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Catch up on the most popular stories on the BBC Scotland news website.

SUNDAY 18 MARCH

Scotland has been hit by heavy and frequent wintry showers as icy winds, gusting up to 70mph, also batter the country.

Wind and snow batter the country

A Sunday newspaper claims video footage posted on the internet shows Rangers football fans chanting sectarian abuse in Spain last week.

Web clip shows 'sectarian abuse'

Music singles stored on USB flash drives could be set to shake up the pop charts, according to industry experts.

USB drives 'could shake up chart'

SATURDAY 17 MARCH

The Scottish Executive has been accused of deliberately suppressing a report about sectarianism in football.

Anti-bigotry report 'suppressed'

A pensioner is being sought by police after he was spotted driving naked around a bowling green in Perth on a motorised scooter.

Passer-by bowled over by nude OAP

A man has died after his car hit trees in a crash on the A96 at Oakwood, near Elgin at 0500 GMT on Saturday.

Driver dies after car hits trees

FRIDAY 16 MARCH

Prime Minister Tony Blair has dismissed a top businessman's support for the Scottish National Party as "self-indulgent and absurd".

PM attacks banker's SNP support

A bus driver took passengers on a detour to deliver and unload a cooker and a chest of drawers for friends.

Bus driver's oven delivery detour

A man has admitted abducting a young girl and tying her up during a rape attempt in an Aberdeenshire town.

Papergirl abducted for rape bid

THURSDAY 15 MARCH

A diet rich in fruit juice could cut the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other diseases, according to research.

Study shows fruit juice benefits

The families of three young men who were killed in a Fife road crash have been paying tribute to the victims.

Community mourns accident victims

Aberdeen University research shows bats at risk of being killed by the growing number of wind farms could be saved with the use of radar.

Radar 'saves bats at wind farms'

WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH

Bats at risk of being killed by the growing number of wind farms could be saved with the use of radar, say researchers at Aberdeen University.

Radar 'saves bats at wind farms'

Ahead of the Trident vote, residents and workers in Helensburgh, the town nearest to the nuclear deterrent's home, give their views on renewal.

Residents await Trident verdict

Demonstrators climbed onto the roof of the Scottish Parliament as part of their protest over the crucial Trident vote in the House of Commons.

Protests as MPs vote on Trident

TUESDAY 13 MARCH

Two masked men who walked into a bank and brandished a gun before escaping with thousands of pounds escape a police operation to catch them.

Armed bank robbers escape police

Nurses in Scotland are to be given their pay rise in full on 1 April, rather than the staged increase recommended by Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Scots nurses to get full pay rise

A teenage girl with learning difficulties was stripped and tortured after being kidnapped in Aberdeen, a court has heard.

Pair tortured woman in city flat

MONDAY 12 MARCH

The mother of a teenage cross-country skier who froze to death along with a friend on a Norwegian mountain has described him as a "wonderful boy".

Ski deaths teen a 'wonderful boy'

A teenage girl with learning difficulties was stripped and tortured after being kidnapped in Aberdeen, a court has heard.

Pair tortured woman in city flat

Network Rail and the RMT union are currently holding face-to-face talks in a bid to prevent two more 48-hour rail strikes.

Sides in talks over rail dispute