A study to help determine the exact age of the Ring of Brodgar is one of nine archaeological projects to receive Orkney Islands Council funding this year.

Members at OIC development committee meeting heard that once again the number of applications received exceeded the £40,000 budget available.

The nine selected were said to be worthy excavations “which should result in interpretation and knowledge linkages between sites already excavated.”

The OIC's trading standards department is warning people in Orkney to be aware of door-to-door salesmen operating in the county.

Their advice is that shopping around may get the equivalent item cheaper than an unplanned purchase, no matter how good a deal it may seem at the time.

“You should also bear in mind that if goods develop a fault, it may be difficult to contact the trader,” a spokesman said.

“If you don’t want to buy, a reputable trader will not force a sale.”

On Wednesday, two passengers on the 7.40am flight to Edinburgh accidentally picked up each other's laptop computers while passing into the departure lounge.

According to police, it appears that only one is aware of the mixup.

Anyone on that flight is asked to check their laptops and contact Kirkwall police on 872241 if they have the wrong one.

A Kirkwall teenager has admitted stealing a quantity of maritime flares, and discharging one.

Appearing at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Wednesday, Daniel Scott McBeth, 17, pled guilty to stealing a quantity of maritime flares, while acting with others, and discharging one between November 5 and 24.

McBeth committed the offences while on bail.

Islands councillors have recommended contributing up to £11,000 towards a survey of visitors to the county this year.

Members of the OIC development committee went with the official recommendation at last Thursday’s meeting, that funding of 37 per cent of the £30,000 total cost of the survey be made available.

Development policy officer Jackie Thomson told members that with tourism being worth an estimated £26.5 million in 2004, it was important that regular monitoring of this was essential.

The Orkney lifeboats were launched 32 times last year, according to provisional figures from the RNLI.

The Longhope lifeboat launched six times, while the Kirkwall and Stromness lifeboats were launched 13 times each.

Following the car thefts in the county this week, police are reminding motorists to lock their vehicles.

Two vehicles were stolen overnight Tuesday, into Wednesday, crashed and subsequently abandoned.

The first vehicle was taken from the Kirkwall Airport car park and left in a ditch at the bottom of Wideford Brae. The second, a black Ford Escort, was taken from the Kirkwall harbour front and found crashed and abandoned in the Toab area.

Any sightings, or information, should be passed on to Kirkwall police on 872241.

NorthLink ferries has announced that their fleet is scheduled for annual refit in February and April.

The Hjaltland and Hrossey, which operate the Northern Isles services out of Aberdeen, only require in-water surveys this year and these will take place between February 12 and 22 inclusive.

Due to this, passenger sailings to and from Shetland will be reduced to an “every-other-day” basis and freight vessels will ensure daily departures for commercial vehicles.

Police investigating the serious sexual of a 19-year-old woman in Kirkwall last month are keen to trace three men seen in the area at the time of the incident.

Detective Inspector Mark Mackay said they were anxious to talk to the men in order they may be eliminated from the enquiry.

The three are described as:  

• Aged late teens/early 20`s, thin build, short blond hair, wearing light fleece jacket, jeans, white trainers and smoking a cigarette. Seen sitting on wall outside an address on Earl Thorfinn Street, between 0030-0130 hours 16/12/07.
• Aged in 20`s, 5`8-9” tall, thin build, wearing a brown woollen hat, large size light coloured jacket with two pockets on chest. Seen walking towards Clay Loan from Quoybanks area, between 0130-0200 hours 16/12/07.
• Aged 20`s, 5`11”tall, broad build, wearing a dark woollen hat, light coloured fleece, jeans and green wellington boots. Seen walking on Quoybanks Crescent towards Holm Road at approximately 0130 hours 16/12/07.

Police still want to hear from anyone who was in the vicinity of the assault, between 1.30am and 2am on December 16, knows the identity of the above males or who has information regarding this crime to contact them at 872241 or the Crimestoppers anonymous line on 0800 555 111.

The convener and chief executive of the OIC have dismissed a call for an independent review of Orkney Towage and harbour operations, made by the county’s MP and MSP.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Councillor Stephen Hagan and chief executive Alistair Buchan said: “We feel that no purpose would be served by an external review of Orkney Towage and Harbours operations.”

It added: “There has already been a comprehensive internal review of operations, led by the Director of Harbours and Managing Director of Orkney Towage, Captain Nigel Mills.”

The statement stressed that safety had been a key consideration at every stage of the review, adding: “We have every confidence in the judgement of Captain Mills, which is based on extensive maritime experience, and would reiterate that we believe there to be no need of a further review, independent or otherwise.”

The new chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, Kevin Doran, will visit Orkney on March 10 and 11.

Announcing the visit, NHS Orkney's chief executive, Iain Crozier, said: "We will be putting in place a timetable of events so he can gain experience of Orkney's geography."

The visit follows local worries about the new air ambulance service, which has come under fire because of concerns regarding its reliability.

Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead announced on Wednesday that he will issue £61 million in Less Favoured Area support to farmers over the next fortnight.

An NFU Scotland spokesman commented: “We now understand that these payments could be made within the next two weeks and we are urging the Scottish Government, given the critical importance of LFA money to farmers and crofters, to make sure this is done. “

One full-time and two part-time contracts have not been renewed at the Health Promotion Service in Kirkwall.

The way the service provides information on health matters is changing as part of NHS Orkney’s ongoing efficiency redesign.

Interim health promotion team lead, Mary Anne Crook, said they were looking at different ways of getting the information to the public, without the need for a “shop-front” premises.

“The time has come to move on, to look at what we can do that is unique, and what other people already do that we need not duplicate.”

A vehicle was damaged in the old Academy carpark in Stromness on Tuesday.

Police said the unattended vehicle was damaged by an unidentified vehicle between 8.30am and 10am.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Kirkwall police station on 872241.

Michael Stevenson (right) was re-elected chairman of the Orkney branch of NFU Scotland at the annual general meeting of the union on Monday night.

He was re-elected unopposed, as was his deputy, Michael Cursiter. Under an arrangement where Shetland and Orkney branches alternate the position, Mr Stevenson will be the Orkney and Shetland regional board chairman for 2008.

Representing Orkney on the union's national committees will be Colin Davidson (livestock committee), Mr Cursiter (less favoured areas), Marcus Wood (milk) and Brian Moss (legal and technical). Bryan Cormack will be Orkney's member of the crofting, hill farming and Highlands and Islands working group.

A Kirkwall teenager was warned he could face a year's prison sentence at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

Allan Williamson, of Kirklands Road, Kirkwall, appeared from custody and admitted a number of motoring offences.

The 17-year-old pleaded guilty to driving away a pickup from Kirklands Road, without the consent of the owner, on Monday. He also admitted driving without insurance, and while disqualified, on a number of roads in Kirkwall.

Between 6pm and 8pm on Monday night, an unlocked house on Kirkwall's Laverock Road was entered and items within "moved".

The opening session of the Merranblo turbine public inquiry started on Monday with two surprises - neither Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) nor the Stromness Community Development Trust (SCDT) would be participating.

SNH withdrew its objection to the development, after liasing with the applicants, Major Malcolm Macrae and Scotrenewables, and coming to an agreement over the planned route to be used during the construction. The inquiry heard that SNH now felt that the integrity of the Stromness Heaths and Coasts Special Area of Conservation would not be adversely affected.

Meanwhile, SCDT chairman, Dr John Brown, informed the inquiry that following “extensive negotiations” with the applicants over the weekend, the trust was now satisfied that the applicants were committed to community benefit. As such, he said, the trust was withdrawing its objection.

Kirkwall police have received a report of domestic heating oil being removed from a household tank in the Birsay area.

This follows a police report earlier this month about heating oil being removed from properties in South Walls.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 872241.

Passenger numbers travelling through Kirkwall Airport increased by almost ten per cent in the nine months ending December, 2007.

According to figures released by Highlands and Islands Airports this week, 115,859 passengers used the airport, compared to 105,759 over the same period in 2006 - an increase of 9.6 per cent.

The public inquiry into the proposed wind turbines at Merranblo began in Stromness on Monday afternoon.

The project, a joint development between Stromness-based Scotrenewables Ltd and landowner, Major Malcolm Macrae, aims to install three 900kw turbines at Merranblo, a site on the ridge of hills running between Stromness and Sandwick.

The inquiry into the OIC’s decision to back the turbines in Stromness, against the advice of officials, looks set to cost the council £40,000. This figure could rise if the inquiry exceeds two weeks.

The inquiry was ordered by Scottish ministers, in light of the concerns expressed by Historic Scotland regarding the development’s potential impact on the World Heritage Site.

Police would like to hear from anyone with information regarding a theft from a property in Kirkwall’s Glaitness Road.

Between 6.30pm on Saturday and 10.30am on Sunday morning, a garage at a house in Glaitness Road was entered and a number of items removed.

Kirkwall police can be contacted on 872241.

The preliminary hearing of Orkney man, Michael Ross, scheduled for Friday, last week, at Edinburgh High Court, has been postponed.

Ross is charged with the 1994 murder of waiter, Shamsudden Mahmood.

From February 4, the 12.45pm Citilink bus service, which runs from Monday to Saturday from Scrabster to Inverness, will be withdrawn.

The service will resume on Monday, May 19.

NorthLink passengers wishing to travel south via bus are advised they will need to use the 6.30am ferry from Stromness to do so.

Communities in Orkney and New Zealand have been left shocked and saddened by the tragic death of Karen Aim.

Messages of condolences and tribute are flooding into her online Bebo site, which she had been using to document her working holiday.

A memorial service is due to take place in Taupo, New Zealand, this week.

Police have named the Orkney woman murdered in New Zealand as Karen Aim from Holm.

The 26-year-old died of serious head injuries in the early hours of last Thursday morning, New Zealand time.

New Zealand police believe a weapon was used to inflict the injuries that caused Ms Aim's death.