More than GB pound 1bn was yesterday wiped off the share price of BAE, Britain’s biggest arms company, after it was forced to announce that the US department of justice has opened a criminal inquiry into allegedly corrupt deals with Saudi Arabia.
Prosecutors in Washington are understood to have served subpoenas on BAE demanding disclosure of the files on the GB pound 40bn Al Yamamah programme. The company, which issued a terse statement confirming the Saudi investigation, refused to comment further.
– The Guardian
It is already suffering from the effects of poor weather and the lack of a genuine British contender.
But now fans and former players are claiming that some of the magic had been lost from Wimbledon due to over commercialisation and draconian security measures.
While veterans like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Ilie Nastase bemoaned the lack of characters on the court, spectators said that the terrorism threat had also removed some of the atmosphere in the stands at the world’s greatest tennis tournament.
The new security rules had limited the amount of alcohol people were allowed to bring in and also banned any fancy dress that was not tennis themed.
-The Telegraph
Middlesex have strengthened their security operation for today’s Twenty20 Cup match against Kent at Uxbridge after their controversial match against Hampshire at Southgate on Monday, but they have strongly denied accusations of unruly behaviour among their supporters.
On an evening when windows were broken on the Hampshire team bus and five Middlesex players had valuables stolen from their dressing-room, Hampshire’s players refused to sign autographs after the game, with Nic Pothas, the captain, saying afterwards that his players felt they had to “make a stand” against poor crowd behaviour.
– The Times
Climate change and pandemics may have moved up the corporate agenda, but few major businesses around the world can afford to be complacent about the threat from terrorism.
“I don’t see the threat diminishing,” says Kroll’s Bob Grenier, who served 27 years with the CIA before moving to the private sector. “Although there has been tremendous progress and real gains in terms of effectiveness of counter-terrorism, multilateral cooperation and intelligence sharing, we have not turned the corner in a strategic sense.”
Nearly six years on from 9/11, in the UK alone, the combined efforts of the security services, intelligence, and police, have thwarted five major conspiracies, saving hundreds, possibly even thousands of lives.
– The Financial Times
