The government has formally submitted its request to introduce a fuel duty rebate of 5p a litre in Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, the Clyde islands and the Isles of Scilly to the European Commission, it emerged today.

A prisoner who supplied a class B drug while on home leave from jail will serve an extra 16 months behind bars after admitting the offence at Lerwick Sheriff Court.

The SIC is to examine the way the Norwegian state oil fund manages its investments, after some councillors attacked the local authority’s “intrinsically amoral” approach to investing its oil reserves on the stock market.

Efforts to reorganise the SIC’s political structure continued today, with councillors electing colleagues to 14 chair and vice-chair positions on a range of committees, new and old.

The Tories in Shetland have selected investment manager Sandy Cross as their candidate for the Holyrood election, it was announced today.

An appeal is going out to people in Lerwick to think before they flush toilets following a spate of blockages at Scottish Water sewage pumping stations.

Team Rowley won three matches in division one of the netball leagues over the past fortnight to move ahead in the table, with Kinetics also picking up a victory. Unst were victorious in the second division while Hotfooters and Mishaps could not be separated.

The senior open chess tournament, staged at Shetland Museum on Saturday, resulted in a three-way tie for first place following a close and hard-fought competition.

“Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord.” (James 5:4.)

The 75th anniversary of Sumburgh airport falls this year and to mark the occasion a special bronze statue is to be unveiled on 3rd June.