• The Associated Press, Sunday, October 4, 2009 9:54 PM

London's venerable Evening Standard newspaper will switch to free distribution Oct. 12 in a bid to face down competition from rivals. Circulation is expected to more than double from 250,000 to over 600,000 copies, says the paper.

Company Chairman Alexander Lebedev expects other newspapers to follow suit. The Russian tycoon and former KGB spy bought the company, which also publishes The Times and The Sun newspapers, earlier this year.

Although its history can be traced back to 1827 and it is a London institution, the Evening Standard has been stuck in a competitive battle with newer free afternoon papers. Now there is one less. Last month Rupert Murdoch shut down his daily thelondonpaper, which was handed out to afternoon commuters.

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