THAT new iPod nano may be impossibly slim and stylish but the sad truth is it's already obsolete. Even its bigger, video-playing brother - announced last week - will be old technology by the time it hits the shops next

China had 126,808 people who officially reported as HIV-positive at the end of July, according to figures compiled over the past 20 years, but the estimated number of sufferers could be as high as 840,000, the Ministry of Health revealed

FP and Britain's Prospect magazine asked readers to vote for the top five public intellectuals from our Top 100.

TOP Seed Elena Baltacha won through to today's final of the Caversham Championship Women's Challenger in Jersey, winning her semi against Yaroslava Shvedova, the young Russian who knocked her out in her Bolton semi-final last weekend.

ANDY Murray has been called many things over the past few months, not the least of which is being referred to as the future of British tennis.

FOR 21 years he has been transforming the National Galleries of Scotland into one of Europe's most important centres of art.

The San Francisco Bay region has a 25 percent chance of a magnitude 7 or greater earthquake in the next 20 years, and a roughly 1 percent chance of such an earthquake each year, according to the "Virtual California" computer

Speedway results for Saturday 15 October.

POLICE launched separate murder inquiries yesterday after the bodies of two men were found within 20 minutes and eight miles of each other.

LOCAL authority leaders are calling for a revaluation of all homes in Scotland, in a move that will trigger massive council tax rises for those living in property hot spots.

THE SCOTTISH wind farm rush may be over, according to the industry's own trade body.

THEY HAVE been vying for the title of Scotland's leading chef for the last five years.

SCOTLAND'S cricket team has been bowled a particularly vicious bouncer by the game's governing body.

THE number of drivers using mobile phones behind the wheel has soared to the same level as before the ban was imposed.

IT MAY be the fastest-growing city in Europe - but Inverness has been dubbed the "fastest growing housing estate in Europe".

IT SHOWS a touching faith in the future of the perennially snow-challenged Scottish ski industry.

HOUSEHOLDERS in one of the richest streets in Scotland have been targeted by mail thieves believed to be trying to steal documents to use in identity fraud.

TWO crew members who ejected from their jet at 10,000ft had a "remarkable" escape, the RAF said yesterday.

GENEVA, Oct 15 (IPS) - Protests against the upcoming WTO ministerial conference in Hong Kong, by civil society groups from around the world, began Saturday in this Swiss city with a demonstration that lambasted the trade liberalisation process led by