The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from April 2007

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from April 2007

Bat tongue licks them all!(Anoura fistulata)
April 1, 2007... Imagine a mouse with a three-inch-long tongue. Now give that mouse some wings, and you've got Anoura fistulata--a rare South American bat with a tongue that can extend 1.5 times its body length! "It's like a cat being able to lap milk from two...

This month in Odyssey.(Science Scoops)
April 1, 2007... Dear ODYSSEY Readers: I'm writing this Editor's Note as a letter, because the form is a favorite of biologist and conservationist Edward O. Wilson, whose remarkable life and work are the subjects of this issue. Wilsen's book The Future of...

The tides, they are a-changin'!(Science Scoops)
April 1, 2007... At least that's what marine life must have been thinking about 250 million years ago, when the largest mass extinction occurred on our planet! Yes, in the blink of a geologic eye, some 95 percent of all marine species and 70 percent of...

City birds are hyper!(Science Scoops)(city birds croon faster)
April 1, 2007... Hans Slabbekoorn of Leiden University in Belgium has birds on the brain. This is because a recent study led by him ended on a high note. Songbirds living in cities, he discovered, sing faster and at higher frequencies than their forest-dwelling...

LouseBuster to the rescue!(Science Scoops)(head lice cure)
April 1, 2007... Head itch? Think you've got lice? Well, don't fear: "LouseBuster" is here! Yes, it's LouseBuster--an appliance that looks something like a cross between a vacuum cleaner and a hair dryer. And, if you believe University of Utah biologist...

Life found on Mars?(Science Scoops)
April 1, 2007... Well... maybe. At least the prospect is looking much better. You see, according to a recent article in the journal Science, studies of before-and-after images of Mars taken by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) show some curious changes in two...

The benefits of smog.(Science Scoops)
April 1, 2007... Speaking of life, do you live in Los Angeles or some other smog-laden city? Well, here's the good news: If it weren't for smog, you might not have had a chance to be around to hate it. You see. according to a study in the Proceedings of the...

E.O. Wilson boy naturalist.(Biography)
April 1, 2007... "BE A HUNTER AND EXPLORER, NOT A PROBLEM SOLVER." This is the advice, says world-renowned entomologist E.O. Wilson in his 1994 autobiography, Naturalist, that he gives to his science students. "If you have the will, there is a discipline in...

See the world in a tree trunk.(Activity to Discover)
April 1, 2007... Incredible discoveries might be waiting for you in your own back yard. As E.O. Wilson says in his autobiography, Naturalist, "a lifetime can be spent in a Magellanic voyage around the trunk of a single tree." Every exploration is a voyage of...

Edward O. Wilson: friend and fellow ant man.(Cover story)
April 1, 2007... A 6-FOOT-TALL, BESPECTACLED PROFESSOR is down on his hands and knees crawling along the ground. He has an aspirator in his mouth and is sucking up Pheidole a workers, like an anteater. My friend and colleague Ed Wilson was on a mission....

Alabama Wilson and the zombies of the crawling brain.(Edward O. Wilson)
April 1, 2007... FLASHBACK, 1935: Young E.O. "Alabama" Wilson explores the sidewalk outside his home. He is entranced by a scurry of lion ants, genus Dorymyrmex. Despite his respect for living creatures, Alabama is overcome by an urge to crush one of the...

Ants rule! Who rules in the natural world? Sharks? Tigers? Gorillas? Or ... ants?
April 1, 2007... Naturalist Edward O. Wilson would vote for ants--along with spiders, insects, worms, and all the small creatures of Earth. These are, he wrote, "the little things that run the world." If all ants suddenly disappeared from the planet, life as we...

Ants in action.
April 1, 2007... You don't have to travel to South America to watch leaf-cutter ants at work. Take a close-up look at these amazing insects at the Smithsonian Institution's National Zoo in Washington, DC. The zoo's larger leaf-cutter ant colony lives at the...

So we scurried about like ants.(Play)
April 1, 2007... The from Mr. Bluni's science class have gotten lost on their way to the science museum. Can they use techniques based on ant navigation to find their way? CHARACTERS: Nat, Wendy, Esteban, Jimmy, Narrator, Mary Catherine, Mr. Bluni ...

The best engineering has bugs in it: insect master builders are teaching human engineers how to develop new high-tech marvels. Learn how, then "build like an ant.".(Activity to Discover)
April 1, 2007... 1. A team of autonomous robots wall of a nuclear spill, with no one guiding them. 2. A huge covered stadium holds many thousands of people, while occupying a minimum of space. Let's see how it's done. INSECT ENGINEERING #1: ...

Paradise lost: island biogeography of New Zealand.
April 1, 2007... Spin a world globe slowly around and see if you can find New Zealand. It's one of the world's most isolated island countries. Australia, the nearest significant land mass, is over 1,000 miles away. Composed of two big islands stretching almost...

Edward O. Wilson: turn off the iPod ... tune in to nature.(People To Discover)(Interview)
April 1, 2007... E.O. WILSON, the Ant Man, has made his favorite little creatures so familiar to the public that two full-length animated movies have relied on ant facts for their humor. Now Wilson, also known as the Dean of Biodiversity, hopes to draw as much...

Bio-blitz!(undiscovered species )
April 1, 2007... Armed with nets, junior high students from Peoples Church in Cedar Rapids, IA, literally beat the bushes last summer at Boston Harbor Islands National Park. Their one-day project aimed to collect as many beetles as possible for scientific...

Ant maze.(Brain Strain)
April 1, 2007... Pretend that you're a Pheidole ant. You start at any one of the four entrances at the top (see arrows) of the maze pictured here and exit through any one of the four exits at the bottom. Each time you pass through an intersection with a number,...

Beware of hitchhikers! Read about some curious fellow readers. Then fill in the blanks, using the definitions given in the accompanying list.(Activity to Discover)
April 1, 2007... THE STRANGER WORE A LONG, BROWN COAT with little yellow spots. He was eating a citrus-almond salad in the diner where I'd stopped on Interstate 5, just south of San Francisco. Read about some curious fellow travelers. Then fill in the...

Star chart.
April 1, 2007... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it appears at 8:30 p.m. (your local daylight-savings time) on April 15. Useful all month (except for planet positions), the chart is also accurate for 9:30 p.m. on April 1 and 7:30...

The cosmic hot dog.(Stargazing Comic)(Cartoon)
April 1, 2007... DO YOU LIKE HOT DOGS? WELL, I'LL SHOW YOU ONE IN THE SKY! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] HERE'S WHAT YOU DO! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] GO OUTSIDE AT 7P.M., PEACE SOUTHWEST, AND LOOK ABOUT A THIRD OF THE WAY UP IN THE SKY FOR SIRIUS, THE...

Flies in the Face of Fashion, Mites Make Right, and Other BUGdacious Tales.(Children's review)(Book review)
April 1, 2007... Flies in the Face of Fashion, Mites Make Right, and Other BUGdacious Tales by Tom Turpin (Purdue University Press, 2006) Did you know that in ancient times, some types of insects were used in place of stitches, to hold cuts closed?...

Honorary mammal.(kiwis)
April 1, 2007... The five species of New Zealand's pearshaped, chicken-sized, flightless kiwis are classified as birds. Yet, unlike most birds, they have thick, leathery skin; hairlike feathers; poor eyesight; a great sense of smell and hearing; and a long,...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
April 2, 2007... Apr. 2--LLOYDS TSB CHIEF'S RISE IN PAY OUTSTRIPS PROFITS LEAP: Eric Daniels, the American chief executive of Lloyds TSB, saw his pay package soar 27 percent to [pounds sterling]2.44 million last year when the High Street bank's profits rose by...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Apr. 2--Memo to private equity: if you want to know where you're going so wrong, take a look at the GMB union's website. It demonstrates how you screw up on a monumental scale. You misjudge your audience and the...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
April 2, 2007... Apr. 2--Mars has given Uncle Ben, the face of its rice brand since the 1940s, a makeover -- but it has made a terrible blunder. On his website "diary" is the message: "Travel to Australia -- meet with Tasmanian Aborigines. Demonstrate why my...

Expansion pushes Linley's furniture firm into the red.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 2--The upmarket furniture chain set up by Viscount Linley has dived into the red as it counts the cost of expansion. The company, David Linley, had losses of [pounds sterling]344,939 in 2005 against profits of...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Apr. 2--There is something quaintly old-fashioned in the idea put around last week that Barclays' decision to retain the investment banking arm of Citigroup as an additional adviser on the team trying to do a deal...

Armor lands [pounds sterling]96m deal to protect US embassy in Kabul.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Apr. 2--International security specialist ArmorGroup has won a five-year contract to guard the US Embassy in Kabul. Worth $189 million ([pounds sterling]96 million) over the next five years, the contract is the...

Loan demand up 19 percent despite rate rises, says Northern Rock.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Apr. 2--Whether or not the Bank of England led by Governor Mervyn King raises interest rates again this Thursday -- and it's still anybody's guess -- Northern Rock reckons most people can still afford to buy houses and...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
April 2, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Apr. 2--The German owner of the Lloyds Pharmacy chain is threatening to spoil the party at Alliance Boots, up 3 1/2p at 1030 1/2p, by topping the 1040p-a-share offer on the table from Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the...

O'Reilly rides in with [pounds sterling]12 million to take rest of oilfield close to Goodwood.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 2--Sir Tony O'Reilly, the international rugby player turned billionaire tycoon, now has more reason than ever to visit Goodwood. The equestrian fan has just bought an oilfield next to the racecourse that will be...

CBI fury at Brown pension raid claim.
April 2, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 2--Big business today launched a scathing attack on Gordon Brown over his tax raid on pension funds. CBI director general Richard Lambert said the Chancellor's decision in 1997 to scrap tax credits on dividends...

Firms' record returns up inflation fears.
April 3, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 3--The profitability of British companies hit a record high at the end of last year after a strong recovery in manufacturing. The Office for National Statistics said the net rate of return for UK companies was...

London heading a surge in building as office demand soars.
April 3, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Apr. 3--London is leading a nationwide resurgence in construction, even before building for the Olympics starts, with the capital chalking up the sector's fastest growth in more than a decade. The number of London...

Choices shuts shops as Focus turns to net.
April 3, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway Apr. 3--ChoicesUK, second to Blockbuster for film rentals on the High Street, has taken drastic action to get itself back into profit as the battle for consumer spending on DVDs and video games becomes fiercer. It...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
April 3, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Apr. 3--The decision by the German gas and electricity utility E.On to drop its [pounds sterling]28.7 billion bid for Spanish rival Endesa may mean it will turn its attention to the UK. That was the buzz in the Square...

Silverjet is raising another [pounds sterling]25m as it aims to expand.
April 3, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Apr. 3--Business class-only carrier Silverjet has come back to investors for another [pounds sterling]25 million just 10 weeks after the launch of its daily transatlantic services between Luton and New York. ...

United and bmi plan transatlantic flights merger.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--United Airlines and bmi have reportedly agreed to merge their transatlantic operations as the two companies jockey to take advantage of the Open Skies deal between the US and EU. The two carriers are said to have asked the US...

Public voting today on plans for Lydd expansion.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Apr. 4--Plans for a new "London" airport face a stiff challenge today when locals on the Kent coast take part in an official referendum on plans for a major expansion of Lydd Airport. The future of Lydd, which is...

Boots bid link in OFT's drugs supply probe.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 4--Pfizer and Alliance Boots are at the centre of an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading into how medicines are distributed in the UK. The probe follows complaints from doctors and hospitals that an...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--PURPLE RONNIE ARTIST SELLS OUT TO COOLABI FOR [pounds sterling]4.8M: The creator of Purple Ronnie, Notting Hill artist Giles Andreae, today agreed to sell the brand in a deal worth up to [pounds sterling]4.8 million. Eton- and...

Celebs and the City lift air partner.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--The failure of London's main airports to give celebrities, City types and the moneyed classes in general the service they want has seen rich jetsetters flock to Air Partner, the quoted private jet brokerage. Air Partner, whose...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
April 4, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Apr. 4--Intense speculation that Centrica could soon become the target of a bid by German utility E.On drove shares in the British Gas group to a new high today, providing one institutional investor with the...

Online boost as sales slip at Mothercare.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--Just months after launching its website, Mothercare now gets about 10 percent of its sales online, the company said today. However, overall UK sales dipped 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, highlighting the importance of the...

Bonus splurge by City's rich fuels [pounds sterling]1m-plus rental market.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 4--Paying rent of [pounds sterling]1 million a year may sound like crazy money -- but property agents warn that his is just a start, as prices are set to soar. The cost of renting luxury homes in London has...

The man who said no to Stuart Rose.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Apr. 4--Reading the newspapers at the weekend, it was hard to avoid a sense of deja vu: Terry Green was tipped to be leaving Tesco, where he heads the supermarket's clothing range, for the same job at Marks &...

Bonus-chasing bankers a boon to Michael Page.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--The global shortage of people entering and then staying in the banking and accountancy industries is seeing a worldwide profit boom for Michael Page. The recruitment firm said today that gross profits in the first quarter of the...

Insurers are warned to brace for new hurricane-season blows.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--This year's hurricane season will be much more active than usual with at least nine hurricanes and a good chance that one of them will hit the US mainland, researchers have warned the insurance industry. William Gray's team at...

'Crisis on cards' over risky UK home loans.
April 4, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 4--Homeowners were today given a chilling warning that a slowdown in the housing market could lead to a crisis in the subprime mortgage sector. Credit rating agency Standard & Poor's said signs of stress were...

Vodafone puts more millions into UEFA pot.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--With three British clubs playing in the Champions League quarterfinals, Vodafone today increased its multi-million-pound sponsorship deal with UEFA by adding the UEFA Cup Finals and Super Cup to its roster of tournaments. The new...

Shares buffetted as BIFFA warns of missed targets.
April 4, 2007... Apr. 4--Shares in dustbins group Biffa slumped 6 percent today, falling 20 1/4p to 331p after the company admitted its maiden full-year results as an independent quoted company will be disappointing. The waste group, demerged from the...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--SCRAP METAL BOSS POCKETS [pounds sterling]5.6M IN TAKEOVER BY RIVAL: Scrap metal king Cliff Bassett was [pounds sterling]5.6 million richer today as the salvage company he founded agreed to a [pounds sterling]57 million takeover by...

Wedgwood duo seek investors' [pounds sterling]34m to fund restructuring.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Armitage Apr. 5--Sir Anthony O'Reilly is aiming to tap investors for e50 million ([pounds sterling]33.8 million) to fund further restructuring and job losses at his Waterford Wedgwood chinaware group. Since merging Royal...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--Now the dust has settled on ITV's securing of the rights to show live FA Cup and England matches, questions are being asked as to whether it was such a coup after all. Interest in the FA Cup is dismal -- witness the poor attendance at...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.(Column)
April 5, 2007... Byline: Neil Collins Apr. 5--Of all his measures in a decade of frantic law-making, the one Gordon Brown must have least expected to come back and bite him was his decision to curtail the tax privileges of the pension funds. At the time,...

Debenhams 'refines its look' with a [pounds sterling]70 million spend.
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--Struggling department stores chain Debenhams is to undergo a makeover costing up to [pounds sterling]70 million in an effort to revitalise the brand. The group will use elements of its upmarket, small-stores brand Desire in about...

OPEC-style cartel on the cards for gas producers.
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--The world's top natural gas-producing nations are to meet in a bid to form a cartel along similar lines to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. The 14 nations that form the Gas Exporting Countries Forum meet in the...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
April 5, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Apr. 5--ACTIVIST INVESTORS ARE COMING OF AGE: The quoted private-equity firm 3i is considering launching a new fund that would invest in public companies and then seek to ginger them up. One idea is to raise up to...

Bank holds rates but May rise is odds on.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea Apr. 5--The odds shortened on an interest rate rise next month after the Bank of England today held the base cost of borrowing at 5.25 percent for the third month running. While the Bank does not disclose until later...

Tchenguiz's [pounds sterling]100m bid right flavour for La Tasca.
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--Spanish restaurants chain La Tasca today gave the nod to a [pounds sterling]100 million takeover bid from property tycoon Robert Tchenguiz. The company, which also owns the La Vina and Sam & Maxie's brands, said it would recommend...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
April 5, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Apr. 5--ABN Amro is not ruling out the possibility of mega-mergers taking place in the oil sector before long as the big blue-chip producers strive for cost savings. It is among a growing band of brokers that...

Xstrata boss Big Mick's pay leaps to [pounds sterling]4.2 million.
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--Mick Davis, chief executive of [pounds sterling]26 billion mining giant Xstrata, picked up a [pounds sterling]4.2 million pay package last year after completing takeovers of three smaller rivals. "Big Mick", as Davis is known, was...

Top Wall Street dealmaker set to scoop [pounds sterling]400m in Apollo stake sale.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 5--Wall Street "rainmaker" Leon Black could scoop [pounds sterling]400 million from the sale of a chunk of the private-equity house that he founded. Black, 56, has appointed bankers to explore the sale of a...

KKR bows out of Sainsbury's bid.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 5--Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has pulled out of the consortium mulling a [pounds sterling]9.5 billion bid for Sainsbury's -- but an offer for the supermarkets group remains imminent. A formal bid could come as...

Saudis 'want Brown to sign Eurofighter deal'.
April 5, 2007... Byline: Jim Armitage Apr. 5--Saudi Arabia is said to be dragging its feet on signing a [pounds sterling]20 billion deal to buy Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE Systems as it wants the deal endorsed by Gordon Brown when he becomes Prime...

Shell going back to Niger Delta.
April 5, 2007... Apr. 5--Royal Dutch Shell is returning to the Niger Delta in Nigeria a year after being forced out by violent rebels. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) had attacked Shell's production plants as part of a campaign...

BP accused of tampering again with blast case jury.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Apr. 10--Oil and gas major BP faces severe punishment by a judge after being accused of a second attempt to tamper with a jury at a trial over a 2005 explosion at its Texas refinery. Lawyers for victims of the...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
April 10, 2007... Apr. 10--A SENIOR partner of a City law firm dies and is met by St Peter at the Pearly Gates. "Before I can let you in, I need to clarify something," says St Peter. "By all means," says the senior partner. "How old were you when you died?" asks...

Germans clinging on to [pounds sterling]5bn of Deutschmarks.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Allan Hall Apr. 10--More than five years since the euro edged aside the mighty Deutschmark Germans are still hoarding an incredible [pounds sterling]5 billion worth of the old currency in their homes. Hidden in piggy banks,...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
April 10, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Apr. 10--The City was agog just before the Easter break at the [pounds sterling]2.5 billion value put on Saga, the group that provides holidays, financial services and much else to the over 50s, and the quite...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
April 10, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark Apr. 10--Another big surge in the price of commodities provided a boost to mining companies today and enabled the rest of the market to hitch a ride higher. Copper led the way, surging to a seven-month high on the...

British Energy output cheer despite shutdowns.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 10--British Energy gave investors a much-needed boost today with news that it generated more power than expected last year despite a difficult 12 months. Britain's biggest energy producer, which emerged from...

Battle for Sainsbury family's bid backing.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 10--The takeover bid for J Sainsbury was hanging in the balance today as directors gathered to try to persuade the founding family to accept an improved offer of 582p a share. A private-equity consortium led...

Sainsbury takeover bid close to collapse.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 10--The takeover bid for J Sainsbury was crumbling rapidly today as the founding family rejected an increased [pounds sterling]10.3 billion offer and two of the three private-equity firms funding the deal quit....

Tesco poised for Aussie supermarket swoop.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie Apr. 10--Tesco is preparing to make a takeover move on Coles, the second-largest supermarket group in Australia, which is worth about [pounds sterling]8 billion. Tesco executives have been sizing up the giant...

Imperial mulls hostile bid as Altadis snubs new offer.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 10--Imperial Tobacco was today considering launching a hostile takeover bid for Altadis after seeing a second friendly approach stubbed out. The Spanish cigarette maker said the new e47 ([pounds sterling]32)...

Shy Anschutz is facing a double ordeal in court.
April 10, 2007... Byline: Simon English Apr. 10--Philip Anschutz, the American billionaire with close ties to the Labour Party, could be forced to give evidence in two separate court cases in the coming weeks. The publicity-shy tycoon, who owns London's...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
April 11, 2007... Apr. 11--INSURERS LEND SUPPORT TO BROWNE'S [pounds sterling]15M BP PAYOUT: Retiring BP chief executive Lord Browne today won the support of the Association of British Insurers over his proposed [pounds sterling]15 million golden goodbye. The...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
April 11, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Apr. 11--Lord Sainsbury is my hero. I know that sounds over the top but I don't care: right now, Lord Sainsbury of Turville gets my vote. Like most figures of adoration David Sainsbury has plenty of faults....

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
April 11, 2007... Apr. 11--COULD The Ritz be up for sale? Its owners are looking for ways to finance a takeover of InterContinental Hotels takeover, and speculation is rife they could be willing to give up the prized asset. The word is it could attract [pounds...

London boasts 25 percent of best-paid traders.
April 11, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan Apr. 11--More than a quarter of the world's 100 highest paid traders work in London -- a sign of the City's growing status as a global powerhouse. Twenty-seven hedge fund managers based in the capital made it into...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
April 11, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton Apr. 11--The management guru Peter Drucker once wrote that the first rule in any corporate disaster was to find a scapegoat. The private-equity consortium of CVC, Blackstone and Texas Pacific that was trying to mount...