A PRIMARY school headteacher has resorted to "bribing" pupils with bars of chocolate in an effort to persuade them to behave.

SCOTLAND'S school examinations system was last night facing allegations that pass marks have been manipulated after it emerged that pupils passed a Standard Grade maths test despite scoring only 31%.

Sweden's DARK TRANQUILLITY have announced the following "special headline shows" that will take place in their home country in late December: Dec. 28 - Klubben - Stockholm, SWE Dec. 29 - TrÃdgÃ¥rn - Gothenburg, SWE According to a posting on

A POCKET karaoke system will be launched for the UK mobile phone market by the end of the year, following the creation of a joint venture between software firm 2Ergo and the record label created by Pete Waterman.

ONE of Scotland's largest privately owned independent financial advisers is to establish a base in Monaco to serve some of the world's wealthiest clients.

SCOTLAND'S reputation as a good place to do business will be damaged if FirstGroup is knocked back in its bid to build its new HQ in Aberdeen, a Scottish Enterprise report has warned.

DIRECTOR DEALINGS SPECIALIST engineering group Keller has a spring in its step.

BP and Shell, which report third-quarter results this week, have held talks with GM and Ford about increasing the availability of ethanol, the biofuel that can be used in millions of vehicles instead of petrol.

LEADING insurance firms are offering airline passengers special cover against air rage attacks after reports of violence on UK flights soared in the last year.

BUSINESS COMMENT IT WAS always Vladimir Romanov's plan to acquire control of Hearts Football Club, although Friday's announcement might have come as a shock.

IT WAS billed as the marriage of the two most powerful women in the Scottish media when Wark Clements and Ideal World shook off years of rivalry to merge in March last year.

IN THE CITY AFTER the hammering the market has taken in the past two weeks, even the optimists are beginning to get downhearted.

ATLANTIC TRADER WAITING seems to be an art form on Tenerife.

FINAL STATEMENT ONE of New Labour's favourite sound bites is "there is no pensions crisis".

THE diplomat who brought China into the World Trade Organisation has attacked Peter Mandelson over the 'bra wars' textiles row, claiming that the EU trade commissioner was guilty of "double standards" by employing controversial import tariffs.

SCOTLAND has no future as a centre for computer chip manufacturing, and should concentrate instead on design work and start-up companies, a leading sector analyst has warned.

IT IS the legal equivalent of a bar-room brawl. Scotland's top criminal lawyers are set to oust their own leaders because of anger over a controversial new deal on fees.

A COMMON car safety measure designed to save lives has been identified by transport experts as a major cause of road accidents.