Deposit Protection for Scotland Welcomed

October 8th, 2009 BASILDON, England - AA Travel Insurance has welcomed a call by ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) to work with the Government and the travel industry to close what Mark Tanzer, ABTA chief executive, described last week as a 'huge loophole' that leaves millions of travellers unprotected if their travel company goes bust. Of the 45 million overseas trips made last year, only 18 million were packages(i).

September 14th, 2009 LONDON - NALS, the National Approved Letting Scheme, has appointed Harrison Communications (PR) to provide press and general news media services. NALS, the accreditation scheme for the private rented sector, was born of the government's initiative to raise standards in the lettings industry and currently has more than 1,800 registered letting offices.

September 14th, 2009 LONDON - 2008-09, the second year of operation since mandatory deposit protection was introduced into the private rented sector, was a successful year for the Tenancy Deposit Scheme (TDS). The number of tenancies registered nearly doubled, rising from 470,323 to 786,405.

July 24th, 2009 LONDON and GLASGOW, Scotland - On Sunday 26th July, Unite the union, will lead thousands of people from across Scotland in a march to defend Diageo jobs and the nation's whisky heritage. The march through the centre of Kilmarnock will unite ordinary people across Scotland who are outraged by Diageo's cold-hearted dismissal of a workforce which has built their worldwide reputation as it pursues ever-greater profits.

June 16th, 2009 HAYWARDS HEATH, England - A cat is recovering after surviving for OVER A MONTH trapped inside a 20ft industrial storage container. Charity Cats Protection has reunited 11-month-old Socks with his owners after an electrician found the emaciated moggy inside the metal unit.

April 6th, 2009 BOURNEMOUTH, England - In the wake of a number of cases of end-of-tenancy disputes and even the fraudulent misappropriation of deposits held on some letting agencies' client account, the Managing Director of the UK's largest dedicated letting agency has hit out at the Government's failure to go further in legislation covering the security of tenants deposits. Ian Wilson, MD of Martin & Co, which has over 160 letting offices nationally, said that many landlords and, shockingly, letting agencies still hold deposit monies themselves without complying with the Tenancy Deposit Protection regulations.

April 5th, 2009 HAYWARDS HEATH, England - Cats Protection is urging anyone impressed by the work of a particular Cats Protection volunteer to enter them for the charity's Volunteer of the Year 2009 Awards. The awards, now in their second year, celebrate the huge part played by the charity's 7,000 volunteers to the success of the charity, which helps 157,000 cats and kittens each year.

April 3rd, 2009 HAYWARDS HEATH, England - HAYWARDS HEATH, England, April 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Peter Hepburn, Chief Executive of Cats Protection, said: "It is brilliant news that the Treasury Select Committee has recommended that charities should be compensated for losses incurred through the failure of the Icelandic banks. Cats Protection has GBP11.2m deposited with Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander (KSF) - a UK bank owned by an Icelandic bank, Kaupthing, which was put into administration in October 2008.

March 30th, 2009 LONDON - At the approach of the second anniversary of mandatory tenancy deposit protection next week (on Monday April 6), the Tenancy Deposit Scheme reports that it is protecting over GBP800 million pounds in tenants deposits, an increase of a quarter of a billion pounds in less than 12 months. These deposits cover against damage and dilapidations in over 800,000 tenancies housing 1.25 million tenants.

March 15th, 2009 NIEUWEGEIN, The Netherlands - As of 13 March 2009, the Supervisory Board has allocated options to the members of the Board of Management: 40,000 options to Mr Theo Bruijninckx, 30,000 options to Mr Ruud Jacobs and 30,000 options to Mr Romeo Malizia. The options are allocated in accordance with the options regulations as determined during the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders on 26 October 2006.

September 22nd, 2009 LONDON - Scotland Yard has advertised for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender police to guard the Queen. According to the Daily Express, the Metropolitan Police wants officers from "special groups" to -volunteer for armed duty at Windsor Castle and Balmoral.

April 11th, 2009 BEIJING - Fake Scotch has entered China, prompting the authorities in Biejing and Edinburgh to discuss the issue and reach an agreement to take action against purveyors of this imitation. Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond and representatives of the Scotch Whisky Association have asked for Scotch whisky to be given special geographic protection in China.

June 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - The city-based UCO Bank is likely to slash deposit rates by 50-100 basis points soon, a top official said here Monday. The bank cut its lending rates by 50 basis points recently to 12 percent.

June 19th, 2009 KOLKATA - The city-based UCO Bank will cut its deposit and lending rates by 50 basis points soon, a top bank official said here Friday. We would cut both the deposit and lending rates by 50 basis points from June 27, UCO chairman and managing director S.K.

October 6th, 2009 Kennecott Utah Copper discovers molybdenum depositSALT LAKE CITY — Kennecott Utah Copper says it has discovered a huge deposit of molybdenum (ma-LIB-DE'-nem) beneath its Bingham Canyon Mine. The company says it's unclear whether it will be feasible to develop a mine to extract the deposit, which is estimated at 500 million tons.

March 12th, 2009 DHAKA - Premier investigation agency, Scotland Yard would be sending its team here to help the local investigation agency probe the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) mutiny which left 74 BDR personnel dead. Talking to reporters on Tuesday, Britain's Minister for International Development, Mike Foster, said the investigative team would consist of four Scotland Yard officials.

May 2nd, 2009 MUMBAI - The country's largest lender State Bank of India Saturday said it has cut deposit rates by 25 basis points (bps) effective from Monday. The new interest rate, for a deposit of 15-45 days, will be 3.75 percent, while deposits up to 10 years will fetch interest of 8.25 percent, SBI said in a statement.

August 3rd, 2009 GLASGOW - A Glasgow chef has claimed that Britain's popular chicken tikka massala did not originate in the UK, but in Scotland. Sixty-four-year-old Ahmed Aslam Ali, the founder of Shish Mahal, is claiming that he invented the dish, and is now calling on the European Union to give it "Protected Designation of Origin" status, alongside the likes of Champagne, Parma Ham and Greek Feta cheese.

May 11th, 2009 Norway, Denmark, Scotland win extra Europa spotsGENEVA — Norway, Denmark and Scotland have earned extra places in the qualifying round for next season's Europa League. Norway leads UEFA's Fair Play rankings, followed by teams from Denmark and Scotland, Europe's soccer governing body said Monday.

April 29th, 2009 EDINBURGH - Marine archaeologists have said that the discovery of ancient boat remains off the west coast of Scotland may point to the site of a boatbuilder's yard dating back many centuries. "There have been some reported finds of materials associated with terrestrial settlement.