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A billionaire Arab sheikh thinks British judges can be bribed, according to an allegation made at a recent employment tribunal in Scotland. Sheikh Maher al-Tajir, whose family owns 24,000 acres of land in Perthshire, is alleged to have said to Chris Mulqueeney “You’re so patriotic. Hasn’t anyone told you that the law of this great land works on money, not justice?” The sheikh allegedly said he’d stitch up Mulqueeney and then fix the judges: “I’ve got enough money to buy any of them . . . all have their price in this country.” for more click here

A billionaire Arab sheikh said that British law worked on “money not justice”, and vowed to “stitch up” an employee who dared to challenge him, an employment tribunal was told yesterday.

Sheikh Maher al-Tajir, whose family owns 24,000 acres (9,700ha) of land in Perthshire and the Highland Spring bottled water company, is alleged to have told Chris Mulqueeney that he had enough money to buy anything he wanted in Britain, including the police and the justiciary. for more click here

THE chilling message from London’s counter-terrorism chief that Edinburgh won’t be spared future attacks resonated with me for several reasons.

First, because the day after I flew off on holiday from Glasgow last year, terrorists drove into the airport building. Second, his remarks about cultural and sporting events being possible targets made me think ahead to this Sunday, when I’ll be at Murrayfield stadium with my son. And third, because I remain to be convinced that firms in Scotland are taking such threats seriously. for more click here

There were no surprises from the Federal Reserve last night.

The US central bank cut interest rates by half a point, giving the market just what it wanted. And because the market was expecting it, it didn’t really have much of an impact – US stocks ended lower on the day.

So now the US has cut rates by 1.25% in less than a fortnight. Interest rates, at 3%, are now well below the headline consumer price index inflation rate of 4.1%.

The Fed is simply giving money away. You’d be daft not to get rid of your cash when real interest rates are sitting at -1.1%.

Trouble is, that assumes you have any cash to get rid of in the first place…
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(from Terrorism Focus, January 29) - Recent terrorist attacks targeting the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and U.S. embassy personnel in Beirut come as security measures are heightened in response to a series of assassinations and a rapidly deteriorating political crisis in the country.for more click here

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghan lawmakers are praising a death sentence handed down to a journalist for insulting Islam.

The 23-year-old was given the death penalty last week by a three-judge panel for distributing a report he printed off the Internet to journalism students at a university in northern Afghanistan. for more click here

The giant arms company BAE Systems is so far over budget with two of its latest projects that they will cost UK taxpayers £2.2 billion more than expected, a government report acknowledges. Peace campaigners say it is a scandal. for more click here

US economic growth fell sharply in the last three months of 2007 as the credit crunch took effect, figures show.
The US Department of Commerce says the economy grew at an annual rate of just 0.6% from October to December. for more click here

Pakistan’s ousted chief justice today denounced the president, Pervez Musharraf, as an “extremist general” who believed in “brutal justice” for sacking 60 top judges and keeping him under house arrest for the past three months. for more click here

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia has banned 11 books for allegedly giving a false portrayal of Islam, such as by linking the religion to terrorism and the mistreatment of women, an official said Wednesday.

The government ordered the books — most of them released by U.S. publishers — to be blacklisted earlier this month “because they are not in line with what we call the Malaysian version of Islam,” said Che Din Yusoh, an official with the Internal Security Ministry’s publications control unit. for more click here