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

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

A lousy fit?(history of clothing connected to lice)
September 1, 2006... When was clothing invented? Well, statues and pottery dating to about 27,000 years ago show evidence of woven clothing. And sewing needles might date to about 40,000 years ago. Now anthropologists Mark Stoneking and his colleagues at the Max...

Alligator chick!(do chickens have teeth?)
September 1, 2006... Do chickens have teeth? Well, normal birds haven't had teeth for 70 million years. But biologist John Fallon and graduate student Matthew Harris of the University of Wisconsin know of one modern mutant that's got quite a bite. The...

Tambora: a new pompeii!(Haraldur Sigurdsson unearths the lost civilization of Tambora)
September 1, 2006... On April 10, 1815, Tambora, a volcano on Sumbawa Island in Indonesia, erupted with a power four times greater than that of Indonesia's Krakatau in 1883. The eruptive gases entered Earth's stratosphere and soon circled the globe, diminishing the...

Leave it to beaver: a beaver that swam with the dinosaurs is making scientists rethink mammalian history.(Castorocauda Iutrasimilis)
September 1, 2006... Just when we thought that we had the history of ancient mammals cast in stone, along comes a beaver and breaks the mold. That's right: The discovery of Castorocauda Iutrasimilis, a furry, beaverlike animal that swam with the dinosaurs, has...

Who's got-the biggest bite?(Tyrannosaurus rex, Spinosaurus or Giganotosaurus)
September 1, 2006... Everyone who loves dinosaurs loves Tyrannosaurus rex, the two-legged carnivore (or theropod in dino lingo) that was indeed a monster. Weighing in at 6 tons and measuring up to 50 feet in length, this ferocious flesh-eater had teeth up to 13...

High-tech threads: taking textiles to the extreme!(e-clothing)
September 1, 2006... If you were hanging by a thread, you'd want it to be a high-tech fiber. Forget about wool and cotton, and even most types of silk. High-tech threads are made from a wide variety of new materials, including metals, carbon fibers, and a variety...

A stitch in time: 1845-2006.(Charles Babbage and Lady Ada Byron Lovelace on e-clothing)
September 1, 2006... There's a bit of irony involved in e-clothing. The first computer was used in the weaving of textiles for clothes. Now, smart fabric incorporates computers inside clothing. The Victorian mathematician and inventor Professor Charles Babbage...

Electronic textiles: "wiring" the fabrics of our lives.
September 1, 2006... Once, the closest clothes came to electronics was when a music player or phone fit in your pocket. Now, scientists are fashioning fabric itself into electronics One day, we might all be wearing our computers! IT ALL BEGINS WITH THE WEAVE...

Nature + nano = smart!(smart clothing with nanotechnology)
September 1, 2006... Dirt-repellent soccer shorts that never have to be washed--even after a tough game. A favorite pair of pants that is comfortably broken in and helps regulate your body temperature. Sergiy Minko, a chemistry professor at Clarkson University,...

Smarty pants: build the world's simplest wearable computer!(craft)
September 1, 2006... To build a real wearable computer, engineers must design miniaturized circuits that are thin, flexible, and tough enough to be embedded directly into the fibers of a garment itself. Would you like to try designing a wearable computer of your...

Clothes with a conscience.(ecofashion)
September 1, 2006... Is your wardrobe ready for a makeover? Would you like to dress cool and be kind to the planet at the same time? How about outfitting yourself in ecofashions? Let others wear clothes made from cotton grown using pesticides or from synthetic...

Walking the runway of techno-fashion.(Seamless Fashion Show)
September 1, 2006... A dress with built-in magnets that attracts scrap metal from the sidewalk or street and then sorts it into pockets by size and shape--cleaning up the environment as you walk along... A garment with a built-in light show that is controlled...

Emily's smart new clothes.
September 1, 2006... The party's going to be a ripper," Danielle whispered into Emily's ear as the two walked together through the crowded school hallway. They were surrounded by students wearing identical blazers, flashing fireworks displays of colors and text,...

Will clothes make the man ... or woman ... or cyborg?(smart clothing)(Interview)
September 1, 2006... Every time you ride your bike, you are a cyborg. How's that possible? It helps to understand what "cyborg" really means. In 1960, two scientists named Manfred Clynes and Nathan Kline first coined the term while designing ways to help humans...

Nature's superhero threads.(spidre silk, wool )
September 1, 2006... WOULD YOU BELIEVE that spider silk--the kind that spiders spin to build their webs--could stop a speeding bullet or capture a landing jumbo jet? Or that sheep's wool could rescue a baby from a flaming building? Nature has endowed these fibers...

Star chart.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... The monthly All-Sky Chart depicts the sky as it appears at 7:30 p.m. on Sept. 15. Useful all month, the chart (except for planet positions) is also accurate fur 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 1 and 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 30. To use the All-Sky Chart,...

Why do the stars move, season after season?(Cartoon)
September 1, 2006... THE STARS CHANGE THEIR POSITION HOUR AFTER HOUR BECAUSE OUR EARTH SPINS ON ITS AXIS ONCE A DAY. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BUT THE STARS ALSO STEADILY CHANGE THEIR POSITION NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, SEASON AFTER SEASON! WHY? C'MON! MOVE IT...

A first seed for a first team.(For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology holds competition to make robots)
September 1, 2006... Right from the start, we loved the energy that surrounded us as part of Nashua (NH) South High School's 30-member FIRST robotics team. FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) requires teams to design and build a robot...

The cork and the water glass.(experiment)
September 1, 2006... Dr. Brain puts a smart shirt on Bob that monitors his powers of concentration. Then the doctor hands Bob a glass of water, full almost to the brim, and a cork. "I challenge you to float the cork on the surface of the water without...

You've got mail!(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2006... Dear ODYSSEY, I think your magazine is #I. My favorite issues were on caves and dogs. I have been to New Zealand and taken the tour of Waitomo Caves. I also liked Aranui Cave, which is in the same area. I think that dogs are the best...

Energy for Every Kid.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
September 1, 2006... Have you ever wondered what electrons are? Why you have that annoying sunburn on your skin? Or why you can get different sounds out of one musical instrument? How do cars move, anyway? How can things run on power from the Sun? The answer to all...

Color me invisible.(moths)
September 1, 2006... Smart clothes will eventually do away with mothballs--marble-size bits of repellent stored with clothing to ward off moths and their garment-munching larvae. Moths, though, have been wearing nature's version of smart clothes for millennia. ...

Ford pins its hopes on Boeing turnaround star.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Sep. 6--Carmaker Ford is betting that former Boeing executive Alan Mulally can turn round its ailing North American operations. The troubled company appointed Mulally as its new operational head last night, ending a...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
September 6, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Sep. 6--PUSHING IT TO THE MAX: Ahead of meeting Salman Amin, the new president of Pepsi for the UK and Ireland, I'm sent a fact sheet. PepsiCo UK comprises five businesses: Walkers crisps, Quaker oats, Tropicana...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
September 6, 2006... Sep. 6--MORE TROUBLE FOR PHIL EDMONDS. The ex-England cricketer's Central African Mining & Exploration Company (Camec) has admitted suspending work at Mukondo in the Democratic Republic of Congo because of a dispute with the other, Israeli,...

Sparky summer at DSG with sales surging.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 6--Flat-screen TVs, laptop computers and even fridges and washing machines have kept the tills ringing through the summer at PC World-to-Currys electrical retail giant DSG International. "It's certainly an...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
September 6, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Sep. 6--Greenwich Associates is one of those organisations that knows more about what financial institutions are up to than they tend to know themselves -- which gives it a lucrative sideline in selling back to them...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
September 6, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Sep. 6--BID-SPOTTERS GET HOTS FOR HIGH ST ACTION: It looks like all change on the High Street, which managed to get City speculators up and running today. Early talk focused on a possible [pounds sterling]500...

BP hit by new US lawsuit on oil prices.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Tracey Boles Sep. 6--Oil giant BP has been hit by a new legal action claiming it manipulated crude oil prices by refusing to allow traders access to US storage facilities. The action comes as the company faces a raft of legal...

Strike at bmibaby off as pay-cut dispute settled.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Tracey Boles Sep. 6--Strike action at Heathrow Airport next week has been averted after low-cost airline bmibaby struck an eleventh-hour pay deal with pilots' union Balpa. A deadline for Balpa to announce a strike at bmibaby...

PizzaExpress owner is [pounds sterling]560m bid target.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 6--PizzaExpress owner Gondola Holdings today received a surprise [pounds sterling]560 million takeover bid, less than a year since it floated on the stock market for the second time in its life. Gondola also owns...

Icelanders eye a Woolworths carve-up.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 6--Century-old High Street stores chain Woolworths could be carved up into much smaller businesses if plans by its largest shareholder, acquisitive Icelandic group Baugur, come to fruition. The Icelanders...

Pre-sale fundraiser will help Thames plug leaks.
September 6, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Sep. 6--Thames Water is raising hundreds of millions of pounds ahead of a [pounds sterling]7 billion sale of the London utility by its German parent, RWE. The new fundraiser comes on top of a [pounds...

Wheat is white-hot on a crop of activity.
September 6, 2006... Byline: Angus McCrone Sep. 6--Hedging by Europe's growing band of biofuel producers, and droughts and floods in crop areas, have made the normally an unglamorous commodity wheat into one of the City's hottest speculative trades. ...

EasyJet flying high despite [pounds sterling]4m bill from airport security scare.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--EasyJet has shrugged off the effects of last month's airline security shutdowns, saying it will still hit its ambitious profit growth targets of up to 50 percent in the year to the end of September when it expects to make up to [pounds...

US trial of the NatWest Three may still be a year away.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--The NatWest Three will have their day in court next year on charges of defrauding the bank of $19 million ([pounds sterling]10.1 million) and dividing $7 million among themselves. The extradited British bankers have each posted $250,000...

Sportingbet boss's arrest sparks crisis.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--The internet gambling world was plunged into its deepest crisis yet as the British chairman of one of its most respectable companies, Sportingbet, was arrested in the United States. Peter Dicks, 64, was held by authorities at a New...

Fuel costs load makes it an uphill task for Arriva.
September 7, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Sep. 7--London buses group Arriva is stuck in first gear after the lucrative contracts handed out by Mayor Ken Livingstone to get more people on the buses in the capital have been offset by spiralling fuel costs. ...

Fuel costs load makes it uphill task for Arriva.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--London buses group Arriva is stuck in first gear after the lucrative contracts handed out by Mayor Ken Livingstone to get more people on the buses in the capital have been offset by spiralling fuel costs. Arriva boss David Martin...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--IN THE PAST THREE DAYS, we've witnessed CBI chief Richard Lambert attacking the Conservative Party leader for criticising big business; archcapitalist Sir Philip Green telling the nation small competitors should be protected and...

Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.(Column)
September 7, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Sep. 7--PLAY THE STANDARD LIFE LOYALTY CARD TO CASH IN: Well, you can't say you weren't told. After years of depressing bonus news, the sensible policyholders in Standard Life should have something to celebrate today,...

Worries over Blair succession take their toll on sterling.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--The pound fell by more than a cent against the dollar today amid continuing uncertainty over the future of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his succession. But dealers said worries were likely to be short-term if it became clear that...

CMC ready to try again with [pounds sterling]800 million float.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--CMC Markets, the spread betting and foreign exchange group led by City tycoon Peter Cruddas, is poised to relaunch its [pounds sterling]800 million flotation, barely four months after pulling its Stock Exchange debut in the face of...

Sportingbet excites with [pounds sterling]56M World Gaming bid.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--Online gambling company Sportingbet today launched a [pounds sterling]56 million bid for rival World Gaming in a move that renewed the consolidation buzz that has surrounded the sector. The bid came as PartyGaming confirmed it had...

Fink to hand over helm at Man.
September 7, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 7--Stanley Fink, consistently the best-paid chief executive of a FTSE 100 company, is to take a back seat at hedge fund manger Man Group from next April. Fink, who picked up [pounds sterling]11.7 million in...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
September 7, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Sep. 7--COMING SOON: THE BANK LOAN YOU GET FROM A HEDGE FUND: Normally, a takeover bid for a small company such as headhunter Whitehead Mann would be unlikely to set pulses racing. The business screwed itself up...

Interest rates kept on hold but a November rise is in the air.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--The Bank of England kept interest rates on hold at 4.75 percent today but economists are still pencilling in a quarter-point rise in November. There are early signs economic growth may be losing momentum but economists fear another rate...

Standstill signals as Bank of England's rate-setters meet.
September 7, 2006... Sep. 7--The Bank of England was set to keep interest rates on hold at 4.75 percent today, although pundits remained edgy about predictions following last month's shock quarter-point rise. Signs are that economic growth may be losing its...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
September 7, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Sep. 7--GOLDMAN'S BT BARGAIN OFFER IS QUICK TO GO: Share prices fell sharply around the world today, but City investors still pride themselves on their ability to spot a bargain when one comes along. That appeared...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
September 8, 2006... Sep. 8--THE WHITEHALL GRAVY TRAIN STEAMS AHEAD UNABATED. Among this week's job adverts in the Financial Times is one for the head of the Private Finance Initiative at the Treasury. The brief is "continuing to ensure that private finance...

Austin Reed attacked by raider Naggar at [pounds sterling]41M.
September 8, 2006... Sep. 8--Smart suits fashion chain Austin Reed has come under takeover attack from French corporate raider Guy Naggar, the man who won control of the Chez Gerard restaurants group after a bid battle. Naggar's investment boutique Dawnay Day...

Evening Standard, London, Christopher Fildes column.(Column)
September 8, 2006... Byline: Christopher Fildes Sep. 8--INFLATION HAS ARRIVED AND THE SQUEEZE IS ON ITS WAY: Holidays do this. You come back from Torquay or Tuscany, and things look different. It even happens in the parlours of the Bank of England. The...

High-fliers in court chase for bonuses.
September 8, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Sep. 8--A new wave of multi-million-pound City bonus claims is being unleashed on the back of the past year's record payouts from big investment banks. Disgruntled bankers have even started hiring some of the...

US arrest points to wider gaming clampdown.
September 8, 2006... Byline: Jim Armitage Sep. 8--Online gambling company Sportingbet today said the arrest in New York of its chairman, which caused a rout of shares in the sector yesterday, was linked to the alleged violation of Louisiana state laws against...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
September 8, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Sep. 8--IMMIGRATION THE HIDDEN DRIVER OF SURPRISE GROWTH: The Centre for Economics and Business Research produced a report the other day which deserved to get much more attention than it did because it went some way...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
September 8, 2006... Byline: Sarah Marks Sep. 8--ONLINE GAMING FIRMS UNDER A CLOUD OF WORRY: The fallout from yesterday's shock arrest of Sportingbet's non-executive chairman Peter Dicks by the American authorities continued to depress the online gaming sector...

Smoking ban is a drag on [pounds sterling]58M Wetherspoon.
September 8, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Sep. 8--Non-smoking pubs pioneer JD Wetherspoon today admitted that stubbing out cigarettes in bar rooms around the country is hitting sales and profits at individual alehouses. The group said sales in the 17 pubs in...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
September 11, 2006... Sep. 11--22 PERCENT SALES SURGE FOR LONDON SHOPS: Londoners are out shopping in droves once again, shrugging off any fears of terrorist attacks. The latest monthly study from the London Retail Consortium showed London stores outperforming...

City's young guns shoot to the top.
September 11, 2006... Sep. 11--The world's top traders aged 30 or below are named today, with young London guns picking up five of the coveted positions. They represent the changing face of the modern City. None went to Oxbridge, some turn up to work in scruffy...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
September 11, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Sep. 11--Two boys in my year at school went off to read law at university. I was one of them and my friend was the other. When we graduated, I headed to a City firm; he joined Thompsons, a practice specialising in...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
September 11, 2006... Sep. 11--MFI continues to be gripped by crisis -- and one of Britain's more unsavoury business characters is claiming he is at least partly to blame. Vance Miller, once described in a BBC documentary as "the kitchen gangster", says the...

Bonnier exits his comeback vehicle.
September 11, 2006... Sep. 11--Scoot.com co-founder Robert Bonnier, who was fined [pounds sterling]290,000 for market abuse by the Financial Services Authority, has abruptly quit his comeback vehicle. Bonnier became chief executive of Future Internet...

Braemar fine sparks new mis-selling scandal fears.
September 11, 2006... Byline: Robert Lea Sep. 11--Fears were growing today of a new pensions mis-selling scandal after a Kent-based financial services company became the fourth business in two years to be fined by the City regulator over consumers cashing in...

Shoppers flood back for London's summer sales.
September 11, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Sep. 11--Londoners are out shopping in droves once again, shrugging off any fears of terrorist attacks. Boosted by herds of Russia's nouveaux riches and Middle Eastern visitors, big-spending shoppers flocked to...

Sportingbet a big loser as boss heads for court in United States.
September 11, 2006... Sep. 11--Shares in Sportingbet plunged today as City traders had their first chance to express their alarm at the state of the international online gambling market. The shares returned to trading after last Thursday's suspension following...

Telecom Italia set to sell off mobiles.
September 11, 2006... Sep. 11--Telecom Italia was today expected to put its mobile phones business, TIM, up for sale with a likely price tag of about e35 billion ([pounds sterling]24 billion). Potential buyers are said to include a number of private-equity...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
September 12, 2006... Sep. 12--While the Glazer family is tight-lipped about the wellbeing of patriarch Malcolm, there can be no doubt the Manchester United owner hasn't returned to health after suffering two strokes. On Sunday, he was a no-show at the season opener...

Goldman's [pounds sterling]4 billion signals bonuses leap.
September 12, 2006... Byline: James Rossiter Sep. 12--Goldman Sachs today raised the benchmark for a new round of multimillion-pound bonuses as research revealed that one in four City workers are expecting their next annual payouts to double as the big banks...

Inflation rise pointer on rates.
September 12, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 12--The chances of an increase in interest rates before the end of the year increased sharply today after a surprise rise in inflation in August. The Government's consumer prices index rose 2.5 percent last...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
September 12, 2006... Byline: Tom Nicholls Sep. 12--NEW CEO MAY LIFT AD SALES GLOOM AT ITV: ITV fell 3 1/4p to 97 3/4p today as investors braced themselves for bad news on sales. Broker Investec, which has reduced its earnings forecasts for the broadcaster,...

The Evening Standard, London, Neil Collins column.(Column)
September 12, 2006... Byline: Neil Collins Sep. 12--PRICE SLIDE COULD RESTORE BALANCE TO THE OIL MARKET: It has hardly made for dramatic headlines, but the price of a litre of four-star is now 5 percent below its peak. Considering how much of the cost is duty,...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
September 12, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Sep. 12--Even in this age of instant communication, there are few corporate stories that make it right round the world. So Patricia Dunn, chairman of computers giant Hewlett-Packard, has achieved some kind of a...

BAE chief denies stake in Airbus is being sold on the cheap.
September 13, 2006... Sep. 13--The boss of BAE Systems today shrugged off claims he has failed to get top dollar in the sale of its stake in Airbus, saying the UK defence group fears it would have been forced to pump money into the struggling European aircraft...

Evening Standard, London, Chris Blackhurst column.(Column)
September 13, 2006... Byline: Chris Blackhurst Sep. 13--Harry, my 18-year-old, is off to uni. He wants to be a DJ. I want him to be a DJ (having seen him perform in a Brixton club, I know he can do it). But what if he doesn't -- what then? He's not the sort...

Long Beach oil spillage piles on US woe for BP.
September 13, 2006... Byline: Bill Condie Sep. 13--Oil and gas giant BP has suffered another embarrassing leak at one of its pipes in America, causing a spillage in Long Beach, California. The company, already under investigation in the US over a string of...

Virgin Radio owner SMG puts for-sale ad up on Pearl & Dean.
September 13, 2006... Sep. 13--SMG, the owner of Virgin Radio, is to sell its Pearl & Dean cinema advertising business. Famed for its distinctive Asteroid theme tune, Pearl & Dean generates a quarter of all cinema advertising revenues in the UK and Ireland through...

Evening Standard, London, City Spy column.(Column)
September 13, 2006... Sep. 13--MUCH EXCITEMENT IN THE FINANCIAL PR WORLD at the sale of Financial Dynamics for [pounds sterling]110 million. Shock at the price secured soon gave way to the realisation that other agencies could command similar, if not greater,...

Evening Standard, London, Anthony Hilton column.(Column)
September 13, 2006... Byline: Anthony Hilton Sep. 13--Catlin, as was pointed out here on Friday, has an advantage over many of its insurance-industry competitors because it is based in Bermuda and has a tax rate of only 11 percent. Now it has an advantage...

'Crimes committed' in HP leaks scandal.
September 13, 2006... Sep. 13--Computer giant Hewlett-Packard's woes have escalated dramatically, with California Attorney General Bill Lockyer warning he has evidence to start indicting employees in the growing boardroom leaks scandal. Chairman Patricia Dunn...

Evening Standard, London, market report column.(Column)
September 13, 2006... Byline: Mickey Clark Sep. 13--Better-than-expected first-half profits from fashion retailer Next cut a dash in the City today, and ended up costing stock market bears a small fortune. Brokers had expected a flat performance from Next,...

'No US rules' for London Exchange.
September 13, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 13--The Government today promised that companies listed on the London Stock Exchange will never be subject to the draconian American Sarbanes-Oxley regime, whoever owns the London market. Ed Balls, Economic...

Severn Trent's Biffa demerger to hand shareholders [pounds sterling]576m.
September 13, 2006... Sep. 13--Severn Trent investors will next month get a 165p-a-share windfall and free shares in demerged waste disposal group Biffa. The Midlands water giant, under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office and Ofwat over reporting foul-ups,...

Stock listing for debt fund management firm to hand millions to banker.
September 14, 2006... Byline: Nick Goodway Sep. 14--City investment banker Mark Coombs, 46, will be considerably richer when Ashmore, the debt fund management business he bought seven years ago, comes to the stock market next month with a probable valuation of...

Evening Standard, London, business briefs column.(Column)
September 14, 2006... Sep. 14--KEN PROBE INTO PENSION FUND: Ken Livingstone has ordered a review of the City Hall pension fund after it was found to be investing in arms manufacturers and tobacco companies. The Mayor is concerned after being told of the...