Scotland on Wednesday

WELCOME to today's tasty news morsels, including SPORT, FASHION, TELEVISION, BUSINESS and the INTERNET.

RED TOP REVIEW

Holy aggression, Batman!

Christian Bale's arrest for allegedly assaulting his mother and sister is a gift to the tabloid headline-writers, and so in today's Sun we have "Kapow!" and in The Mirror it's "Batterman". The story of exactly what happened in the suite at the Dorchester in London will no doubt emerge over the coming weeks, but the allegedly violent family row resulted in Bale being fingerprinted, photographed and DNA-sampled, before being released without charge. He denies the allegation.

Sienna's man says his marriage is over

Snogs, actresses and millionaires keep The Sun busy with news that actor and oil heir Balthazar Getty has split from his wife after pictures of him kissing Sienna Miller were splashed worldwide. Getty, 33, said photos of him canoodling with the topless actress on holiday in Italy devastated his wife Rosetta, with whom he has four children. He said in a statement: "In the light of the fact that many pictures have surfaced in print and on the internet which has caused myself and my family great embarrassment, I felt it necessary to at least acknowledge publicly that yes, indeed, my wife and I have separated and I will not be commenting any further."

Jeremy Kyle 'cheats death'

Not only does The Mirror have an exclusive about TV chat host Jeremy Kyle cheating death in a car crash that flipped his chauffeur-driven BMW onto its roof, it also has a video of the crash scene. Witnesses said the ITV talk show host was "shaking like a leaf" after his BMW saloon collided with a Mazda sports car in the outside lane of the A1.


BUSINESS

By Nathalie Thomas

Oil prices head back down

The markets received some light relief this morning when the price of oil fell below $127 a barrel after reaching an all-time high of $147.27 earlier this month. The fall was linked to an easing of fears over Hurricane Dolly and the possibility that it might hit crude supplies in the Gulf of Mexico.

The fall also coincided with a more solid performance from the dollar, which was trading at 1.9918 against the pound this morning. However, oil is still trading at 30% higher this year compared with 2007.

Vodafone in £1bn buy-back

Meanwhile, the board of mobile phone giant Vodafone announced it intends to buy back £1bn of its own shares after a dramatic fall in the price of its stock yesterday. Around £10bn was wiped from the value of the company after outgoing chief executive Arun Sarin warned it was expecting to take a hit to revenues this year as the consumer slowdown takes hold of the telecommunications market.

The board said the buy-back was prompted by the belief that the current share price "significantly undervalues Vodafone".


TELEVISION

By Fiona Leith

The black, black oil

Full Monty writer, Simon Beaufoy, puts his pen to the most timely of concerns - crude oil - in this two-part thriller. Rupert Penry-Jones and Neve Campbell star respectively as an oil executive and environmentalist caught up in a conspiracy over the rights and wrongs of international power-playing. West Wing star Bradley Whitford also stars as an industry fixer.

Burn Up, BBC2, 9pm

Foreign affair

Long before Chiwetel Ejiofor was charming audiences and critics in Kinky Boots and American Gangster, he took the lead in Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things, playing a Nigerian immigrant who discovers the seedier side of London life. Audrey Tautou also stars as the Turkish hotel worker who aids his personal investigation.

Dirty Pretty Things, BBC1, 11.45pm

Raising awareness

MS sufferer and former BBC news reporter Elizabeth Quigley investigates why Scotland has the highest rate of MS in the world. In this documentary she talks to such high profile campaigners as JK Rowling, whose mother died of the disease.

Scotland's Hidden Epidemic: The Truth About MS, BBC1, 10.45pm


FASHION

By Kayt Turner

Pants

Maggie, Maggie, Maggie - what happened? Earlier in the week you were very va-va-voom in the old strapless gowns. Everyone remembered just what a babe you were and went and rented Secretary. But this? Gwynnie did the halterneck pantsuit last month - and it very nearly worked for her. It doesn't work for you. You have no waist, no boobs and very nearly no feet. Go back to the frocks, young Gyllenhaal.

Underpants

We're liking the new highly polished and sleek Kelly Osbourne, although she obviously still hasn't got a complete handle on this styling malarky. She's forgotten - or possibly never knew - the first lesson of good grooming: good foundation garments. And that means ones that match your clothes. Not ones that scream at photographers: "Hi - over here!"

Strapless

Now here's a sentence I never thought I'd write. Thank goodness for Sarah Dunn. Seriously. I know the film is called The Dark Knight but that's no reason for everyone - and I mean everyone - to turn up in black. The Hollyoaks babe (can you still call them babes at their age?) remembered that it's July and pulled some colour out of her wardrobe.


SPORT

By Andrew Smith

Groin problem delays Nakamura return

Celtic's pre-season preparations have suffered a setback with reports that Shunsuke Nakamura will miss the start of the league because of a groin problem. The Japanese playmaker, who was only able to join the squad last Friday because of international commitments, may not be able to make the first Old Firm game of the season on August 30 if claims that he might need surgery are correct.

Hibs' Barcelona meet drums up interest

Hibernians' friendly with Barcelona tomorrow night appears finally to be capturing people's imagination now that Barcelona have settled in at their St Andrew's base and are giving good copy in their daily press conferences. Good weather could even push attendance towards the 30,000 mark. Meanwhile, Barca striker Thierry Henry reckons Scotland are on the up and could find themselves with a place in the 2010 World Cup finals.

Hearts in the market for new striker

Hearts will be welcoming their owner and a number of triallists to their training base in Eltville, Germany. New coach Csaba Laszlo says signing a new striker is a priority, and will make his case directly to Vladimir Romanov in the coming days.

Murray squares up to Johansson

Andy Murray will today play his first singles match since his quarter-final defeat by Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon when he faces Swede Thomas Johansson in the second round of the Toronto Masters.

Senior Open moments

There will be more interest than normal in the Senior Open, which begins tomorrow at Royal Troon. The good weather is expected to bring healthy turn-outs for the final practice rounds today by such big names as Greg Norman, Tom Watson and Mark O'Meara, who all showed they remained real competitors in last week's Open at Royal Birkdale.


INTERNET

Website of the day
There can't be many websites with a better name than this. So if you want to know the intimate details of a rather argumentative household in Belgium, give this long-running blog a spin.