30/10/2016 Reporting Scotland

The Maltese shopkeeper whose evidence was key in convicting

Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi of the Lockerbie bombing has died.

Tony Gauci played a crucial part in linking the only man

convicted of the crime with the explosion.

Tony Gauci ran a clothes shop in Malta and said he recognised

Abdelbasset Al-Megrahi as the man who bought clothes from him, clothes

which investigators claim were in the suitcase containing

the bomb which blew up over Lockerbie in

This direct link was key to him being

But people who believed he was wrongly convicted always doubted

this evidence and continue to campaign to clear Al-Megrahi's name.

I think a distorted his evidence by saying someone look like them and

how he modified his response to the various opportunities he was given

by the police to do what he did. I think it is better

to say his evidence was The Crown Office previously insisted

no-one was offered any inducement by them or the police and that no

evidence any other law enforcement Two years ago the then

Lord Advocate said he after being released

from jail in Scotland He denied he ever had

seen Tony Gauci or ever The family of boxer Mike Towell has

made an official complaint to NHS Tayside about the medical

treatment he received The Dundee fighter suffered a brain

bleed during a televised fight last Scotland's higher education minister

has said there'll be a fresh look The comments came amid calls

to reform the system which helps those from less well-off

backgrounds go to Borders College, like

Scotland's other colleges on students from less well-off

backgrounds who need The principle here argues

the system could be better. For one, she says college

and university You would be able to apply for

a loan if you were going into higher education, but not trying to do

a college programme. For example, someone training to be

a teacher can access a loan and go to university,

but someone who wants to be a joiner He figures out this week shortly

total amount of paid to student in bursaries and grant us down by more

than 35% since just before the SNP came to power and at the same time

the value of student loans was up by more than 160%. Scottish students

get free tuition but one expert argues that does not solve the

problem. When you cut grants the people who take on the extra debt is

the whose families cannot help them out so the more you push your money

into subsidising fees further up the income scale the less money you have

to help those further down the scale from having to take out larger

student loans. The Government recognises the concerns. Changes we

made in 2013 to the student support package were built with stakeholders

to ensure students had the maximum amount of money and their pockets

to ensure students had the maximum and that is what we delivered and

that is a combination of bursaries and loans. Now stakeholders have

concerns that balance has not reflected well on students.

Ministers have launched an independent review into student

support and say they are committed to give everyone access to

education. In Tennis, Andy Murray has

won the Vienna Open, meaning his quest to be the world's

top-ranking Murray beat the Frenchman

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets. The Scot will replace Novak Djokovic

as world number one if he wins the Paris Masters a week

today, as long as the Serb I have never won in Paris before and

sometimes struggle there with the condition that sort I needed to play

better this year and keep improving and learning and if I do that I give

a chance. Let's get the weather

forecast for this evening Good evening. The weather has been

kind and quite settled. This beautiful weather watcher pictured.

Doing this week it is set to turn colder and here's why. This weather

front lying across northern Scotland and that will journey southwards

bringing rain and crossing Scotland tomorrow night. Behind it the winds

introduce a much colder air. Tomorrow morning, a bright picture

for most, nothing too cold with a band of rain in the far north, quite

persistent. A bright picture across the UK with some missed in Northern

Ireland and Northern England. Thence forward in the Midlands may cause

destruction. -- missed in the Midlands. The rumour slowly heading

southwards body temperature is still warm for the time of year, back in

Scotland, around 12 Celsius at the best before the colder air moves

end. Through the evening that rain journeys southwards and a clearer

whether feeding and behind it. Come Tuesday that rain will have cleared

and some lovely fine sunny spells. My Celsius, a noticeable drop. Some

showers in the north and those showers wintry over the hills.