The Evening Standard (London, England) articles from May 2007

The Evening Standard (London, England) archives from May 2007

Asos gets on famously as celeb styles prove a winner.
May 1, 2007... May 1--The public fascination with celebrities and fashion is leading to good times for online clothes store Asos.com. A trading statement today said profits will beat expectations -- a rebuke to City sceptics who think the company has run...

US backers take bid target ABN to court.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway May 1--ABN Amro, the Dutch bank targeted by bids from Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, faces a new court action from its own investors in the US. A class action filed last night in the Supreme Court in New York...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
May 1, 2007... May 1--HMMM... one worries for the financial future of Eos, Stansted's business-class only transatlantic airline. Its latest marketing motto is "Uncrowded. Uncompromising", which may have the accountants worrying why its jets are flying so...

Naked truth of why US drug firm chose AIM.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Simon English May 1--An illegal trading strategy dubbed "naked shorting" that is sweeping Wall Street has led an American drug company to choose London over New York as a venue to float. CardioVascular BioTherapeutics, which...

Google slams 'sabotage bid' by Viacom.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie May 1--Online search giant Google has come out with guns blazing against media giant Viacom, accusing it of trying to sabotage the internet. The company, being sued by MTV owner Viacom for more than $1 billion...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
May 1, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton May 1--The Sunday Times Rich List was published at the weekend, and it was to be expected that attention would focus on those at the top of the table, and particularly the number of foreign billionaires who now live...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
May 1, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark May 1--The Barclay brothers have dug deep into their deep pockets and forked out almost [pounds sterling]45 million to raise their stake in InterContinental Hotels to 8.2 percent, raising speculation that the endgame...

Bin your plastic bags, Standard readers tell the major store chains.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Jonathan Prynn May 1--Four out of five Evening Standard readers support restrictions on the number of plastic bags handed out at shops. The overwhelming majority in favour of action to reduce waste was revealed in a poll. ...

Punch Taverns is banking on a boost from smoking ban.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway May 1--The smoking ban that takes effect two months today could actually end up being good for business, says Britain's biggest pub operator. Giles Thorley, chief executive of the 8000-strong Punch Taverns,...

Shopping spree ups rate rise pressure.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan May 1--Shoppers flocked to the High Streets last month, sending sales up at their fastest pace in three years. The CBI today said its barometer of retail activity unexpectedly jumped from plus 32 in March to plus 44...

US flags school buses sell-off for FirstGroup.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea May 1--FirstGroup may be forced to sell part of its school bus operations in the US after the American Department of Justice demanded more information on the UK company's [pounds sterling]1.9 billion acquisition of US...

Soccer shares soar as tycoons go shopping.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea May 1--The takeover approach by Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen for Southampton marks a step change in the foreign takeovers of England's football clubs, which have seen the value of their shares soar by hundreds of...

Store card 'wealth warning'.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Jonathan Prynn May 1--Shoppers will receive a "wealth warning" on store cards which charge "extortionate" interest rates under measures that come into force today. Providers that charge Annual Percentage Rates (APRs) greater...

Imps anger as Altadis tries to spark auction.
May 1, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea May 1--Gauloises and Fortuna group Altadis's attempts to smoke out a rival bid to Imperial Tobacco's [pounds sterling]8.2 billion takeover tilt is causing a stink at the acquisitive UK group as it attempts to consolidate...

This month in Odyssey.(Science Scoops)
May 1, 2007... The velvet blackness of night is mysterious... and it can be scary. What really happens when the Sun's light goes out and we go to bed? A whole world of nocturnal creatures, such as the pallid bat below and on our cover, comes alive to work...

Disappearing act.(beehives)
May 1, 2007... Bee-ware! There's a buzz around that honeybee counts throughout the United States are...well, excuse the mixed metaphor... dropping like flies! According to a Feb. 12, 2007, CNN Science & Story Web report, beekeepers in 22 states have...

Help on the way!(honeybees)
May 1, 2007... If the vanished commercial honeybees don't come back to their hives, there's hope on the horizon. As reported in the January 2006 issue of Science News, scientists at five bee laboratories, operated by the United States Department of...

Did you see the comet?(Surprise!)
May 1, 2007... It never seems to fail. If astronomers tell you to go outside because there's going to be a bright comet visible, chances are that by the time clouds and weather move away, the comet has either set, faded, or dipped below the horizon. And...

... And that's just the tip of the tail!(Science Scoops)
May 1, 2007... Now, get this: When Comet McNaught headed south for the winter (that s a joke), Northern Hemisphere observers either hopped on a jet and headed south with it or just sat back in their recliners and watched the images multiply on various Web...

Speaking of comets ...(Science Scoops)
May 1, 2007... Did you know that you might be made of comet stuff? Well, sort of, anyway. Here's the scoop. In February 1999, NASA's Stardust spacecraft examined Comet Wild 2 up close and personal. Then, after flying through the comet's tail, Stardust headed...

Who built stonehenge?(Science Scoops)
May 1, 2007... How about the Village People? Well, that was sort of a joke. But listen to this: Although we don't have a list of the names of the builders, Mike Parker Pearson, a professor of archaeology at Sheffield University in the United Kingdom, told New...

Sensing the night.(Short story)
May 1, 2007... IT WAS A SPRING EVENING IN NEW JERSEY, and Juana didn't want to go in for dinner. Last night she'd seen a raccoon in the yard, and she wanted to see if it would come back. Her older brother, Romero, had already called her twice. "Juana,...

Night vision: why you can see in the dark.
May 1, 2007... Eyes work by converting light energy into nerve impulses. These nerve impulses are sent to the brain, where we "make sense" of them. A certain pattern of light is a "tree," another pattern is "my dad," and so on. An eye functions a lot...

Pollinators: working the night shift: honeybees and fuzzy bumblebees buzz softly as they travel from flower to flower, gathering sweet nectar on a warm summer's day. Ahhh ... doesn't it remind you of summer vacation!
May 1, 2007... BEES ARE ALWAYS FUN TO WATCH. However, their work has a far greater importance than to entertain us on lazy summer afternoons. Bees are the most efficient and commonly noticed floral "pollen movers." They are one of many species that provide...

Build your own bee condo.(ACTIVITY TO DISCOVER: OPEN HOUSE)
May 1, 2007... Here are several things that you can do to help protect, conserve, and raise native bee pollinators where you live. Remember that almost all of these bees are nonsocial and not defensive like those in big honeybee colonies. They will offer you...

Days of our lives.(Short story)
May 1, 2007... DARKNESS FALLS. A MOUSE AWAKENS AND TIMIDLY SLIPS OUT OF ITS HOLE IN A BARN WALL TO LOOK FOR FOOD. Without making a sound, a barn owl sweeps down from its perch and snatches the mouse in its claws. Hundreds of big brown bats swarm into the...

Batty about bats!
May 1, 2007... DON'T YOU HATE IT WHEN a mosquito buzzes around your head at night when you're trying to sleep? Bzzzzzz... Or when the pesky critters join your camp-out, leaving your body laced with itchy lumps? Imagine what it would be like if there were...

"Vampiro": one of those big bats that they call Vampires had got a her in the night, and, what with his gorge and the vein left open, there wasn't enough blood in her to let her stand up ...
May 1, 2007... SO WROTE BRAM STOKER in his classic 1897 horror tale Dracula, a chilling account of a bloodthirsty demon who could change bodily into--among other things--a vampire bat. Traveling from his castle in Transylvania (a setting based on a historical...

Here's your personal bat mobile.(Activity To Discover)
May 1, 2007... Bats are a wonderful example of night feeders, and here's a great way to add them to your very own room! Or, how about making a gift for a younger friend or sibling? Bats live on every continent, except Antarctica. The largest megabats...

Coral reefs: the changing of the guard.
May 1, 2007... Wearing fins, mask, and snorkel, I dropped off the bow of the catamaran Teralani into the crystal-blue water of Honolua Bay, a state marine preserve along the western shore of the Hawaiian island of Maui. Below the boat, the bottom was deep and...

Creature from the black lagoon.
May 1, 2007... IT'S APPROACHING NOON ONE FINE FEBRUARY MORNING in South Florida, and I'm in Everglades National Park watching an American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) "sleeping" on a slab of limestone near the swamp's edge. For hours now, I've been...

Poor Pythagoras.(Brain Strain)
May 1, 2007... Zeus--a creepy, crepuscular owl--descends to the Earth in search of Pythagoras, the vampire bat. Unlike other birds of prey, owls have virtually noiseless flight, the butterfly-like flapping of their wings being muffled by the velvety surface...

Hoo's eating what?(Kids Can ... Do Amazing Science)
May 1, 2007... Imagine you want to be a biologist who studies owls. You're wondering what an owl eats. But no one you ask seems to know. Then, one spring day you are walking in the woods at about dusk. You look up into a tree and see an owl's nest high...

Dark dweelers: the mysterious gopher tortoises an interview with biologist David Rostal.(People To Discover)(Interview)
May 1, 2007... IF YOU'VE NEVER SEEN A GOPHER TORTOISE (Gopberus polypbemus), that's because they've gone underground! These roughly footlong, land-dwelling tortoises live only in upland habitats throughout the coastal plain of the southeastern United States,...

Star chart.(astronomical charts)
May 1, 2007... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky (minus the Moon) as it appears at 9:30 p.m. on May 15. Useful all month (except for planet positions), the chart is also accurate for 10:30 p.m. on May 1 and 8:30 p.m. on May 31. To use the All-Sky...

Planets in motion.(STARGAZING Comic)(Cartoon)
May 1, 2007... GREETINGS, GREETINGS, FELLOW STARGAZERS. GO OUTSIDE AT DUSK AND YOU'LL SEE THE PLANET VENUS HIGH IN THE WEST AND SATURN, THE RINGED WONDER, HIGH IN THE SOUTHWEST! [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ACCORDING TO KEPLER'S SECOND LAW OF PLANETARY...

You've got mail!(Letter to the editor)
May 1, 2007... Dear ODYSSEY, In response to the Science Scoop "Got Stomach Flu? Hug Your Pet" [February 2007 issue], YES! I believe that hugging a pet really can reduce your chances of getting the stomach flu. I think this because the sensation of...

Untamed: Animals Around the World.(Untamed: Animals Around The World)(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
May 1, 2007... Untamed: Animals Around the World photos by Steve Bloom; text by Christian Havard; drawings by Emmanuelle Zicot (Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2005) Lions, and tigers, and bears, oh my! Not to mention monkeys, zebras, and giraffes, too. In the...

Wheeee--thunk!(marsupials)
May 1, 2007... By day, groups sugar gliders (Petaurus breviceps) rest and nest together in leaf-lined tree holes. By night, these marsupials travel the forests of mainland Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea looking for food. Compact and furry, they are...

BMI to spread its wings in the long haul.
May 2, 2007... May 2--BMI plans to turn itself from a short-haul specialist airline concentrating on the UK and western Europe into a serious Heathrow-hubbed carrier flying to four continents. The former British Midland will this summer announce details...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
May 2, 2007... May 2--PARTYGAMING PULLS IN PUNTERS BUT ISSUES A PROFITS WARNING: Online casino PartyGaming issued a profits warning today after a surge in gamblers on its websites sent costs spiralling. The Party Poker owner signed up 233,900 new players in...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
May 2, 2007... Byline: Chris Blackhurst May 2--Two personal Fred Goodwin stories. I was invited to preview night at the Chelsea Flower Show by Royal Bank of Scotland. Along with other journalists we're in the RBS tent. Some of the bank's top brass are...

Sky defies turmoil to gain new customers.
May 2, 2007... Byline: Nick Goodway May 2--An impending court battle with Virgin Media and the likelihood of a referral to the Competition Commission did nothing to damage BSkyB's latest trading, chief executive James Murdoch revealed today. Sky...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
May 2, 2007... May 2--WHAT should happen next in the Lord Browne affair? He has quit BP, but all investors are left with is the assurance from chairman Peter Sutherland that an internal review cleared him. Surely, shareholders have the right to know just how...

Talk to Murdoch, Dow family is told.
May 2, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie May 2--Major institutional shareholders in Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones today declared they want to force a sale of the company on the Bancroft family, which controls the 125-year-old group. The Bancrofts...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
May 2, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton May 2--Gordon Brown has taken a huge amount of flak down the years for his [pounds sterling]5 billion-ayear raid on pension funds, to the extent that some critics rather excessively blame him for the entire collapse...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
May 2, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark May 2--City traders moved quickly today to scotch any suggestions Rupert Murdoch's [pounds sterling]2.5 billion offer for Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal, would have a positive read across to newspaper...

PartyGaming's 10 percent fall 'still not enough'.
May 2, 2007... Byline: Simon English May 2--Online poker business PartyGaming dealt a profits warning today that sent its shares into freefall and sparked fresh doubt about the entire sector's future. The world's biggest online poker company revealed...

Game Group's Blockbuster [pounds sterling]74m deal.
May 2, 2007... May 2--High Street video games chain Game Group today bought one of its main rivals, Gamestation, from video rentals group Blockbuster in a [pounds sterling]74 million deal. The takeover doubles the group's number of outlets to just over...

Aussie wine prices to rise as producers switch focus.
May 3, 2007... May 3--Australia's wine industry, which this year will see output plunge due to a devastating drought, has signalled it will seek higher prices from British drinkers after setting a target of boosting exports by A$2 billion ([pounds...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
May 3, 2007... May 3--BLACKS PITCHES UP WITH SALES RISE BUT THE WORRIES REMAIN: Blacks Leisure, the outdoor clothing and camping gear group that is 29 percent owned by Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley, has seen an apparent improvement in its grisly fortunes...

Browne 'wanted to stay but BP board couldn't decide'.
May 3, 2007... May 3--BP's fallen chief executive Lord Browne reportedly hoped to cling on to his post at the top of the oil giant despite revelations of his lying under oath. Reports today said he would have held on had he received the backing of the...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
May 3, 2007... May 3--AMONG the details of the Lord Browne case was the claim that his boyfriend, Jeff Chevalier, used the BP boss's laptop. While Browne denies any improper conduct relating to BP, and an internal inquiry cleared him to that effect, a story...

Wharf's bumper year piles the cash high for chief exec.
May 3, 2007... May 3--The maturing of Canary Wharf into an alternative London financial centre to the City has seen the group's chief executive, George Iacobescu, 61, help himself to a [pounds sterling]3.68 million pay package in 2006, three-and-a-half times...

US 'will let gambling chief move to UK jail'.
May 3, 2007... Byline: Bill Condie May 3--Former Wembley gambling group chief Nigel Potter is to be allowed to leave the US and serve the remainder of his sentence for a bribery conviction in the UK, says website justice4nigelpotter.com, set up by his...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
May 3, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton May 3--A feature of the City over the past 20 years has been that the traditional British way of doing things has gradually been replaced by something more akin to the American model, with two predictable results....

Pru-Aviva deal buzz grows as shareholder puts on pressure.
May 3, 2007... May 3--A deal between Prudential and fierce rival Aviva emerged as a fresh possibility today after a key shareholder pushed for a break-up of Britain's grandest insurer. Pru has been under pressure for some time to sell or hive off its...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
May 3, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark May 3--Shares of Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times and Penguin books, suffered a setback today after Goldman Sachs dropped them from its prestigious Pan-European buy list. The US broker downgraded Pearson...

Huge windfalls for property agents as boom rumbles on.
May 3, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan May 3--Jones Lang LaSalle executive Alastair Hughes is the latest London property agent to join the [pounds sterling]1 million club. More surveyors and estate agents than ever before are banking bumper bonuses on...

Flight of the fantasists hurts Games Workshop.
May 3, 2007... May 3--Nerds who spend their lives playing fantasy games must be finding other ways to fill the waking hours. Games Workshop today said sales of the role-play board games and Lord of the Rings paraphernalia have fallen so badly that profits...

Ryanair rage as taxes on passengers are doubled.
May 3, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea May 3--The doubling of taxes on flying is hurting Ryanair, Europe's biggest budget airline today admitted. Chief executive Michael O'Leary blamed a fall in the amount of money it is making per passenger in recent...

Shell beats output slowdown at [pounds sterling]3.5bn.
May 3, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea May 3--Royal Dutch Shell today shrugged off falling production levels and lower oil prices in the early part of the year to report first-quarter earnings of $6.932 billion ([pounds sterling]3.48 billion) -- or almost...

Warm weather may save BAT from cigs ban cloud.
May 3, 2007... Byline: Simon English May 3--Britain's freakishly early summer could come to the aid of cigarette makers worried about the ban on smoking in public places. British American Tobacco today said the unseasonably warm weather may mean that...

UBS pulls the plug on its loss-making hedge fund.
May 3, 2007... May 3--Swiss bank UBS is to leave running hedge funds to the experts and close its much-hyped Dillon Read Capital Management arm less than 18 months after it was launched. UBS said it is shutting down on its own hedge fund, DRCM, run by...

Unilever on revival track after top managers culled.
May 3, 2007... May 3--Signs emerged today of a turnaround at lumbering consumer goods giant Unilever, suggesting that a move to fire hundreds of senior managers may be working. The company behind Slim-Fast, Vaseline, Hellman's, Flora and scores of other...

Takeovers sting in the tail of new US online gambling bill.
May 3, 2007... May 3--Gambling shares took another hit yesterday when it emerged that plans to overhaul the US ban on internet betting would be watered down. Congressman Barney Frank said he had made changes to his radical Bill seeking a complete...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
May 4, 2007... May 4--FIRST CHOICE AND TUI MOVE TO CALM IRISH MONOPOLY WORRIES: First Choice and its planned merger partner TUI have agreed they will sell one of their Irish businesses to get around European Commission concerns about the combined company's...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
May 4, 2007... May 4--THE parallels between the departures of Lord Browne and Tony Blair are manifold. Both lost the respect of their lieutenants as they became increasingly remote, both have been finished in their last months by controversial decisions in...

Bidders tuning up for a battle over troubled EMI.
May 4, 2007... May 4--Lily Allen, Joss Stone and Norah Jones can expect to have new publishers soon, after a [pounds sterling]2.5 billion bidding war broke out today for music group EMI. The beleaguered record company has received "a number" of takeover...

Evening Standard, London, Christopher Fildes column.(Column)
May 4, 2007... Byline: Christopher Fildes May 4--Tony Blair and I made a good double act, while it lasted. I was booked to perform at a conference in the City, and the Opposition was sending its junior Treasury spokesman. Someone called Blair, the...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
May 4, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton May 4--Barclays shares rose, and Royal Bank of Scotland's fell when the verdict came through yesterday from a Dutch courtroom. It was the stock market's shorthand way of saying that in the battle for control of Dutch...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
May 4, 2007... Byline: Mickey Clark May 4--For once there was something more substantial than the usual round of Friday rumours behind the soaring share prices today. The prospect of a bidding war for Hanson kick-started the action today but...

RBS set for talks with ABN after Barclays court blow.
May 4, 2007... May 4--ABN Amro today said it was now working in a "constructive and collaborative manner" with the Royal Bank of Scotland-led consortium over its [pounds sterling]50 billion takeover plans. The statement, a day after a Dutch court ruling...

Reuters in the grip of takeover frenzy.
May 4, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan May 4--News and financial data giant Reuters was at the heart of a share trading frenzy today after a takeover approach thought to have come from Canadian rival Thomson. They soared 25 percent to value the FTSE 100...

Qantas bid ditched as key player sleeps on it.
May 8, 2007... May 8--Farcical details emerged today of how greed and mistrust scuppered the A$10.8 billion ([pounds sterling]4.5 billion) private-equity bid for Australian airline Qantas when a game of brinkmanship went badly wrong. The takeover rested...

Accountants facing a day of reckoning on audit fees.
May 8, 2007... Byline: Robert Lea May 8--The audit fee bonanza enjoyed by the Big Four accountants over the past four years has continued into the current annual reporting season but there are signs the boom may be dramatically slowing. The Evening...

'Tight ship' at Deutsche leads 30 percent profit surge.(Financial report)
May 8, 2007... May 8--Deutsche Bank's first-quarter profits have surged by 30 percent, thanks mainly to its London-based investment banking and trading arms. Profits after tax rose to e2.12 billion ([pounds sterling]1.45 billion) from e1.64 billion a...

Strength in City helps lift Deutsche Bank to [pounds sterling]1.4 billion.
May 8, 2007... May 8--Deutsche Bank's first-quarter profits have surged by 30 percent, thanks mainly to its London-based investment banking and trading arms. Profits after tax rose to e2.12 billion ([pounds sterling]1.45 billion) from e1.64 billion a...

RBS 'has cash to buy ABN and LaSalle'.
May 8, 2007... May 8--Royal Bank of Scotland's consortium today hit back at accusations by its rivals that it has not got the cash to go ahead with a e71 billion ([pounds sterling]48 billion) takeover bid for ABN Amro and a $24.5 billion ([pounds...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
May 8, 2007... May 8--LAST ORDERS AT BANK AS INDIVIDUAL SELLS OFF SITE FOR [pounds sterling]3.5 MILLION: Bank, a one-time restaurant of the year and beloved of City types, lawyers and theatre-goers alike, looks likely to close after the site on Aldwych was...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
May 8, 2007... May 8--BANKER Russell Chambers has been named as one of the Gang of Four -- with PR Roland Rudd, former Blair aide Baroness Morgan and Carphone's Charlie Dunstone -- reportedly meeting to map out Tony Blair's future. But how did Chambers,...

French polish for Liberty's revival.
May 8, 2007... Byline: Simon English May 8--To millions of tourists from across the globe, West End department store Liberty is as British as bad weather. But the company today showed it isn't afraid of tradition by asking a Frenchman to lead the next...

City's boom is cooling off, say gloomy cabbies.
May 8, 2007... Byline: Hugo Duncan May 8--The white hot pace of growth in the City is starting to cool as fears over the US economy and rising interest rates at home knock confidence. An Evening Standard survey of London black cab drivers found that...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
May 8, 2007... Byline: Anthony Hilton May 8--GOLDMAN SHOWS ITS TRUE COLOURS OVER LORD BROWNE: It is impossible not to contrast the public letter of support for Lord Browne, published in the Financial Times on Saturday and signed by dozens of prominent...