The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from March 2003

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from March 2003

This month in Odyssey.
March 1, 2003... Are plants as exciting as animals? Some botanists think so. In fact, they are convinced that plants display a form of "intelligence" and even can "talk." (Well, maybe "communicate" is a better word.) Whether plants have IQs is still...

War of the roses. (Science Scoops).
March 1, 2003... We've all smelled it--that fresh aroma of raw earth rising up from a garden after a summer rain. But as pleasing as that smell is to us, it's the smell of war... to a microbe! That's right. The smell we love to sniff after a summer shower...

Killer cats! (Science Scoops).
March 1, 2003... The next time you look at your cat, perhaps when it's sleeping or rubbing against your leg, purring, think of this: That kitty's dim and distant ancestors were probably stalking and killing humans 2.5 million years ago. That's right....

Pig sense & bird brains. (Science Scoops).
March 1, 2003... "There are hidden depths to chickens." That's the latest word from behavioral scientist Christine Nichol (University of Bristol in southern England). She and a clutch of other researchers recently reached that conclusion after years of studying...

King Tut: behind the mask. (Science Scoops).
March 1, 2003... The tomb of King Tutankhamun, a teenager who ruled Egypt in the 14th century B.C., was discovered in 1922. Among the most prized artifacts was the king's golden death mask, which showed a slight, heavy-lipped youth, framed in a pharaoh's...

Earth's secret "moon". (Science Scoops).
March 1, 2003... Does Earth have two moons--one big, one small? Well, that was a question astronomers were puzzling over last September after amateur astronomer Bill Yeung (Desert Eagle Observatory, Benson, AZ) discovered a mysteriously dim object near Earth....

Flower power.
March 1, 2003... Who doesn't love flowers? We enjoy their bright colors, unique shapes, and sweet aromas. But have you ever stopped to think, What would life be like without them? No more cotton T-shirts and jeans, and no more cereal, orange juice, and...

Orchids trickster flowers.
March 1, 2003... If you thought orchids were just pretty flowers, think again. With about 35,000 wild species, orchids may be Earth's biggest family of green plants. Most species live in tropical rain forests, but orchids thrive on every continent except...

The four venus flytraps. (Brain Strain).
March 1, 2003... Buzz is captured by a botanist named Dr. Beau Tanical. Dr. T. is gazing through binoculars at four Venus flytraps--small carnivorous plants--each of which is rooted in soil. Buzz cannot see the flytraps, but Dr. T. tells him that the flytraps...

Talking trees?
March 1, 2003... In the early 1980s, two researchers at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH, Jack Schultz and Ian Baldwin, conducted lab experiments which suggested that trees may "talk" to each other when their leaves are damaged. That's right... talk!...

The soil ... it's alive: how do desert plants survive baking heat and constant drought? With the help of cryptobiotic friends!
March 1, 2003... Cryptobiotic? It sounds like something out of a graveyard horror movie. Actually, the word means "hidden life" (from the Greek words kruptos and biotikos). Invisible to the casual observer, dense mats of cryptobiotic organisms, including...

Close encounters in the rain forest.
March 1, 2003... Although rain forests cover less than 7 percent of Earth's land surface, they are home to more than 50 percent of all known species of life. In a constant fight for light, water, and nutrients, many rain forest species come to rely on each...

The world's stinkiest flower cluster: pee-yew! What's that smell.
March 1, 2003... It must be a Titan arum--the world's largest and stinkiest flower cluster! The Titan is a rare plant from the hot, humid rain forests of Sumatra in Indonesia, near the equator. "Titan" means giant, and that's what this plant is! Its bloom can...

One ugly plant.
March 1, 2003... What do actor Tom Cruise and the desert plant Welwitschia mirabilis have in common? Well, one thing's for certain... it isn't good looks. Remember the greenhouse scene in the movie Minority Report? Yep, that wasn't a creeping spider or a pile...

Flashing reds.
March 1, 2003... IT'S EASY FOR A LEAF TO TURN YELLOW IN THE FALL. ORANGE, TOO. It's not a complicated process. No flurry of yellow or orange pigment production required. No mystery. Xanthophylls (yellow pigments) and carotenes (orange pigments) are already...

It's not easy being green. (Activity To Discover).
March 1, 2003... To check out all the pigments in leaves around you, perform some simple chromatography. Scientists use chromatography, or "color writing," to separate a mixture into its different components. You can use this process to separate the pigments of...

What's so hot about peppers?
March 1, 2003... Bite into one. Your eyes will cry, your nose will run, and you'll dash to a water cooler. Break it in half and your fingers will sting. What is this ferocious food? It's a hot pepper. Peppers belong to the genus Capsicum, which includes...

A secret garden.
March 1, 2003... Where can you find thousands of flowers that have bloomed continuously for over 80 years, never fading or dropping a petal? At the Harvard University Museum of Botany. There you can see the lifework of master glass craftsmen Leopold and...

A starry winter sky, the vernal equinox, & the full worm moon! (What's Up).
March 1, 2003... The full moon of March is called the Full Worm Moon. The name probably refers to the time of year when earthworms begin to emerge from the softening ground. The vernal equinox occurs on March 20. This is the time of year when the most...

Planet watch. (What's Up).
March 1, 2003... Evening Planets: Saturn (in Taurus) is high in the south at sunset at the start of March. By the end of the month, look for Saturn to set after midnight. Jupiter (in Cancer) is high in the east at sunset and sets about an hour before dawn...

Make a 3-D Orion model! (You Can Do Astronomy).
March 1, 2003... This month, look toward the south in the early evening sky to see the bright stars of the Winter Circle. Within the Winter Circle is the constellation of Orion, the Hunter. It's visible for a few hours after sunset. Orion, the Hunter, is...

Time travel and the stars. (Star Gazing: with Jack Horkheimer).
March 1, 2003... DID YOU KNOW THAT WHEN WE LOOK AT THE STARS WE ARE TRAVELING BACK IN TIME? AND, IN FACT, WE NEVER SEE ANY OF THE STARS AS THEY ACTUALLY EXIST RIGHT NOW? YOU SEE, LIGHT TRAVELS 186,000 MILES PER SECOND. EVEN OUR CLOSEST STAR, THE...

Malama Lumahai: caring for the forest family. (Fantastic Journeys).
March 1, 2003... In the Hawaiian language, malama means "to respect, preserve, and care for." Six hundred meters (2,000 feet) up in the mountains of Lumahai (pronounced Loo-ma-HA-ee) on our island home of Kauai (Ka-WA-ee), our group of high school students,...

The dancing lights. (Countdown).
March 1, 2003... If you live in the northern regions of Canada, or even farther north, you e among the lucky few who have lots of opportunities to catch the magnificent light shows of the aurora borealis. The northern lights have captured our imaginations for...

New world wonder. (Animal Angles).
March 1, 2003... People collect the shiny red seeds of coral trees (genus Erythrina) for jewelry. To make those seeds, many New World coral trees depend on that jewel-like wonder, the hummingbird. Hummingbirds ("hummers" for short) pollinate thousands of...

Japan Suffers with Deflating Experience.
March 1, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 1--To see deflation in action, one needs to look no further than the world's second-biggest economy, Japan. The country has been suffering from falling prices since 1999. Japan also highlights the impotence of...

The Gap Moves Back into Fashion as Store Sales Jump 14 Percent.
March 1, 2003... Byline: Lauren Chambliss Mar. 1--Clothing retailer Gap, which has struggled for two years to find the right mix of merchandise and marketing, may have finally turned the corner as it unveiled returned to profit and sharply rising sales in...

Japanese Agency Suspends JP Morgan Chase from Some Stock Trading Operations.
March 1, 2003... Byline: Ray Heath Mar. 1--US investment bank JP Morgan Chase has been suspended from stock trading in Tokyo on its own account for 10 business days next month. Japan's Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission accused it of...

London-Based Publisher Agrees to Pay Compensation to Jilted Newspaper Exec.
March 1, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway Mar. 1--The Mirror newspaper boss who was sacked before he even started his job is to receive UKpound 400,000 in compensation. In an out-of-court settlement today, Trinity Mirror agreed to pay executive Ric Piper...

United States Fines Hughes Electronics, Boeing Unit over China Projects.
March 6, 2003... Mar. 6--Hughes Electronics and a unit of Boeing have been ordered to pay a $32 million (UKpound 22 million) fine for sharing sensitive space technology with China without the permission of the US government. The firms were charged by the...

Loss-Hit UK Coal Prepares Property Move.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Steve Hawkes Mar. 6--UK Coal is preparing to dig into its vast property portfolio after the crisis in the UK energy sector and geological problems at its Daw Mill colliery in the West Midlands sent the business UKpound 83.1 million...

Big Family in British Construction Sector Appoints 'Outsider' to Avert Crisis.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway Mar. 6--The McNicholas family, one of the most famous in the construction industry, has called in a corporate restructuring specialist in a bid to avert a financial crisis at the family-owned firm. Martin May,...

Slide in House Sales Hits British Estate Agencies Chain.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn Mar. 6--Britain's biggest estate agencies chain, Countrywide Assured, has been hit by a dramatic slump in house sales in the first two months of the year. Sales dropped by a third by the end of February, said...

British Corporate Raider Answers Claims over Bid for Hotels, Pubs Chain.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn Mar. 6--Corporate raider Hugh Osmond today lashed back at claims that his bid for leisure group Six Continents is only motivated by personal enrichment by accusing the hotels and pubs giant's directors of paying...

British Insurer Gets Slapped with UKpound 750,000 Fine.
March 6, 2003... Mar. 6--The Prudential was hit with its biggest fine today, paying UKpound 750,000 for mortgage endowment mis-selling. The Financial Services Authority said the Pru's Scottish Amicable arm failed to ensure that customers were prepared to...

Bank of England Holds Rates Despite Jobs, Prices Weakness.
March 6, 2003... Mar. 6--The Bank of England left interest rates at 3.75 percent as expected today, despite new evidence that the jobs market is weakening and High Street inflation is virtually non-existent. The Bank's monetary policy committee, under...

Bank of England, European Central Bank May Make Further Rate Cuts.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 6--Speculation was mounting this morning that the Bank of England and the European Central Bank could cut interest rates later today. Following last month's shock reduction in the cost of borrowing from 4...

Luxury Group LVMH Announces UKpound 1.38 Billion in Profits, Sees Growth ahead.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Ross Tieman Mar. 6--The world's biggest luxury goods group, LVMH, today shrugged off worries about weak consumer spending by announcing a 28.7 percent rise in 2002 operating profits to euro2.01 billion (UKpound 1.38 billion) and...

London Office Rents Take Dive in Capital.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Malcolm Withers Mar. 6--City and West End office rental prices in London were the worst hit in Europe last year. They slumped 12.1 percent to an average of euro1110 (UKpound 764) per square metre and 15.6 percent to euro904 per...

Moscow to Sell City of London Investment Bank.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway Mar. 6--Russia's government today put up for sale its City of London investment bank Moscow Narodny Bank. Having survived the 1917 Revolution and perestroika, the King William Street bank, regulated by the...

Double Hit Sends British Ports, Shipping Giant to UKpound 135 Million Loss.
March 6, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 6--Ports and shipping giant P&O plunged to a UKpound 135 million loss last year, taking a double financial hit from exiting the haulage business in Europe and its continuing failure to reduce its exposure to the...

British Buildings-Material Supplier Spares Management in Pensions Cutback.
March 10, 2003... Mar. 10--Builders merchant Travis Perkins has joined the ranks of companies closing their final-salary pension schemes to new staff -- but it is keeping it open to all grades of management. The move, which risks accusations of creating a...

Broadway Strike Hits New York Economy.
March 10, 2003... Mar. 10--New York's "great white way", Broadway, was dark over the weekend as a damaging strike closed theatres for the third day running. The dispute over the size of orchestras for musicals has so far cost an estimated UKpound 5 million,...

British Pharmaceutical Distributor Plans Spree of Openings for Retail Chain.
March 10, 2003... Byline: Steve Hawkes Mar. 10--Alliance UniChem has drawn up aggressive plans to open a "few hundred" new Moss chemists in a pre-emptive strike against supermarkets hoping to cash in on a shake-up in pharmacy legislation. Chairman Jeff...

British Savings Czar Hits Out at Finance Teaching.
March 10, 2003... Mar. 10--Teachers are "daunted and overwhelmed" by the complexities of the personal finance industry, claims savings czar Ron Sandler. The lack of education in personal finance is seen as a "a real problem" by Sandler, who was today named...

Stock in Hong Kong Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Slides on Cash Call.
March 10, 2003... Mar. 10--Shares in Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa slumped today as news of its planned UKpound 650 million cash call to help finance its British 3G mobile telephone offshoot led to dilution fears. The call for extra funding for its 3...

Cash-Strapped British Insurer Kicks Off UKpound 765 Million Aussie Flotation.
March 10, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 10--Insurer Royal & SunAlliance's Australian operation has launched its float plan for retail shareholders, in a drive to raise A$2 billion (UKpound 765 million). Existing customers will be able to bid for a...

British Logistics Giant Mulls Swoop on Rival.
March 10, 2003... Mar. 10--Exel could be set to consolidate its position as Britain's top haulage company by buying out major rival Hays. Hays put its UKpound 880 million-a-year logistics business up for sale last week, as its new chief wants to concentrate...

British Market-Research Group Nudges Ahead of Rival, Climbs Industry Ladder.
March 10, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway Mar. 10--Taylor Nelson Sofres moved up from fourth to third largest market research group in the world last year as its turnover rose by 6.2 percent to UKpound 619 million to nudge it ahead of WPP's subsidiary Kantar....

Iraq Crisis Puts Squeeze on London Economy.
March 10, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 10--London's economy shrank in February for the first time in more than a year as the deteriorating economic outlook and mounting tensions over war with Iraq hit demand for goods and services. The latest Royal...

UKpound 27 Billion Gets Wiped Off Leading British Companies in New Slump.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 12--Another UKpound 27 billion was wiped off the value of Britain's biggest companies as escalating fears over war with Iraq and doubts about Tony Blair's future as Prime Minister drove the stock market to its...

French Engineer Alstom May Axe Jobs in United Kingdom.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn Mar. 12--Hundreds of British industrial jobs are at risk after troubled French engineer Alstom warned of drastic cost-cutting to offset losses of up to euro1.4 billion (UKpound 962 million). The company, which...

US Mortgage Giant Seeks Foreign Cash in Spite of Crisis Alert.
March 12, 2003... Mar. 12--William Poole could not have picked a worse moment. The regional US Federal Reserve Bank president's comments, that a financial crisis at home mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could spark a market meltdown, came on the eve of...

French Connection Defies Gloom with Surging Sales.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 12--Trendy fashion chain French Connection today reported surging sales despite the global economic and political gloom. Like-for-like sales were 12 percent ahead at its UK and European stores during the past...

OPEC 'May Not Be Able to Make Up Iraq War Oil Shortfall,' Report Says.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Steve Hawkes Mar. 12--Opec's ability to cope with any slide in oil output caused by military action in Iraq was thrown into doubt by a new report today. The Paris-based International Energy Agency said spare Opec capacity was...

California-Based Surf, Skatewear Retailer Makes Lifestyle Push into China.
March 12, 2003... Mar. 12--Quiksilver, the surf, snow and skatewear maker, has become the latest Western company to try to break into the Chinese market. The company, which began in Australia but is now based in Los Angeles and listed on the New York Stock...

Railway Projects Speed British Firm's Results by 11 Percent.
March 12, 2003... Mar. 12--The spending boom on the railways helped Carillion deliver an 11 percent rise in pre-tax profits to UKpound 50 million in 2002. Carillion is responsible for maintenance on 20 percent of the network and expects growth of up to 10...

British Restaurants Chain Serves Up Profits Treat As Expansion Drive Pays Off.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 12--Restaurants chain Ask Central today reported a profits leap to put Pizza Express bosses off their Napolitanas. Ask, which also owns the Zizzi chain, saw profits and sales jump more than 20 percent last...

British Stock Exchange Suspends Trading in Sports Agency's Shares.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 12--The future of Rio Ferdinand's agent World Sports Solutions was in doubt today after trading in the company's shares was halted on the AIM market. WSS, whose shareholders include another top footballer...

Ailing U.S. Airlines May Face Collapse If Iraq War Drags On.
March 12, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 12--A war in Iraq is likely to trigger the collapse of the US airline industry if the conflict drags on, US carriers have warned. The Air Transport Association, which represents US passenger and cargo carriers,...

London Employees of German Bank Fear for Jobs after Shakeout.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--Pressure on share and bond prices has renewed fears that many thousands of City jobs are at risk. German-owned bank WestLB was expected to announce between 100 and 150 job cuts today as it restructures its London investment banking...

Lawsuits May Hit Earnings at Bayer.
March 13, 2003... Byline: Malcolm Withers Mar. 13--German drugs giant Bayer today posted a massive 46 percent slump in profits and warned of a possible flood of litigation over its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol. Chief executive Werner Wenning said...

Casinos Set to List after Hong Kong Green Light.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--Gambling-mad Hong Kongers will soon be able to recoup some of their losses at the gaming tables by investing in casino companies on the stock market. New stock exchange rules lifting a previous ban on the listing of gaming...

British Construction, Business Services Group Drops Cash-Back Plan.
March 13, 2003... Byline: James Rossiter Mar. 13--Construction and business services group Alfred McAlpine has dropped plans to return capital to investors. The group, posting a solid set of 2002 results, instead plans to spend its UKpound 114 million...

French Defence Group Races into Black by UKpound 76 Million.
March 13, 2003... Byline: Ross Tieman Mar. 13--Thales, the French defence group that has this year been winning a flurry of contracts from Britain's struggling BAE Systems, has swung hugely into profit. News of a profit of euro111 million (UKpound 76...

British Prosecutors Use Spoof Movies as Evidence in Enron Broadband Trial.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--A PowerPoint presentation for a Christmas party in 2000, submitted as evidence by prosecutors, reveals the gallows humour at Enron Broadband. Despite booking $111 million of revenues, the venture was a flop. It used spoof movie...

Financial Group Mizuho Taps Japan Backers for UKpound 5.8 Billion.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--In one of the biggest funding operations in banking history, Mizuho Financial Group has raised 1.1 trillion yen (UKpound 5.8 billion) from around 3500 Japanese corporations. But it has shelved plans for a 150 billion yen...

Australian Financial Services Firm Offers A$2.1 million to Ousted Chief.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--The ousted chief of Pearl's Australian parent AMP has been offered a A$2.1 million (UKpound 776,000) pay-off -- and told to go to court if he wants more. The ailing financial services group said it had failed to agree a package...

Laura Ashley Set to Slide into Red.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--Laura Ashley polished up its reputation as the most accident-prone of retailers today when it warned it had not been pessimistic enough at the time of its last profits warning two months ago. The company said it would make a...

U.K. Food Distributor Turns Over New Leaf on Salads.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--Geest shareholders were caught out last June when the company said sales of its ready-prepared salads had been hit hard by poor summer weather, and the shares have halved since then, writes Nick Goodway. But investors were today...

Standard & Poor Names 131 Companies Facing Downgrade.
March 13, 2003... Mar. 13--The gloom deepened for investors as debt rating agency Standard & Poor's revealed it had 131 major companies in its sights for possible downgrade. European banks and insurers led the list of vulnerable companies, with Legal &...

HSBC Joins Race for Indonesian Bank Stake.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jake Lloyd-Smith Mar. 17--Britain's biggest bank, HSBC, and Deutsche Bank are among the contenders to take a 51 percent stake in Indonesia's Bank Danamon, the country's fifth-largest lender. The holding, worth an estimated...

Former Second in Command at Barclays Bank Makes Fast Landing.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Patrick Hosking Mar. 17--One of Britain's top bankers has landed a new job just 17 days after leaving Barclays with a UKpound 1.5 million pay-off. John Stewart, Barclays' former number two, is to run National Australia Bank's...

Evening Standard, London, Business Briefs Column.
March 17, 2003... Mar. 17--OVERSEAS INVESTORS PUT UKPOUND 5 BILLION INTO CHINA: Foreigners investors last year pumped UKpound 5 billion into South China's Guangdong Province and a record 6,556 overseas-funded businesses were established. Foreign investment was...

War Worries Cast Cloud over Launch of Enlarged Carnival.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 17--The spectre of war in Iraq is holing prospects for the world's largest cruise shipping operator, just a month before it officially sets sail. Carnival, which expects to complete its protracted UKpound 3.5...

British Construction Firm Builds on Its Restructuring.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 17--John Laing trumpeted its restructuring as a success today as it cut its level of losses and raised the dividend. The former housebuilder and construction group is now a private finance initiative contractor...

British Investors Await News of Spending Recovery, Raft of Key Indicators.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 17--Retailers are set to get a much-needed fillip this week from news that High Street spending recovered last month after January's disastrous slump. Official retail sales figures for February will be among...

London Stock Market Braces for Heavy Losses As War Looms.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 17--London's stock market was braced for more heavy losses today as the countdown to war with Iraq was set to buffet financial markets. Following a burst of optimism at the end of last week, which sent the...

Pizza Express Bid Fight Looms.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn Mar. 17--A full-scale bid battle for Pizza Express looks likely within days. Private equity groups TDR Capital and Capricorn Ventures International said they had lined up bank financing for a takeover offer...

Irish Discount Airline Slashes Jobs amid Reorganization under Ryanair.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 17--Budget airline Buzz will be shut down for April and 440 staff laid off on statutory minimum redundancy packages it was announced today. News of Buzz's restructuring under a takeover from Ryanair came as the...

London Bookmaker Improves Odds on Supermarket Group's Safeway Victory to 7-1.
March 17, 2003... Mar. 17--City bookmakers Cantor Index trimmed their odds on Wm Morrison winning the five-way battle for Safeway from 8-1 to 7-1 in the light of today's strong figures from the Northern-based retailer. But Morrison still remains outsiders to...

War Threat Drives Down London Stock Market.
March 17, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 17--London share prices suffered more losses today as the countdown to war with Iraq buffetted financial markets. Following a burst of optimism at the end of last week, which sent the FTSE 100 index of leading...

Accounting Problems Deal Fresh Blow to Tyco.
March 18, 2003... Mar. 18--Tyco International has cut its 2003 earnings forecast and said it would take pre-tax charges of $265 million (UKpound 164 million) to $325 million in the current quarter after uncovering accounting problems at its European fire and...

International Airlines Face War-Related Drop in Bookings.
March 20, 2003... Mar. 20--International airlines are bracing themselves for a further dramatic fall in bookings that could force some of them out of business following the start of hostilities in Iraq. The International Air Transport Association today warned...