News

Singer Annie Lennox has entered the row over plans to redevelop Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens – describing Sir Ian Wood’s City Square project as architectural “vandalism”.

Thousands of would-be students could miss out on a place at Scotland’s universities because the number of applications has surged by almost a third.

The “golden goodbye” payments for three MPs facing criminal charges over their expenses will be suspended until after legal proceedings, Commons Speaker John Bercow said last night.

An oil expert has predicted a boost for North Sea activity in the next few years because of a rocketing oil price.

A British soldier was killed by an explosion in Afghanistan yesterday as the UK death toll exceeded that of the Falklands War.

A commission investigating ways to tackle alcohol abuse will consider the SNP’s minimum pricing plans, it was announced yesterday.

Most of Scotland’s 115 quangos should be abolished to improve democracy, a think-tank recommended today.

A potentially life-extending cancer drug that was denied to a north-east sufferer will finally be available on the NHS in Scotland.

George Bush warned Tony Blair the United States was going ahead with the invasion of Iraq “come what may”, evidence heard at the official inquiry into the conflict suggested yesterday.

Plans have been unveiled for a £13million park-and-ride site near Aberdeen Airport to ease congestion for visitors and thousands of commuters who travel into the city every day.

ABERDEEN has been selected as the headquarters for offshore wind, wave and tidal power activities by one of the biggest North Sea oil and gas service companies.

HOLYROOD’S sleaze watchdog has been asked to investigate the first minister and deputy first minister as the “cash-for-access” row continues.

THE Scottish Government has been urged to step in and help fund Aberdeen’s struggling exhibition and conference centre.

A north-east health director has been suspended from his post after he knowingly kept money intended for an Aberdeen practice.

A man appeared in court yesterday accused of murdering his wife at the couple’s home in Angus.

An under-fire Tory councillor who made a video depicting the first minister as Adolf Hitler faces being cast out by his colleagues.

The British and Irish governments last night welcomed news that all paramilitary groups on ceasefire in Northern Ireland have now decommissioned their weapons.

A massive avalanche ploughed into an Indian army training centre at a ski resort town in Indian-controlled Kashmir yesterday, killing at least 17 soldiers and critically wounding 17 others.

BRITAIN yesterday urged Iran to start “restoring trust” in its nuclear intentions after its “deeply worrying” announcement that it is to step up uranium enrichment.

A key witness in the Orkney murder trial was forced to flee her home with her children and dogs after a fire broke out.

A WEALTHY landowner was jailed for life yesterday for the murder of his estranged wife, whose body has never been found.

A popular antidepressant could interfere with a breast cancer drug and lead to a greater chance of patients dying, researchers said today.

About 1,500 teacher-training places are to be axed next year, it has been announced.

SCOTLAND’S housebuilding sector is in its worst crisis since World War II, it was claimed today.

Six neighbourhood warden posts from the city centre of Aberdeen are to be axed, it was revealed last night.

THE future of 76-year-old discount-clothing chain Ethel Austin was under threat again yesterday after the group called in administrators for the second time in two years.

A SENIOR Scotland Yard officer’s career is in ruins after he was jailed for assaulting and falsely arresting a man in a petty row over money.

HEATHER Mills has revealed she is planning a reality TV show in which celebrities will live with a disability for a week.

ITV has been fined for animal cruelty after contestants on I’m a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! killed a rat with a knife, the Australian RSPCA said yesterday.

The two celebrity chefs who will be starring at this year’s Taste of Grampian food festival were revealed last night.

A Polish man who was left in a coma following a serious road crash in the north-east is awake and speaking, his family said last night.

A BUS that can travel on water and roads was beached yesterday – less than an hour after taking to the water.

An Inverness councillor has again urged transport officials to sort out the sequence of traffic lights and solve the regular gridlock in the city centre.

The winter vomiting bug norovirus has continued to shut wards at Dundee’s main hospital.

THE family of a young woman who was left in a coma last week after a north-east road crash say they are hopeful she will pull through.

Police seized more than five gallons of alcohol from youngsters in Aberdeen during a weekend crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise is to shed between 30 and 45 jobs as the agency attempts to make savings on its wage bill, prompting concern and criticism from north politicians.

A NEW grant scheme has been introduced in the Highlands to help new businesses with their start-up costs.

Hundreds of people in Moray were unable to see their GPs after a computer system crashed, blocking access to medical records.

AN ELDERLY disabled man has complained about being kept in the dark over changes to his care provider.

A WORRIED mother has begged her son who left home more than a week ago to get in touch.

An offshore worker who assaulted two men moments before taking his pregnant girlfriend to hospital has revealed that his premature baby survived for just eight minutes.

Traders operating from properties owned by the Inverness Common Good Fund will not have their rents frozen in 2010.

A BUILDING society was unhappy that legal documents did not reflect the true price paid for 32 flats in Aberdeen, a court heard yesterday.

The high-dependency unit at Shetland’s main hospital was visibly dusty, according to hygiene inspectors.

A west coast fishing company has had its claim for compensation from the Army rejected after one of the service’s trucks damaged and closed a Sutherland bridge.

Staffing problems came close to temporarily suspending Wick’s maternity unit at the start of last month.

A grieving mother had to cancel her daughter’s funeral and allow her body to be returned to officials so a post-mortem examination could be carried out.

Plans have been unveiled to build an eco-friendly development near a site of “great historic interest” in the north-east.

Work has just begun on a £370,000 project to reconstruct the centre of one of Aberdeenshire’s fastest-growing towns, by looking back to its past.

The successful fight to save Moray’s heritage officer’s post from budget cuts has paved the way for people to walk in the footsteps of their ancestors, a community leader said last night.

Two teenage motorists have been found guilty of racing each other on one of the north-east’s busiest roads.

A drunk fisherman who wanted to go to an island music festival stole the boat he worked on after missing the ferry, a court heard yesterday.

AN ABERDEEN man who stole a sheriff’s car and was later seen “rummaging through it ” while wearing a Santa hat has been jailed for five months.

A CULLEN man butted another person on the front steps of a north-east court.

AN OBAN teenager was sent to detention for more than 10 months at the town’s sheriff court yesterday for his part in an assault and robbery.

A MAN was in a critical condition in hospital last night after his car left the road and rolled over on the A98.

A Moray man has been fined £500 after he boarded a plane at Aberdeen Airport while drunk.

DEMOLITION work has been completed at a former primary school building in a north-east town where a new housing scheme is proposed.

A HISTORIC bridge in the centre of a coastal Black Isle village has been closed to traffic after being damaged by the recent cold weather.

An Inverness councillor has called for the creation of a permanent volunteer force of 4x4-owning, community-minded folk to come to the aid of the region’s most vulnerable victims of winter.

THE second phase of a £947,000 makeover for Dingwall town centre started yesterday.

EVERYONE with an interest in what goes on in and around Loch Ness is invited to have their say on four competing plans for a proposed £2.3million visitor centre on the shores.

PUPILS came face to face with a Sumatran tiger during a visit to Edinburgh Zoo yesterday.

Inverness Highland Games will return to its historical home of the Northern Meeting Park to avoid the soggy fate of the event when staged at the city’s Bught Park last summer.

AN INVERNESS singer and storyteller who is helping retain the old Scots language and dialect she learned as a bairn in “the Singing Lands” of Buchan, is about to have printed a book containing many of the fascinating songs and rhymes from times gone by, and that are in danger of dying out.

A LOCHABER primary school has been chosen to work with scientists and engineers on an innovative science project.

TALENTED young writers across Aberdeen city and shire are being given the chance to become published authors.

A GROUP of Dundee actors got their hands dirty yesterday as they prepared for their latest play.

TWO Scottish artists go from rags to riches after turning unwanted textiles into pieces of art for a new Aberdeen exhibition.