reporting by Eric Kelsey; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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Chicago seeks investors for potential Midway Airport deal

Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration on Friday began testing the investment market's appetite for a potential deal to privatize Midway Airport, launching the process for finding prospective bidders.

The city posted a "request for qualifications," seeking expressions of interest and documentation of credentials from teams interested in financing, operating, maintaining and improving the Southwest Side airport, which is the nation's 26th busiest, with about 9 million passengers passing through annually.

The document reiterates a framework, laid out by Emanuel earlier, aimed at providing city taxpayers with a better deal than the widely criticized 75-year agreement to privatize parking meter operations, carried out during former Mayor Richard Daley's administration. Proceeds from the earlier deal were used to plug operating deficits, and meter rates rose sharply.

This time, proposed leases must be less than 40 years, which locks in the city for a shorter period.

Rather than awarding the city only an upfront payment, the private operator also must share revenue with the city on an ongoing basis. Initial proceeds would be used to pay down debt issued since 1996 to rebuild the airport, the mayor's office said. There is about $1.4 billion in outstanding debt.

Longer term, cash flow would be directed to city infrastructure needs. The mayor has pledged proceeds would not be used to pay for city operations.

The city also is seeking assurances that prices for parking, food and beverages will be kept reasonable.

This is the second time Chicago has looked at privatizing Midway. A 99-year lease that would have brought in $2.5 billion died in 2009 when the financial markets froze up.

Prospective bidders will be asked to prove their ability to raise the needed financing, said Tom Alexander, a spokesman for the mayor.

As in the first go-round, the city is using Credit Suisse Securities LLC as its lead financial adviser.

"The city's process and approach will be thorough and open," Lois Scott, the city's chief financial officer, said in a written statement.

Southwest Airlines, the airport's dominant carrier, supports the move.

Some observers have said a structure with a shorter lease and greater control for the city could translate into lower bids.

But Alexander said the city was confident investors "would gladly meet our terms and still make very attractive offers." The city has declined to estimate how much such a deal could garner.

The request for proposal states "there is significant potential to increase commercial revenue both in terms of variety of activities and increases in sales per passenger."

The city posted the request for qualifications shortly after the Federal Aviation Administration accepted its preliminary application to privatize the airport, clearing the way for the city to move forward in its evaluation process.

Prospective bidders were asked to formally express their interest by Feb. 22. If the city moves forward and seeks proposals, a privatization plan could be submitted to the City Council this summer.

kbergen@tribune.com

Twitter @kathy_bergen

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