Press and Journal, The Aberdeen (UK) back issues from August 2007:
Meeting energy's skill needs
Aug 01, 2007 ... An Initiative to help colleges and universities meet the skillneeds of the energy industry will be launched this autumn by theScottish Funding Council (SFC). A series of energy forums meeting across the country will bringScotland's institutions together with ...
North-east firms urged to look east
Aug 01, 2007 ... North-east businesses could be missing out on lucrative markets inJapan and eastern Asia. A free event organised by the Japan Society of Scotland beingstaged in Aberdeen next week will highlight this and offer support. The event - entitled Exporting to Japan and Eastern ...
Council steps up pressure on owners of derelict factory
Aug 01, 2007 ... Dundee City Council is stepping up pressure on the owners of aderelict factory in a bid to have the building torn down. Councillors are set to proceed with a dangerous buildings noticefor the ABB factory on Kingsway East. Under the terms of the notice, the company will have to ...
Budget carrier Ryanair to cut back stansted services
Aug 01, 2007 ... Low-cost carrier Ryanair said yesterday that it would cut backflights from Stansted after attacking the airport's high costs and"appalling" service. The company said Stansted's doubling of airport charges in Aprilmeant it was more profitable to ground seven of its 40 aircraft ...
UK housing giant says us markets still uncertain
Aug 01, 2007 ... The UK's biggest housebuilder yesterday posted strong profit figures but warned investors of a subdued domestic market asinterest-rate increases hit home. Taylor Wimpey - formed in a pounds5billion-plus merger betweenGeorge Wimpey and Taylor Woodrow completed in early July - ...
Fiscal closes file on deaths of beauty Queen and partner
Aug 01, 2007 ... No one else is being sought in connection with the deaths of anorth-east beauty queen and her partner, it was confirmed last night. The procurator fiscal atPeterhead, who has been reviewing thefindings of the police investigation into the case of Saranna Buchanand Jamie Logan, ...
Two separate applications for houses
Aug 01, 2007 ... Proposals for nearly 25 new homes in Moray have been submitted toplanning chiefs in two separate applications, it has emerged. Buckie-based Milne Property Developments have submitted plans toMoray Council for the development of 12 terraced homes at the site ofa former filling ...
Final call for entries to north's premier business contest
Aug 01, 2007 ... A last call is being made for entries for the 2007 Highlands andIslands Business Awards. This is the 22nd year of the honours, with nearly 400 peopleexpected to attend the awards lunch on Monday, November 5. Main sponsors are Ernst and Young (E&Y), the Press and Journal ...
Pisys has plans to expand in Wales
Aug 01, 2007 ... An Aberdeen software development company is making a push tosecure a significant share of the Welsh education market in a nichesector after a successful link-up with one of the country's topperforming schools. Pisys, which also has an office in Swansea, is in discussionswith ...
Asda boosts cheese prices to help dairy farmers
Aug 01, 2007 ... Asda has thrown down the gauntlet to other retailers afterpledging a big increase in cheese prices to ensure continued milkproduction for the sector. It is today putting through a pounds400-a-tonne increase inwholesale cheddar prices to First Milk, the Paisley-based co-operative ...
Niche technology firm thinking big
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Small Aberdeen technology company specialising in engineeredequipment solutions has won a five-figure contract with oil operatorOilexco. Futuretec has provided its patented Turboblade centralisers toOilexco for use in two North Sea wells. Turboblade is designed to have a ...
NFU mutual flood claims tens of millions of pounds
Aug 01, 2007 ... Britain's biggest insurer is facing claims running to tens ofmillions of pounds from English farmers and other rural businesseshit by flooding. The National Farmers Union Mutual Insurance Society said yesterdayit had received more than 1,500 claims in the last week from ...
Healthy and wealthy at St James's place
Aug 01, 2007 ... Wealth manager St James's Place yesterday delivered a forecast-beating 50% rise in first-half operating profits and said it expectedsales in 2007 to increase at the top end of its 15-20% target. The company, which sells life insurance, investments and pensionsto more than 400,000 ...
Practising Christians to meet at Buckie for convention
Aug 01, 2007 ... Practising Christians from the north-east will come together atBuckie this weekend for a major convention. The Keswick in Buckie gathering is one of the biggest of its kindin Scotland. It has been held every year since 1986 when it was founded as anoffshoot of a larger ...
Councillors want talks on controversial homes plan
Aug 01, 2007 ... Controversy over a proposed new affordable housing project atFraserburgh took a new twist yesterday when councillors called forface-to-face talks with the developer. The move by Aberdeenshire's Banff and Buchan area committeefollowed renewed criticism of the proposed scheme for 58 ...
Slime show slips into Aberdeen beach
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Messy summer tour oozed its way into Aberdeen yesterday andunloaded bucket-loads of slime as part of a new show airing on theUK's top children's television channel. The tour, titled Slime Across the UK, has been organised byNickelodeon and will visit beach resorts across the ...
Moray folk taking to the buses, new figures show
Aug 01, 2007 ... A growing number of people in Moray are choosing the bus as theirpreferred mode of transport, according to figures from bus operatorStagecoach. Passengers made more than 2.6million journeys with Stagecoach inthe area in the 12 months to April - an 8.6% increase on the ...
Savers to benefit from 'inheritance'
Aug 01, 2007 ... Policyholders at Standard Life are to benefit from surplus assetsheld in the group's with-profits fund for the first time. The insurer said people with policies maturing from yesterday, orthose who cashed in their investment or had a with-profits pensionannuity, would receive a ...
No icing on cake from baker greggs
Aug 01, 2007 ... Bakery chain Greggs said yesterday it would pass on higher coststo customers after revealing the impact of the dismal summer weather. It said it would come under increasing pressure during the nextfew months as farmers increased dairy and flour prices after thesevere flooding ...
League winners show off memorabilia
Aug 01, 2007 ... Highland League champions Keith FC are staging a public exhibitionof the club's memorabilia for the first time. The exhibition, which went on display yesterday at the town'slibrary, will be available for people to view until the end ofAugust. Club chairman Sandy Stables said ...
Hairst starts with good news on yields
Aug 01, 2007 ... Harvest has got under way in Scotland and early reports suggestgrain yields are reasonable despite the bad weather this summer. The combines have been out on winter barley in Perthshire,Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Ross-shire as farmers make the best ofthe break in the weather ...
Contacting toolboothspirits
Aug 01, 2007 ... Filled with blackguards, ne'er-do-wells and miscreants of everykind, Aberdeen's Tolbooth served as the city's prison from 1616 untilthe late 19th century. Now a museum, the jail's days of crime and punishment are adistant memory. But professional ghost hunters believe some of ...
Flood prevention scheme welcomed
Aug 01, 2007 ... Moray politicians have welcomed the Scottish Executive's decisionto approve a multimillion-pound flood alleviation scheme for Forres. Final approval for the Burn of Mosset scheme was given byEnvironment Minister Michael Russell on Monday. The pounds16million scheme will protect ...
Dividend boost for lloyds investors
Aug 01, 2007 ... Lloyds Tsb cheered shareholders yesterday with its firstdividend increase for five years, after the bank posted apounds2billion profit haul for the first half of 2007. The UK's fifth-largest bank, which reported underlying pre-taxprofits up 15% to pounds2.01billion, said it was ...
Improved results at finnish fertiliser giant
Aug 01, 2007 ... Fertiliser giant Kemira GrowHow reported improved resultsyesterday and said the outlook was more promising with higher cerealprices likely to boost sales. Second quarter pre-tax profits at the Finnish firm, which facesbeing taken over by Scandinavian rival Yara International, ...
Aristocratsback at war in row over money
Aug 01, 2007 ... When two famously warring aristocrats claimed to have buried thehatchet earlier this year, more thana decade of openhostilityappeared to have beenconsigned to the history books. Yesterday, the battle lines were redrawn at Cawdor Castle, nearNairn, as it emerged that a complicated ...
Fears Victorian bridge 'could fall down'
Aug 01, 2007 ... Fears have been raised that a Victorian bridge over the River Don could fall down if urgent repairs are not carried out soon. The work on Montgarrie Bridge, near Alford, could be delayed until2009 because the local authority said cash had been diverted to otheressential projects in ...
Ex-bnp candidate was ready for war
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Former British National Party candidate who amassed a stash ofexplosive chemicals in anticipation of a future civil war was jailedyesterday for two-and-a-half years. Robert Cottage, 49, was cleared after two trials of conspiring tocause explosions but earlier pleaded guilty to ...
Balmoral buoyed by plant upgrade
Aug 01, 2007 ... Balmoral Offshore Engineering said yesterday it was beginning tosee a return on its investment following a multimillion-pound upgradeto its buoyancy manufacturing plant in Aberdeen and the creation ofmore than 50 jobs in the past six months. The group, which now employs over 100, ...
Heathrow 'shaming London' - mayor
Aug 01, 2007 ... Heathrow is shaming London with its poor service and bosses whomust be "out of their skull", Ken Livingstone claimed yesterday. The London mayor let loose on the eve of BAA's court battle foran injunction against protesters fighting expansion at the UK'sbiggest airport. Mr ...
Guidebook chronicles cathedral's history
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Guidebook has been launched, chronicling the rich and oftenturbulent history of one of Aberdeen's oldest buildings. A site of worship since the sixth century, St Machar's Cathedralis visited by around 30,000 people every year. Featuring contributions from members of the ...
Woman wins pounds2,400 damages after tripping over speed bump
Aug 01, 2007 ... A 72-year-old woman has won pounds2,400 in damages from a Highlandholiday park after tripping over a poorly-lit speed bump five yearsago. However the amount paid to Morag Lawson, of 51 Athollbank Drive,Perth, was reduced because a sheriff ruled she contributed to ...
Three admit Elgin town-centre attack
Aug 01, 2007 ... Three youths who carried out an unprovoked assault on another malewere remanded in custody for reports at Elgin Sheriff Courtyesterday. Kevin Low, 17, of 68 Murrayfield, Fochabers; James Middleton, 20,of Carmanda, Garmouth Road, and Terence Urquhart, 18, of 1 FindlayRoad, both ...
Fires force 11,000 to evacuate Canaries
Aug 01, 2007 ... More than 11,000 people were evacuated from homes and holidayresorts in the Canary Islands yesterday. Firefighters are struggling to extinguish fires on two of thearchipelago's popular tourist islands. About 6,000 people were evacuated from homes on Tenerife, where11,000 ...
Iran a threat to middle east interests - rice
Aug 01, 2007 ... Iran remains the biggest threat to Middle East interests, USSecretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned yesterday. The Bush administration is hoping that a rare one-two punch of MsRice and Defence Secretary Robert Gates will add force to talks withIraq's neighbours about the war and ...
French anti-terror judge files charges against eta suspects
Aug 01, 2007 ... A French anti-terrorist judge has filed preliminary chargesagainst three suspected members of the armed Basque group ETA,including the organisation's suspected logistics chief, judicialofficials said. Iker Iparraguirre Galarraga, Galder Bihotz Cornago Arnaez and JuanCruz Maiza ...
The devil is in the small print, as we often find to our cost
Aug 01, 2007 ... There is, at least, one good thing you can say about bills. Theytend to be predictable - gas, electricity, phone, council tax. You know when they are going to appear and how much they're likelyto be. That is a lot more than you can say for the proposal by GrampianHousing ...
Ncr reports increase in revenue
Aug 01, 2007 ... Ncr Uk Group, the US parent of the Dundee cash-machinemanufacturing operation which axed 650 jobs in January, yesterdayreported second-quarter revenue of pounds792.5million. The Ohio-based company said this was a 5% increase in revenue from the second quarter of 2006. NCR ...
Man in court on cannabis charges
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Man has appeared in court charged with producing and supplyingcannabis at six addresses in the north-east. Peter Thanh Tran from Elgin is alleged to have produced the ClassC drug at properties in Peterhead Fraserburgh, Elgin and Aberdeen. The 43-year-old appeared in private ...
Music chain snaps up stores from collapsed rival fopp
Aug 01, 2007 ... High-street retailer HMV is buying six stores of the collapsedmusic chain Fopp, potentially saving 70 jobs, it emerged yesterday. The sites being acquired include Fopp's shops in Edinburgh,Glasgow, Cambridge, Manchester, Nottingham and its flagship musicstore in Covent Garden, ...
Council lodges plans for pounds30m headquarters for Dundee
Aug 01, 2007 ... Plans for Dundee City Council's new pounds30million headquartershave been lodged in the city. A planning application for the building, which will replaceTayside House, is to go before the council's development qualitycommittee in the autumn. If approved, construction is ...
Fuel firm not liquid
Aug 01, 2007 ... The directors of an Aberdeen firm working on alternative fueltechnology have called in the liquidators. Company siGEN was foundedin March, 2003, to exploit opportunities arising in the emerging fuelcells and hydrogen industries. Dave McGrath, managing director, said yesterday: "We ...
Militant charged over envoy attack
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Court in north-eastern Bangladesh yesterday indicted the leaderof a banned Islamic militant group in connection with a 2004 grenadeattack that wounded a British diplomat and killed three other people,a television station reported. Mufti Hannan, leader of the banned Islamic group ...
Conferences boosting Highland resort
Aug 01, 2007 ... Turnover at Aviemore Highland Resort increase by 33% last year. Much of the improved trading came from the conference centredriving business into the four hotels: The Four Seasons, AviemoreHighlands, Aviemore Inn, and the Academy. In the year to September 30 a number of ...
Volunteers chase MoD target of pounds40,000
Aug 01, 2007 ... An Army of volunteers has begun the monumental task of raisingpounds40,000 to fund the staging of the Royal National Mod at Oban in2009. The premier festival of the Gaelic language first got off theground in the west coast town in 1892. Now all fundraising efforts are focused ...
Minister visits soil archive
Aug 01, 2007 ... The refurbished soil archive for Scotland at Aberdeen's MacaulayLand Use Research Institute was visited by Richard Lochhead, thecabinet secretary for environment and rural affairs, yesterday. He used the visit to underline the need for scientists ...
Scottish Executive in move to conserve stocks of small cod
Aug 01, 2007 ... A new initiative to conserve North Sea fish stocks was unveiled bythe Scottish Executive yesterday. Richard Lochhead, the cabinet secretary for rural affairs and theenvironment, said a voluntary scheme of "real-time closures" wasbeing looked at. Under such a proposal, which ...
Water on tap again - but not for drinking
Aug 01, 2007 ... The operation to restore mains water to thousands of homes acrossGloucestershire following flooding was in full swing yesterday. More than 140,000 homes where left without water after floodwatersforced a water treatment centre in Tewkesbury to shut down. Slowly, the mains water ...
Northern Ireland military operation comes to an end
Aug 01, 2007 ... The Army's 38-year military campaign in Northern Ireland ended atmidnight. From today it is down to the police service of Northern Ireland topolice the province and take on the small groups of dissidentrepublicans still seeking to destabilise it. Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde ...
Footsie rally a relief after recent heavy reverses
Aug 01, 2007 ... The London market staged a rally yesterday as investors shruggedoff recent economic concerns to pick up bargains and the FTSE 100index closed up 154 points higher at 6360.1. Strong corporate results from Lloyds TSB and Taylor Wimpey helpedboost the banking and housing sectors, ...
Top steel band helps pupils strike right notes
Aug 01, 2007 ... One of the world's leading steel bands joined young people from anorth-east school yesterday to take part in a musical workshopmarking the start of the Aberdeen International Youth Festival(AIYF). The Gary Straker Pan School have flown into the Granite City fromTrinidad and ...
Businessman reaps nearly pounds5m payday from company
Aug 01, 2007 ... Leading north businessman David Sutherland paid himself nearlypounds5million last year as profits soared at his company, it emergedyesterday. The lucrative payday puts him in the top rank of the highest-paidentrepreneurs in Scotland. Mr Sutherland is chairman and chief ...
Call for debate on declining habitats
Aug 01, 2007 ... Large areas of Scotland's upland environment is in poor conditionand deteriorating, despite the fact that great swathes are protectedareas, a new report by the RSPB claims. The report, The Uplands -Time to change?, released today alsoclaims that important habitats like upland hay ...
Film director michelangelo antonioni dies
Aug 01, 2007 ... Film director Michelangelo Antonioni died in his home on Mondaynight, officials said yesterday. He was 94. His career spanned six decades, an Oscar for lifetime achievementand movies that have become classics such as L'Avventura, Blow-Up andZabriskie Point. His death shortly ...
Hilton's Hollywood pad for sale
Aug 01, 2007 ... Us Hotel heiress Paris Hilton is selling her Hollywood Hills home. The 1926 Spanish-style house went on the market last Friday with a4.25million (pounds2.1million) price tag. "This is a very special celebrity-owned home," according to adescription on MLS, a multiple listing ...
Figures show 20% drop in adults registered with NHS dentists
Aug 01, 2007 ... The battle for improved dental services is being lost in the northand north-east as the number of patients registered with the NHScontinues to slide. Figures released yesterday show a 20% fall in the number of adultson an NHS register in Grampian since 2000, down to 29.5% at the ...
Sir Jackie puts sporting guns up for sale
Aug 01, 2007 ... Formula One World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart is to sell two pairsof sporting guns in a Sotheby's sale. The guns are expected to be sold for between pounds50,000 andpounds70,000 and pounds24,000 and pounds28,000 respectively. Sir Jackie, who is Britain's most successful F1 ...
Sheffield steel from carry with 200m win
Aug 01, 2007 ... David Carry concluded a highly successful campaign at the ASAnational swimming championships in Sheffield yesterday when he addedthe 200 metres freestyle title to the 400m crown he won in a Britishrecord time on the opening night. British record holder Simon Burnett led from the ...
Teachers back call for closure of networking sites
Aug 01, 2007 ... A Highland head teacher who called for websites such as YouTube tobe closed down to prevent "cyber-bullying" has been backed bycolleagues. At a conference of the Professional Association ofTeachers (PAT), delegates supported Kirsti Paterson's motiondemanding sites including Bebo and Rate ...
Racial abuse towards poles 'uncommon'
Aug 01, 2007 ... Incidents of racial abuse towards Poles in Aberdeen are "uncommon"according to a leading member of the Aberdeen Polish community, whospoke out after an apparently racist attack on an 11-year-old boy. William Pyka, honorary president of the Polish Association ofAberdeen, also ...
Snow patrol star missesanother day in court
Aug 01, 2007 ... Snow Patrol star Tom Simpson did not appear in court yesterday toface a charge of cocaine possession. The case at Glasgow Sheriff Court was continued for three weeks. Sheriff Iain Peebles continued the case without plea until August28 after a request from Simpson's ...
Fatal-crash bus driver in court
Aug 01, 2007 ... The driver of an Aberdeen-bound bus has appeared in court chargedwith causing the deaths of three people by dangerous driving. Philip Rooney, 48, of Carluke, Lanarkshire, was driving a NationalExpress coach when it crashed on an M25/M4 slip road on January 3. He appeared ...
Mars mission delayed by 24 hours
Aug 01, 2007 ... The launch of Nasa's latest mission to Mars was delayed for 24hours yesterday due to bad weather, the space agency said. Nasa's Phoenix Mars Lander was scheduled to take off from KennedySpace Centre in Florida on Friday, but bad weather has delayed thelaunch until Saturday. A ...
Drink-driving tally soars in second week of crackdown
Aug 01, 2007 ... The number of motorists caught drink or drug-driving soared byalmost a quarter in the second week of a crackdown, police saidyesterday. A total of 184 motorists were caught drunk or drugged behind thewheel across Scotland during the second and final week of the 2007summer ...
Airline scraps serviceto geneva
Aug 01, 2007 ... Budget airline FlyGlobespan has become the latest carrier to scrapa service from Aberdeen. The company said it would no longer offer flights to Genevabecause the service was not economically viable. Last night, a spokesman apologised to customers who had alreadybooked tickets ...