Danny Puff

(Reuters) - French dancer Benjamin Millepied, who was the choreographer of the film "Black Swan," was on Thursday named director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet, one of the world's oldest and most prestigious dance companies.

Millepied, 35, who last year married the Oscar-winning star of "Black Swan," Natalie Portman, with whom he has a son, will take up his new role in October 2014.

The announcement by the director of the Paris Opera, Nicolas Joel, ended months of speculation over the successor to Brigitte Lefevre, director of dance at the Paris Opera since 1995, who plans to retire at the end of the 2013-14 season.

The same position was held for several years by Russian dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who died in 1993.

A statement from Paris Opera said Millepied was born in Bordeaux and trained at the Lyon Conservatory.

He joined the School of American Ballet as a teenager before joining New York City Ballet where he became a principal dancer in 2002.

He was both the choreographer and a dancer in the 2010 film "Black Swan," a psychological thriller that received five Academy Award nominations and won Portman the best actress award.

Millepied retired in 2011 to focus on choreography and moved to Los Angeles where he founded the L.A. Dance Project, which made its debut last September.

Millepied is also the new face of Yves Saint Laurent's men's fragrance "L'Homme Libre" - French for "The Free Man" - and also features in ads for Air France.

Almost all the 150-plus dancers in the Paris company are trained at the Paris Opera Ballet School with admittance to the corps de ballet decided by an annual competition.

Lefevre joined the Paris Opera Ballet School when she was 8 years old and entered the corps de ballet aged 16, so Millepied's appointment came as a surprise to many.

(Reporting by Belinda Goldsmith; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Eric Walsh)

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ROCKLAND, Maine (AP) "American Pie" singer Don McLean has been fined $400 for driving his Chrysler too fast through a Maine school zone and has paid the levy.

McLean contested the charge in September, saying school zone warning lights weren't flashing. Police said in Rockland District Court on Thursday they were flashing.

The Bangor Daily News reports police say McLean was driving 43 mph when the limit was 15.

A judge found McLean was speeding in the Rockport school zone but lowered what would be a $515 fine if uncontested to $400.

McLean immediately paid up.

McLean lives in nearby Camden, along Maine's coast. He burst into popularity in 1971 with his hit "American Pie," about the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper in a plane crash on Feb. 3, 1959 The Day the Music Died.

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc is selling its home networking business to Belkin, the networking giant's latest move to exit the consumer business.

The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the deal, which Belkin said on Thursday is expected to close in March.

With the sale, Cisco sheds one of the last remaining pieces of its consumer business, following the shutdown of the Flip video camera business in 2011. Earlier this month, Cisco said it would shutter its Umi online video-conferencing service.

"Their direct consumer business had all but gone away. This was the next shoe to fall," said ZK Research analyst Zeus Kerravala.

"They made a commitment to investors that they were going to focus on their core areas," said Kerravala, who noted that the profit margins for the home networking business were lower than those for Cisco's other businesses.

The deal comes 10 years after Cisco entered the home networking business with its $500 million stock acquisition of the Linksys Group in March 2003.

Belkin, a privately held company that makes smartphone accessories and home networking products, said it would continue to maintain the Linksys brand, and that it would have a roughly 30 percent share of the U.S. home and small business networking market after the deal.

Cisco does not break out financial results for the home networking business. The Cisco business unit that includes the home networking business, as well as other networking and "emerging" technology products, had revenue of $220 million in the most recent quarter, down roughly 12 percent year on year.

Shares of Cisco slipped 3 cents to $20.99 in after-hours trading on Thursday.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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If you live anywhere within the northern two-thirds of the United States, you've probably noticed that it's pretty chilly outside. The plunge in temperatures over the past few days comes courtesy of an invasion of Arctic air that has been captured in a mesmerizing new animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The animation, made with weather data from the NOAA/NCEP Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis, begins on Saturday (Jan. 19) with very cold air seen only over the Rockies, Montana, North Dakota, the northern half of Minnesota and the northern portions of New England. Much of the eastern and central parts of the country saw weekend weather that was balmier than usual for mid-January.

Thanks to a kink in the jet stream that brought it dipping down, the cold air begins plunging southward on Sunday, mostly in the northern plains states and the Midwest. On Monday it begins to surge even farther to the south, covering the Plains, the Midwest, the Northeast and even extending into some of the southern states.

The cold surge retreats a bit later in the day, then makes another push on Tuesday, fully extending into the northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The pattern repeats on Wednesday, with the cold receding much farther north later in the day, before making another southward push on Thursday.

All the back-and-forth is caused by diurnal cycle of heating and cooling, a NOAA statement explains, but "the pattern is clear: much of the U.S. is pretty cold," it notes.

The cold air is expected to retreat from the Midwest this weekend, letting warmer air force its way in, according to Accuweather.com. The collision of these air masses will bring an ice storm to the region, the site's meteorologists predict.

Snow and icy weather could hit the eastern United States starting tomorrow (Jan. 25), with temperatures finally rising above freezing over the weekend or early next week, depending on the location.

Reach Andrea Thompson at athompson@techmedianetwork.com and follow her on twitter @AndreaTOAP. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

In Images: Extreme Weather Around the World Best National Parks to Visit During Winter The Coldest Places on Earth Copyright 2013 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The Ohio woman dubbed "the cleaning fairy" by local media because she broke into a home and cleaned it without permission, was arrested on Tuesday after police found her shovelling snow from a driveway without the owner's consent, police said.

Police in Elyria, a city 30 miles southwest of Cleveland, arrested Susan Warren, 53, on an outstanding warrant stemming from the separate incident last year where she entered a suburban Cleveland home, did some light cleaning and left a note charging the owner $75.

She could face jail time for a probation violation but no charges have been brought for the unsolicited snow shovelling, an Elyria Police Department spokeswoman told Reuters on Thursday.

Last November, Warren pleaded guilty to attempted burglary and trespassing in connection with the house cleaning incident in May.

According to Sherry Bush, the owner of the home, she called Warren to question if she had cleaned the wrong home by mistake and was told by Warren that there was no mistake, that she "does this all the time" and thought she was doing Bush a favour. Bush made the remarks on May 30 last year, in an interview on WKYC-TV in Cleveland.

Warren was arrested and given one year of probation. She violated the terms of her probation earlier this month, triggering the warrant for her arrest, according to Cuyahoga County Court records. The records did not specify what Warren did to violate the probation.

(Reporting By Kim Palmer; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Carol Bishopric)

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc said on Thursday it acquired text-to-speech technology company Ivona Software, a sign that the world's largest Internet retailer may be looking to develop more services similar to Apple Inc's Siri voice-based search product.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to say how much the company paid for Ivona.

Ivona's technology already supports several features on Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet computers, such as text-to-speech, said Dave Limp, who oversees the Kindle business.

"We look forward to building great products to deliver world-class voice solutions to customers around the world," Limp said in a statement.

Apple's Siri service on its iPhone smartphones allows users to ask questions and it delivers answers, or suggests possible actions. Ivona's text-to-speech technology on Amazon's Kindle Fire HD tablets reads Kindle e-books aloud to users.

"The Ivona acquisition could provide some technology on the Kindle to compete with Siri, although I would argue that Siri has not been all that was expected of it so far," said Kerry Rice, an analyst at Needham & Co.

Ivona could also help Amazon expand its e-book market to more people with disabilities, such as the blind, Rice added.

Ivona already works with organizations that support visually impaired people, including the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

Amazon shares rose 2.2 percent to $274.15 in afternoon trading on Thursday and hit a record $276.65 in earlier action.

(Reporting By Alistair Barr; editing by Gunna Dickson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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LONDON (Reuters) - Double Booker prize-winning author Hilary Mantel said the characters in her historical novels about the rise of Thomas Cromwell will take the next "logical step" to a stage adaptation at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) this year.

Mantel said in a video interview on the RSC website this week that she has always longed to give "solid form" to her depictions of Cromwell, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn in her "Wolf Hall" and "Bring Up the Bodies" books.

"From the moment I started writing Wolf Hall the characters were fighting to be off the page," Mantel said in the video.

The 60-year-old Mantel said she was delighted to have playwright Mike Poulton, whose works have garnered some of the theatre world's top awards, recreate her novels for the stage.

"He's the man who knows about the stagecraft," she said. "I'm the one who knows the characters inside out."

The first woman and first Briton to win the Booker twice for her novels set in Henry VIII's court said she has been inspired by the RSC since the age of 15 when she went alone to its Stratford-upon-Avon home and watched four plays in three days.

"It was a shaping experience, so it really is a dream come true for me to have the opportunity to see the RSC present my plays," she said.

Mantel is working on a third novel in the trilogy.

The RSC also said on Wednesday that David Tennant will star in the title role of "Richard II" in winter 2013, making his return five years after a turn as Hamlet which earned him a best Shakespearean performance trophy at the Critics' Circle Theatre Awards in 2009.

"Both plays will be directed by Royal Court Associate Director Jeremy Herrin, making his RSC directing debut," RSC Artistic Director Gregory Doran said.

The world premiere of "Wendy & Peter Pan" by Ella Hickson and directed by Jonathan Munby will round out the winter season, the RSC said.

Tickets for the RSC's winter 2013 season, which begins in October 2013 and runs until March 2014 will go on sale for members on February 11 and for the wider public on March 18, the RSC said.

(Reporting by Paul Casciato; editing by Patricia Reaney)

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NEW YORK (AP) Juanes (WAH'-nehs) has more to say than will fit in a hit song.

The Colombian singer announced Thursday that his first memoir will be released April 2 in English and Spanish. Its titles are "Chasing the Sun" and "Persiguiendo el sol," and they'll be released on Celebra, a division of Penguin Group (USA).

A news release said the book will feature photos and "personally penned intimate details about his life." It will also include stories about "the effects of witnessing corruption and violence" in Medellin, Colombia, where Juanes grew up, as well as "the regret and remorse surrounding his father's death."

Juanes is married with three children.

He is a Grammy Award winner and has multiple Latin Grammys, including last year's album of the year for "Juanes: MTV Unplugged."

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PARIS (AP) Benjamin Millepied, the "Black Swan" choreographer who helped transform Natalie Portman into an obsessed, paranoid ballerina for the film and later married the actress, was named director of the Paris Opera Ballet on Thursday.

Millepied, 35, is a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet who left in 2011 to create his own dance company in Los Angeles, L.A. Dance Project. He'll start at the Paris company in October 2014, when the current dance director, Brigitte Lefevre, retires.

Millepied and Portman, who have a son, met during the making of "Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky's psychological thriller that stars Portman as a ballet dancer.

Portman won the best actress Academy Award or her performance in the movie.

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TORONTO (Reuters) - Shares of Research In Motion Ltd rose 3 percent on Thursday after a report quoted China's Lenovo Group as saying a bid for the BlackBerry maker was among the options for boosting its mobile business.

"We are looking at all opportunities -- RIM and many others," Lenovo Chief Financial Officer Wong Wai Ming told Bloomberg in an interview at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. "We'll have no hesitation if the right opportunity comes along that could benefit us."

Wong said Lenovo has spoken to RIM and its bankers about various combinations or strategic ventures, the Bloomberg report said.

Any bid for RIM, which Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has described as a national "crown jewel," would face a rigorous review by the government to determine whether the deal would bring a "net benefit" to Canada.

Earlier this week, RIM shares surged to a 13-month high after Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said RIM may consider strategic alliances with other companies after next week's launch of devices powered by a new operating system.

In an interview with a German newspaper on Monday, Heins said RIM's review could potentially lead to the sale of its handset business or the licensing of its software to rival smartphone companies.

Analysts expressed skepticism about a Lenovo bid for RIM.

"Anybody who's serious about buying a company doesn't go talking it up...It sounds to me like a comment made more for publicity's sake than a serious approach for RIM," said Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder. "It is a very long shot at the best. There's so many hurdles. One is regulatory of course."

Earlier this week, Canada's Industry Minister Christian Paradis told Reuters that the Canadian government might go to the extent of even reviewing a sale of RIM's handset business, following the comments made by RIM's CEO.

"I think third parties are always interested in making acquisitions, but to conclude that they (Lenovo) are going to buy RIM is a stretch," said RBC Capital Markets analyst Paul Treiber.

ALL OPTIONS EXAMINED

RIM announced a far-reaching strategic review last May under which it was expected to examine all options, from software licensing deals to an outright sale of the company.

After the comments from Lenovo, a RIM spokesman said the company had nothing new to report on its strategic review at this time.

"We continue to examine all available options to create new opportunities, focusing on areas where we will be more effective partnering rather than going it alone, and ultimately maximizing value for all stakeholders," said RIM spokesman Nick Manning.

The company, once a pioneer in the smartphone industry, has struggled in recent years as its aging line-up of devices lost market share to Apple Inc's iPhone and devices based on Google Inc's Android operating system.

RIM hopes its new touch-screen and keyboard devices, powered by its new BlackBerry 10 operating system, will help it claw back market share.

Shares of RIM were up 3.1 percent at $17.88 in midday trading on the Nasdaq. The Toronto-listed shares were up 3.5 percent at C$17.90. RIM is a volatile stock, and moves of 3 percent and more are not uncommon.

A spokesman for Lenovo said the comments made during the Bloomberg interview were consistent with previous statements on Lenovo's M&A strategy.

"Lenovo is very focused on growing its business, both organically and through M&A. When inorganic ideas arise, we explore them to see if there is a strategic fit," Lenovo spokesman Brion Tingler said in an e-mail.

RIM shares are down almost 90 percent from an all-time high of over C$148 in 2008, but the stock has rallied in the last four months as the launch of the BlackBerry 10 devices nears. Its shares have nearly tripled in value since dipping as low as C$6.22 in late September.

(Reporting by Euan Rocha in Toronto and Sinead Carew in New York; Editing by Frank McGurty and Leslie Gevirtz)

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