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

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

This month in Odyssey.
May 1, 2003... This issue went to press just one week after the tragic demise of Columbia. On that sad Saturday, my thoughts went first of course to the crew and their families, but then to some of the contributors to this issue: Marianne J. Dyson, a former...

Wanted: a bunch of lightweights! (Science Scoops).
May 1, 2003... If you want some head-over-heels excitement, look no more. Consider what the Zero Gravity Corporation (ZERO-G) has to offer. Starting this year, the newly formed U.S. firm has begun offering plane rides that simulate the microgravity of space...

Eyeing canals on Mars and Venus. (Science Scoops).
May 1, 2003... After spending 15 years intensively studying Mars in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Percival Lowell convinced himself that an intelligent race of Martians had constructed a web-like network of canals on the planet's surface. Alas, Lowell's...

Do Martians lie about their ages? (Science Scoops).
May 1, 2003... Some of the most mysterious meteorites (space rocks that fall to Earth) originate from the planet Mars. One, called ALHA84001, has received a lot of media attention because it might contain evidence of ancient Martian microfossils. But...

Lightning news a shocker! (Science Scoops).
May 1, 2003... QUESTION: Which part of the world is struck most by lightning? ANSWER: Tropical Brazil. Fine. But new research has also shown that Brazil is the country that suffers the highest death toll and most serious economic damage from electric...

Move over, Godzilla! (Science Scoops).
May 1, 2003... Speaking of electrifying news, anyone who has ever watched a Godzilla movie probably has noticed that the monster likes to body-slam power lines all across Japan. Well, if Godzilla wants to sneak up on, say, Tokyo in the near future, it might...

Io: what a blast! (Science Scoops).
May 1, 2003... Io, one of the four large moons of Jupiter, is the most volcanically active world beyond the Earth. We didn't know that before the Voyager spacecraft flew by that tiny world in 1979. More recently, the Galileo spacecraft had been keeping an...

Mars in 2003: its' the best.
May 1, 2003... Once in about every fifteen years, a startling visitant makes his appearance upon our midnight skies--a great red star that... mounting higher with the deepening night, blazes forth against the dark background of space with a splendor that...

The water of Mars.
May 1, 2003... If we were an extraterrestrial civilization capable of interstellar travel visiting the solar system for the first time, our attention would likely be drawn to only one planet: Earth. Without being too chauvinistic, the Earth is the gem of the...

Trailblazing robots ...
May 1, 2003... MARS EXPLORATION IS ON A ROLL! That is, after two wheeled robots start rolling over the rugged, rocky, and dust-covered Martian surface early next year. NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) promise to study Mars like never before....

Footsteps to follow.
May 1, 2003... Steps to Mars (1996-2010+) Robotic exploration of Mars has picked up pace over the last few years. Various spacecraft from many nations are joining the effort to study the Red Planet. Probes are already in orbit around Mars, and many more...

Persistent Martian. (Brain Strain).
May 1, 2003... Martin the Martian extended his antenna and began his lecture to visitors from Earth. As he looked over his class of eager students, he smiled at Mandy, a girl with a special interest in mathematics. Martin began to write on the blackboard......

Roving around the red planet.
May 1, 2003... As dozens of scientists worked intently, FIDO scampered over rugged rocks in the Arizona desert last summer. FIDO isn't a dog. It is NASA's Field-Integrated Design and Operations Rover, developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In...

Reaching for the stars.
May 1, 2003... FOUR YEARS AGO, Emily Dean's Lansing, NY, high school enrichment teacher stopped her in the hall and asked whether she'd like to become involved with an outreach program related to Mars. Little did Dean know that her enthusiastic "Yes!" would...

Weird Mars.
May 1, 2003... NASA's Mars Global Surveyor is now in its third Martian year of daily mapping. Thousands of images from the orbiting craft have been relayed back to Earth. But Mars holds tight many secrets. Here is a small selection of puzzling and fascinating...

Exploring Mars ... on Earth.
May 1, 2003... Chris McKay swims in a lake, but this is no vacation. He's wearing long underwear, a down vest, and a drysuit to keep from freezing. McKay is tied to the surface by ropes because he can't afford to get lost--the only way up is through a small...

Where on Earth is Mars? (Activity To Discover).
May 1, 2003... Scientists aren't able to go to Mars yet, but they can get a head start by studying here on Earth. Various sites on Earth have geological features that are similar to those that have been observed on Mars, or which might have been there in the...

Martians everywhere!
May 1, 2003... "Ladies and gentlemen... I can see the thing's body. It's as large as a bear and it glistens like wet leather.... The eyes... gleam like a serpent. The mouth is kind of V-shaped, with saliva dripping from its rimless lips..." A comic...

Early summer stars, meteors, and a total lunar eclipse! (What's Up).
May 1, 2003... Begin your May sky watching with a morning meteor shower. The Eta Aquarids peak before dawn on the morning of May 5. This meteor shower is associated with Comet Halley. Look toward the east, where you can expect to see up to 20 meteors per...

Planet watch. (What's Up).
May 1, 2003... Evening Planets: Mercury (in Aries) is very low in the west at sunset and is quickly lost in the sun's glare. It reappears in the morning sky after midmonth. Mercury, Venus, and the waning crescent moon make a beautiful sight at 5:30 a.m. (your...

Making a tactile star chart. (You Can Do Astronomy).
May 1, 2003... When you look up at the night sky, you easily can see bright objects like the moon or a planet. If you observe the sky from a place without the glare of city lights, you can also see thousands of stars, even the fainter ones. From the city,...

The angry red planet and the king. (Stargazing with Jack Horkheimer).
May 1, 2003... GREETING, GREETINGS, FELLOW STARGAZERS. UNLIKE VENUS, MARS IS ONLY HALF SIZE OF OUR EARTH. SINCE THE ORBIT OF MARS IS MORE ELLIPTICAL THAN EARTH'S... ONLY WHEN MARS GETS REALLY CLOSE TO US CAN WE SEE ITS FEATURES WITH A SMALL TELESCOPE....

Soaring to Mars and beyond. (Fantastic Journeys).
May 1, 2003... Editor's Note: This month in "Fantastic Journeys," we meet 14-year-old Bianca Baker of Portsmouth, VA, a budding TV talk show host and space enthusiast. Bianca tells us about the excitement of participating in Space Day 2002, when she met...

Berry interesting! (Animal Angles).
May 1, 2003... I'd like you to meet Deinococcus radiodurans. The name means "strange berry that withstands radiation." This pinkish-red bacterium is strange indeed. D. radiodurans might have come from "stardust" that landed on early Earth and Mars, but...

British Chemical Firm's New Chief to Axe 700 Jobs as Shares Slump.
May 1, 2003... May 1--ICI's new hard-man chief executive John McAdam has wasted no time wielding the axe, warning today that 700 jobs will go as the first stage of a huge cost-cutting programme, writes Jonathan Prynn. McAdam, who succeeded ousted Brendan...

New Chief of British Drugstore Chain Gets UKpound 400,000 Golden Hello.
May 1, 2003... Byline: Fiona Walsh May 1--Boots today confirmed that its new chief executive is to be 40-year old Richard Baker, who has been poached from Asda on a multi-million pound pay and options package. His salary will be UKpound 625,000 a...

UK Hotel Group Thistle May Sell London Hotels.
May 1, 2003... May 1--Six luxury landmark London hotels, worth up to UKpound 700 million, could come on to the market this summer after owner Thistle Hotels was sold today for UKpound 627 million. The London hotels -- including the Royal Horseguards in...

Men's Magazine Maxim Cashes In on US Fame with Sexy TV Debut.
May 1, 2003... Byline: Lauren Chambliss May 1--Maxim, the hot-selling lads' magazine, is making the big leap beyond the printed page into movies and television in the US with a summer NBC show on "the 100 sexiest girls in the world". Previously, the...

British Oil Chief's Pay Leaps despite Shares Dive.
May 1, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie May 1--Sir Ian Wood, chairman, chief executive and major shareholder of Aberdeen-based oil services company John Wood Group, has seen his salary rise 18 percent over the past year despite a 28 percent slide in the...

British Financier Keeps Bid Focus on Waste Disposal Group.
May 1, 2003... May 1--Guy Hands, the City financier reckoned to have the touch of Midas and who became as rich as Croesus, is still looking into the bowels of the underworld. His latest acquisition vehicle, Terra Firma, remains knee-deep in muck as it...

New Bank of Japan Governor Balks at Scheme to Buy Bank Shares to Boost Market.
May 2, 2003... Byline: Jake Lloyd-Smith May 2--The recently installed Governor of the Bank of Japan has attacked suggestions that the central bank should buy shares in the country's troubled lenders to help to shore up the stock market. Toshihiko...

British Business Group under Fire over Pay for Corporate Hit Squad.
May 2, 2003... May 2--The eight executives on the CBI's corporate governance hit squad were paid a total of UKpound 6.2 million by their companies last year, leaving the committee wide open to allegations of fat-cattery. Meanwhile, recent boardroom...

Business Insolvencies Drop in Britain, But in London by Only Half the Average.
May 2, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham May 2--The number of firms going bust plunged during the first quarter of the year, but the drop in London was half the national average. In an encouraging sign that the economic downturn has troughed, company...

Investors in I Feel Good Decide They Feel Bad as Group Sells Magazine.
May 2, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea May 2--Investors in Viz owner I Feel Good were uttering a string of expletives Roger Mellie-style today as the company was sold for a knockdown UKpound 5.1 million. Loss-making I Feel Good, founded by the lads' mag...

London, Wall Street Analysts Face Threat of Research Outsourced to India.
May 2, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie May 2--City analysts and their Wall Street cousins, reeling from layoffs, big pay cuts and, in the US at least, allegations of lying to the public, face a new threat as investment banks consider shipping research jobs...

Shell Cashes In on Crude Oil Pricing Spree with UKpound 2.5 Billion Profit.
May 2, 2003... Byline: Steve Stammers May 2--Shell joined the list of oil giants posting bumper profits on the back of soaring crude prices today -- and the group said that, despite making UKpound 312.50 a second over the first quarter, it was setting...

Technology Experts Warn No Telecommunications Devices Safe from Spammers.
May 2, 2003... May 2--If American technology experts are right, there will soon be nowhere safe from spammed offers of sex aids, pornography and get-rich-quick schemes. They point to the trends in Japan, where mobile phone subscribers receive up to 30 spam...

Founder of Plant Hollywood Goes into Joint Venture for St James's Fine Dining.
May 2, 2003... May 2--Robert Earl, the founder and chief executive of Planet Hollywood, returns to the London leisure scene with plans for an upmarket dinner-and-dancing casino. He is going into a joint venture with London Clubs International to turn the...

Tyco Takes UKpound 690M Hit over Accounting Glitches.
May 2, 2003... May 2--Tyco International is to pay about $1.1 billion (UKpound 690 million) in after-tax charges in its second quarter after unearthing fresh accounting problems, mainly related to the ADT security alarms business it bought from former Tory...

End of War in Iraq Cheers JD Wetherspoon Pub Group as Sales Rally.
May 2, 2003... May 2--Tim Martin's cheap-and-cheerful pubs group JD Wetherspoon has seen sales rally and profit margins stabilise. Sales jumped 3.5 percent in the three months to 27 April on a year earlier, he said today. That was quieter than the...

British Advertising Agency Suffers Hangover As Premium Bid Hopes Are Dashed.
May 12, 2003... May 12--Former Saatchi & Saatchi advertising agency Cordiant's future as a publicly quoted company looked more doubtful today after it said recent preliminary bid approaches were unlikely "to lead to an offer at the current share price". ...

Evening Standard, London, Business Briefs Column.
May 12, 2003... May 12--SOUTHCORP WARNS OF EARNINGS HANGOVER: Australia's largest winemaker, Southcorp, warned today it expected full-year underlying earnings of A$130 million (UKpound 52 million) to A$140 million and that after extraordinary items there would...

UK Sterling Takes Pounding from Euro Assault.
May 12, 2003... Byline: Steve Hawkes May 12--The pound fell to a record low against the unstoppable euro today as concern over the health of the UK economy continued to darken City skies. In volatile trading, sterling slumped to 72.13 pence at one...

Profits Soar by 38 Percent As Robert Wiseman Dairies Milks Market.
May 12, 2003... Byline: Jim Armitage May 12--Robert Wiseman Dairies today revealed the astonishing positive impact on profits of its new mega-dairy in Droitwich, which has been accused of flooding the market with excess milk. Wiseman's profits jumped...

Scottish Entrepreneur Fails in Last-Ditch Scramble for Posh British Retailer.
May 12, 2003... May 12--Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter today withdrew from the battle for Selfridges, but revealed that he had linked up over the weekend with the billionaire Reuben brothers for a final assault on the stores group. Together, they had...

London's Economy Slips, But Poll Shows Signs of Confidence Returning.
May 12, 2003... Byline: Jane Padgham May 12--London's economy shrank for a third successive month in April, as firms scaled back output in response to reduced demand. But the contraction was less severe than in March, prompting hopes that the...

EMI Hits Sour Note As Rival Music Giants Talk Merger.
May 12, 2003... Byline: Allan Hall May 12--Bertelsmann Music Group and AOL-Time Warner's Warner music division today confirmed that they were in talks to merge into a behemoth of the music world. Shares in EMI, whose artists include Robbie Williams...

Poll Backs British Transportation Group in Rail-Franchise Row.
May 12, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea May 12--The vast majority of Liverpool Street's City commuters believe that First Great Eastern should be reinstated after its controversial sacking from the Essex and East Anglian rail franchise. A survey by the...

Heavyweight Suitors Arm to Battle for Singapore Investment Group.
May 12, 2003... Byline: Jake Lloyd Smith May 12--Shares in BIL International, the Singapore investment group that recently took over Thistle Hotels, roared higher today on speculation that it may soon be the subject of a takeover battle between two...

Chief of Australian Airline Maps Out UKpound 600 Million Float Path.
May 13, 2003... Byline: Lachlan Colquhoun May 13--Sir Richard Branson today said the float of his Australian airline Virgin Blue is on track for November. Analysts have put a valuation of around A$1.5 billion (UKpound 604 million) on the number...

Court Outlaws Britain's 'Golden Share' in Airport Operator.
May 13, 2003... May 13--London's monopoly airport operator BAA was left open to a potential hostile takeover today after the European Court of Justice ordered the Government to give up its golden share in the company. Despite a long legal battle with...

War, Football Finale Just the Ticket for BSkyB's Finances.
May 13, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway May 13--A good war, a close end to football's Premiership and the 300th episode of The Simpsons provided another strong quarter for Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting, writes Nick Goodway. Over the Easter...

Former Chairman Calls Off Bid for British Cab Maker.
May 13, 2003... May 13--Shares in struggling black cab maker Manganese Bronze fell 8 percent today to 65 pence as its ex-chairman and controlling shareholder Jamie Borwick ditched plans to take the company into family ownership. Borwick, stalking the...

EasyJet Founder Plans Cut-Price Mediterranean Cruise Offer Amid Industry Doubt.
May 13, 2003... Byline: Robert Lea May 13--Entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou will test the water today outlining plans for cut-price Mediterranean cruising before a skeptical leisure industry, writes Robert Lea. The founder of the easyJet no-frills...

Fears after Saudi Bomb Send Brent Crude Price Up by 2 Percent.
May 13, 2003... Byline: Steve Hawkes May 13--Brent crude prices leapt by as much as 2 percent today as the devastating suicide bomb blasts in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh sent shivers through the world's oil markets. Fears that renewed terrorist...

British Fashion Group Gets Growing Again with 1.3 Percent Advance.
May 13, 2003... May 13--Fashion group Next has seen a resumption of sales growth at its High Street stores chain in the past two months, with chairman David Jones today reporting a like-for-like advance of 1.3 percent in the first 14 weeks of the group's...

European Court of Justice Ruling Puts Focus on State-Run Businesses.
May 13, 2003... May 13--The future ownership of Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems, the air-traffic control business Nats and the weapons inventor QinetiQ could be thrown into question by today's ruling from the European Court of Justice. These are the handful of...

UBS Head Reports 11 Percent Profit Decline, But Expresses Optimism for Future.
May 13, 2003... Byline: Allan Hall May 13--The head of Europe's largest bank today added his voice to a growing chorus of executives saying the worst is over for global markets. "It is starting to smell like the end of the bear market," said Peter...

Takeover of British Vaccine Maker Close.
May 13, 2003... May 13--A UKpound 500 million US takeover bid for PowderJect Pharmaceuticals is days away. The British vaccine maker has confirmed that talks with Chiron Corporation are at "an advanced stage". The talks have progressed rapidly since...

National Australia Bank Commits to British Expansion, Despite Net Profit Drop.
May 14, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie May 14--National Australia Bank has become the latest financial institution from Down Under to have its bottom line savaged by falling UK equity markets, but has reaffirmed its commitment to British expansion, writes...

Easter Sales Competition Costs Woolworths UKpound 5 Million.
May 14, 2003... Byline: Fiona Walsh May 14--The great Easter egg war has taken the shine off current trading at Woolworths, costing the group some UKpound 5 million in lost sales, although chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones insists that recovery at the...

Market Researcher Taylor Nelson Sofres Buys US Rival NFO WorldGroup.
May 14, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn May 14--Market research group Taylor Nelson Sofres appeared to have got its homework right today when the City gave a warm welcome to its $425 million (UKpound 264 million) takeover of US rival NFO WorldGroup, writes...

London-Based Platinum Producer Hires High-Profile Consultant.
May 14, 2003... May 14--Brian Gilbertson, the former "fat-cat" chief executive of BHP Billiton, stepped back into the limelight today with a consultancy role at platinum mining giant Lonmin, writes Steve Hawkes. Gilbertson, still to receive a possible...

British Clothing Store Pringle Finds 'Bobby the Terrier' Is Promotional Hit.
May 14, 2003... Byline: Fiona Walsh May 14--Actor Euan MacGregor, of 'Trainspotting' fame, created a stir at yesterday's star-studded opening of the new Pringle store in Sloane Street, writes Fiona Walsh. But equally in demand was Pringle-clad Bobby...

Bid to Bar Oilfield Purchase May Cost Shell Dear.
May 14, 2003... Byline: Steve Hawkes May 14--Oil giant Shell looks set to risk its vast Chinese expansion plans for the second time in a week by blocking Beijing's Sinopec from buying a stake in one of the world's biggest oil and gas fields. Shell is...

Sony Turns Up Heat on Nintendo with Game Boy Rival.
May 14, 2003... Byline: Jake Lloyd-Smith May 14--Consumer electronics giant Sony has stepped up its challenge to rival Nintendo with plans to launch a handheld games player. Described by Sony Computer chief executive Ken Kutaragi as "the Walkman of...

Gap Opens between British Financial Official's Forecast, Central Bank's.
May 15, 2003... Byline: Jim Armitage May 15--The Bank's forecast for growth in 2004 is now about 0.5 percent lower than the Chancellor's 3 percent-3.5 percent prediction, leaving a clear gap between them. Although Bank Deputy Governor Mervyn King said...

Germany Falls Back into Recession.
May 15, 2003... Byline: Allan Hall May 15--Germany is in recession again, with government data released today showing further shrinkage in the world's third-largest economy in the first quarter of this year. Europe's largest economy contracted 0.2...

Australian Insurer Faces Wrath of Investors.
May 15, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie May 15--More than 1000 AMP shareholders braved torrential rain in Sydney today to vent their anger over the company's disastrous performance. The financial services giant is to split its British and Australasian...

British Safeway Takes Measures to Prevent Staff Walkout.
May 15, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn May 15--Bid target Safeway has moved to halt a walkout of staff worried about the future ownership of Britain's fourth-biggest food retailer. The group said it had put in place "appropriate measures" including...

Deutsche Telecom Posts First-Quarter Profit of Euro850 Million.
May 15, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway May 15--Europe's largest phone company, Deutsche Telekom, surprised investors today with better than expected first-quarter figures, an improved full-year forecast and a sizeable cut in its massive debts. The...

British Venture-Capital Firm Suffers UKpound 1.17 Billion Drop.
May 15, 2003... May 15--Venture capitalist 3i's portfolio of investments collapsed by UKpound 1.17 billion last year as falling stock markets and the technology crash took a heavy toll on valuations. But despite reporting that its total return over the...

Australian Airline Virgin Blue Posts 233 Percent Rise in Yearly Net Profits.
May 15, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie May 15--Discount Australian airline Virgin Blue shook off aviation industry turmoil today with a 233 percent jump in net profits to A$158 million (UKpound 64 million) for the year to 31 March. At the same time, Sir...

London's Investment Bankers Face Third Year of Bonus Cuts.
May 16, 2003... Byline: Jonathan Prynn May 16--The City's shell-shocked survivors are braced for an unprecedented third consecutive year of bonus cuts, writes. Investment bankers say bosses are already letting it be known there is little chance of an...

Evening Standard, London, Business Briefs Column.
May 16, 2003... May 16--CITIGROUP AXE FALLS IN SHAKE-UP: The axe fell again today at Citigroup, on the job of another senior investment banker, head of equity sales in London, James Rowsell. Rowsell's ousting is the latest shift in a worldwide shake-up of...

London Property Developer Says His Stake in Company Is 'Missing'.
May 16, 2003... Byline: James Rossiter May 16--An East End property developer is short of a UKpound 1.5 million stake he says he bought in a UKpound 26 million listed property company, owner of historic buildings ranging from the Sweetings fish restaurant...

Hilton Posts 25 Percent Drop in Profits.
May 16, 2003... May 16--Leisure group Hilton today revealed the full impact of the Iraq war, terrorism and the Sars virus as it admitted profits for the first four months were down 25 percent, despite a strong performance at its Ladbrokes division. Just...

Japan's Economic Figures Point to Possible Recession.
May 16, 2003... May 16--Japan's economy stalled in the first quarter, according to government data out today. Gross domestic product grew 0.5 percent in the January-to-March period, unchanged from the final quarter of last year. The figures suggest that Japan...

British Firm Capital Radio Expects Continued Weak Advertising Demand.
May 16, 2003... Byline: Nick Goodway May 16--Capital Radio chief executive David Mansfield admitted today that as the end of the third successive year of advertising recession looms, "it isn't looking any more positive", writes. With half-year...

Former Sotheby's Chairman Is Released from Prison.
May 16, 2003... May 16--Disgraced former Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman has been freed from prison and moved to a halfway house in central Detroit. Taubman, 79, who has health problems, was sentenced on 31 July 2002 to serve a year for fixing commission...

British Investor Takes Massive Loss on Speedway Track.
May 16, 2003... May 16--Guy Hands is reported to have taken a massive loss on a disastrous investment in a speedway track that could have wiped out as much as a third of his UKpound 140 million fortune. Hands sold his 75 percent stake in the Rockingham Motor...

Basketball Star Yao Ming Dispute's Coca-Cola's Right to Put Image on Bottles.
May 16, 2003... May 16--Houston Rockets basketball star Yao Ming has accused Coca-Cola of infringing his image rights after it put his picture on bottles. But the Atlanta-based company says that it is entitled to use Yao's image because of a deal its...

London Internet Exec Accused of Affair Wins Apology.
May 18, 2003... May 18--The internet boss who saw details of his sex life splashed over every dealing room screen in the City through an unprecedented Stock Exchange announcement has won an apology from his fellow directors. Board members at the...

Former Sotheby's Chief Is Freed from Detroit Prison.
May 18, 2003... Byline: Bill Condie May 18--Disgraced former Sotheby's chairman Alfred Taubman has been freed from prison and moved to a halfway house in central Detroit. Taubman, 79, who suffers from heart disease, diabetes and hearing problems, was...