ENVIRONMENT: Campaigners are demanding that the British government ban big polluters from a United Nations climate conference to be held in Glasgow in November.

An open letter, initiated by Glasgow Calls Out Polluters, has been sent to conference president Alok Sharma laying out the steps that the government can take to exclude major corporations. 

The Cabinet Office said that all actors involved in the event, known as COP26, would need to have “strong climate credentials.”

ENVIRONMENT: Councillors in Glasgow are to vote on whether the city’s local authority should stop investing in fossil fuels.

As the Star went to press, the council was expected to back plans to reform its investments, with Strathclyde Pension Fund having over £500 million worth of holdings in fossil fuel companies.

The motion is part of a budget agreement between the SNP administration and the Scottish Green Party, due to be confirmed next Thursday.

COLONIAL PLUNDER: Aberdeen University is to return a sculpture that was looted from Nigeria by British soldiers in the late 19th century.

The bronze head of an oba (monarch) of Benin City was bought at auction by the University of Aberdeen in 1957, having being stolen in 1897.

Amid calls for the return of items looted during the colonial era, the university has now agreed to give the artefact back to Nigeria.

TRANSPORT: ScotRail train conductors will strike on Sunday in a row over payments for rest-day working, the RMT union has confirmed.

RMT said that it would give notice of further Sunday walkouts if no agreement was reached with the company. Six days of action have been planned. 

The union said that the strike was part of a fight for “equality and justice over enhanced payments for rest-day working.”