Reservists at RAF Lossiemouth have taken part in a massive training exercise to simulate a ground attack.

Personnel from 2622 (Highland) squadron travelled to Northern Ireland for the operation, complete with explosions, in a mock-up village.

Troops rushed to the community and farm complex to prepare for how they would react in the minutes following a car bomb being detonated.

The extreme scenario simulated an explosion in the centre of the village that lead to many casualties.

Upon arriving at the scene the personnel were confronted by vehicles on fire in the street and an angry mob demanding action.

Professional make-up artists simulated blood and scars on the injured with amputees also recruited to the realistic cast that needed first aid treatment.

To close the two-week operation the RAF Lossiemouth squadron stormed a farm in a night attack. Troops took up covert positions in buildings to ensure their approach was masked as much as possible before seizing control of the site.

Emergency services from Northern Ireland joined the Moray troops and 51 squadron from RAF Waddington for the battle games.

In the initial days of the exercise the reservists fired a range of weapons to familiarise themselves with the equipment.

Members of the squadron include tradesmen, office workers, teachers and students. Every year they attend at least 27 days of training to ensure they are ready for action.

Commanding officer, squadron leader Andy Liggat said: “Among the skills our reserve forces learn are leadership, communication and team-work.

“The ability to train alongside our full-time colleagues also offers us the ability to maintain currency and improve our skills on new equipment.

“Employers regularly report to us that members of the reserve forces are extremely valuable due to these heightened skills.”

Tributes have been paid to an award-winning showjumper killed in a tragic horse riding accident at the weekend.

Caroline MacAskill, 52, from Fortrose, died from injuries she suffered whilst out riding on Saturday.

Her husband, Ian, 54, is believed to have attempted to resuscitate his wife at the scene before she was taken to Raigmore hospital in Inverness.

Mrs MacAskill, who worked for Cairn housing association, was a keen horse rider and had competed at many amateur events across Scotland.

Tragically, she died three days before she was due to pick up an award at the British Showjumping Awards.

Her local riding club described her as “a popular and well-known figure at so many riding events both in the Highland area and beyond.”

She later passed away from her injuries surrounded by friends and family.

Tributes have poured in for the popular housing officer with her husband, Ian, sharing an image of his smiling wife dressed in equestrian clothing with the caption: “Beautiful.”

On Sunday morning her sister, Mame MacKenzie wrote and emotional message: “My beautiful gorgeous adorable sister who I love from the bottom of my heart – rest easy Cars.”

Her local Calendonian Riding Club, which she had supported at numerous events, described her as “a popular and well-known figure at so many riding events both in the Highland area and beyond.

“Her good-humoured enthusiasm for her sport shone through everything she did. She will be so much missed and was a wonderful example to everyone else of doing what you love most with commitment and courage.”

Mrs MacAskill had previously worked as a manager at the Highland Council before returning to her role in the housing industry in 2008.

Jason MacGilp, Chief Executive of Cairn Housing Association, paid tribute to his colleague who will be “very sorely missed”.

He said: “Caroline was our Head of Customer Services and will be known to many housing colleagues and partner organisations throughout Scotland, particularly in Highlands where she served much of her career.

“She was always an enthusiastic and skilled member of the team, and her passion for life and for delivering quality services for tenants always shone through in her work. She cared about people and the communities she worked for.

“Caroline helped so many people through her working life and further afield over the years, and she will be very sorely missed by us all.”

Hundreds of people have also sent their condolances to her husband, Ian, after his emotional photo-tribute to his late wife.

Cara Jane wrote: “Sorry for your loss Ian. Beautiful describes her perfectly, inside and out. So many of us horsey lot are going to miss her and this picture is how many of us will remember her – in her horsey clothes with a smile.”

Donna Mills posted: “Iain I don’t have enough words to take you loss away.

“Caroline looked to be a beautiful lady ,try to remember all the good times you had together and I am sure there were many by the photo she looked to be a very loving, caring person. My heart is with you at this very sad time.”

Debbie Clark said: “I love this photo of Caroline, she makes me want to smile back at her. A beautiful, kind and loving lady who I’m going to miss. Be strong Ian, we are here for you anytime you need a natter.”

Mrs MacAskill won the 2015-2016 Horse 70cm and 80cm Scottish Club Leagues.

She was due to attend the awards ball in Solihull, West Midlands, where she was going to be presented with her League Winner rosette at a champagne reception.awards ball “acknowledges excellence and outstanding achievement attainted within the sport”.

A man who answered the phone at the couple’s home and identified himself as Caroline’s father-in-law said no-one was available for comment.

The secrets of one of Scotland’s most iconic sites have been made public for the first time in a report which has been years in the making.

The Callanish Standing Stones (Calanais in Gaelic) on the isle of Lewis are an extraordinary cross-shaped setting of ancient monoliths, erected 5,000 years ago.

A full report detailing excavations surrounding the famous stone ring reveals many unexpected structures hidden below the surface.

It also highlights evidence of Callanish’s connections with the great stone rings in Orkney.

High quality pottery found during the excavations helped build up a picture of long distance connections.

Callanish predates Stonehenge and was an important place for ritual activity for at least 2,000 years.

Patrick Ashmore is a former Principal Inspector of Ancient Monuments with Historic Scotland, now Historic Environment Scotland.

His report “Calanais Survey and Excavation 1979-88” recounts the details of a series of important excavations at the site during the 1980s.

It provides, for the first time, comprehensive detail and analysis of these excavations, making a wealth of material available for archaeologists and other interested parties to develop their ideas and theories about one of Europe’s most important Neolithic sites.

Mr Ashmore said: “I have described the findings very fully so the report provides material from which others can advocate different interpretations.

“It is very good that Historic Environment Scotland has now been able to publish it on its website along with publications like the superb inventories of monuments and sites produced by the old Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.”

Dr Alison Sheridan, Principal Curator of Early Prehistory, National Museums Scotland and contributor to the publication, said: “It’s a momentous occasion to see the report on excavations at this iconic site becoming accessible worldwide.

“Callanish has much to tell us about the sophistication and inter-connectedness of the elite in Late Neolithic Scotland.”

Richard Strachan, Senior Archaeologist for Historic Environment Scotland, said: “The importance of this seminal work to our understanding of Callanish cannot be understated, and I’m delighted that it’s now available, in its entirety, for public consumption for the first time.”

Hundreds of people queued from as early as 6am this morning to be the first into the new Aldi store in Aberdeen.

Queues could be seen all the way along Foresterhill Road as the new store prepared to welcome its first customers.

The first 100 customers were handed golden tickets as part of a celebratory lucky draw.

One man won a free TV from his golden envelope and another took home a digital alarm clock.

An onlooker from a nearby flat said: “I was amazed to see so many people. Some had arrived first thing this morning.

“One or two had arrived early to hold a place in the queue for others. I saw some mums with kids arriving to swap with their partner, who’d obviously been there a while.

“It was all a bit mad really!”

The editor-in-chief of British Vogue has praised Prime Minister Theresa May for being a “fantastic role model” for younger women.

Alexandra Shulman, who is at the helm of the glossy magazine considered the “fashion bible” of the sartorial world, said it is important to encourage young women “not to just want to be models, or singers, or reality TV stars”.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Shulman said: “It’s so important that we show, particularly a younger generation, that you can be powerful, that you can work in industries outside that celebrity and glamour, but also be interested in your nails, your eyelashes your clothes, your hair.

“Because if we don’t how can we encourage our young women not to just want to be models, or singers, or reality TV stars, so women like Theresa May who is not ashamed to actually show that she enjoys her clothes, and dressing, and make-up are fantastic role models in this way.”

Mrs May’s choice of footwear has been a talking point since she took up permanent residence at Number 10 in July.

The PM said recently that the nation’s obsession with her shoes gives her an excuse to buy more pairs.

Asked at the beginning of the week by Good Morning Britain if the focus on her shoes was sexist, Mrs May replied: ” It is interesting people focus on my shoes.

“I don’t think they focus on Philip Hammond’s or Boris Johnson’s in quite the same way. Do I regret the fact that people look at my shoes? Hey, it gives me an excuse to go and buy new shoes.”

Shulman also spoke on ITV’s breakfast show about the magazine’s November issue.

In a British Vogue first, the magazine will feature “real” women instead of models on its fashion pages and they will also take centre stage in a range of editorial features.

Explaining the decision in her editor’s letter, Shulman says the idea came about after a struggle to obtain designer clothes for people who are not models for a shoot.

She said: “I thought it would be interesting for us to put together an issue of the magazine where none of the fashion is shot on models and where we looking in various ways at the subject of what we wear through a more ‘real’ filter.”

Girl On A Train star Emily Blunt is featured as the cover star, with Shulman describing her as “an actress who has made a reputation for herself portraying relatable women”.

The magazine was also recently the subject of a BBC Two documentary called Absolutely Fashion: Inside British Vogue, which saw documentary maker Richard Macer spend nine months filming in the run-up to celebrations for the magazine’s centenary edition.

The November issue of Vogue will be available nationwide from Thursday October 6.

An Aberdeen-born scientist has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in physics.

Michael Kosterlitz joins British-born scientists David Thouless and Duncan Haldane as winners of the award, for work that “revealed the secrets of exotic matter”.

The three “opened the door” to an unknown world where matter takes unusual states or phases, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.

They were awarded for their “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”.

Thouless, 82, is a professor emeritus at the University of Washington, Haldane, 65, is a physics professor at Princeton University in New Jersey, and Kosterlitz, 73, is a physics professor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Professor Kosterlitz, who lived in Aberdeen until he was 16, is the son of celebrated University of Aberdeen scientist Hans Kosterlitz, who discovered enkephalins – the body’s natural painkillers.

 

Their research was conducted in the 1970s and 80s. Nobel judges often award discoveries made decades ago, to make sure they withstand the test of time.

A spokesman for the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said: “This year’s Laureates opened the door on an unknown world where matter can assume strange states.

“They have used advanced mathematical methods to study unusual phases, or states, of matter, such as superconductors, superfluids or thin magnetic films. Thanks to their pioneering work, the hunt is now on for new and exotic phases of matter. Many people are hopeful of future applications in both materials science and electronics.

“The three Laureates’ use of topological concepts in physics was decisive for their discoveries. Topology is a branch of mathematics that describes properties that only change step-wise.

Michael Kosterlitz was born in Aberdeen

The Royal Academy of Sciences members announce the winners of the Nobel Prize for physics (AP)

“Using topology as a tool, they were able to astound the experts. In the early 1970s, Michael Kosterlitz and David Thouless overturned the then current theory that superconductivity or suprafluidity could not occur in thin layers. They demonstrated that superconductivity could occur at low temperatures and also explained the mechanism, phase transition, that makes superconductivity disappear at higher temperatures.

“In the 1980s, Thouless was able to explain a previous experiment with very thin electrically conducting layers in which conductance was precisely measured as integer steps. He showed that these integers were topological in their nature. At around the same time, Duncan Haldane discovered how topological concepts can be used to understand the properties of chains of small magnets found in some materials.

“We now know of many topological phases, not only in thin layers and threads, but also in ordinary three-dimensional materials. Over the last decade, this area has boosted frontline research in condensed matter physics, not least because of the hope that topological materials could be used in new generations of electronics and superconductors, or in future quantum computers. Current research is revealing the secrets of matter in the exotic worlds discovered by this year’s Nobel Laureates.”

A new strategy for part of the Cairngorms National Park aims to ensure a “world-class” visitor experience while improving conservation in the area.

Cairngorm and Glenmore – with neighbouring Rothiemurchus – sit at the heart of some of Scotland’s most important nature conservation sites.

They attract more than a million visits per year and already contribute £172million to the economy of Badenoch and Strathspey.

And the new strategy is aimed at ensuring Cairngorm and Glenmore continue to make a substantial contribution to the economy of the park and to Scotland.

At the same time, it will ensure the area remains “an outstanding place for recreation and nature”.

The Cairngorm and Glenmore Strategy, which gives a clear framework for land owners, businesses and public agencies and sets out clear principles for the future management of the area, has been approved by members of the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) board.

Short term actions include enhancing the ski area by improving storage, removing any disused equipment from the hill and reducing the number of signs.

They also include enhancing important views through selective tree felling and working with local businesses to market the area better.

Longer term, the strategy sets out plans to expand the woodlands, provide a single, integrated ranger service, improve the infrastructure and encourage more people to visit without their cars.

It will be followed up by more detailed plans led by Forest Enterprise Scotland for Glenmore and Natural Retreats for Cairngorm Mountain, which will set out detailed proposals for improving visitor facilities, paths and car parking.

CNPA board convener Peter Argyle said: “Cairngorm and Glenmore is an enormously special place for conservation and somewhere we expect to grow in popularity with visitors.

“I am therefore pleased that partners have come together to set out how we can manage this area effectively to keep what is special and ensure future generations continue to enjoy it.

“There is no doubt we need to invest in continuing conservation management and ensuring the quality of visitor experience matches the outstanding environment.”

Aberdeen University has launched a consultation on redundancies within its medical school.

In July, staff were told their jobs could be at risk as part of the university’s efforts to save £1.5million by reducing spending on its school of medicine, medical science and nutrition.

Employees had been offered voluntary severance and early retirement to reduce the number of mandatory job losses, and yesterday the scheme officially closed.

But due to a low uptake of the offer, the university has already started a consultation process to determine what staff could lose their jobs in order to save the cash.

Now medical professionals worry that if the university enforces compulsory redundancies to meet its cost-cutting goals, the future of medicine in Scotland could be adversely affected.

Dr Paddy Mark, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA) Scotland’s medical academics committee said: “The threat of compulsory redundancies amongst the medical academic staff at the University of Aberdeen is extremely concerning, and the BMA will do everything it can to support our members in resisting this course of action.

“Implementing compulsory redundancies would be an extremely short-sighted course of action, and the university should reconsider its plans.

“More widely, the threat of redundancy may have a significantly adverse effect on medicine in Scotland by threatening the teaching of medical students as well as discouraging doctors from seeking academic careers, raising doubts about the value of research and teaching amongst the doctors of the future.”

Aberdeen University would not confirm the number of jobs at risk yesterday.

A spokesman said: “The voluntary severance and early retirement scheme in place at the school of medicine, medical sciences and nutrition has closed today, and we are reviewing all applications.

“We have informed staff in the school that the university has commenced a consultation process through the Joint Consultative Committee on Redundancy Avoidance (JCCRA) with regard to criteria for compulsory redundancy due to the current progress of the scheme.

“We appreciate this situation may be unsettling for colleagues within the school, but we will continue to keep staff update and support is in place for those with questions.”