14.09.2010

Houghton Mifflin creates fund for digital learning

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt said on Monday it had launched a $100 million ideas fund as the next step in bringing the digital age to the classroom.

The Boston-based Houghton Mifflin said the fund would invest in ideas on future education tools, switching the focus away from traditional textbook publishing and e-books to online and interactive learning.

For example, last week it announced a year-long pilot of an Algebra app for Apple's iPad.

CEO Barry O'Callaghan said the fund was "providing the capital to identify and incubate the next generation of innovation in education" and was open to submissions from students, teachers and technology companies around the world.

Simply transferring traditional physical books to read-only format e-books was an outdated way to look to the future, O'Callaghan told Reuters, rather than offering learning tools that provided "more data" and tools tailored for specific students and lessons.

O'Callaghan said Houghton Mifflin, which specializes in textbooks from children in kindergarten to the 12th grade, saw the fund as part of a "call to action to the industry" to speed up digital learning in the classroom.

Textbook publishers such as Houghton have faced potential sales declines because state and local governments are limiting spending to cope with budget deficits linked to the weak economy.

Earlier this year its privately-held parent company, Education Media and Publishing Group, underwent its second debt restructuring.

In 2006, O'Callaghan's Riverdeep agreed to buy Houghton Mifflin from private equity firms Bain Capital LLC, Blackstone Group LP, and Thomas H. Lee Partners LP for $1.75 billion.

The combined company later bought Reed Elsevier NV's Harcourt education business for roughly $4 billion.

(Reporting by Christine Kearney, editing by Jill Serjeant)

Marine's defense lawyer excused from Haditha case`

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. – A major Iraqi war crimes case that has dragged on for five years hit another snag when a military judge excused one of the attorneys for a Marine sergeant whose squad killed 24 Iraqis.

Military judge Lt. Col. David M. Jones granted the request Monday by civilian attorney retired Marine Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, who asked to be withdrawn from the case because of an undisclosed ethical conflict.

The move comes only weeks before the trial is set to begin.

Vokey was one of three civilian lawyers and a military attorney representing Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the last defendant in one of the biggest cases to emerge from the Iraq war.

The judge made his decision after meeting privately with the defense team, saying they showed good cause for Vokey's release and it was not necessary to seek Wuterich's approval.

13.09.2010

Spanish power giant Iberdrola steps up investment in Britain

BILBAO, Spain (AFP) – Spain's Iberdrola, the world's biggest wind-power generator, said Monday it would invest 4.8 billion euros (6.14 billion dollars) in Britain, two-thirds of it in Scotland, through to 2012.

"In the coming years, Iberdrola will intensify its firm commitment to Scotland," he said after a visit by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond to company headquarters in Bilbao in Spain's northern Basque region.

"This will mean that Iberdola will continue to be a catalyst for development in Scotland and the Basque Country, two lands of great importance for our company and for which we have major plans in the future."

The investment in Scotland will be primarily in wind power, intelligent electricity grids and a carbon dioxide capture and storage facility.

The amount is higher than the 4.5 billion euros that Iberdrola had said in February it planned to invest in Britain during the period as part of total investments of 18 billion euros, including 7.0 billion in the United States.

An Iberdrola spokeswoman said the "adjustment" in the amount to be invested in Britain was due to the "investment opportunities" in the country but the overall amount to be investment in the period would remain at 18 billion euros.

"Britain is for us one of our main areas of investment, after the United States. We feel that market conditions are better in this country," she said.

Britain needs to replace most of its ageing coal-fired and nuclear power plants over the next decade. It plans to generate up to 35 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

Iberdrola bought British group Scottish Power for 17.1 billion euros (21.7 billion dollars) in 2007 to create Europe's third-biggest power utility.

Salmond welcomed the news of Iberdrola's Scottish investment plans.

"Scotland is hugely significant within Iberdola's plans for the future and the commitment the company has shown to our country is immensely important," he said.

"With unrivalled energy resources off our coast and a range of wave, tidal and offshore wind development already underway, Scotland leads the way in generating power offshore."

Scotland is home to an estimated 25 percent of Europe's offshore wind and tidal resource and 10 per cent of its wave potential, Salmond said.

Iberdrola has about 1,800 suppliers in Scotland, including renewable development company Pelamis and Scottish Coal.