Scotland news stories on Newser

Donald Trump: Scottish Betrayed Me

Rob Quinn — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 03:50:04 CDT

Donald Trump was met by protesters and hecklers as he arrived at Scotland's parliament yesterday to complain about a proposed wind farm in sight of his new $1.2 billion golf resort. Scotland's tourist industry will be destroyed, and the country will go broke if it builds the "monstrous turbines,...

Scottish Taste Testers Sample Gas Leak Fish

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:41:05 CDT

Scotland has called in taste testers to sample the fish found near the site of a North Sea gas leak , an unusual gastronomic exercise intended to provide reassurance to Scottish seafood lovers. The government says specially trained "sensory testers" at the Aberdeen-based Marine Scotland Science organization sniffed and tasted seven...

Ancient Instrument Pushes Music History Back 1K Years

Neal Colgrass — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 17:18:15 CDT

Turns out even ancient Europeans liked subtle and complex music. Archeologists have found part of a 2,300-year-old lyre—the oldest instrument ever discovered in western Europe—inside a Scottish cave, the Daily Mail reports. The broken and burnt piece of wood "pushes the history of complex music back more...

Does Major Explosion Loom Off Scotland?

Matt Cantor — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:44:05 CDT

A North Sea drilling platform is leaking natural gas, and experts fear the "well from hell" could cause a massive explosion, wreaking havoc on the environment. More than 200 workers have been evacuated from the platform off the Scottish coast; no one is allowed within 3 miles of the site,...

Cardinal: Gay Marriage as Bad as Slavery

Mark Russell — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 04:08:29 CST

The Catholic cardinal in charge of Scotland provoked stinging criticism over the weekend for calling gay marriage a "grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right," and saying it's as morally reprehensible as slavery, reports the Independent . "Imagine for a moment that the government had decided to legalize slavery, but...

Scotland Schedules Independence Vote

Kevin Spak — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:43:42 CST

Scottish voters will finally get their chance to throw off the, er, iron hand of Queen Elizabeth in 2014, Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has announced. Salmond's Scottish National Party has long argued that Scotland should seek independence from the UK , and Salmond wants a referendum on it held just...

101mph Winds Rattle Scotland

Mary Papenfuss — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 02:40:00 CST

It was a very airy Christmas in Scotland yesterday as winds topping 101 mph rattled the Shetland Islands. "Scotland's weather is notoriously unpredictable," the local transport minister noted in a display of understatement. A warning was issued to all travelers to take extra care. The rest of the UK enjoyed...

Teacher Accused of Firing Golf Balls, Rocks at Kids

Neal Colgrass — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:27:07 CST

Former students say he lined them up against a wall and fired golf balls at them. And then rocks. And tossed them in rivers. James McMenemy, a former teacher at the Kerelaw school for troubled kids in Scotland, is facing 15 charges of violence against students in a competency hearing,...

Woman Passes Driver's Test— During Labor

Matt Cantor — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 15:31:07 CDT

Contractions 10 minutes apart didn’t stop a woman in Scotland from getting her driver’s license—and then speeding off to the hospital to give birth. She’d woken that morning at 4am after her water broke, but ignored her family’s advice and went through with the test anyway. “I had waited...