| The US has said it will not execute two British Islamic State suspects should they be convicted. Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh are accused of being surviving members of an Islamic State cell nicknamed ‘The Beatles’ and accused of killing hostages. (BBC) |
Quick News
| Research conducted for the campaigning group Hope Not Hate has found that two thirds of black and minority ethnic people in the UK believe the police are biased against them. A large majority also said they felt court systems were biased against them. (BBC) |
| New Scottish Government figures have confirmed the Scotland is again in recession. The country has experienced to consecutive quarters of negative growth, with the second quarter recording a massive -19.7 per cent growth amid lockdown conditions. (The National) |
| The Scottish Energy firm SSE has hired a Danish firm to construct at £580 million Shetland renewable energy project. The news raises fresh concerns about the future of a so called ‘Just Transition’ with green industry developing national capacity. (The Herald) |
| Scottish rail fairs hikes, coming as Scots return to work after lockdown, have prompted calls for reform. Prices for season tickets have increased by 1.6 per cent, raising the price of a Glasgow-Edinburgh season ticket by £67. (The Scotsman) |
| The SNP has accused chancellor of “recklessly ploughing ahead” with the end of the furlough scheme, despite evidence of the extent of damage to the UK economy and risk of massive unemployment. Other European countries are maintaing at least part of their payment system over a longer period. The UK scheme will be wound down by the end of October. (The Herald) |
Leonard calls for more Holyrood scrutiny of Covid-19 response
| Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard said First Minister Nicola Sturgeon should make daily updates on Covid-19 to MSPs, rather than at media briefings. Leonard said the Scottish Government’s response to Covid-19 was not coming under enough scrutiny. Leonard did say that he thought the Scottish Government had “on the whole” handled the crisis “well”. (Daily Record) |
LoganAir re-starts routes
LoganAir is set to re-start flights today, the first since the lockdown began in Scotland. The rural flight company will start routes from Aberdeen to Birmingham and Newcastle, with a plan to recover other routes in coming weeks. The company is the largest operator at Aberdeen Airport. (BBC)
Questions over testing shortfall in Scotland
The Scottish Government’s testing capacity should have allowed for 359,900 tests since the end of April, but just 40 per cent of that figure have been carried out, a shortfall of 212,088. The new test and trace strategy will be launched on Thursday, but the the shortfall in testing, nearly 10,000 below capacity in recent days, has raised questions about how effective it will be. (The Scotsman)
Palestinian ambassador calls for SNP “urgent clarification” on MSP’s Nakba stance
Husam Zomlot, head of the Palestinian Mission to the UK, has urged the SNP to provide “urgent clarification” over the stance of one of the party’s MSP’s, who claimed that the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in 1948, was a “self-inflicted tragedy”. Zomlot said the claim made by Richard Lyle, deputy convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Building Bridges With Israel group, had “insulted an entire nation”. (The National)