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

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

[pounds sterling]4.8 billion HBOS plans to expand in South.
March 1, 2006... Byline: Nick Ggodway Mar. 1--Halifax and Bank of Scotland combine HBOS today continued the record banks reporting season with a 17 percent rise in pre-tax profits to [pounds sterling]4.8 billion -- at the top end of the City's forecasts....

Bank of China plans [pounds sterling]4.6 billion Hong Kong float.
March 1, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 1--Bank of China, in which Royal Bank of Scotland has a strategic stake, may raise up to $8 billion ([pounds sterling]4.6 billion) in a Hong Kong initial public offering in June after shelving plans for a...

HSBC under the spotlight over [pounds sterling]5 million gay sacking claim.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Banking giant HSBC will face a potentially explosive examination of its working practices next week when its former global head of trading will accuse the bank of sacking him because he was gay, writes James Rossiter. Peter Lewis,...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--TENTH RECORD YEAR IN ROW FOR LEEDS BUILDING SOCIETY: Leeds, Britain's eighth-largest building society, today reported record profits in 2005 for the tenth year running at [pounds sterling]50.2 million -- an 18 percent rise on the 2004...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--New Labour supporter Neal Lawson pops up on Newsnight to declare: "I came into politics to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor." That's the same Neal Lawson who set up the lobbying company Lawson Lucas Mendelsohn in 1997. This...

Xstrata surges 60 percent and boosts dividend by half.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Anglo-Swiss copper and coal miner Xstrata has delivered a net profit of $1.7 billion ([pounds sterling]970 million) for the full year. The 60 percent increase is a record result for the company on the back of strong commodity prices but...

Google set to steady after sell-off.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Shares in Google looked set to steady on Wall Street today after a growth warning from the firm's chief financial officer triggered a dramatic sell-off last night. In pre-opening trade and ahead of a company meeting with analysts...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
March 1, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Mar. 1--A CLANGER BY OFT OVER METAL EXCHANGE HOURS: The thousands of people in the City who believe the Office of Fair Trading does not occupy the same planet as the rest of us have been given considerable ammunition...

[pounds sterling]750,000 fines for Jabre and GLG in insider probe.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--The Financial Services Authority has reportedly fined hedge fund GLG and former star trader Philippe Jabre [pounds sterling]750,000 each in an investigation into alleged insider trading. Jabre stepped down as a director of the firm...

Net gaming wins for Paddy Power after racing setback.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Irish bookie Paddy Power, now famous for losing out to Wembley construction workers on its bet that the stadium would be finished in time for the FA Cup, today revealed the huge impact victories for its punters can have on profits....

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--BOC helped lead blue-chips higher today amid mounting speculation that Germany's Linde is at last prepared to put a firm offer on the table. Shares in the industrial gases supplier climbed 42p to 1552p as more than five million...

Money floods in for office sales.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--A flood of money pouring into offices, shops and warehouses prompted the biggest rise in investment returns in 12 years from UK commercial property, writes James Rossiter. Returns from commercial property rose 19.1 percent during...

Bush exerts pressure to halt vote to block Dubai Port deal.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--US politicians have tempered their calls for an immediate vote to block Dubai Port World's takeover of P&O's US port operations after pressure from president Bush who strongly backs the deal. Members from both parties have slammed the...

Chunnel rail link set to go up for auction.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Transport Secretary Alistair Darling is looking for "a fair and open" competition in bidding for London & Continental Railways, dashing Sir Adrian Montague's hopes of winning the Channel Tunnel Rail Link uncontested, writes Bill Condie....

Rightmove set for a flying start property website.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Rightmove is on track to make a [pounds sterling]400 million-plus stock market debut next week with investor demand pushing the share pricing to the top end of the company's expectations Rightmove's broker UBS, helped by Panmure Gordon,...

Trading decline continues but Whitbread insists it's not for sale.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Whitbread today confirmed its status as the sick man of the leisure sector as it reported another set of declining sales figures for nearly all divisions. In its trading snapshot to 16 February, the group -- under constant takeover...

Force at fortnum's.
March 1, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Mar. 1--"Sir, can I interest you in this nougat -- it's the finest nougat in the world." He held out a tray containing the tiniest pieces imaginable. It was delicious. He pointed to the box, no bigger than a pack...

Jersey blow for retailers as VAT loophole is closed.
March 1, 2006... Mar. 1--Retailers such as Tesco, Asda and Amazon will be stopped from selling cut-price DVDs and CDs without paying VAT after the Jersey government decided to close a European Union tax loophole. Goods worth less than [pounds sterling]18 can be...

This month in Odyssey.(loud music causes hearing loss)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... What? No silence even after death? That's an eerie way to interpret this month's cover image, which is really a colored X-ray of a person wearing a pair of audio headphones. But what the "skeleton" is probably trying to tell us is, Protect your...

Killer sound!(car stereo systems in Troy Irving's car)
March 1, 2006... There's a war going on, and he sound could kill you! That's right. Welcome to "Car Wars" and the fight to build the world's most powerful sound system. The most powerful mass-produced car stereo appears to be a 1,200-watt system. Troy...

Beware of the sound police.(ShotSpotter Inc. signed by Rochester Police Department)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Shoot a gun in Rochester, NY, and the police might arrive sooner than you think. Thanks to the ShotSpotter Location System, the Rochester Police Department can now rapidly pinpoint the location of gunshots in the city and respond more quickly....

Shouting spiders.(tarantulas)
March 1, 2006... The next time you shout at your brother or sister to "Go away!," remember this: You're behaving no differently than a bird-eating tarantula. Just ask tarantula researcher Sam Marshall of Hiram College, near Cleveland, OH. As reported in...

The sound of music ... in your head!(functional magnetic resonance imaging)
March 1, 2006... Ever hear music in your head? You're not weird. It's a natural function of your brain. So say a group of Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH) researchers who recently published a study on this phenomenon in the journal Nature. The team used a...

Quite noise.(in microscopic level)
March 1, 2006... In everything experience, if we put more noise in, we get more noise out. For instance, one person yelling is not as noisy as 100 people yelling. But noise on the microscopic level might behave in just the opposite way. Those are the...

The power of sound.
March 1, 2006... Several years ago, my friend Alain and I were standing on the summit of Mount Wilson in California. As I scanned the countryside almost 6,000 feet below, a hawk glided by without a sound. "Look!" I shouted. "Shhhh," Alain replied. ...

Now H.E.A.R. this! Music to yourr ears: it was a wild, rockin' concert. But the next day Kathy Peck, lead vocalist for the punk band the Contractions knew that something was wrong. She couldn't hear, and she had terrible ringing in both ears.(Hearing Awareness & Education for rockers)
March 1, 2006... Peck had suffered permanent hearing loss from exposure to loud music. Devastated, she decided to "face her music" in a positive way. Along with a San Francisco doctor named Flash Gordon (no kidding--he's a motorcycle-riding, emergency-room...

Acoustical architecture: building the best concert halls.
March 1, 2006... Shout hello in a tunnel or underpass, and you're likely to hear an echo. Have your friends join you, and the echo disappears. In the same way, a walk through an empty concert hall sounds different than the same walk to your seat on concert...

Get ready for ... anti-noise.
March 1, 2006... TRY THIS EXPERIMENT: Find a quiet place, sit there for a while, and listen... hush and listen. What noises do you hear, even in this quiet place? A car on a nearby road? A jet overhead? Crickets or birds? Try the experiment indoors....

Phweeps, bweeps, bizzes, & beeps.(electronic sounds )
March 1, 2006... From the moment your cell phone alarm goes off in the morning (twheep-twheep, twheep-twheep) until the computer shuts down at night (shusssssssstttppp... kklluuummppp), electronic sounds surround us. What's all the tccckkk/tccckkk... clipp/...

Too noisy for whales.(sonar)
March 1, 2006... Each of these sad incidents occurred after the military used sonar nearby. Military sonar, used by the U.S. Navy and other nations to detect submarines, can produce bursts of sound of over 215 decibels. The sound travels hundreds of miles...

Land animals and noise--ouch!(physiological and behavioral changes)
March 1, 2006... Tiny cototon rats are a good example of what noise can do to animals on land. These rats live in grassy, overgrown fields and roadside ditches in the southeastern United States. When scientists studied them around an airport in Florida and in a...

When noise hurts: hyperacusis.
March 1, 2006... Imagine that you have been given third-row seats at a Green Day concert! As soon as Billie Joe Armstrong hits his first chord, the guitar rift pierces your brain. Tre Cool's drumbeats feel like explosions. You want to turn it down, or turn it...

Sangeeta's silent world.
March 1, 2006... A balloon popped. My sister and I clapped our hands over our ears. Our mother was angry at our antics. The loud noise might upset the baby, she said. But my one-year-old cousin, Sangeeta, didn't flinch. She never even turned toward us. That's...

In a quiet cube.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Jill is a scientist exploring the psychological effects of being in silence. Because she likes a little excitement in her life as she goes about her research, she tries a particularly odd stunt--in silence, of course. She places herself in...

Sound and survival: creating the cacophony of computer games.
March 1, 2006... Thunder echoes off abandoned stone structures on Skull Island. Several of your crew have disappeared. You have to find them before daybreak. As you make your way through the jungle, you hear voices to the left. You turn and see two members...

Finally! An ice cream that sounds good!(sound waves used for refrigeration)
March 1, 2006... It was an anonymous tip, but as a rookie reporter, I'll take any tip I can get. "Get over to the Ben & Jerry's for Earth Day," the voice had whispered. "It's the story of the year!" So here I am, hanging around an ice cream parlor on a...

What's up.(All-Sky Chart )
March 1, 2006... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it 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 use the All-Sky Chart, first use a...

Two eclipses ... and a marathon!
March 1, 2006... Welcome to spring! Actually, it's not official until the vernal equinox on March 20. The word *equinox" literally means equal day and equal night. Twice a year, the Sun's most direct rays shine on the equator. When the Sun's most direct rays...

A messier marathon!(Charles Messier, bright objects in sky)
March 1, 2006... We all know that the night sky is filled with stars and star patterns that you can see just by looking up. It's also fun to observe the Moon and its craters, and even the bright planets, with the naked eye. But if you view the same sky with a...

March 2003.(moon viewing times)(Table)(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... The Moon viewing conditions characterize the March sky as it appears at 7 p.m. On the dates that show the sky to be moonless, the Moon is below the the horizon at 7 p.m. * ...

The rival of Mars and how the scorpion lost its claws.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... LOOK SOUTH IN THE EARLY EVENING ON ANY SUMMER NIGHT, AND YOU'LL SEE A GIANT CONSTELLATION THAT LOOKS LIKE A FISH HOOK. [ILLUSTRATON OMITTED] OR THE CAPITAL LETTER J, WHICH DOES NOT STAND FOR JACK. [ILLUSTRATON OMITTED] IT'S MY...

Sci chat.(Letter to the editor)
March 1, 2006... In the September 2005 Science Scoop "Sixth Sense," we reported that after the December 26, 2004, earthquake, Sri Lankan wildlife officials found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the massive tsunami that followed. H.D. Ratnayake,...

Can a Guy Get Pregnant? Scientific Answers to Everyday (& Not-So-Everyday) Questions.(Brief article)
March 1, 2006... Can a Guy Get Pregnant? Scientific Answers to Everyday (& Not-So-Everyday) Questions By Bill Stones and Rich stones (New York: Pi Press, 2005) Can humans grow horns? Can people commit crimes in their sleep? Can a human glow like a firefly...

Sounds amazing!(crickets)
March 1, 2006... Imagine that you have to sing very loud (at about a 100 decibel sound pressure level) and long (often for hours) to attract a female mate and protect your territory from other males. And forget earplugs. You also have to listen for predators...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--SWISS RE PROFITS BLOWN AWAY BY HURRICANE KATRINA: Swiss reinsurance giant Swiss Re saw half its annual profit wiped out by Hurricane Katrina which devastated America's Gulf Coast last year, destroying most of New Orleans in the process....

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--A controlling interest in Crewe Alexandra Football Club is being advertised for sale. Apparently, "sophisticated investors only" need apply. Crewe are bottom of the Championship. Rotherham, in that position at the end of last season,...

Boss, 81, scoops [pounds sterling]200m as Hanson buys his company.
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--Surrey-based octogenarian Mike Uren has bagged more than [pounds sterling]200 million from selling his company which turns slag into cement. Bricks-to-gravel giant Hanson is paying [pounds sterling]245 million cash for Uren's...

Price rises fury could cost British Gas [pounds sterling]1.3BN.
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--A massive exodus of customers from Centrica's retail arm British Gas in the wake of recent price rises could cost the firm [pounds sterling]1.3 billion in annual sales. According to a report, the 22 percent increase in domestic gas...

Showdown for Google amid 'click fraud' row.
March 2, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 2--A squabble has broken out between Google and advertising marketers as the online search giant prepares to meet analysts who are pushing for guidance on where the company may be heading. Executives will spend...

ECB raises interest rates in move to curb inflation.
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--The European Central Bank today lifted eurozone interest rates for the second time in four months in a bid to keep a lid on inflation, writes Jane Padgham. Borrowing costs in the 12-nation bloc were nudged up by a quarter-point to...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 2, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 2--BIG SELLERS PUT A SPANNER IN THE WORKS AT TOMKINS: Two big sellers of almost 10 percent of its shares left engineer Tomkins nursing a fall of 16 1/4p at 319p, making it the biggest casualty among second-liners...

EDITORIAL: Trust me, this can't last.(Editorial)
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--The best tax break in Britain is about to disappear. Subscribers to new issues of venture capital trusts (VCTs) get 40 percent tax relief, tax-free dividends and no tax on any gain, so it's hardly surprising that as much as...

Don't bank on an easy ride at Vodafone, Sir John.
March 2, 2006... Mar. 2--Sir John Bond is not the retiring type, which is just as well, since his latest job will be anything but a comfy way to ease him to retirement after his triumphs at HSBC. Telecoms is a fast-moving business, but he cannot have seen just...

Avis Europe dips to [pounds sterling]25m and warns of a tough road ahead.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Avis Europe chief Murray Hennessy today warned that cut-throat competition in the car-hire business would continue to plague the industry in the next 12 months. After surviving a "difficult pricing environment" during 2005,...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--FEARS OVER NIGERIA AND IRAN SEND OIL PRICES CLIMBING: Oil prices were on the rise again today, amid fears of more violent attacks against Nigeria's production facilities and rising tension over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Last-ditch talks...

Save the glow at Body Shop.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--The time may have come to save Body Shop for the nation. This unique British business, which pioneered ethical bath-salts, now faces the threat of a takeover -- and from a French bidder, L'Oreal, too. Tony Blair may need to use his good...

Cairn's shares surge as Indian state oil firm eyes.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Rajasthan bid India's state-backed Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) today said it was considering an offer to buy Cairn Energy's Indian oilfields. News that Cairn's partner in India is eying the firm's main assets sent shares in the...

[pounds sterling]53 million raid jacks up insurance costs.
March 3, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 3--The armoured van and cash transit industry is set to see insurance premiums rocket by as much as 50 percent in the wake of the [pounds sterling]53 million Tonbridge robbery, Lloyd's underwriters said today. ...

Rank chief won't return for a buyout.
March 3, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Mar. 3--The outgoing chief executive of Mecca bingo-to-Grosvenor casinos group Rank today flatly denied speculation he could return to front up a buyout. Talk that Mike Smith could lead a venture capital-backed...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--At HSBC, deputy chairman Sir Brian Moffat stressed the importance of management continuity, adding that the bank's top 50 executives have a combined service approaching 1000 years, though 20 percent of them joined in the last six years....

Banks face action by Refco creditors.
March 3, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 3--Creditors, owed $16.8 billion ([pounds sterling]9.6 billion) by failed futures and commodities broker Refco, may pursue banking groups Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Bank of America for negligence in...

Consumers stagger under bills burden.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Spiralling household bills will hit consumers in the pocket to the tune of [pounds sterling]2.6 billion this year -- equivalent to nearly a penny on income tax, new research shows. Analysts at consultants Capital Economics say...

Enron chief warned 'They're on to us,' fraud trial is told.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Enron ex-chief Jeffrey Skilling warned colleagues that a damning analyst's report on the company just months before it collapsed meant Wall Street was about to uncover the firm's deceitful accounting practices, a Houston court has...

Poker chief caught between the Rock and a hard [pounds sterling]20 million.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Would you be happy on the Rock around the clock? Well, would you for the money? This was the call that Richard Segal had to make. He is chief executive of PartyGaming, the online poker group, he was told that his job would require...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
March 3, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Mar. 3--IT'S TIME TO GET A GRIP OF THE PENSION-FUND MESS: DO you ever get the feeling that no one is in charge? This is the problem that faces the nation's pension funds. Everyone is the prisoner of a process that is...

Bets signal cheer on house prices.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--City punters are increasingly confident of rising house prices this year, despite the setback suffered by homeowners in February, writes Jane Padgham. House price futures quoted by bookmaker Cantor Index have pared back near-term...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 3, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 3--Shares of Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports operator BAA flew higher today with Spain's Grupo Ferrovial poised to make an offer worth 920p a share as early as next week. That was the buzz around the...

Axel Springer stake buyer is Liam Fox pal.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--A low-profile businessman friend of Tory high-flier Liam Fox has emerged as the mystery buyer of a stake in one of Europe's largest media groups. Michael Lewis, 47, has acquired 3 percent of the shares owned by Frieda Springer --...

Developers' [pounds sterling]300 million punt on offices London property developer.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Greycoat Estates and German bank Eurohypo are leading a [pounds sterling]300 million bet on the capital's office market. Investors have driven up the values of some prime office sites by about 30 percent over the past year, but...

Dubai Ports dismisses U.S. security fears.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Dubai Ports World's vice chairman has sought to calm security fears over the company's takeover of P&O's US ports operations, saying management would remain the same after the deal. The comments by Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah came as...

Insults fly in war for top job at SkyePharma.
March 3, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Mar. 3--An ugly war broke out today over who should be chairman of drugs developer SkyePharma, as the company branded one of its key institutional shareholders liars. Activist investor North Atlantic Value (NAV)...

Wetherspoon chain puts its pub smoking ban on hold.
March 3, 2006... Mar. 3--Pubs group JD Wetherspoon is shelving plans to turn its entire chain non-smoking until the Government ban comes into force, writes Jim Armitage. Wetherspoon is already running a trial of non-smoking pubs, and originally planned to...

AT&T buying BellSouth in [pounds sterling]38bn revamp.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 6--AT&T is to buy BellSouth for $67 billion ([pounds sterling]38.4 billion) and acquire the part of Cingular Wireless it does not already own in a massive shake-up of an industry facing challenges from internet...

Close Brothers' choice of chairman breaks city rules.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--Close Brothers is to break the City's code on corporate governance by appointing its old chief executive as its new chairman. With former UBS boss David Scholey, 70, standing down from the chair of Close later in the year, the...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--BANK'S INFLATION PICTURE OUT OF FOCUS, SAYS THINK-TANK: The influential Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development today cast doubt on the Bank of England's optimistic forecasts for economic growth. The think-tank predicted...

Windfalls for thousands as Portman picks up Lambeth.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--Thousands of savers and mortgage-holders in London and the South East are set for windfalls of at least [pounds sterling]400 each after the Lambeth Building Society agreed to be taken over by larger rival the Portman. ...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--THE BOSSES OF LONDON'S BIGGEST BUS OPERATOR, ARRIVA, prefer rather smarter forms of carriage, it would seem, than the one they sell. Outgoing chief executive Bob Davies rides round in a vintage Bentley, while his replacement from next...

City plans that may be just too fruity.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--When the burghers of the City of London wonder why so many banks and law firms are deserting their quarter for Canary Wharf, they could do worse than look at the planning cleft stick they have got themselves in. City planner Peter...

Dubai hits back at US ports bid critics.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Mar. 6--The head of Dubai Ports World has defended the $6.8 billion ([pounds sterling]3.9 billion) takeover of P&O Ports operations including six terminals in the US, and denied claims by a senior Republican that it is...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Mar. 6--In the next few days, Lloyd's of London is likely to confirm Richard Ward -- the current chief executive of ICE Futures, the renamed International Petroleum Exchange -- as chief executive in succession to the...

HSBC smashes the records with [pounds sterling]12bn.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--HSBC today broke the records not just for a UK bank but also for all European banks as it announced an 11 percent rise in profits to $20.96 billion ([pounds sterling]11.9 billion). That completed the 2005 reporting season, which has...

BOC falls to Germans' [pounds sterling]8.2 billion bid.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--BOC today fell into the hands of rival German industrial gases giant Linde for [pounds sterling]8.2 billion. The cash takeover will trigger a [pounds sterling]12.1 million windfall for BOC chief executive Tony Isaac, 64, thanks to...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.
March 6, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Mar. 6--City investors are confident share prices will breach the 6000 level before the weekend, and are even prepared to put money on it. One firm of bookies was still offering odds today as traders and investors...

Expansion in mind as New York Exchange goes public.
March 6, 2006... Mar. 6--The world's biggest stock exchange this week enters a new phase in its 213-year history when it becomes a publicly quoted company, with a plan to build a war chest to expand around the world. The NYSE will tomorrow seal its purchase...