New laws for bars and restaurants as Sturgeon warns against pub crawls 

Shetland’s pubs, cafes and restaurants are now required by law to take customers’ contact details.

Shetland folk returning from France and Holland will need to quarantine

Folk returning to Shetland from France and Holland will need to quarantine for 14 days after new travel restrictions were introduced. 

The Scottish and UK governments announced yesterday that the countries had been removed from the list of destinations exempt from quarantine requirements. 

It follows an increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases – and is intended to reduce the risk of transmission. 

The measures come into effect from 4am tomorrow (Saturday).

Aruba, Turks and Caicos, Malta and Monaco will also be removed from the exemption list.

Justice secretary Humza Yousaf said: “We have always been clear we are closely monitoring the situation in all countries and that we may need to take action to remove a country from the list of places exempt from quarantine requirements should the virus show a resurgence.

“These are not decisions which we take lightly but on the basis of the evidence it is important that we take action to suppress transmission of the virus and protect public health.”

Drug charges lead to private appearance

A man appeared in private from custody at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday on drug charges.

Darren Boxwell, 33, of Shetland, faced two misuse of drugs charges.

He made no plea, was committed for further examination and released on bail.

Beach knife charge man must be well behaved

A man who had a blade on a beach, where he was found after a missing person search, has had his sentence deferred.

Storms on mainland leave parts of Shetland without internet connection

Severe flooding in Edinburgh has left parts of Shetland without internet access.

Many homes and businesses awoke this morning to find they were unable to use their broadband connection.

Several businesses have posted messages on social media advising they were unable to take car payments.

Customers also said that some providers had shut their reporting lines due to the volume of calls.

Plusnet, which internet provides services to many businesses and households in Shetland, said its engineers were working to restore broadband.

“Due to the scale of the damage we don’t expect service to be restored until later today (Wednesday),” a spokesperson said.

“Phone and mobile services are not impacted. We’re sorry for any inconvenience.”

A BT Group spokesperson said the storms in Edinburgh had damaged broadband equipment in its exchange buildings, affecting customers in the city and a “small number” of other locations in Scotland.

“Engineers are doing everything they can to restore any affected customers as soon as possible,” the spokesperson added.

“Due to the extent of the damage, we expect engineers to complete their work in the exchanges later today (Wednesday) – at which point we’ll be able to assess any further related impact.”

Thunderstorms battered many parts of Scotland last night, with some regions experiencing a month’s worth of rain in just a few hours.

Education minister withdraws downgraded exam results

Education minister John Swinney has withdrawn all downgraded SQA exam results.