22/10/2013 Reporting Scotland

Tonight, on Reporting Scotland. Hanging in the balance.

Grangemouth's owners say their workforce will find out what future

they see for the plant tomorrow morning.

ScottishPower is handed a multi-million pound fine for

misleading its customers. Exercising the mind - Why making the

grade at school might be about more than just studying. It wakes me up

and gets my brain going. Gymnastics has helped me to focus and not be

distracted and you need that in school.

Also tonight, we're live from Celtic Park. It is a massive night of

champions league action. The future of the Grangemouth

refinery and petrochemical plant hangs in the balance tonight. The

plant's owners met in London today to discuss their next move and say

they will tell the workforce the outcome of that meeting tomorrow

morning. Meanwhile the Scottish and UK governments have held talks today

about the dispute. Our business correspondent David Henderson

reports. It is Scotland's biggest industrial

site and it is producing nothing but how long can it remain that way?

Last night, union officials showed off these letters, evidence of the

better dispute. They are from workers who rejected plans to

wholesale changes to pay and pensions. Managers today insisted

there's alternative plan. It is losing 10 million a month and it is

structurally running out of its raw materials. The survival plan would

give us the opportunity to secure investment. So who is calling the

shots? This man has the controlling stake in the company which owns

Grangemouth and he has held talks today with senior management, but

others have also been talking about a possible change of ownership. We

are exploring all options about other interests for other parties to

acquire and operate the site. Who the buyer might be is unclear but

with workers and management in deadlock, the union has backed the

move. They need to listen to the Scottish government now seeing there

is a plan B and if you do not want responsibility, step aside and

someone else will take it. This refinery produces most of

Scotland's fuel sold today contingency plans were announced to

keep negative impact to a minimum. The best interests are served by

getting back to the table and veal is no other way of resolving this

the break and securing the future. At 10am tomorrow, the company will

tell staff what they plan to do with the site. Will the restart

production, will be closed, does Grangemouth have a future? There's a

lot at stake for the workers and the country.

The Scottish and UK governments have been in contact today about the

situation at Grangemouth. Our political correspondent Tim Reid's

in Westminster for us tonight. Tim is there a sense that, as this

dispute intensifies, Grangemouth is too big to fail? There's absolutely

no question whatsoever as to the importance of Grangemouth's future

and the protection of the jobs but also protecting the massive economic

and print it has on Scotland and the wider UK, which is why they were

keen to get both sides negotiating in the first place, and stressing

that what has to happen should happen now. John Swinney seeing it

as though the number one priority. The implications for closure are

unthinkable both politically and economically. The Westminster

Government are in charge of energy policy and will have to deal with

any potential closure and its aftermath, and the Scottish

Government have made a significant part of their financial case for

independence on oil. Have the politicians been given any

indication of the announcement tomorrow? I think we are completely

in the dark as are we. That has caused frustration, and also

frustration that they have not managed to get the sides are in the

negotiation table again. There are contingency plans to ensure

continuation of supply but they are also stressing that they have their

fingers crossed those are not necessary.

There will be more on the Grangemouth dispute on Newsnight

Scotland over on BBC Two Scotland tonight at 11 o'clock.

ScottishPower has warned that its prices are likely to rise in the

next few weeks, following announcements from its rivals.

Meanwhile the company has been fined 8.5 million pound after an

investigation by OFGEM. The regulator says the company provided

misleading information when it was trying to persuade people to switch

providers. Our business and economy editor, Douglas Fraser, joins me.

First,the fine: what exactly was ScottishPower doing wrong? The fine

is for a failure to manage doorstep and telesales agents, who used

misleading information in their sales pitches, between 2009 and last

year. OFGEM says this fine, of ?8.5m, is a clear signal to energy

suppliers of what happens when they break the conditions of their

licence to supply energy. ScottishPower has apologised

"unreservedly". It has stopped doorstep selling. Of that fine, ?7.5

million is going to vulnerable customers - those likely to be at

risk of fuel poverty. Nearly 150,000 people will receive a payment of

about ?50. There's also to be a ?1m customer compensation fund for those

who were mis-sold to. You're not going to get rich on that - it could

be worth up to ?50 per household. Scottish poet is having to repay

?8.5 million to its customers. -- Power. Its energy salespeople were

not providing reliable information and making accurate comparisons and

the company did not have controls in place at management level to guard

against that. We are writing to all customers are affected and

apologising and making sure we pay any compensation to those affected.

ScottishPower also warning of a price rise to come? Intervention

from a former prime minister. The biggest US rising prices and three

of the big six have announced gas and electricity increasing by up to

11%. They say they are facing the same cost pressures as rivals and it

is likely prices will go up by the end of the year. They are facing

political splits from any incoming Labour government of a price freeze

and we have from John Major that there should be a windfall tax on

these energy companies making too much money. The battle is getting

stepped up reflecting the public anger about it.

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

programme. How Scottish scientists think the

loss of atmosphere on Mars could have implications for dealing with

climate change on Earth. All the sport comes live ahead of a

big night of Champions League football as Celtic face Ajax. The

thoughts of a former Celtic Assistant Manager to come. Also

tonight, Sir Alex Ferguson makes some interesting revelations, and

five uncapped players have been named in the Scotland Rugby training

squad ahead of the Autumn Tests. Talking of sport, new research

suggests that exercise improves teenagers' academic performance. And

according to the study led by Dundee University, the more kids exercise,

the better their grades. Our health correspondent Eleanor Bradford

reports. PE classes are not what they were

when I was at school and probably for that reason, the kids here love

sport. I do dancing, gymnastics, basketball. I have basketball on a

Monday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I do is football. It wakes me up and

gets my brain going. Gymnastics has helped me to focus and not be

distracted by things and you need that in school. A study led by

Dundee University found that exercise improved more than just

physical health. The searchers found that for every 15 minutes children

spent exercising, they scored an extra quarter of a grade in the

classroom and they speculate that if youngsters that the recommended

our's exercise every day, they could smash home a whole extra grades.

There is a strong correlation between physical activity and data

not -- educational outcomes at the age of 11, and there a long-term

relations. Food for thought for policymakers as extra hours of the

day spent in PE may not be at the expense of exam grades.

A murder trial has heard a woman whose body was found in a toilet at

the SECC, in Glasgow, had suffered fractures to facial bones and her

skull, with all the bones on the left side of her face effectively

shattered. Pathologist Dr Marjorie Turner told the court the injuries

were consistent with being struck with a fire extinguisher. Clive

Carter admits killing 42-year-old Khanokporn Satjawat but denies

murdering her by repeatedly hitting her with a fire extinguisher at the

Clyde Auditorium in Glasgow last November.

Other stories from across Scotland this Tuesday.

Plans for the regeneration of the Kishorn fabrication yard in Wester

Ross have been approved by Highland Council. The developers hope the

site, used in the '70s and '80s to build North Sea oil platforms, will

become a focal point for the emerging marine renewables energy

sector, possibly creating 2500 jobs. The historic town hall in

Campbeltown is to be restored. It has been a lot of hard work in the

gestation, around three years of liaising with the various

authorities, so it represents a satisfactory culmination of three

years of hard work. The historic town hall in Campbeltown is to be

restored. It's to receive a million pounds worth of lottery money. There

had been concerns over the future of the 18th century building.

A former Liberal Democrat MSP has taken his seat in the Lords. Jeremy

Purvis was the MSP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale. He will sit

as Lord Purvis of Tweed. A final call's gone out for

nominations for the 2013 Robert Burns Humanitarian Award which

closes at the end of next week. Last year's went posthumously to Khalil

Dale, the Dumfries-based Red Cross worker assassinated in Pakistan.

Other previous winners include Guy Willoughby, chief executive of the

mine clearing charity, the Halo Trust and Linda Norgrove, the

Scottish aid worker kidnapped and killed in Afghanistan.

A Scottish festival has had to cancel its headline act after a

group of Syrian performers was refused entry to the UK. Al Kindi

and the Whirling Dervishes of Damascus was due to open the Sound

Festival in Aberdeen on Friday but the group was refused entry visas by

the Home Office who said it had doubts the musicians would leave the

UK after performing. And there are more stories from your

area - and all the latest news, 24 hours a day on BBC Scotland's

website. Scottish based researchers think

they've found the reason why the planet Mars lost its atmosphere: it

turned to stone. Their findings could have implications for dealing

with climate change on Earth. Here's our science correspondent Kenneth

Macdonald. Cold, dry and wet the vanishingly

thin atmosphere but it was not always this way. Millions of years

ago, the atmosphere was rich in carbon dioxide but Scottish

researchers think the carbon dioxide turned to stone. It gets drawn from

the atmosphere and locked in rock, so while we have observed that on

Earth, it is the first sighting on Mars. First, you have to find a bit

of the planet. Tiny pieces can get blasted from the planet and take

millions of years to reach Earth as meteorites. This is believed to have

hit a dog and vaporised it. What we have phoned and said less is the

carbonate mineral which shows we have actually got a sister

Montmartre which has removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. --

system on Mars. By scanning this we are finding out what happened on

Mars millions of years ago. It has implications for how we look at

storing carbon on Earth and how we deal with global warming and the

removal of carbon dioxide from Earth. You can get the carbon

dioxide back out by adding acid but it is how it got into rocks that is

insisting scientists here on earth. A man's appeared in court charged in

connection with a fatal crash in Aberdeenshire that left a woman dead

and two others injured. The collision happened on the B977 Dyce

to Fintray Road yesterday afternoon. Edward Shaw, who's 50, from

Inverurie, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court charged with causing

death by dangerous driving and driving with excess alcohol.

The Queen's Baton Relay is continuing its journey around the

seventy nations and territories of the Commonwealth, ahead of the Games

in Glasgow next year. The Asia section of the relay has taken the

baton to Bangladesh. Record breaker Mark Beaumont is known for cycling

but this week he took to the streets of Dhaka, a city of thirteen million

people. This is how Bangladesh welcomes the

bat on. There are clear roads. That doesn't often happen here. The

Queen's Baton Relay is getting a helping hand to the streets but with

13 million people in Dhaka traffic is a big goblin. It is a global

issue but here a group of cyclists are trying to find a local solution.

Fed up of never knowing when he would get to the end of his

journeys, this organiser wants to show car uses an odd sanity. We are

trying to get the population to take up cycling. They have used social

media, a yokel -- local way to get people using local transport. Let me

stay in the front. Do not pick-up too much speed. I thought it was

going well until I got told off for speeding. Slow, slow! Old habits die

hard. Do you cycled to work or is it just with the group? People say I am

female and should not ride. Will that change, will it be usual for

men and women to cycle? Males and females are cycling together but in

the office maybe people are not taking it so much. It will be normal

in future. In the group there were all ages but you can see the passion

and interest and people saying this is the fastest and quickest way to

get around and the more they do it, the safer it gets. This is a story

of people taking control and initiative to make their lives

better. I love the solidarity the cyclists have shown and as the

Queens were done travels the Commonwealth, I think I will find

more stories like this. You can get more on the baton and its journey on

our website -- that's bbc.co.uk/queensbatonrelay.

A big night for Celtic. Celtic Park behind me is gearing up for a big

night of Champions League action, as Celtic take on Ajax. It seems both

sides are out to avoid losing this one, with thoughts of trying to

progress from Group H. In a moment we'll get the thoughts of this man,

but around two and half thousand Ajax fans have made the trip to

Glasgow and as Kheredine Idesanne discovered they're a noisy bunch.

In good voice and good numbers, it seems the visitors from Amsterdam

enjoyed the Celtic experience. Great atmosphere, great supporters. We

will win no. We will win all three. Celtic will be hoping for more of

this. James Forrest's return could compensate for the loss of key

players in a match which the club has to win. Neal will be looking at

the game, a young Ajax side. They have not won away from home. I think

it is a game Celtic have to get points from. After two defeats,

Celtic prop up their Champions League group. The visiting manager

says his side are clear underdogs. The level between both clubs is

even. Playing at home now, the fans behind them, maybe they are

favourites. Frank De Boer lost twice as a Rangers player in 2004. Both

matches finished 1-0 to Celtic. They would happily take that tonight.

Joining me now is former Celtic player and former Assistant Manager

Murdo McLeod. Both teams want to avoid defeat. What can the match be

like? It will be an open game. Ajax will be happy. Celtic have to go for

the game and get the points. It is so important. Frank De Boer says

there's not much between the sides. I agree. Good attacking sides. Ajax

are suspect at the back, young back four. The special atmosphere can be

created in the stadium but can it be an intimidating atmosphere, Neil

Lennon says he wants it to be. It encourages the players. 60,000 fans

singing and making a noise, they want to play in that kind of

atmosphere. James Forrest is back. Yes, a big plus points tonight.

Samaras has been great. The middle of the park is so important. The

strength of the team... Prediction? Celtic have to winter night. I think

they will win 2-1. Part of the commentary team tonight. The match

is covered for you. There are also live text updates on line. The

administrators looking after Hearts says they can now begin the process

which could see the Tynecastle club coming out of administration.

The administrators of Ukio Bankas, who control around 30 per cent of

the club's shares, have given their go-ahead for a company voluntary

arrangement process to begin. Meanwhile the appointment of

administrators to Hearts' majority shareholder, UBIG, is expected to

take place on Thursday, clearing the way for a CVA process to begin.

Now, I look at what else has been happening in Scottish sports.

Alex Ferguson has revealed he turns down the England manager job at

Manchester United. He says he rejected the FA advances on two

occasions. A great opportunity to relegate them. There was no way I

could. Not in a million years. Scott Johnson has named a 41 man squad

ahead of the autumn internationals playing Japan, South Africa and

Australia. I am trying to increase depth. I have said this from last

year, I want us to be the best 30. All of the competition starts now.

Five uncapped players are among the squad including Mark Bennetts,

Johnny Gray and Chris Passaro. It is massively important. I am not sure.

I will be doing my best. The son of Rod Stewart has been named in the

Great Britain Under-21 ice hockey squad for their world Championships

team played in Dumfries. More sports stories plus the latest news 24

hours a day on the BBC website. That is all the sport live this evening.

A big night for Celtic. Celtic against Ajax. All of the reaction

tomorrow night. Let's get the weather now and

hopefully no repeat of the rain-soaked rush-hour for many this

morning, Chistopher. More rain in store. Some drive

slots, take note. Yes, a lots of rain around in the last 24 hours.

And there was more on the way. More Met office warnings across the South

West and part of Strathclyde, Argyll and Tayside. Not the wall of water

we saw last night but heavy downpours with the risk of thunder

and difficult conditions on the roads overnight. The risk of

localised flooding. Fairly wet at times but mild and misty and murky.

Wednesday is characterised by wet and windy conditions. Low pressure

in the north-west, shower is more likely across western parts but even

in the East not bone dry. Through the morning, weather warnings in

force, difficult conditions on the roads that it will improve, a

blustery day, strong wind at times gale force. Why the afternoon, dry

and bright conditions for central and eastern parts. Temperatures

around 12 or 13, but some sunshine. Further west, cloudy skies with

showers. Elsewhere, across Fife and a pleasant and OK afternoon. Showers

continuing for Orkney and Shetland. The showers are with us for a time

but easing away. If that was today, and this is Friday, in between

there's not lot going on. Generally it is dry on Thursday at last. There

could be some bright or sunny spells around, fairly breezy in the North,

a number of showers, temperatures close to average. Friday, not

exactly drive. It will be windy as well. The up-and-down week of

weather set to continue. I was expecting you to rescue something

from Friday. Christopher, thank you. Now, a reminder of tonight's main

news. The Scottish and UK governments have held talks today

about the future of the Grangemouth petro-chemical complex. And the

owners have also met to discuss their next move. They say they will

update the workforce tomorrow morning. The former Conservative

Prime Minister, Sir John Major, has called for a one-off tax on the

profits of the big energy companies. His intervention comes when the

Westminster government is under increasing political pressure over

the rising energy bills. ScottishPower has been fined ?8.5

million after an investigation by the regulator OFGEM. It says the

company provided misleading information when it was trying to

persuade people to switch providers. The company has warned it may have

to raise prices within the next few weeks.

David Cameron has called Facebook irresponsible after it lifted a ban

on graphic images from being posted on its site. Facebook says its one

billion users should be free to post such material - as long as it's

clear the users are condemning it. And that's Reporting Scotland. We're

back with the headlines at 8pm and the late bulletin just after the ten

o'clock news. Until then, from everyone on the team around the

country, have a good evening. Goodbye.