BUSINESS BRIEFS
Japan, Chile agree on trade
Advertiser Staff and News Services
TOKYO — Japan and Chile signed a free trade agreement yesterday, hailing it as a tool to consolidate their economic partnership and strengthen bilateral relations.
The pact Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet inked in a signing ceremony marks the first such agreement the world's No. 2 economy has with a South American country.
Under the pact, Chile will abolish tariffs on automobiles, machinery and electronics from Japan. In return, Tokyo will gradually abolish taxes on salmon and trout and wine from Chile, with tariffs on more than 90 percent of bilateral trade phased out within 10 years.
FAMED CHINESE THEATRE SOLD
LOS ANGELES — Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the 80-year-old landmark that attracts droves of tourists every year, has been sold to Hollywood's largest commercial landlord but still will operate as a film house.
CIM Group of Los Angeles bought the property Thursday for an undisclosed price from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Center of New York and Barlow Respiratory Hospital of Los Angeles, the firm said in a news release. Mann Theatres has a long-term lease and will continue to operate Grauman's.
The 1,612-seat theater, built in 1927 by Sid Grauman, has become one of Southern California's biggest tourist attractions, with its courtyard featuring foot and handprints in concrete from generations of movie stars.
'BACK TO FUTURE' RIDE IS HISTORY
LOS ANGELES — A ride that took theme park visitors "Back to the Future" is about to be relegated to the past.
The Universal Studios Hollywood ride based on the films starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd was taking its final passengers yesterday before it closed to make room for a "Simpsons" attraction.
"Back to the Future — The Ride" was the theme park's first high-technology thrill ride when it opened in 1993.
Passengers were strapped into a moving carriage — modeled after the film's DeLorean time machine — in front of a film projected on a domed screen, which gave the illusion of flight.
