LABOUR is considering a dedicated pensioners' manifesto as part of a general election campaign that will encourage "active ageing" among voters, The Scotsman has learned.

THE row over Jack McConnell's New Year holiday with Kirsty Wark intensified yesterday when opposition politicians demanded to know why the First Minister had failed to mention his links with the television presenter...

THE first commercially grown green eating apple in Britain is possible, according to producers in Belgium.

FOUR British nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay by United States authorities will be freed within weeks, ending their three years of incarceration without trial.

GORDON Brown and Alan Milburn yesterday attempted a show of Labour unity as they launched the first wave of the party's election posters.

THE civil servant who was in charge of the controversial £431 million Holyrood project has been handed the task of implementing the Scottish Executive's smoking ban.

JOBS should be cut at a health board facing one of the biggest budget deficits in Scotland, the former head of the NHS north of the Border said yesterday.

JACK McConnell yesterday announced an extension to the Fresh Talent initiative to tempt more foreign students to live and work in Scotland.

THE jury in the so-called Lady in the Lake murder trial yesterday visited Coniston Water in the Lake District where the victim's body was found.

A MOTHER wrongly convicted of murdering her two cot-death babies has vowed to fight a Home Office decision to refuse her compensation.

THE number of British students gaining first-class honours degrees has risen in the past 12 months, prompting fresh fears about the possible "dumbing down" of university courses.

VOTE For Me!, the political reality show broadcast on ITV on Monday night, appealed to just 1.2 million viewers, despite a belief that the general public would be interested in a "hunt for a new political star".

THE van used in the £26.5 million Northern Bank robbery in Belfast before Christmas crossed the border from the Irish Republic only hours before the raid.

A PUB quiz contestant was £17,500 worse off yesterday after failing in a two-year legal battle over a £200 quiz jackpot.

SOME of Britain's most popular television shows such as Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Heartbeat and Midsomer Murders are a complete turn off for ethnic minority viewers.

AN AIRLINE pilot who wanted to care for her young daughter was refused permission to go part-time by her employer, British Airways, due to a lack of resources, a tribunal was told yesterday.

THE newsreader Carol Barnes has been sacked as a magistrate following a drink-driving conviction.

THOUSANDS of people may be infected with "mad cow" disease, although a major increase in the number of deaths is unlikely, the latest scientific research predicts.

DOCTORS are putting smiles back on the faces of seriously injured and deformed children by using a revolutionary implant to help rebuild their looks.