The Herald

Judge Blocks Name Change Move by Alfred Mcalpine

A hIGH court judge yesterday blocked Alfred McAlpine, the construction giant, from re-branding its building empire after a case of corporate "name-dropping". In a marketing exercise last October, the company an-nounced that it was dropping the name Alfred and would be renaming new divisions of the business simply as McAlpine.

Rapist On the Run Strangled 12-Year-Old; Milly Dowler Case Police to Question Killer

AN illegal immigrant was jailed for life at the Old Bailey yesterday for strangling a 12-year-old girl in her home while on the run after being jailed for rape in his native Poland. Last night, police said they would be questioning Andrezej Kunowski, 48, about the unsolved disappearances of other girls, and the murder of the schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Woman to Lead Scouts

SCOUTS in Scotland have chosen a woman as their national leader for only the second time in 97 years. Eleanor Lyall takes up the reins as chief commissioner of Scotland today.

Inquiries Into Ulster Murders

Four controversial murders in Northern Ireland are to be the subject of public inquiries. But sources said the government will only be able to proceed immediately with inquiries into two of the cases; the murders of loyalist terror boss Billy Wright and Portadown Catholic Robert Hamill.

Second Man in Court Over Deaths in City Flat Blaze

A 34-year-old man appeared in court yesterday in connection with a flat fire which claimed two lives. James Mullan made no plea or declaration when he appeared in private at Glasgow Sheriff Court after the blaze in Allison Street, in the Govanhill area of the city, on March 15.

Airport Aims for 24-Hour Operation

ONE of Scotland's main airports is to submit proposals which would allow it to operate 24-hours-a-day. Management at Aberdeen airport, operated by the British Airports Authority (BAA), is to seek a relaxation of current landing and take- off curfews as a long-term strategy to bring in more business.

More Scots Go Bust Over Credit

THE boom in consumer credit is leading to more Scots going bust than ever before, and even a small rise in interest rates could drive thousands more to the wall, financial experts warned yesterday. Grant Thornton, business and financial advisers, said the number of individuals in Scotland being declared bankrupt in the fourth quarter of last year was 826, nearly 10% up on the same quarter in 2002. The total number of sequestrations in 2003 was 3328, the highest ever annual total.

Countryside 'Disaster' Feared Over Windfarms

PLANS for a seven-fold increase in wind turbines by 2010 will create an environmental disaster, opponents warn. The call for a rethink on the proposal comes amid claims that some of Britain's most cherished beauty spots are at risk from thousands of proposed new turbines, many of them taller than Nelson's Column, if the government's new draft planning policy on wind farms is implemented in June.

Explosion Fears Cause Evacuation

Dounreay's Final Batch of Fuel

THE last batch of nuclear fuel to be manufactured at Dounreay is due to depart the Caithness plant. It will close one of the final chapters in the plant's controversial history.

(Pounds) 400 Fine for Driver Who Killed Sisters; Motorist 'Blinded by Sun'

A MOTORIST who knocked down and killed two elderly sisters as they crossed a busy street arm-in-arm was fined (pounds) 400 yesterday. Helen Fraser, 50, who was also banned from driving for four months, wept as details of the accident were described at Inverness Sheriff Court.

Judge Reverses Divorce Ruling After Wife 'Misled Court'

A JUDGE yesterday wiped out a doctor's divorce in Scotland and an order for her ex-husband to pay her (pounds) 65,000 after accusing her of misleading a court. Samrana Ahmed was granted a divorce 10 years ago at the Court of Session in Edinburgh and Syed, her surgeon husband, was ordered to pay her a capital sum after their arranged marriage failed.

Modern Medicine Puts On Its Thinking Cap

A DEVICE that could be the forerunner of a creativity-enhancing "thinking cap" has been built and tested by scientists. The machine applies a magnetic pulse to the left frontotemporal lobe of the brain.

New Baby Boy for Carlyles

Pilot Schemes Try to Change Attitudes in High Unemployment Areas

A RADICAL attempt to change the culture of areas of high unemployment begins in Glasgow today as the government unveils plans to establish 12 "working neighbourhood" pilot schemes throughout the UK. Des Browne, the minister for work and MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, will set out details of the schemes in a speech at the Work Foundation's conference on Working Cities in London today, but he told The Herald last night that the new initiative was as important as any measure introduced to date.

Young Footballer Dies of Leukaemi

Peeling Back the Layers of America; the Sharpest Voice in Political Satire has Cut Through Us Society and Attracted Two Million Readers Every Week. And, As Rebecca Mcquillan Discovers When She Visits Its Office in New York, the Onion Could Be About to Get a Whole Lot Bigger

It used to be fashionable to sniff that Americans couldn't do irony, but then that dubious distinction passed to the, er, Chinese. According to the Beijing Evening News on June 3, 2002, the US Congress was tired of the Capitol and wanted a new building with a retractable dome and better parking. If they didn't get it, they would move to Memphis from Washington DC. "If we want to stay competitive, we need to upgrade. Look at the British parliament. Look at the Vatican. Without modern facilitie...

Being Told You Could Die in a Fortnight Is Shocking. An Artificial Heart Was My Only Hope

Jim Braid chuckles and winks at his wife Mary, who is sitting nearby. "I have to be careful not to short-circuit myself in the bath, " he says. It's the kind of joke that comforted both of them through months of emotional turmoil when late last year the 57-year- old, desperately ill, his skin turning black from a lack of oxygen, was told he had two weeks to live. Today he is relishing life as the first Scot to receive a mechanical-heart implant which has been hailed as the biggest cardiac bre...

Billboard

Blooming artists OUR own Graham Fagen will be in fine company when he switches on the power in his shed at the V&A at the end of May. Fagen is the sole Scots contributor to the Victoria and Albert's Other Flower Show, which will provide an alternative to the floral festival at Chelsea from May 28. Nine artists or artistic partnerships will create installations within (or around) a garden shed - an idea Billboard is sure has been nicked wholesale from a Glasgow West End Festival some years ago.

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