McGraw-Hill sets plan to split into 2 companies

NEW YORK (AP) — McGraw-Hill Cos. will split up into two public companies with one focused on education and the other centered on markets, featuring the Standard & Poor's unit.

The decision, which has been expected, follows a yearlong review of the company's business. Investors have pushed the New York company to boost the company's stock price, which has dropped by more than 40 percent since 2006.

The company's S&P ratings agency has been under fire for its recent downgrade of U.S. debt, as well as several bad calls it made leading up to the financial crisis and economic meltdown that began in 2008. The unit's president stepped down last month.

McGraw-Hill said Monday it will also accelerate share buybacks to a total of $1 billion for 2011. It has bought back about half that amount to date.

McGraw-Hill Education will be the new company focused on education services and digital learning, while McGraw-Hill Markets will retain S&P and J.D. Power and Associates, a market research company. It also includes S&P Capital IQ, a provider of data, research, benchmarks and analytics and Platts, a provider of information and indices in energy, petrochemicals and metals.

The markets business expects 2011 revenue of about $4 billion, with close to 40 percent of Amsterdam it from international markets. The education segment is forecasting revenue of about $2.4 billion for the year.

The company said the split will create more "sharply defined," focused companies that will make it easier for investors to assess their value.

Terry McGraw, chairman, president and CEO of the company, will lead the Markets business. A search has begun for a leader of the education business, the company said. Its board has approved the split.

Shares of McGraw-Hill climbed 88 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $39.60 in premarket trading.

Scott wins 1st World title, with Woods' caddie

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — The chants and cheers began as Adam Scott walked toward the 18th green to complete a command performance Sunday in the Bridgestone Invitational and win his first World Golf Championship.

But in a surreal scene at Firestone, they weren't for him.

They were for his caddie.

"Stev-ie Will-iams," they shouted as the guy carrying the bag for Scott broke into a big smile.

The celebration made it clear that Steve Williams felt vindicated after being fired last month by Tiger Woods. The interview after it was over — yes, he gave interviews — made it sound as if it was Williams who shot the 5-under 65. At one point, Williams described himself as a "good front-runner when I'm caddying."

"I've caddied for 33 years — 145 wins now — and that's the best win I've ever had," Williams told CBS Sports on the 18th green. This from a guy whose 12 years working for Woods featured 13 majors and 16 world titles among 72 wins worldwide. That includes the 2001 Masters, when Woods won an unprecedented fourth straight major.

Clearly, Williams is still angry over how — and when — Woods cut him loose. He even disputed Woods' version of how it happened, saying Woods told him over the phone, not in person.

Scott didn't seem to mind that his caddie was getting most of the attention.

"I can talk about Steve now and not Tiger," Scott said to laughter, alluding to the countless times he and other players have been asked about Woods. "I'm sure there are a lot of other golfers who wouldn't mind that, either."

The latest chapter in the endless saga involving Woods took away from a premier performance by Scott, who didn't make a bogey over his last 26 holes and couldn't afford to with 19-year-old Ryo Ishikawa giving him all he could handle.

They were never separated by more than one shot until Scott chipped in from the side of the 12th green, then rolled in a birdie putt from just inside 30 feet on the 14th to build a three-shot lead. Ishikawa three-putted the 15th, and Scott had no trouble closing this one out.

He wound up winning by four shots over world No. 1 Luke Donald, who shot 66; and Rickie Fowler, who played a final round worthy of a winner with a bogey-free 66, only to run into an affable Australian who couldn't be beat.

Ishikawa made a bogey on the last hole to tie for fourth with Jason Day. They both shot 69. For the Japanese star, it was his highest finish in America.

Scott finished at 17-under 263, the lowest score to win at Firestone since Woods had 259 in 2000 in an 11-shot win.

With a three-shot lead, Scott thought about playing it safe on the 18th. Williams told him to take 6-iron at the flag, and Scott obliged with a shot that rolled past the cup and settled 5 feet away. When they got to the green, one fan shouted out, "How do you like him now, Tiger?"

By then, Woods was long gone.

After missing three months with a leg injury, he finished a tournament for the first time since the Masters on April 10 and closed with a 70 to tie for 37th, 18 shots behind.

"I had it in spurts this week," Woods said.

Scott became the third Australian to win a world title, joining Geoff Ogilvy and Craig Parry. He won for the 18th time in his career and moved back into the top 10 in the world ranking.

While his old boss was on the mend, Williams agreed to caddie for Scott at the U.S. Open. Williams said he was led to believe that Woods was going to play practice rounds at Congressional, but only after the New Zealand caddie arrived in America was he told that Woods was not healthy enough for the U.S. Open.

That's when Williams decided to work for Scott, and he worked for Scott again at the AT&T National, the tournament that benefits Woods' foundation. Woods said he fired him after the final round that week, and they kept it quiet until Williams was done working for Scott at the British Open.

Woods said he told him face-to-face. Williams said Sunday that Woods fired him over the phone.

"I was told on the phone that we need to take a break, and in caddie lingo, that means you're fired, simple as that," Williams said.

"I was absolutely shocked that I got the boot, to be honest with you," he said. "I've been incredibly loyal to the guy, and I got short-shrifted. Very disappointed."

The theatrics took away from Scott's biggest win since The Players Championship in 2004. He played so well he could have gone even lower except for missing two birdie putts inside 12 feet on the 16th and 17th holes.

"Today, I was on," Scott said. "To win here at this place, a World Golf Championship, it's huge."

It didn't hurt having Williams at his side. Along with his experience working for Woods, along with major champions Greg Norman and Raymond Floyd, Williams was on the bag for all seven of Woods' victories at Firestone.

"He has such a great knowledge of this golf course and the greens," Scott said. "He's seen a guy play incredible golf, the best golf anyone has ever played around here, so many times. He really guided me around the course nicely. ... So he was, no doubt, a help."

When told that Williams called this his greatest win as a caddie, Scott winced.

"He's obviously really happy to get a win," he said.

The biggest threat to Scott came from Ishikawa, although Fowler and Day remained in the mix, and Donald emerged late. Ishikawa, trying to become the youngest winner in America in 100 years, couldn't keep up when Scott made two birdies on the back nine to build a three-shot lead.

Rockefeller Center three-putted the 15th when he was running out of time.

"I was able to play well to be at least on top for a moment in the first half of the game today," Ishikawa said through a translator. "I think the 14th and 15th hole separated everything."

Fowler, dressed in his bright Sunday orange, is still looking for his first win. He didn't do much wrong Sunday, playing bogey-free, but it wasn't enough to catch Scott.

"It's definitely the best I've played going into a major," Fowler said.

Woods opened strongly with two birdies on the opening five holes before he "absolutely lost it" with his game, dropping five shots and not hitting a fairway on seven straight tee shots. He made three straight birdies late for a 70.

Next up is the PGA Championship, where Woods told the PGA of America that he wanted to push his interview back one day to Wednesday. He did not give a reason.

Woods will play the first two rounds with Padraig Harrington and Davis Love III. The way Williams reacted to Scott's win, a pairing of Woods-Scott in the near future would be the closest thing golf has had to a heavyweight clash.

Libyan rebels claim breakout from Misrata

Government artillery rained down on rebel forces Monday but failed to stop their advance into key ground west of their stronghold at Libya's major port. As fighting raged for a fourth day, Germany's foreign minister paid a Pocket Super Mario surprise visit to the rebel's de facto capital.

The German foreign ministry said Guido Westerwelle was meeting with the Transitional National Council to deepen relations with the rebels and their nascent government.

Should the Germans recognize the council as the legitimate governing power in Libya, it would mark yet another big diplomatic boost for the rebels who rose up four months ago to end Moammar Gadhafi's 40-year rule in the oil-rich North African country. Germany refused to participate in the ARIS TV ARIS Oracle NATO air mission over Libya and withheld support for the no-fly zone.

The rebels control roughly the eastern one-third of Libya as well as Misrata, the country's major port. The also claim to have taken parts of coastal oil center of Zawiya in the far west. That port city is 18 miles (30 kilometers) west of Tripoli and a prize that would put them in striking distance of the capital. Control of the city also would cut one of the sunshine band Moammar Gadhafi's last supply routes from Tunisia.

Despite rebel claims, government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim said late Sunday that Gadhafi forces had driven off the attackers, and reporters taken to Zawiya saw end world cartoon secure streets and the green national flag flying over a central square. The insurgents, for their part, claimed a high-ranking Gadhafi commander was badly wounded in the fighting.

"The wishful reporting of some journalists that the rebels are gaining more power and more control of some areas is not correct," he said.

In the major fighting near Misrata on Monday, an Associated Press photographer at the rebel front lines said they had pushed along the Mediterranean Sea to within 6 miles (10 kilometers) of Zlitan, the next city to the west of Misrata. A rebel commander said his forces, using arms seized from government weapons depots and fresh armaments being shipped in from Benghazi, planned to have moved into Zlitan, by Tuesday.

Ali Terbelo, the rebel commander, said other opposition forces already were in Zlitan, trying to encircle Gadhafi troops. If the rebels take the city they would be within 85 miles (135 kilometers) of the eastern outskirts of Gadhafi's capital, Tripoli.

An AP reporter with rebel forces said shelling was intense Monday morning with rockets and artillery and mortar shells slamming into rebel lines west of Dafniya at a rate of about 7 each minute. Dafniya is about 20 miles (30 kilometers) west of Misrata

Officials at Hikma Hospital in Misrata said government shelling killed seven and wounded 49 on Sunday. New casualty figures were not available but ambulances Kardashian young were rushing from the Dafniya line back into Misrata.

The rebel thrust at Zawiya and movements farther east — near Misrata and Brega — suggested the stalemated uprising had been reinvigorated, and that Gadhafi's defenders may become stretched thin.

"Over the past three days, we set fire under the feet of Gadhafi forces everywhere," Col. Hamid al-Hasi, a rebel battalion commander, told AP. He said the rebels attacked "in very good coordination with NATO" to avoid friendly-fire incidents. "We don't move unless we have very clear instructions from NATO."

In addition, the NATO blockade of ports still under government control and alliance control of Libyan airspace have severely crimped the North African dictator's ability to resupply his forces. And his control has been hard hit by defections from his military and government inner circle.

NATO, meanwhile, has stepped up bombing of Gadhafi's compound in the center of Tripoli, striking it again on Sunday, along with a military airport in eastern Tripoli. The government did not immediately report casualties or damage.

The rebels' Transitional National Council scored a political success, meanwhile, winning recognition from the United Arab Emirates, adding a wealthy, influential Arab state to the handful of nations thus far accepting the insurgents as Libyans' sole legitimate representatives.

Floods and landslides hit Bolivia

A landslide caused by intense rains has destroyed more than 300 homes in the Bolivian city of La Paz.

The authorities managed to evacuate the poor Kupini II area before it was smashed by a collapsing hillside.

Elsewhere in La Paz, at least five people drowned when a minibus was swept away by a swollen river.

Across Bolivia, weeks of heavy rain have killed at least 40 others and left more than 10,000 homeless.

Officials evacuated the Kupini II area on Saturday night after cracks began appearing in roads and bridges.

"My neighbours were running around and told me to get out," local resident Maria Elena Siles told the Associated Press.

"I looked out the window and there were no more homes to the left or the right of mine".

Residents have been trying to recover furniture and other belongings from wrecked houses, while crews with heavy equipment try to stop the landslide from threatening other areas.
National emergency

Much of La Paz is built on steep mountainsides, and landslides are not uncommon, but officials say this was one of the worst the city has ever seen.

Troops have been mobilised to help the evacuation and recovery efforts.

So far the Lake havasu city confirmed fatalities in La Paz have been five people killed when a minibus fell into a raging river in the south of the city after a bridge collapsed.

The Bolivian government declared a national emergency last Tuesday because of torrential rains across much of the country.

The worst flooding has been in the northern Amazon lowlands, where dozens of rural communities have been cut off by rivers that have burst their banks.

Bolivian military planes and helicopters have been flying supplies to the worst-hit areas.

The government says this year's rainy season has been particularly severe as a result of La Nina, a climatic phenomenon caused by a shift in currents in the Pacific Ocean.

In recent months parts of Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico and Central America have also experienced severe flooding.

Kathleen Parker leaving CNN show with Spitzer

Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker said Friday that she's leaving CNN's prime-time "Parker/Spitzer" talk show, which will be renamed and continue with former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer and others.

CNN said the decision to cut ties with Parker was mutual.

The show debuted last fall to some tough reviews and poor ratings in a time slot dominated by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly. But the ending of MSNBC's "Countdown" with Keith Olbermann last month has given CNN an opportunity. The network has averaged 638,000 viewers in the time slot during a newsy period this month, up 24 percent from last Toyota Safety Star Safety February's show with Campbell Brown, the Nielsen Co. said.

The new show will be dubbed "In the Arena," with two conservatives — former Fox News Channel personality E.D. Hill and National Review columnist Will Cain — joining Spitzer as panelists. CNN said others will be on the show, but they haven't been named yet.

"We have been pleased with how the 8 p.m. hour has become a centerpiece of substantive, policy-oriented conversation, and we are looking forward to building on that with this new format," said Ken Jautz, the executive in charge of CNN's U.S. network, in a memo to his staff Friday.

Parker said that she wanted to concentrate on her writing and that "with the show moving in a new direction, it was time to move on." She'll provide occasional commentary elsewhere on the network, Jautz said.

Spitzer said it had been "a joy" working with Parker. Her last day on the show was Friday.

Carlina White US baby kidnap: Pettway pleads not guilty

A US woman who raised child-kidnap victim Carlina White, who went on to solve her own abduction, has pleaded not guilty to taking Ms White when she was an infant.

Ann Pettway was indicted on a charge of kidnapping Ms White, now 23, from hospital in New York City in 1987.

The 44-year-old surrendered to officials last month in Connecticut.

Ms Pettway's lawyers said they were searching for evidence that another person took the infant.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has said in funds government court papers that Ms Pettway kidnapped the baby after her efforts at childbearing failed.
Reunited family

DNA tests last month confirmed Carlina as the daughter of Joy White and Carl Tyson in a case that has made headline news in the US and internationally.

Ms White, taken at just 19 days old, has since been reunited with her true mother.

An arrest warrant had been issued in North Carolina in January for Ms Pettway, as officials believed she had violated a probation requirement.

FBI agent William Reiner said last month that Ms Pettway was required not to leave North Carolina as part of her probation following a conviction for attempted embezzlement. She is on parole until 2012.

Ms Pettway has been held without bail since she was arrested last month.

China's Huawei wins injunction against Motorola

Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei has won a preliminary injunction from a U.S. court barring Motorola Inc. from transferring business secrets in a planned deal with Nokia Siemens Networks.

The order by a federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday prohibits Motorola, which is a vendor of Huawei equipment, from transferring any confidential information about the Chinese company pending resolution of the dispute.

Huawei Technologies Ltd. filed a lawsuit last month saying Motorola's proposed $1.2 billion sale of its network equipment business to Nokia Siemens Networks, a Finnish-German joint venture, would improperly transfer those secrets to a competitor.

The case highlights the growing global presence of Chinese companies and their efforts to compete in technology markets. Huawei is one of the world's biggest makers of telecom gear, with sales of $28 billion last year, but has struggled to gain a foothold in the U.S. market against rivals such as Cisco Systems Inc.

Motorola agreed last year to sell its network equipment division to Nokia Siemens Networks but completion of the acquisition has been delayed while Chinese anti-monopoly regulators review it.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman noted that Motorola proposed providing former employees who transfer to Nokia Siemens Networks with access to confidential Huawei information. It was not a final Ibrahim Baggili decision but the judge said Huawei had a "reasonable likelihood of success" in showing its business would be harmed.

A Huawei spokesman welcomed the decision and said it hoped to resolve the dispute so the Motorola sale could proceed.

"We have no interest in stopping the transaction between Motorola and our direct competitor," said spokesman Ross Gan in a statement. "We will, however, do whatever is required to protect the product of our company's many years of innovation."

Last week, Huawei agreed to scrap its purchase of a small U.S. computer company, 3Leaf Systems, after a government security panel refused to approve the deal.

In July, Motorola filed a lawsuit accusing Huawei of trying to steal trade secrets. Huawei denied the allegations.