Plans to establish a Business Gateway Service in Orkney are well underway, with the HIE Offices in Queen Street, Kirkwall, confirmed as the location for the new service.

The new Business Gateway Service will offer information, advice and support to new and growing businesses in Orkney from April 1.

Staff from the Council’s Economic Development will join their HIE counterparts in the Queen Street offices in mid-April after some essential building and IT works are completed.

Chairman of the Council’s Development Committee, Ian Johnstone, said: “The new Business Gateway Service will be very important to sustaining Orkney’s economy, especially in today’s fragile economic climate.

The owners of Kirkwall delicatessen Smiddies have been granted a licence to service alcohol in their upstairs restaurant.

Despite, technically, being granted permission to use the facility as a public house, the owners assured that they have no desire to do so.

Members at Thursday’s Orkney Islands Area Licensing Board meeting heard that there were no plans for a "stand alone" drink service.

Representing the applicant, David Swannie, solicitor David Fairnie said his client "had no interest whatsoever" in serving drinks without food.

Mr Swannie was granted the public house licence for on and off-sale trading in alcohol on both floors of the Albert Street premises.

People in Orkney are being invited to attend a free two-day course aimed at enabling them to identify and help a person at risk of suicide.

The course recognises that anyone can be at risk of suicide, and the person best placed to recognise the risk and intervene could well be a work colleague, friend or volunteer, rather than a health professional.

Over the last five years, over 200 people in Orkney have attended an applied suicide intervention skills training course.

The next training course takes place on March 17 and 18. Anyone who would like more information can contact, Mary Anne Crook of NHS Orkney, on 879803.

Papa Westray is to be visited by the BBC One Show’s Street Barber at the end of the month.

In an attempt to prove the programme strives to cover stories the length and breadth of Britain, the island has been chosen for a visit by hairdresser, Michael Douglas, who regularly appears on the One Show.

The crew will come to Orkney on March 31, and begin filming the following day. They are looking for Papay residents to volunteer for a free haircut or style by Mr Douglas, in return for telling him about the island.

Anyone interested should contact Hannah on 01132 034070, or e-mail her at hannah@reallife.co.uk.

Stagecoach in Orkney are planning to introduce an improved network of services in the county in May, and are holding a public consultation to gauge opinion on the proposed timetable.

Staff from Stagecoach will be available on Wednesday, March 11, at the Stromness travel centre from 9.30am-12noon, and at the Kirkwall travel centre, from 1.30pm-4pm, to get feedback from bus users about how they hope to take these routes forward.

For anyone unable to make it on the day, the proposed network will be displayed on their website - www.stagecoachbus.com/highlands.

An application detailing a transfer of premises licence at Shapinsay's Balfour Castle - which changed hands recently - is to come before the Orkney Area Licensing Board today.

Members of the board will be asked to note the application from Christopher P. Harrison, which was granted under delegated powers by the clerk, following statutory consultation with Northern Constabulary, with effect from February 13, 2009.

Following a Northern Constabulary Day of Action, last Friday and Saturday, a number of people were charged by Kirkwall police.

As part of a national campaign, which was geared towards the safety of road users, Kirkwall police charged 11 drivers, and five passengers, with seatbelt offences and nine people for speeding.

Although 14 people across the force area were charged with using a mobile phone while driving, there were no charges of this description in Orkney.

A passenger and a crew member were injured early on Wednesday morning, when NorthLink's MV Hrossey hit heavy seas.

The ferry operator said the two men were thrown against bulkheads, during the journey from Aberdeen to Lerwick, as the vessel sailed through heavy seas and winds and experienced "two particularly significant rolls in quick succession".

The passenger, who sustained rib damage while standing in the reception area of the vessel, was taken by ambulance to Gilbert Bain Hospital, Lerwick. The crew member was taken to the same hospital by a colleague.

The teenager who admitted the brutal murder of Orkney woman, Karen Aim in New Zealand, will not change his guilty plea.

Jahche Broughton, now 15, who was due to be sentenced on Friday, had planned to apply to change his plea to not guilty. However, the time limit allowed for that - Wednesday at 5pm (New Zealand time) - has passed without any application.

His sentencing in the High Court at Rotorua, has been set for March 26.

Speaking from New Zealand, Miss Aim's father, Brian, said: "The sentencing is going to be the day before we come back, which is fine. It will be a life sentence.

"The day that the police in Orkney told us that Karen had died, that was the shock - anything after that is irrelevant. Whether he went for a re-trial nor not, we still face the fact Karen is dead. We cannot change that."

Miss Aim, 26, from Holm, was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat on January 17, last year, as she returned home from a night out in Taupo, on the North Island.

Within Papdale Stores car park, at about 9.30pm on Tuesday, a yellow Suzuki car was damaged by another vehicle, possibly driven by a female.

Anyone with any information regarding this is asked to contact Kirkwall police station, on 872241.

Three Territorial Army soldiers from Orkney will be heading to Afghanistan later this year.

Sappers James Dart, Robert Harcus and Christopher Muir, all of Kirkwall, are due to leave Orkney on Friday, heading first for mobilisation training to Chilwell in Nottingham, before deploying to Afghanistan with 28 Eng Regt, based in Hameln, Germany.

Their deployment will be between May and September.

The men have either volunteered or have been asked to go because of their relevant skills.

Although these soldiers are 10 (Orkney) Field Troop RE (V), their Squadron is 236 Field Squadron RE (V) based in Elgin and their regiment is 71 Engineer Regiment (V) based at RAF Leuchars in St Andrews, Fife.

The teenager who admitted the brutal murder of Orkney woman, Karen Aim in New Zealand has hired a new lawyer and plans to retract his guilty plea.

It is understood that Jahche Broughton, now 15, who was to be sentenced on Friday, plans to apply to change his plea to not guilty. His sentencing, due to be held in the High Court at Rotorua, has been delayed until March 26.

Miss Aim’s parents, Brian and Peggy, and brother, Alan, are in New Zealand, and due to fly home on March 27.

Miss Aim, 26, from Holm, was bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat on January 17, last year, as she returned home from a night out in Taupo, on the North Island.

It is understood Broughton has hired a new lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith, to review his case in order to prepare an application to the High Court to reconsider the guilty plea.

Alan Aim said the family were disappointed, but added that the judge in the case would make a ruling as to whether to accept the new plea at 5pm on Wednesday (New Zealand time).

“We are disappointed that we could not get this all wrapped up sooner rather than later. As far as we are concerned, the evidence is all there and he pled guilty - he is just making it worse for himself.

“Karen is at rest and at peace - her killer will come to justice.”

Broughton pled guilty at a pre-trial hearing in February to murdering Miss Aim.

A Kirkwall woman is due to appear for sentencing in court next month, after refusing to supply breath specimens for police analysis.

Joanna Sinclair, of 26 Clay Loan, appeared from custody at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday.

The 32-year-old admitted failing to provide a breath test for a police officer in Finstown on Sunday, March 1.

She also admitted failing to provide a breath specimen for analysis at Kirkwall Police Station on the same date.

Honorary Sheriff Bob Sclater deferred sentence on Sinclair until April 15 for social inquiry, community service assessment and restriction of liberty order reports.

Seventeen-year-old Benjamin David James Tomkin of 24 Langland, Gayton Road, Norfolk, was fined £360 for driving without a relevant licence when he appeared at an undertaking at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday, and admitted driving without a full licence on various roads in Kirkwall on March 1.

Tomkin admitted to driving the car without the presence of a passed driver, and with no L-plates, and driving without insurance. He also admitted driving at 45mph in the 30mph zone on Holm Branch Road, Kirkwall.

Honorary Sheriff Bob Sclater also banned Tomkin from holding or obtaining a driving licence for six months.

The Eagle Vienna, left and the Hero 1 in Scapa Flow.

Two of the very largest crude carriers to conduct a ship-to-ship transfer in Scapa Flow in over 23 years completed their transfer on Sunday.

The Eagle Vienna (161,233 GT) and the Hero 1 ( 159,187 GT) joined together for the transfer on the afternoon of February 28 and separated on the morning of March 1, having completed a part cargo transfer of Forties crude oil amounting to 203,000 barrels.

Both vessels, along with the  BW Luna and the Kasturi Bunga Dua, remain at anchor in Scapa Flow awaiting further instructions.

Emergency services were called out on Sunday, after a report of a red flare off Stromness.

A spokesperson for Shetland Coastguard said the report came in at 9.55pm on Sunday night. He said: "The initial informant seemed a reasonably good one, so we had a couple of teams out and the Stromness Lifeboat as well."

Also searching was the Stromness Coastguard team and the Orkney sector manager.

However, the search turned up nothing and was called off at 2.55am.

NorthLink Ferries is to reintroduce its popular Islander family and friends travel scheme with discounted fares being available from next month.

The scheme will once again see registered islanders invited to nominate up to six "family and friend" households outwith the Northern Isles. All members of that household would then qualify for the 30 per cent discount currently enjoyed by islanders registered with NorthLink’s islander discount travel scheme.

This latest version of the scheme, which, as before, can be accessed only via the NorthLink website, will run from April 14 to June 30, but islanders wishing to participate can register online now at www.northlinkferries.co.uk and start nominating their family and friends.