IN THE PAPERS
In The Papers 14 August
14-08-2009
by Sylvia Leatham
Potential Payzone deal collapses | UL working on new maths teaching methods
The Irish Times reports that chipmaker Intel's Irish operations will have to compete for investment against other locations but falling business costs could play to its advantage, according to Jim O'Hara, general manager. Last month Intel announced it was seeking 300 compulsory redundancies following the decision to mothball one of its four Leixlip factories, leading to speculation that the company may be beginning to run down its Irish operations. "Intel sees this site as it sees any other site; a large strategic investment," said O'Hara. "As long as we do our job, there is no reason not to invest." He said falling energy and construction costs would help attract investment.
The Irish Independent reports that the US Department of Justice has dropped all charges against an Irish businessman embroiled in a USD1.3 billion accounting fraud prosecution. Jerry Shanahan from Carrigaline, Cork, was due to go on trial for a second time on charges relating to a corporate scandal at US software firm Enterasys. However, all charges against Shanahan have been dropped following a decision by the US Supreme Court which refused to retry a former Enron executive because of the double jeopardy rule.
The paper also says that more than 4,000 mobile phones have been seized from inmates in Irish jails in two years. New figures show that 2,047 phones were seized last year, on top of 2,117 in 2007. Over a quarter of all phones seized last year were in Dublin's Mountjoy jail. A further 292 phones were seized at Limerick Prison. The third highest level of seizures was at Dublin's Wheatfield Prison. The report states that recent measures have greatly cut down on the amount of contraband items getting into prisons, however.
The same paper notes that shares in troubled e-payments firm Payzone fell almost 13 percent on extremely low volume on Thursday after a competitor said it won't table an offer for the company. For the past few months it's been speculated that rival UK firm PayPoint had been considering a bid for Payzone, but PayPoint chief executive Dominic Taylor on Thursday categorically ruled out any approach for the Irish firm.
The paper also says that Eircom will be sold off to Singapore Technologies Telemedia (STT) by the end of next week, according to sources. STT recently offered a revised bid worth a total of about EUR130 million for Eircom's Australian parent Eircom Holdings (ERC). The deal is close to being concluded with a number of issues yet to be ironed out, including an agreement on the management fee to be paid by STT to run Eircom.
The Irish Examiner says that HR company Peninsula Ireland's chief executive, Alan Price, has called for a ban on Facebook and Twitter in the workplace. "We are trying to fight our way through a recession and so businesses need a focused workforce. There is an argument for the use of social networking sites within some industries. However, where there is no advantage to your business, you need to ban them," said Price.
The paper also says that the University of Limerick is leading a three-year research project to develop new methods for teaching maths and science, from primary to doctorate level. The National Centre for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching & Learning (NCE-MSTL) is a joint project of the Shannon Consortium, with work going on at UL, Limerick Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Tralee and Mary Immaculate College. The centre’s co-director, Dr George McLelland, said the low uptake of higher-level maths is a major problem, and part of their work involves how to deliver continuous training for teachers through the internet and other distance learning methods.
The paper also says that mobile operator Three Ireland has boosted its customer base by over 60,000 since the end of last year and is likely to break even, on a financial footing, by the end of this year. The company's customer numbers grew from 339,000 as of the end of December last to 400,000 by the end of June. Together, the UK and Irish businesses increased revenue on a year-on-year basis during the first half of the year by 2 percent to STG784 million.
The Financial Times says that the drive to standardise e-book formats has received a boost with Sony announcing plans to convert its eBook store to the open EPUB format by the end of the year. The move is a direct attack on Amazon, the early leader in the e-book market. Amazon sells e-books that can only be read on its Kindle device or Kindle software on the Apple iPhone. EPUB is an industry standard e-book format that can be read on multiple devices. Widespread adoption of the EPUB format would allow e-book owners to move their digital library from one device to another.
According to the Wall Street Journal, total US videogame industry revenue declined more than expected in July on a sharp drop in console sales. Market analysts NPD Group found that US videogame spending for the month plunged 29 percent from the previous year to USD848 billion. July was the fifth straight month of double-digit percentage declines in industry-wide spending.
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