A report published in the Guardian newspaper claimed that Scotland Yard did not act on evidence it discovered about the true extent of the illegal phone-tapping by the News of the World newspaper.

The Guardian said that documents from the Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service revealed that police managed to get NotW’s then royal editor Clive Goodman and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire convicted and jailed in
2007 for illegally intercepting the voicemail messages of some public figures including royal family members.

Royal Bank from Scotland has been charged 28.6 million Pounds by the Office of Fair Trading after it did not adhere to the competition rules and norms.

There was a decrease brought in the amount which was initially 33.6 million Pounds, and was then pulled down to the amount stated above.

The OFT began its investigation after an information was revealed by Barclays Bank that RBS had divulged a secret price information.

The OFT said that RBS had broken the norms amid October 2007 and February or March of 2008.

High speed trains will ply soon between London and Scotland even before the proposed tracks were to be constructed, according to a new announcement due this week.

The train will significantly reduce the travel time for the Scottish passengers. This is the first time in 15 years that railway line is being built between London and Birmingham. Transport Secretary Lord Adonis has expressed that the discussion for funding with the Scottish government to extend this track up to Glasgow and Edinburgh has not begun as yet.

Commuters in Scotland experienced trouble on Monday when hundreds of rail workers staged a second of three planned 24-hour walkouts in a dispute over the absence of train-conductors on a new service.

But, train operator ScotRail claimed that the strike affected just one in ten services and business was as usual.

The RMT union is opposing ScotRail plans to use ticket examiners rather than conductors on a new rail service between Airdrie and Bathgate. The concerned rail service is due to open in December.

Scotland has plans to introduce new laws to force fast-food outlets and restaurants to reduce portion sizes and restrict the sale of high-calorie foods near schools to tackle the problem of obesity.

Public Health Minister Shona Robison said the number of obese Scots could double by 2030, which would cost the economy £3 billion per year. Adult obesity has been predicted to reach 40 per cent in twenty years.

Yesterday, the Chief of the Royal Bank of Scotland was "shamed" into giving up his huge bonus amount of 1.6 Million Pounds.

The Chief Executive of RBS had managed to spark quite an outrage after it was made public that he is planning on awarding himself a huge bonus amount, despite the fact that the state-owned entity was still in the red.

There are reports about a Scottish health authority concealing details of a fatal infection deliberately. The infection reportedly took five lives last year and the details did not get public until four days after the last death in the outbreak.

Reports also state that patients were however informed that they were suffering from Clostridium difficile but the fact that they were having a strain of potentially fatal and virulent 027 strain of the bug was hidden.

Letters are beginning to drop through the doors of thousands of families, whose children are aged between six months and five years, urging them to go for Swine Flu vaccination. These invitations have left them puzzled.

A disproportionate number of pre-school children were hospitalized recently. This has been the main reason for the Scottish Government for pressing ahead with the mass vaccination of young children. Public health officials are warning that the virus may return inevitably, next winter.

Official figures by the Scottish government recently revealed that over the past 10 years, almost than 7,000 cases of children being admitted to hospital after self-harming have come to light, among which 160,000 is the number of over-16s.

A health board that wrongly diagnosed a man with the crippling hereditary brain condition known as Huntington's Disease (HD) 20 years ago, has apologized to him and his family for its grave error.

A survey revealed that the average sales of pure alcohol per adult last year amounted to 12.2 litres– the equivalent of 46 bottles of vodka, 537 pints of beer or 130 bottles of wine, and more than the recommended weekly limit for men every single week.

In addition, it claimed the sales for the South of the border to average at 9.7 litres of pure alcohol per adult – still more than the recommended limit for men but two and a half pints of beer or two-thirds of a bottle of wine less than in Scotland.

Royal Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester revealed to the MPs yesterday that the bank permits 90 per cent of mortgage applications, and it had to pay bonuses to stop bankers from leaving for higher rewards at rivals.

The revelation has cropped a controversy over the City pay, reporting fresh calls for a break-up of the big banks yesterday.

Major Wall Street banks are poised to reveal their bonuses in the next fortnight. They are expected to show little restraint, despite the taxpayer having bailed out the banking system.

Private sector activity in Scotland expanded for the sixth month in a row in December 2009. However, Scotland is still lagging behind the rest of the UK.

A fresh study by Markit, a financial information company, said Scotland’s rate of growth slowed since November.

The Purchasing Managers Index showed output slowed and employers were cautious on hiring workers as they were experiencing spare capacity.

The Scottish Government is all set to invest a whopping 450,000 Pounds for the effective treatment of diabetes, a move from which all areas across the North and North-East are set to benefit.

Health Minister Shona Robison has shared that the funds would help improve the psychological support that is needed for people suffering from the condition.

Scotland's Chief Medical Officer Harry Burns has, after much analysis, revealed that men are now "narrowing" the gap of life expectancy with women as they are currently more likely to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

It has been revealed that since the 1980s, there has been a rise in the male life expectancy of 6.6 years to 75.3 years, while female life expectancy has managed to grow by a mere 4.9 years to
80.