The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from March 2005

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from March 2005

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
March 1, 2005... Mar. 1--SERCO TIPS RIVAL CAPITA FOR NEW CONGESTION CHARGE JOB: Serco said today incumbent Capita is likely to win any new contract to run an extended London congestion charge zone. However, Serco chairman Kevin Beeston is confident he will...

New boss's back-to-basics plan.
March 1, 2005... Mar. 1--At just 42, Richard Baker is one of the youngest chief executives of a FTSE company -- and one of the best paid. He was brought in to turn the group round less than 18 months ago, and earned more than [pounds sterling]1 million in his...

Boots chills High Street as it chops profit hopes by [pounds sterling]35 million.
March 1, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Mar. 1--Boots chief executive Richard Baker today warned of a "dramatic slowdown" in consumer spending over the past six weeks, which will leave the High Street retailer as much as [pounds sterling]35 million short of...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 1, 2005... Mar. 1--YEARS before Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page became media darlings, that role was filled by Yahoo's Jerry Yang and David Filo. They're in the spotlight again as tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of Yahoo's founding and they...

Dividend cheer at Schroders after profits roar ahead.
March 1, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Mar. 1--Schroders, the fund management giant, has upped its full-year dividend for the first time in five years after a near-tripling of annual profits. The revival in Schroders' fortunes comes on the back of the...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
March 1, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Mar. 1--EASING THE MOTOR INSURERS' COST PAIN: Insurance companies in Britain paid out about [pounds sterling]10 billion in personal injury claims in 2003, and of that some [pounds sterling]4 billion or 40 percent of...

China fuels boom times for miners down under.
March 1, 2005... Byline: Jake Lloyd-Smith Mar. 1--Roaring demand from China for raw materials will help to boost Australia's commodity export sales by up to 16 percent in the year to next June, handing a further boost to London-listed miners BHP Billiton...

Brokers aiming to strike it rich in oil.
March 1, 2005... Byline: Steve Hawkes Mar. 1--Two of the City's biggest financial houses -- Morgan Stanley and Cazenove -- are trying to break into the lucrative market for oil and gas floats on AIM. Industry insiders told the Evening Standard both are...

Services growth puts London firms in pink.
March 1, 2005... Mar. 1--London firms are in rude health, according to a new survey showing more than half of companies in the capital enjoyed higher sales in the second half of last year. Lloyds TSB's bi-annual Business in Britain survey reveals 52...

Cost-cutting puffs up performance for BAT.
March 1, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 1--British American Tobacco boss Paul Adams today aggressively ramped up his cost-cutting plans as the company produced a strong set of profits despite swingeing tax increases hitting many key countries. The...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 1, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 1--MINERS BEAR BRUNT OF DIM OUTLOOK FOR COMMODITIES: Oil and mining shares have provided much of the impetus for a strong run of late by the stock market. But all good things come to an end, and it looks as if we...

Secret chambers?(Science Scoops)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... How do you find a secret chamber in a 206-foot-high Mexican pyramid? With space dust, of course! That's right. Arturo Menchaca, head of Mexico's National Autonomous University's physics institute, and his colleagues are installing a device...

Pyramid of gloom.(Science Scoops)
March 1, 2005... Some 2,000 years ago, 10 people lost their heads at Mexico's Pyramid of the Moon. No, they didn't turn luny. They literally lost their heads--as in decapitation. So say archaeologists who found the gruesome tomb at Teotihuacan, the first major...

And more secret chambers?(Science Scoops)
March 1, 2005... After studying pyramid structures for some 20 years, French Egyptologists Gilles Dormion and Jean Yves Verd'hurt believe that there's a previously unknown chamber in Egypt's Great Pyramid at Giza. Now the researchers want to bore new holes in...

Spider man survey.(Science Scoops)
March 1, 2005... While popular, tarantulas--those thick, hairy, and harmless spiders--haven't been the subject of much research. Until now, that is. Thanks to the efforts of Michael Warriner, an invertebrate zoologist for the Arkansas Natural Heritage...

An old sucker.(Science Scoops)(dinosaurs)
March 1, 2005... What had a neck longer than a giraffe's, lived in murky waters, and sucked on its prey like a vacuum cleaner? Give up? Well, unless you've already heard the news, you probably would have failed to guess this one. It's Dinocephalosaurus...

New class of planets.(Science Scoops)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Planet-hunting around other stars is the hottest field in astronomy, with hundreds of researchers joining the race to discover one. And the rate of discovery is amazingly rapid. Indeed, at the end of last summer, U.S. and European astronomers...

Stairways to heaven: from mud-brick mounds to glistening stone superstructures, follow this step-by-step guide to the building of the pyramids!
March 1, 2005... The fashion for pyramids began in Egypt during the reign of the 3rd Dynasty's King Djoser. Up until then, some 5,000 years ago, the Egyptians had buried their dead kings in underground chambers that they covered with large, rectangular,...

Pyramid engineering secrets revealed.
March 1, 2005... OK, who scheduled the pyramid tour for twelve noon on the hottest day of the year? The intense desert sun, the blast-furnace heat, the annoying sand that seems to end up everywhere is getting to you. A dip in the pool back at the hotel sure...

Egyptologist Mark Lehner: investigating the lives of the pyramid builders.(People to Discover)
March 1, 2005... Dr. Mark Lehner was convinced that underneath the sand-covered Giza Plateau, remnants of the civilization that built the pyramids were waiting to be discovered. Hoping to find them, the archaeologist and Egyptologist has devoted the past 20...

Build your own pyramid.(Activity to Discover)
March 1, 2005... Even if you can't fit a massive pyramid in your backyard or classroom, you can still have fun building a pyramid model. Pyramid Pointers In geometry, a pyramid is a 3-D figure with a polygon (multisided shape) for its base and...

Mummy work: mummies aren't found only inside pyramids. Animal mummies were buried in tombs right next to them. Salima Ikram is discovering how much these "pet" mummies can reveal about the past.
March 1, 2005... Salima Ikram has what must be one of the neatest jobs in archaeology--taking care of the animal mummies in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Some of these were mummified because they were pets, and their owners wanted to have their cats, dogs, or...

Giza break! The strange pseudoscience of pyramidology.
March 1, 2005... The time is 11:59:00 p.m., December 31, 1999. In exactly one minute, the world as we know it should come to an end. A new leader should emerge, and a new world order should commence. The leader? Satan, silly. The place? The Great Pyramid at...

Pyramid rotation.(Brain Strain)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Jill loves pyramids, so she decides to decorate her room by building a huge, colorful pyramid in one corner. The pyramid's four faces are all equilateral triangles. She paints each face a different color: red, purple, green, and yellow. She...

Mystery at Teotihuacan.
March 1, 2005... Did you know North America's first large city had huge pyramids and temples? The story of Teotihuacan starts over 2,000 years ago, when people settled about 25 miles northeast of present-day Mexico City. The people worshiped various gods,...

"Chirping" pyramids.
March 1, 2005... Locals have known for years that if you stand in front of the 1,100-year-old Pyramid of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza, Mexico, and clap your hands, a strange echo replies. David Lubman, an acoustic engineer and consultant from Westminster, CA, has...

Making Mayan echoes: how to hear the past again (... and again ... and again ...).(Activity to Discover)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... How is a Mayan pyramid like a mirror? In fact, it's a "sound mirror," because instead of light, it reflects sound, to produce echoes. Let's make a Mayan echo. Find a wide, hard wall (such as a smooth side of a brick building) and stand 100...

Build a Mayan computer! How did the Mayans "engineer" their huge pyramids? A "computer" that they invented helped a lot!(Activity to Discover)
March 1, 2005... How many stones would you need to construct the towering Mayan Pyramid of the Sun? About [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] That's 592,577 in Mayan math, an advanced notation system used by these ancient builders to compute enormous numbers...

One strange serpent.(Serpent Mound)
March 1, 2005... Imagine we are in the early 1800s. You are a pioneer, traveling with your family through thick, hilly, forestland just north of the Ohio River. On a rocky bluff above a gurgling creek, you find something strange. Coiling in and out of the trees...

What's up.(astronomy)(Calendar)
March 1, 2005... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the moon) as it appears at 7 p.m. (your local time) on March 15. Useful all month, the chart (except for planet positions) is also accurate for 8 p.m. on March 1 and 6 p.m. on March 31. To...

Spying on the spring stars.(What's Up)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... You'll notice some changes in the sky this month as we "march" into spring. Look for Mars and the waning crescent moon in the southeastern sky before sunrise on March 6. Another nice sight occurs on March 27 before dawn. The waning gibbous...

Planet watch.(What's Up)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2005... Evening Planets: Mercury (in Pisces) sets 60 minutes after the sun in the first days of the month. The best time to view Mercury is in mid-March, when it sets 90 minutes after the sun. By the end of the month, Mercury is lost in the sun's...

A light pollution study near you.(You Can Do Astronomy)
March 1, 2005... Thousands of years ago, people looked up at the starry night sky and saw thousands of twinkling stars. They imagined star patterns and star gods; the night sky was a major part of their lives. Ancient sky watchers timed the rising of certain...

Orion's belt: favorite stars with nifty names.(StarGazing with Jack Horkheimer)(Brief Article)(Cartoon)
March 1, 2005... GREETINGS, GREETINGS, FELLOW STARGAZERS. FINDING THE MOST FAMOUS CONSTELLATION OF WINTER IS EASY AS PIE. JUST USE THREE OF MY FAVORITE STARS. HERE'S WHAT YOU DO. GO OUTSIDE, FACE SOUTH, AND CAREFULLY LOOK FOR THREE STARS THAT APPEAR TO...

"What's Cooking?" Contest winners!(Sci Chat)
March 1, 2005... Congratulations to Andrea Ginsburg of Albuquerque, NM, whose recipe, Drea's Tutti Fruitti Smoothie, is the winner in our "What's Cooking?" contest! Andrea wins a $50 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma, the catalog for cooks. In the May...

Honorable mention is ... well ... Ok (get it?).(Sci Chat)
March 1, 2005... Congratulations to Cherra (her Web name) in Oklahoma City, OK, for her recipe Half-Yolk Spicy Health Egg Sandwich, submitted in the "School Lunch" category. Cherra wins a 1-year subscription to ODYSSEY. To try it, Mix the egg, garlic...

Exploring giza.(Fantastic Journeys)
March 1, 2005... Editor's Note: This month, Fantastic Journeys takes us to Cairo, Egypt, where Philippa Shape, 14, and her brother, Jack, 10, from Over Hulton, Bolton, Lancastershire, England, got a close-up look at the Pyramid of Menkaure. According to the...

Master builders.(Animal Angles)
March 1, 2005... In the United States, where we spend about $2 billion annually to repair or prevent termite damage, termites mean trouble. Their appetite for wood can literally eat us out of house and home. But in more tropical climates, especially in Africa...

Weinsteins set for a divorce from Disney.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--Walt Disney and the Weinstein brothers, the powerful pair behind the group's Miramax Film unit, could part company this week, ending a 12-year tie-up. Negotiations between Disney and Bob and Harvey Weinstein have been under way for...

Company bosses cash in on shares.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 2--Directors of Britain's top 350 stock market-quoted companies have been cashing in shares of their companies at the fastest rate for a year. Taking advantage of the rise in share prices, directors sold...

Whitbread books a budget hotels revival.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--Whitbread's biggest business -- budget hotels -- took centre stage today as strong trading figures coincided with the completion of its rebranding under the Premier Travel Inn label. Whitbread bought the Premier Lodge hotel chain...

Double blow may hit JLT for [pounds sterling]20m.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Steve Stammers Mar. 2--Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson dealt investors another blow today by warning that the weak US dollar and the fallout from the Spitzer probe could cost the group more than [pounds sterling]20 million...

Baugur still on the trail of Somerfield despite rebuff.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Sarah Marks Mar. 2--Viking raiders spiced up retail today as Icelandic retailer Baugur let it be known that it remains on the Somerfield warpath. The Norsemen may still launch a [pounds sterling]1 billion-plus bid for...

France telecom rushes in new top man.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Pierre Tran Mar. 2--France Telecom has named Didier Lombard as its new chief executive, succeeding Thierry Breton, who has become France's finance minister, writes Pierre Tran. The board met hurriedly yesterday after President...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--XSTRATA SETS FINAL DATE IN WMC BID: London-listed mining giant Xstrata today declared its [pounds sterling]3.3 billion bid to land Australian rival WMC unconditional, and set a final deadline of 24 March for acceptances. Xstrata...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--CITY SPY: Satash Sanan, a Blackpool-born software multi-millionaire living in the US, was until recently a big noise in the bloodstock business. He rubbed shoulders with the likes of John Magnier, and may have purchased horses from him....

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Mar. 2--BIZARRE PARADOX OF COMPLIANCE: Martha Stewart, the jailed American guru of homemaking, and Cadbury Schweppes, the scrupulously ethical British confectioner, are not normally linked, but this week they have...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Mar. 2--HELPING REMPLOY TO MARCH FORWARD: It's a place we take for granted: the local Remploy where the disabled go to work. No matter we don't know what Remploy makes or what its staff do exactly -- it's somewhere...

Casinos a non-runner so Hill hands back [pounds sterling]453 million.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 2--William Hill has abandoned plans to move into casinos after a Government U-turn on deregulation and will instead return [pounds sterling]453 million to shareholders. Chief executive David Harding had been...

Irish smoking ban hits Gallaher sales.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 2--Cigarette maker Gallaher, today admitted the smoking ban in Irish pubs had hit its sales in the country by as much as 8 percent. It is the first time Ireland's biggest producer has put a number on the...

Construction builds capital economy.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Jane Padgham Mar. 2--Growth in London's construction sector has prompted a leading economics think-tank to lift its forecasts for the capital's economy. The Centre for Economics and Business Research now thinks the capital's...

Tapes reveal Enron's contempt for the law.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 2--Dramatic tapes of private conversations between energy traders at the disgraced US giant Enron, show that previous evidence may have only scratched the surface of illegal activities that were routine at the...

IPE'S 'Strange Animals' Look To US To Keep Open Outcry In Good Voice.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Aline Nassif Mar. 2--It's a crying shame, but trading through a pit full of shouting, gesticulating young men in coloured jackets is being supplanted by computers. Electronic trading took off in Europe in the 1990s and is close to...

Capital gains for London savers.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Nick Goodway Mar. 2--Londoners have emerged as Britain's biggest and best savers over the past three months. For the December to February period, Londoners jumped to the top of the savings league tables, having been bottom of...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 2--SPIRENT ON DOWNWARD SPIRAL AS SELLER UNRAVELS: The telephone lines at Spirent were red-hot today as more than 6 percent of the company changed hands in a single trade, swelling turnover in the shares to 128...

JellyWorks founder targets mining boom.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--Controversial Internet entrepreneur Jonathan Rowland is returning to the City with a start-up he hopes will unearth a fortune through deals in the mining sector. Shares in Azman, which is searching for bid targets in Europe and the...

Xstrata sets a WMC deadline.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--London-listed mining giant Xstrata has made a last-ditch attempt to land [pounds sterling]3.3 billion Australian takeover target WMC by declaring its bid unconditional and warning it is prepared to walk away in a matter of weeks. ...

HBOS in [pounds sterling]750 million buyback after smashing targets.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--Britain's biggest mortgage bank today confirmed a [pounds sterling]750 million share buyback and record profits. Pre-tax profits at HBOS, before exceptional charges, jumped 23 percent to [pounds sterling]4.77 billion during 2004,...

Branston pickle boss shrugs off impact of food scare.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 2--The chief executive of Branston Pickle maker Premier Foods today declared he was confident the Sudan 1 poison scare would have no financial impact on the company. Some analysts are concerned that, although...

Prudential push a threat to rivals.
March 2, 2005... Byline: Steve Hawkes Mar. 2--Prudential kicked off the insurance reporting season today with a 39 percent jump in group profits and setting itself a goal of growing UK life and pension sales by double the rate of the rest of the market....

Eurotunnel debt revamp talks held up.
March 2, 2005... Mar. 2--Splits in the Eurotunnel board are stalling renegotiation of the Channel Tunnel operator's [pounds sterling]6.2 billion debt mountain, writes Ross Tieman. Chairman Jacques Gounon, a former boss of engineering group Alstom in France...

EasyJet loses altitude.
March 7, 2005... Mar. 7--Growth is slowing and planes are flying less full at easyJet, according to latest statistics. The budget airline said the 2.1 million passengers it carried in February represented year-on-year growth of 16 percent against the...

BAE builds US armoury with a [pounds sterling]2.2bn takeover.
March 7, 2005... Mar. 7--BAE Systems planted its flag firmly at the centre of the massive US defence market today by unveiling a $4.1 billion ([pounds sterling]2.2 billion) takeover of Bradley armoured fighting vehicles maker United Defense Industries. The...

'Embarrassed' UBS loses a big slice of M&A action.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 7--Europe's biggest bank, UBS, has fallen further behind its US rivals in the lucrative merges and acquisitions market, according to a Bloomberg survey. Last year was the busiest in the sector since 2000 but...

Boeing reels as 'clean-up' boss is fired over affair.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 7--America's biggest airline manufacturer was left reeling once again today after its chief executive was fired for having an affair with a female colleague. Boeing is now plunged into another desperate scramble...

UTV warns on growth.
March 7, 2005... Mar. 7--ITV1's advertising revenue growth could fall behind the rest of British television under new rules imposed by the Competition Commission, the independent Ulster Television warned today. It said it and ITV had got off to a strong...

Travis Perkins defends its ex-chief's handover bonus.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Fiona Walsh Mar. 7--Builders' merchant Travis Perkins today defended the [pounds sterling]100,000 bonus paid to former chief executive Frank McKay for handing over the reins to successor Geoff Cooper. Cooper, former deputy...

Hanson extends spree with [pounds sterling]120 million Thermalite buy.
March 7, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Mar. 7--Building materials group Hanson has splashed out [pounds sterling]120 million on a breeze-blocks business as it steps up its acquisitions spree. The purchase of Thermalite brings to [pounds sterling]200...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 7, 2005... Mar. 7--The merger of Incepta and Huntsworth will see a dramatic slimming-down of the PR outfits' boards. Most noteworthy is the departure of Incepta chairman Francis Maude, who will be deputy to Lord Chadlington (aka Peter Gummer),...

'Private' fear on arms deal licences.
March 7, 2005... Mar. 7--The Government is considering privatising its arms export licensing system in a move that has deeply alarmed the defence industry and human rights groups. Outsourcing of the DTI's Export Control Organisation (ECO), which issues...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Anthony Hilton Mar. 7--I doubt anyone expected Deutsche Borse chief executive Werner Seifert to abandon his bid for the London Stock Exchange as abruptly as he did last night -- certainly not the management of the LSE, which had...

Property investment clubs are put under watchdog's scrutiny.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Dominic Prince Mar. 7--Adverts saying "become a property millionaire" and "build a substantial property portfolio" have been appearing in newspapers and on the Tube recently. With the come-on of a free seminar and the lure of...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 7--BHP BILLITON ON THE SLIDE AFTER LATE MOVE FOR WMC: The odds on Xstrata's unwanted [pounds sterling]3.4 billion offer for WMC Resources succeeding narrowed today after rival BHP Billiton threw its hat into the...

Taylor Nelson Sofres eyes NOP.
March 7, 2005... Mar. 7--Taylor Nelson Sofres has entered the fray for rival market research group NOP which is expected to fetch anything from [pounds sterling]275 million to [pounds sterling]350 million when it is sold by United Business Media. Mike...

Struggling Sony picks brit to restore 'cool' credentials.
March 7, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 7--Welshman Sir Howard Stringer has been given the task of putting the "cool" back into Sony's once-iconic electronic gadgets. Stringer, a journalist and veteran president of US TV network CBS, joined Sony in...

Euronext gets clear run at LSE after Germans withdraw from bid battle.
March 7, 2005... Byline: NICK GOODWAY Mar. 7--Euronext, the Paris-based stock exchange, was clear to launch a sole [pounds sterling]1.5 billion bid for the London Stock Exchange today after the dramatic withdrawal of rival Deutsche Borse from the auction....

Growing Intertek looks to buy toys-to-oil quality tester.
March 7, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Mar. 7--Intertek is on the acquisition trail after a year of growth in turnover and profits. Under chief executive Richard Nelson's last year at the helm -- he hands over to board member Wolfhart Hauser and moves...

German duo set to roll out [pounds sterling]10 billion rail project in gulf.
March 7, 2005... Byline: ALLAN HALL Mar. 7--German giants Siemens, the electronics company, and steel conglomerate ThyssenKrupp are poised to land a [pounds sterling]10 billion deal to link Gulf states by hi-tech train. The companies' Transrapid...

Blackfriars Building Plan.
March 8, 2005... Byline: James Rossiter Mar. 8--The Corporation of London, one of the City's biggest landlords, has submitted ambitious plans for a modernist building on the northern end of Blackfriars Bridge which could have some of the Square Mile's best...

Boeing Denies Hiding Sacking From Pentagon.
March 8, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 8--Aircraft giant Boeing was forced on to the back foot today, denying it had delayed news it was sacking its chief executive until the US Air Force had lifted a ban on its rocket launches. Harry Stonecipher...

Deutsche Borse chief faces growing calls to quit.
March 8, 2005... Byline: Allan Hall Mar. 8--LSE bid flop Werner Seifert's future as head of German stock market operator Deutsche Borse was looking increasingly precarious today amid a growing chorus of demands for his resignation over the London Stock...

P&O Profits Sunk By Channel Challengers.
March 8, 2005... Byline: Robert Lea Mar. 8--P&O sank [pounds sterling]210 million into the red last year, as its UK ferries were ravaged by the bloodbath in the Channel. Massive writedowns in the value of its loss-making, cross-Channel routes saw P&O...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 8, 2005... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 8--IT has been a tough time of late for shareholders of EMI Group, but there are signs the music maker may be enjoying something of a revival following its second upgrading by brokers in as many days. Today...

BHP'S [pounds sterling]3.8 billion bid trumps Xstrata in fight for WMC.
March 8, 2005... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 8--BHP Billiton formally waded into the battle to buy Australian mining group WMC today by trumping rival Xstrata's existing bid with a US$7.3 billion ([pounds sterling]3.8 billion) offer. WMC said it was...