The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from January 2006

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from January 2006

This month in Odyssey.
January 1, 2006... It's almost as if the hands in this month's cover image are separated from the surgeon's body. "That's sometimes the feeling I get [watching] some of these really masterful surgeons.... They're doing such wonderful work," says the photograph's...

Lara Croft: wound raider.(surgeons who play video games make less mistakes in laparoscopic surgery)
January 1, 2006... If you expect to become a surgeon someday, you'd better pay attention in science class and also play plenty of video games. Gee, zapping space aliens on Nintendo seems more like goofing off than training for a science career. Yet according to a...

Got acne?(men who get acne are less likely to die with corornary heart disease)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Well, that's good! That's if you believe a recent British study by Bruna Galobardes (Department of Social Medicine at the University of Bristol) and her colleagues. The researchers claim that teenage boys who suffer from acne are one-third less...

Got friends?(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Speaking of longevity, did you know that having close friends can prolong your life? Well, now you do! Just ask Australian researcher Lynne Giles (Flinders University, Adelaide). She and her colleagues say that it's friends, not family,...

Got brain?(brain volume and intelligence are correlated)
January 1, 2006... We all say it. When we think someone is smart, we say they have a big brain. But is there any validity to that statement? Yes! In a new study conducted by Michael McDaniel, an industrial and organizational psychologist at Virginia...

Butterfly blinks to survive!(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... If a butterfly flaps its wings in the forest, will a bird not eat it? That depends on whether the bird sees the "whites of its eyes." Confused? Don't be. All butterflies have curious spots on their wings, known as eyespots. The function of...

Dolphin spongers!(Science Scoops)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Okay, everyone knows that dolphins are intelligent and can do amazing things on command from a human. Now dolphins in Australia have been observed using tools! Michael Krutzen (University of Zurich, Switzerland) says that bottlenose...

Welcome to the OR!
January 1, 2006... Step into paper shoe covers, slip on a surgical gown, and cover your hair with a poofy cap. Then join ODYSSEY inside a modern operating room. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Closed-circuit TV cameras sometimes film surgery for training and...

What's ahead?(surgeons in operating rooms)
January 1, 2006... Expect continued developments in minimally invasive surgery. Advances in imaging technology, miniature electronics, lasers, and materials science all combine to let surgeons work with tiny incisions and sometimes no cuts at all. Often this...

At the cutting edge: a day in the life of a general surgeon.(Don Conner )
January 1, 2006... Nature sketches an incredible scene at dawn as most of the residents of Littleton, CO, still lie dreaming. Dr. Don Conner picks up his 35mm camera and captures the image--the Sun's first morning rays turning the white-capped mountains on the...

Conquering pain: the story of anesthesia.
January 1, 2006... Just 200 years ago, if you had an aching tooth, you endured the pain until infection and rot made it intolerable. Then you paid a visit to a barber-surgeon. (Who?!) He not only cut hair and shaved beards, but also performed tooth extractions,...

Body shop: a look at the science of bionics.
January 1, 2006... Will bionics turn people into superheroes? The science can't yet let amputees run and jump like The Six Million Dollar Man did in the old TV series. Nor is it even close to Detective Spooner's robot-kicking abilities in the book and movie I,...

Slice the cake.(mathematical recreations)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Dr. Smith, a great surgeon, is preparing a birthday cake for a friend's twin sons. The doctor knows that one prefers chocolate, while the other prefers vanilla. Smith bakes a cake in the shape of the ancient yin-yang symbol of two opposing...

Bloodsuckers!(leech therapy)
January 1, 2006... As Steve and Karl Behling rushed their seven-year-old daughter to a Milwaukee hospital, they never thought that an ancient remedy would worm its way into their lives. In September 2004, the lift gate of a movers' truck crushed three of...

"Knot" so easy!(suturing)
January 1, 2006... Tying a knot. It's something we do every day. Yet completing a secure surgical knot--one that won't slip, allow leakage, or damage fragile tissue--is one of a surgeon's many vital skills, because a patient's life could depend on it. Have...

An inside look at surgical shortcuts.(surgical technology)
January 1, 2006... My dad has a scar running from his chest down to his bellybutton, like a flat red snake. "Still as ugly as ever," he often says, describing the 35-year-old souvenir of a gall bladder operation. New School In the late 1970s, the surgeon...

Einstein's knife: gripping her cutting tool, a surgeon peers over her work. Oddly, the incision she makes doesn't bleed. Instead, a strange red glow and a bit of smoke mark her progress.
January 1, 2006... Not far away, another surgeon moves an invisible beam across the surface of a tumor. Layer by layer, the diseased tissue vanishes in a puff of smoke and steam. Next door, a third surgeon reshapes an eye. Tiny pulses of invisible energy...

A very small surgical procedure: surgeons are used to working with tiny nerves and blood vessels. But imagine operating inside a single, living cell ...
January 1, 2006... THIS SURGERY WON'T TAKE LONG about a billionth of a second! That's how quickly Harvard physicist Dr. Eric Mazur's femtosecond laser can begin to vaporize a single mitochondrion inside a living cell. while leaving the rest of the cell undamaged....

Inner voice.
January 1, 2006... "There must be some way you can make them see reason. They can't make you live in the Dark Ages for the rest of your life." Ella snorted. "You know my parents. Wannabe hippies. Always going on about the natural way. I'm lucky that they let...

What's up.(astronomical charts)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it appears at 6 p.m. (your local time) on Jan. 15. Useful all month, the chart (except for planet positions) is also accurate for 7 p.m. on Jan. 1 and 5 p.m. on Jan. 31. Sky...

Lonnnnnnnng winter nights.(suited for astronomical research)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... The new year brings long winter nights, which means extra hours for stargazing. The stars of winter are among the brightest, which makes constellation watching exciting for people of all ages and abilities. Look toward the southeast for...

Planet watch.(What's Up)(Brief article)
January 1, 2006... Evening Planets: Venus (in Capricornus, moving into Sagittarius) sets about 90 minutes after the Sun. During the month, it moves toward the Sun and reappears in the morning sky. By the last days of January, look for our sister planet to rise...

Watching the Aurora!(Zoom Into Astronomy)
January 1, 2006... Imagine that you're watching the weather report on TV or checking the news on the Internet, and you hear that the Sun has experienced a large solar flare. This could mean that satellite communications will be interrupted. Or, weather...

Cheating the seasons.(StarGazing)(Cartoon)
January 1, 2006... BY NOW, YOU'VE LEARNED THAT THE MOST PROMINENT STARS SEEN EARLY IN THE EVENING ARE CALLED THE STARS OF THE SEASON. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] EACH SEASON ALSO HAS A CONSTELLATION ASSOCIATED WITH IT--LEO WITH THE SPRING, SCORPIUS WITH...

Nutritional information: rate my treat!(for chocolates)
January 1, 2006... In our February 2005 issue, "The Sweet Chemistry of Chocolate," we challenged readers to choose a selection of chocolate treats, compare their nutrition information, and (here's the hard part!) rank them according to taste with this scale: ...

Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes.(Kids' Picks)(Book review)
January 1, 2006... Gorilla Doctors: Saving Endangered Great Apes by Pamela S. Turner (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005) What do you do with a sick gorilla? No, that's not a riddle; in fact, that question helped to create an organization called the...

The inside story.(xenotransplantation)
January 1, 2006... In 1682, doctors used dog bone to mend the injured skull of a Russian nobleman. After religious leaders threatened to banish him from the church, the nobleman had the bone removed. We still struggle with scientific and moral aspects of...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--FUND ACE TAPS INTO ELECTRIC WORD WITH [pounds sterling]2.7M DEAL: Top City fund manager Stewart Newton is to become the biggest shareholder in small quoted publisher Electric Word with a holding of almost 20 percent. Newton, 64 and...

European supply worry fuels rise in London gas prices.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--Gas prices rose on London markets today on continuing fears that the energy row between Russia and Ukraine could hit Continental supplies into the UK. On the spot market, gas rose by as much 314p to 74p a therm while for one-month...

Hedge funds lose appeal and returns drop in 2005.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--Global investment into hedge funds halved last year and returns fell below 7 percent, according to Credit Suisse's hedge fund index, which tracks more than $800 billion ([pounds sterling]464 billion) of assets worldwide. About $60...

HSBC boss heading for the exit after a 28-year stint.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--HSBC's [pounds sterling]1 million-a-year chief operating officer Alan Jebson is retiring after 28 years with the bank. HSBC, which recently announced chief executive Stephen Green would succeed Sir John Bond as chairman, said it had...

Buchanan set to take the chair at Smith & Nephew.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--Former BP finance chief John Buchanan is set to become chairman of medical devices group Smith & Nephew. Buchanan, 62, will succeed Dudley Eustace, 70. He has picked up four non-executive directorships since retiring from the BP board...

Packer Jr throws in Singapore hand.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--Just a week after his father's death, Australian media and gambling tycoon Jamie Packer has stamped his mark on the company he inherited, pulling out of the bidding for Singapore's first casino. Kerry Packer, Australia's richest...

Germans match French offer in battle for Canada's Dofasco.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--The bid battle for control of Canadian steel producer Dofasco took a fresh twist today with Germany's ThyssenKrupp matching French rival Arcelor's C$63-a-share offer, worth a total C$4.9 billion ([pounds sterling]2.4 billion). ...

Trading halted as AIM trio fail to file.
January 3, 2006... Jan. 3--Three companies floated in 2005 on the junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) were suspended today for failing to file inaugural accounts. A fourth, cash shell Illuminator -- chaired by activist investor Julian Treger -- was...

Slowdown in borrowing underlines High Street woes.
January 4, 2006... Jan. 4--The weakness of High Street spending in the run-up to Christmas was highlighted today by figures showing a sharp drop in consumer credit in November to its lowest for five years. Consumer credit -- borrowing on credit and store cards,...

Brighter for Next as sales decline slows.
January 4, 2006... Jan. 4--Fashion retailer Next raised its profit forecasts today after stemming the massive decline in sales seen over the dismal summer. While sales at Next's shops in the six months to Christmas Eve were still down on last year, the fall...

Blair bid to save Rolls-Royce fighter-jet contract with US.
January 4, 2006... Jan. 4--Tony Blair has reportedly written to President Bush in a bid to save a multi-billion-dollar Rolls-Royce contract to develop a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. In budget papers handed to Congress, the Pentagon last...

End of era as administrators sell Past Times.
January 4, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Jan. 4--The retail group behind the Past Times gift-shop chain has crashed into administration, leaving a host of Britain's leading retailers red-faced and out of pocket. Founder directors and shareholders of...

Swedes lose their cool over Old Mutual's takeover plan.
January 4, 2006... Jan. 4--Tempers became frayed today between London-listed insurance giant Old Mutual and its [pounds sterling]3.5 billion Swedish takeover target as Skandia shareholders united in their opposition to the deal. Old Mutual has won some 62.5...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 4, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 4--US value investor Brandes Investment has taken a profit on its 15 percent stake in Marks & Spencer, Britain's biggest clothing retailer, ahead of next Tuesday's trading update. It has sold 32 million, or 2...

Pay in more and retire later, Green staff are told.
January 4, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 4--Philip Green's Topshop-to-Burton retail group Arcadia has told thousands of its workers they will have to work an extra five years and increase monthly payments into their retirement scheme by 50 percent if they...

Canterbury polished off by Jamie's TV roasting.
January 4, 2006... Jan. 4--TV chef Jamie Oliver today claimed his first corporate scalp as school dinners maker Canterbury Foods crashed into administration. It blamed Oliver's School Dinners programme for a slump in meat sales last year and has called in...

Numbers dive at BMI as rivals spread their wings.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 5--BMI British Midland has denied it is in crisis after official figures revealed it has been losing thousands of passengers while rivals are taking advantage of the revolution that has seen millions more Britons...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--AS the New Year begins, spare a thought for steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, pictured, Britain's richest man. Hmmm. The fall in the Mittal Steel share price in the last year means his stake in the business has slumped in value by [pounds...

CO-OP strike threat over pension scheme changes.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--Unions are threatening strike action after the Co-op became the latest large organisation to unveil cuts to workers' pensions. More than 20,000 staff from the group's shops, insurance arm CIS, the Smile online bank and the country's...

Glaxo and Roche sued for osteoporosis drug claims.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--Drugs giants GlaxoSmithKline and Roche are being sued by rivals Procter & Gamble and Sanofi-Aventis for what they say is false advertising for the osteoporosis drug Boniva. In a complaint in federal court in New York, P&G and Sanofi say...

Enron pair seek new trial site as poll finds jurors 'biased'.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--Former Enron chiefs Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling have asked a US federal judge to move their 30 January trial out of Houston, Texas, because they do not believe they can get a fair trial there. An overwhelming 244 of 280 potential...

Wary fund managers turn to cash.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Jane Padgham Jan. 5--Fund managers have trimmed their exposure to stocks and bonds in favour of cash -- a sign they are becoming more risk-averse. A poll of the City's money men by Reuters found the average equity holding was...

HBOS chief hands over to 'young star'.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--James Crosby, chief executive of banking giant HBOS, is quitting his [pounds sterling]1.5 million-a-year post after seven years at the helm. The 49-year-old will be replaced by his chief operating officer and former Asda hotshot...

Back to life.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Jan. 5--So there's life in those life offices after all. Insurance companies have had a miserable time in recent years, kicked briskly by the Financial Services Authority for every misdemeanour or (as Legal & General...

ITV'S losing bets prompt Sportech to switch off.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 5--ITV is without a gaming partner for its "red button" interactive television betting operations after it emerged the business has been a financial fiasco. Sportech, the Littlewoods pools and BetDirect online...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 5--SMART-LOOKING NEXT RACKS UP NEW GAINS: The re-rating of Next continues apace following yesterday's reassuring Christmas trading update. The shares were among the best Footsie 100 performers for the second day...

Microsoft in move to ease worries over sales of Xbox.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--Despite analysts' fears of sluggish sales, Bill Gates says that Microsoft is on target to ship as many as 5.5 million Xbox 360 video game consoles worldwide by the end of June. In a speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas,...

[pounds sterling]16M bonanza in store for Footfall founders.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--The founders of Footfall, the self-proclaimed benchmark indicator for working out how many people go shopping every week, are set to share up to [pounds sterling]16 million after deciding to sell the business. New Zealander John...

Russian gas power play that's sending US nuclear.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Jan. 5--Andrei Illarionov could learn a thing or two about PR. If you want to make a splash, don't offer to resign on Boxing Day, when nobody's paying attention, but hang on until the West is back at work. Indeed, had...

Shell arms fined in US over abuse of oil futures market.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--Two units of Royal Dutch Shell and one of its top traders have been fined for oil futures market abuse in the US. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) fined Shell Trading US and Shell International Trading and Shipping, plus...

Blow for Betfair as top trio leave boardroom.
January 5, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Jan. 5--Sports betting revolutionary Betfair, candidate for a [pounds sterling]1 billion float last year, was in turmoil today after chairman Sir Bob Horton was ousted and two other heavyweight directors left the...

Majestic toasts a strong festive sales performance.
January 5, 2006... Jan. 5--Majestic Wine, the warehouse-style wine merchant where customers buy by the case, shrugged off the tough conditions that led to the collapse last month of Unwins off-licences with strong sales over Christmas and the New Year....

Scent of a bid battle gives Savoy asset shares a boost.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Savoy Asset Management, chaired by Conservative Party grandee Kenneth Clarke, today said it had received an approach that could lead to a bid for the company. The suitor was not named, but Global Investment House, a vehicle owned...

Accenture soars to [pounds sterling]122m as business develops.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Surging business confidence has driven up consulting firm Accenture's first-quarter profit by 9.5 percent, with orders for new work near a two-year high. Net profit in the three months to 30 November rose to $215 million ([pounds...

DX Services posts an alert as costs rise and sales dip.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Business mail group DX Services today said rising costs and lower-than-expected sales would cause it to miss profit targets. The group, which was spun out of Hays in 2004, said it did not expect a pick-up in sales in either of its...

Libya opportunity in the pipeline for BP oil major.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--BP is in talks with Libya over a multi-billion-dollar natural gas exploration and development deal that could supply North America and Europe. The company confirmed it had opened discussions but refused to give further details. ...

Panmure backs down over Compass bugging claim.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--City broker Panmure Gordon has withdrawn allegations that troubled catering giant Compass bugged suppliers. Panmure analyst Mike Murphy wrote a research note in November saying it had been told by Compass suppliers they suspected...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Tory leader David Cameron lambasts WH Smith for encouraging obesity by putting chocolate oranges near its checkouts. The shops chain is furious: "Having oranges rolling around the till point wouldn't be good for the product. People...

Currencies keep their nerve over China reserves signal.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--A possible adjustment to reduce the proportion of dollars in China's massive foreign reserves had little impact on currency markets today. The changed priorities at the central bank, along with last year's end to the pegging of the...

Games Workshop loses the plot as festive sales slump.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Fantasy games maker and retailer Games Workshop today rushed out a profit warning after finalising sums on a dismal December. Sales at the 330-strong chain had surged between 2002 and early 2005 as it cashed in on The Lord of the...

IBM pension threat after US scheme closure.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Some 20,000 British workers at IBM are facing the closure of their gold-plated pension schemes. If IBM UK, one of Britain's largest private-sector employers, follows its US parent in closing the final-salary scheme, it will be one...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
January 6, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Jan. 6--Sell recommendations on Tesco shares are about as rare as alcoholics at temperance meetings. But there was one such call today, and it succeeded in holding the stock back in a rising market. French bank...

[pounds sterling]100 sq ft London office rent looms.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--London's first [pounds sterling]100-a-square-foot commercial office letting is just months away, according to agents. Breaching the landmark figure would cement central London's position as the most expensive location in the world...

Sony takes inspiration from Apple's approach.
January 6, 2006... Jan. 6--Electronics giant Sony's British boss Sir Howard Stringer has vowed to end the scattergun product development at the firm. "Apple's market cap is $50 billion ([pounds sterling]28.5 billion) based on a handful [of products]," he...

JJB Sports warns after price war takes its toll.
January 6, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Jan. 6--JJB Sports today sounded a major profit warning, blaming savage discounting on trainers and clothing. Following the group's return to the widespread price slashing it had previously eschewed, profits for...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--DISNEYLAND SUED BY FAMILY OVER TRAIN RIDE INJURIES: Disneyland is being sued by a Colorado family who claim they suffered injuries on a theme park ride. The Cope family were on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride in July 2004 when...

Former Domecq chief joins Scottish & Newcastle board.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--Philip Bowman, former boss of drinks giant Allied Domecq, today joined the board of his old booze-industry peer Scottish & Newcastle, triggering talk he was being lined up for the chairmanship in the long term. Bowman, 53, left...

BA U-turn as Walsh starts fight against budget rivals.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--British Airways is scrapping its chronically loss-making CitiExpress operations and plunging back into the no-frills market, scrapping business class and free food and drinks on many short-haul flights to offer fares starting from...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--Mark Oaten's candidature for leader of the Liberal Democrats is reviving memories in those recesses of the City where the dark arts of PR and lobbying are practised. His Westminster Communications agency was sold to Citigate Dewe...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Jan. 10--Mike Bailey has always struck me as a thoroughly decent sort of chap. If he ever thought the task of managing a business with 410,000 employees was impossible, he never let on, although the National Health...

Deutsche high-flier faces quiz on overstated profits.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--High-flying Deutsche Bank trader Anshul Rustagi, was today facing a disciplinary hearing for allegedly overstating his profits by [pounds sterling]30 million. He is believed to have been dealing in an esoteric market for...

City split over prospects for Britain's future prosperity.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Jane Padgham Jan. 10--Britain's economy is set for a year of faster but unspectacular growth in 2006. Thanks to a modest pick-up in consumer spending, business investment and exports, the economy is expected to expand by about...

Enron judge says trial must go ahead.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--Enron founder Ken Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling have suffered another setback in their efforts to have their trial at the end of the month dismissed. US District Judge Sim Lake, who will be hearing the fraud and...

Kerkorian increases pressure on ailing.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Jan. 10--GM billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian is ratcheting up the pressure on General Motors as yet another senior figure at the carmaking giant has been forced to deny that the company is heading for bankruptcy. ...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Jan. 10--A record 129 companies from overseas successfully sought share listings in London last year. Noting this, Schroders fund manager Andy Brough said the other day that the influx would inevitably, over time,...

House prices 'may slip in London'.
January 10, 2006... Byline: Jane Padgham Jan. 10--London house prices could fall this year, Britain's biggest building society warned today. Nationwide said a lack of affordability, especially for first-time buyers, will see prices fall by 1 percent at...

Ikea plans 10 city-centre stores in [pounds sterling]1bn expansion.
January 10, 2006... Jan. 10--Swedish retail giant Ikea is to build 10 new city-centre stores in Britain as part of a [pounds sterling]1 billion expansion plan that expands a pilot scheme in Coventry, according to head of UK operations Peter Hogsted. He said...