02/05/2012 Reporting Scotland

Welcome to Reporting Scotland. Tonight on your national news.

Alex Salmond tells MSPs that there's a major police

investigation into phone hacking in Scotland but refuses to say whether

he's been hacked himself. How Scottish children are turning

their backs on fizzy drinks but they're still not eating enough

fruit. And later in the programme.

First it was opera for babies, now it's the turn of the toddlers to be

introduced to the aria. And the world of snooker pays

tribute to Stephen Hendry as he announces his retirement from the

game. He says he has no regrets. When you're not putting the work in

and not that the singer not enjoying playing in a little

tournament sand playing two boxes with no people present, it is not

worth it. Alex Salmond has revealed that 40 police officers are

investigating claims of phone hacking by newspapers, including

Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation in Scotland. But the First Minister

told MSPs that that investigation would be compromised if he bowed to

pressure to set up a separate parliamentary inquiry into the

claims. The First Minister will appear before the on-going Leveson

Inquiry next month but he wouldn't say whether his own phone had been

hacked. Here's our political editor Brian Taylor.

Alex Salmond's opponents will be pursuing him on their Rupert

Murdoch links anywhere but in that local elections that bite. He

arrived for questions knowing full well what they would be about.

Johann Lamont said the issue had now come home with allegations the

former First Minister Jack McConnell and Joan McAlpine had

been victims of phone hacking in the past. Labour demanded a

separate Scottish inquiry. First Minister's relationship with

Rupert Murdoch is preventing any real scrutiny of News

International's activity in Scotland. Alex Salmond said the

existing inquiry already covers Scotland and Strathclyde Police had

that -- gave 40 officers to a separate investigation. Johann

Lamont accused Alex Salmond of ducking the questions. The First

Minister runs away from accountability. His supporters

pointed out he was in Parliament answering questions. Alex Salmond

accused Labour of hypocrisy. idea that a harder you complain,

people often get about 15 years of association with News International.

People look at the Labour Party and say humbug and hypocrisy.

Ruth Davidson demanded to know whether Alex Salmond had himself

been a victim? Or did he not need to bother tapping his own because

he was already on speed dial? Parliament is asking, Scotland is

watching - First Minister, where you hacked? He said he would tell

all to the lead as an inquiry when he is question next month.

Willie Rennie said the First Minister had spoken up for Rupert

Murdoch in exchange for the Scottish Sun backing the SNP.

has traded favours with Rupert Murdoch and defended him on the

phone hacking, stood up for him on BSkyB and now protects and in

Scotland. That was dismissed by the First Minister who said his

interest had always been to protect Scottish jobs.

Scotland's most senior law advocate has visited Libya as part of a

continuing investigation into the Lockerbie bombing. He travelled to

Tripoli for talks with the new Libyan Prime Minister.

Details of this have just emerged, what had they hope to get from this

meeting? What they hoped for was an agreement from the new Libyan

authorities, the new government following the downfall of Colonel

Gaddafi, that they might be able to carry on their investigations into

the unit -- the Lockerbie bombing in Libya. Perhaps to speak to

Libyan nationals are those who might be in prison at the moment as

a result of the fall of the last regime. Also, to look at papers

that may have been in the archives of the old regime which may still

exist. This is assumed to be still alive investigation? Very much so.

It is an investigation involving a the UK authorities and the FBI for

the American government. Dumfries and Galloway police ask in January

for extra funding so that they could beat up the unit which they

maintain it is still looking at the Lockerbie tragedy. It was always

said that if Megrahi had done it then he was not doing it alone and

was part of a conspiracy involving the Libyan secret services.

It was a murder that shocked Scotland. A 13-year-old boy, out on

his own in the early hours of a Sunday morning is attacked and

killed close to a town centre. Today another teenager, Jordan

McCready who was 16 at the time, admitted the murder of Jon Wilson

in Kilmarnock last September. McCready also admitted slashing a

stranger and robbing another teenager in the hours after the

murder. Laura Bicker reports. 13-year-old Jon Wilson was supposed

to be spending a night with a friend. He changed his mind and

tried to walk home just after 2am. He was battered to death by 17-

year-old Jordan McCready. He was high on Valium and but fast. He

later told police he had jumped up and down on the 13-year-old's said.

Later that night he stabbed a stranger and stole another

stranger's well phone. He faces life behind bars. The, not

community shocked at the savagery of the murder rally to remember the

teenager they had lost. The court was told it has had a devastating

impact on his family. At the time of his death, his head teacher was

quick to pay tribute. He was challenging sometimes. He was a boy

that could certainly did taken issue with you. He was a boy that

had potential and I think that was the key to this. It is so sad that

he will not be able to achieve that and he will be sorely missed in the

school. His killer has shown no remorse. He told police he was glad

he had done it and admitted the attack. Sentencing will be in June.

You're watching Reporting Scotland from the BBC. Still to come on the

programme. Returning to the land they helped liberate from the Nazis

- Scots veterans head for the Netherlands to join the

commemoration. In sport, the end of any air as

seven-times world champion Stephen Hendry retires from snicker. We

look ahead to tonight's SPL action and she has a more successful

golfer at the moment but she wants to become an Olympian.

Scottish secondary schoolchildren are drinking half as many fizzy

drinks as they were 10 years ago but they still don't eat enough

fruit and they're drinking too much alcohol. That's according to a

survey by the World Health Organisation which compared the

behaviour of Scottish 11, 13 and 15-year-olds with their peers

across the globe. Our health correspondent Eleanor Bradford

reports. It's the water cooler, not the

vending machine. The juice, not fizzy drinks, for Scottish

schoolchildren, according to just one of the findings of this

comparison of European children. This survey by the World Health

Organisation found startling changes in the habits of 11, 13 and

15-year-old for better or worse. normally drink juice.

Consumption of fizzy drinks us have been a decade. I text a lot. I am

I don't take wards of sweets but I ate a fair amount. The only time I

have other include new years and even then it is a small one.

There is one thing Scots still Arran doing enough of to help their

children stay healthy. Back in 2002, this NHS advert encouraged us to

talk to our children. Today's survey suggests Scottish children

don't talk to their parents as much as other European children. We're

so bad we are in the bottom 10 at a 39 countries. We know from research

that is particularly important for making young people feel good about

themselves and feel happy but it also tends to reduce substance used.

Government policies are important but what happens in the home as

important as well. A man charged with being part of a

terrorist conspiracy over an explosion in Sweden has gone on

trial at the High Court in Glasgow. Nasserdine Menni denies acting with

Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, from Luton in Bedfordshire, who is now

dead, in connection with the explosion in Stockholm just before

Christmas 2010. Thousands of candidates chasing

millions of votes will find out soon whether weeks of campaigning

have been successful. Tomorrow morning the polling places open in

the local government elections. But once you've got your ballot, what

do you do, and how is it counted? Our local government correspondent

Jamie McIvor can explain. As easy as one, two, three. When

you vote simply place the candidates in your order of

preference. Number as many or as few as you want. Next up the

party's if you want or not. You can express one preference and just put

a number one against your choice. If there are 10 or 14 candidates,

you can number or the way to 14. The choice is up to you. We will

all end up with the ear for councillors depending on where we

live. Although voting is easy, counting isn't. The calculation

used is quite complicated. This means some mathematical Magic. A

magic number is calculated for each ward. That number depends on how

many fought and how many councillors are being elected.

First off, the number one votes are counted. All the candidates to

reach that magic number Raven. Then come the number two votes on the

papers of the candidates already elected. A fair share is then given

it to the other hopefuls and anyone who reaches that magic number is in.

The disappearing act then begins among the others if enough have not

been elected. If you run out of supposed votes then you start

excluding others and you move second preferences in until you

have enough candidate selected. polls open at 7am tomorrow and we

should start to get a clear sense of the outcome by lunchtime on

Friday. A look now at what else has been happening across the country

this Wednesday. A care assistant who fed a dog

biscuit to a man with dementia has been sacked. The incident happened

in washer during a therapy session last year. A spokesman for Bass

said it was an unfortunate but isolated incident.

A BBC investigation has learned the UK Government was warned about the

dangers posed by the dumping of radioactive instrument dials as

early as 1958. The site is the centre of a long-running

controversy following discovery of radioactive particles there.

The newest Lifeboat Station has taken delivery of its rescue vessel.

The vote arrived on the Isle of Harris this afternoon. Funding is

being made available for the station to operate on a trial basis.

The last two weeks we went down and everyone feels like they are ready

and confident so we can deal with anything we're thrown at.

An Aberdeen barman is bidding to be one of the world's top cocktail

makers. He will represent the UK at an international event in Amsterdam

next month. Going through the world finals, it is back to the start

again. You're already getting some recognition and now it is just do

your best and enjoy yourself. 16 lambs rejected by their mothers

at birth have been raised by a woman in North used. She feeds them

formula milk from a bottle. There are more stories from Urania

and all the latest news 24 hours a Dr David Howarth, Jean Monnet Chair

of European Political Economy, years ago, where crockery a ground

with an opera for babies. Now, Scottish Opera why is watching a

production for toddlers. Sensory O uses sound, and smell to encourage

youngsters to enjoy opera a. Like any opera, it has an

outrageous plot, colourful costumes and stories told in song. The

audience an entirely made up of two and three-year-old. The I idea is

they can engage with what is going on, the music, the action and the

costumes, in a very calm way. It is very different to their

experience of music elsewhere. The shore crew out of this one, which

has now toured the world and is one of the most requested shows in

Scottish Opera's repertoire. tells us there is huge demand out

there and many hundreds of parents want to give their children this

new experience and they are very brave, they will try new things. In

some ways, the audience is literally responded with their feet.

A if a good review is the measure of a successful adults sure,... It

sounds daunting but it really made it child-friendly and the kids were

all engaged and joining in and it was OK to join them which was great.

Hearing live vocals and those wonderful harmonies, it brings the

hairs up on the back of your neck. They had a great time, it is for

all ages. Really exciting and fun for the kids. These topics of a

Scottish tour on Friday and so far it is as much of a hit as the

company's older shows. The end of an era in the sport now.

I am still here but Stephen Hendry, who has been described as the

greatest snooker player ever, seven times world champion, at the age of

43 has announced his retirement from the sport.

Why? He says he is getting fed up losing.

Please welcome the best of the best, Mr Stephen Hendry. He had won the

trophy more often than anyone else. The day after he called it quits,

world champions of yester year lined up to a plot his achievements.

A was in the sport to win, and to be the best, and for a little while

I was. Hendry was tipped for big things from an early age even

before he won TV's Junior Pot Black at the age of 14. His single minded

approach to get this was in evidence here that in 1986. I

thought I would be shaking like a leaf but I shot myself, I was not

shaking and I was not nervous. His grace under pressure helped him to

win his first major championship at the start of the 1990s. In snooker,

that decade's belonged to Stephen Hendry, winning a record seven

world titles. In 1990 and then five in a row between 1992 and 1996, and

finally at the end of the decade in 1999. There was a time when I

fetched in principle. In my best season, I won five or six

tournaments. -- I felt invincible. Those other days I look back on

fondly. But he failed to shine so brightly in the years that followed

and reaching the last date of this year's championship proved to be

his swansong. I have achieved so much, seven world championships,

three maximums. Motherwell will be guaranteed a place in the

qualifying rounds of the Champions League is Dundee United to 0 win

against Rangers at Ibrox this evening. They took a step to

clinching the third-place finish in the Premier League with a 1-0 win

against Hearts at Tynecastle. Meanwhile, the battle to avoid

relegation continues. It is between Dunfermline and Hibernian. They are

separated by only to the point. Iberian play Inverness tonight and

Hibernian play Aberdeen. Dunfermline have taken four points

from their last two matches while Hibernian have lost. The players

are focused and I have been pleased with their performances. I thought

some of the criticism of the players after Sunday was scandalous.

I thought they had been very good. There is coverage of today's

matches on sport sound tonight. The show is on there now. Scotland's

top woman golfer is aiming for a place at the Olympic Games, in four

years' time in Rio the Janeiro. She says that having the sport in the

games will bring more players into the sport. Last year's Scottish

woman's champion in fine form today as she prepares to defend her title.

She also has dreams of representing Team GB at the Olympics in Brazil

and four years. It's might be nice. I might still be around. My two

children would be on a -- old enough to come and enjoy it. It

would be something. Calipers is only 19 but has been a professional

for the last two years. She is only now do it -- realising what it

means. There was a lot of expectation for me to perform

really well in the first year. With the sponsors and everything

involved and the pressure and I put on myself, it was a bit too much.

As for the reigning champion, she says the competition this weekend

is the toughest she has faced on home soil. There are some big names.

Lot a, Janice, Linsey right. There are a lot of good players. It will

be harder. It's is unlikely the weather conditions in the East

Lothian will match those in Rio so let's hope the golfers do not

become too grumpy. 67 years ago after months of

intense fighting, British troops helped liberate the people of the

Netherlands from years of Nazi and a -- occupation. Two of them were

from East Lothian. They have travelled back to the battleground

to remember the sacrifice of their comrades who did not return.

The two veterans said of this morning on a personal journey of

remembrance. In 1945 the war was entering the final phases. The

triumph of the D-Day landings was fading fast as the fighting in

Holland became entrenched in waves of bloody battles. It is just

unbelievable that we did those things, under fire, bullets flying,

mortar bomb shells raining down and yet, there you were at that tender

age, in the thick of it. Comrades around you were being wounded and

killed and yet, you just carried on. Like most of his generation, he was

just a boy when he was called up to fight in this man's war. For the

people of Poland, the Nazi occupation took a heavy toll. They

were expected to give their liberators a hero's welcome.

Dutch people suffered perhaps more than others during the occupation

and when they were liberated, it was the greatest days of their

lives and the liberators were very much heroes. As the pair set off

today they also recalled their fallen comrades. We will be paying

our respects to those men who died. There are not many of us left.

is my comrades Madill. I wear this for my comrades who gave their

lives, the real heroes in the war. A glorious day across much of

Scotland with plenty of sunshine. You can see their cloud burning a

way through the day particularly on the East coast. Central and eastern

parts -- western parts of the country did see the highest

temperatures. Even Braemar not too bad. Right on the East coast a

different story, Aberdeen and Edinburgh just eight to ten degrees.

That is thanks to the low cloud and the onshore breeze. Tonight, dry

and cloudy. Also some clear spells. Temperatures for almost no Lord

Dannatt and five Celcius but the far north Highlands could be down

to freezing. Note is this weather front to the far north - that is

the dividing line between war Meyer and cold air. Tomorrow, for much of

the mainland, it will be dry. The best of the sunshine in western

parts with the highest temperatures on the West coast. Further east,

staying cloudy and subsequently a bit cooler as well. In the

afternoon, it will be warm. 17 or 18 degrees in the West. The

Lothians and the borders in the East coast will be cooler but much

of Stirlingshire and power Charla and Ireland and Murray will be

basking in sunshine. Overnight, the rain will sink southward towards

the southern half of the country. That is the dividing line between

warmth and cold. It is sitting across the southern half of the

country. Temperatures will be down. Wet weather on Friday sunshine and

showers with snow over the hills. Tomorrow will be the last day of

temperatures in the teens. A summer's day of the main stories:

the coroner at the inquest into the debt of the MI6 officer of Gareth

Williams, whose body was found any sport back, has ruled out suicide

and says his body was -- he was probably killed will fully.

Alex Salmond has revealed that 40 police officers are investigating

claims of phone hacking by police officers but he told MPs that the

investigation would be compromised if he set up a separate

parliamentary inquiry. His 17-year- old youth, Jordan McCready, has

admitted murdering 13-year-old Don Wilson in Kilmarnock last September.

He also admitted slashing a stranger and robbing another