Increased pressure on pre-school education in Moray looks likely following the announcement of the closure of yet another nursery in the area. Parents at the Cherry Tree, based at Elgin’s Dr Gray’s Hospital, have been told the facility – which caters for children up to the age of five – may have to close in June.

Scottish scientists have discovered a brain abnormality which causes Fragile X syndrome, a common form of learning difficulty, raising hopes that a therapy could be found. The condition affects one in 4000 children and adults, and can cause slow learning and lead to behavioural problems similar to autism.

A man who stabbed a teacher to death in North Lanarkshire eight years ago has been found after he went missing from his home almost a week ago. Anthony O’Brien, 37, was sent to the state hospital at Carstairs in 2000 after admitting the attack on Bill Scott in Cumbernauld.

A teenager who raped a care worker at knifepoint may never be released from jail after a judge imposed a lifelong restriction order on him. Steven Malcolm, 19, is only the second dangerous criminal in Scotland to be subjected to the order, which involves monitoring for the rest of his life.

People involved in the care sector are being offered a free training course. North Lanarkshire Council aims to help improve the communication, number and computer skills of people already working in the care sector or unemployed people with an interest in the work.

A “loud and horrid” scream was heard on the day that Angelika Kluk was last seen alive, the murder trial was told yesterday. Leigh Brown, 47, was washing the windows of her high-rise home which overlooks St Patrick’s Church in Anderston, Glasgow, when she heard a woman’s scream “as though someone was being grabbed”.

Pupils from schools across Scotland will join major names from the world of football at Hampden Park today to stand united against racism. The pupils are meeting to celebrate the winning entries in the schools’ anti-racism competition.

The operator of a Scottish nuclear site has begun checks on whether body tissue was removed from deceased ex-workers without the consent of their families. It follows claims that samples were taken from former Sellafield employees who died in the 1960s.

Both local and national politicians are pursuing a policy of caring for vulnerable people in their own homes whenever possible.

Charities in Inverness are having to scale back services as a cut in Highland Council’s support for voluntary organsiations begins to bite. Crossroads, which provides respite care, has written to all its clients informing them that its service will be reduced across the board, while Age Concern has been forced to abandon plans to fill a vacant post after its grant was cut by £20,000.