Trial ‘reversed the effects of type 2 diabetes’

Patients in Scotland have achieved “astonishing” results from a medical trial to combat diabetes solely using a strict diet and exercise plan.

NHS Lothian patients took part in a world first trial that successfully reversed the effects of type 2 diabetes. The project required patients to follow a calorie-restricted diet closely supervised by the trial team – with many patients seeing their diabetes go into remission.

A man who filmed a pet dog giving Nazi salutes then put the footage on Youtube should be convicted of committing a hate crime, a court has been told.

Mark Meechan, 30, recorded his girlfriend’s pug, Buddha, responding to statements such as “gas the Jews” and “Sieg Heil” by raising its paw.

After complaints about the content, Meechan was arrested for allegedly committing a hate crime by uploading footage on to the video-sharing website in April 2016.

The original clip had been viewed more than three million times on Youtube.

Mr Meechan, of Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, on trial at Airdrie Sheriff Court, denies wrongdoing. He said he made the video to annoy his girlfriend, Suzanne Kelly.

Prosecutors allege he communicated material that would cause fear and alarm and stir up hatred on religious grounds by posting a clip which was “antisemitic in nature” to Youtube.

He also faces an alternative charge of posting a video which was grossly offensive because it was “antisemitic and racist in nature”, and the prosecution claimed that it was aggravated by religious prejudice.

The trial continues.