Around the corner, around the world

Bike firm thrives

A Lanarkshire mountain bike manufacturer is targeting ambitious plans for growth, including moving manufacturing from Taiwan to the UK.

Launched in 2014 by Alan Finlay, Pipedream Cycles offers high-quality steel and titanium bicycle frames.

Alan plans to move manufacturing to the UK within two years. Carluke & Lanark Gazette

Wider smoking ban

Health bosses may make smoking on hospital grounds illegal – if they get public backing.

NHS Ayrshire & Arran is looking for the public’s views on the introduction of a legally enforceable smoking ban around hospital buildings. A smoke-free perimeter would prevent toxic smoke drifting through windows, doors and ventilation systems. Irvine Times

Family left roofless

A Jura family is at the end of its tether after spending the past four weeks living in a house without a roof.

Annchris and David MacLean, their seven-year-old daughter Katie and eight-month-old Alasdair are one of five Argyll Community Housing Association households on the island that have been waiting since August for a new roof.

The Oban Times

Black Friday protest

Two climate action groups took to downtown Vancouver on Friday to protest the excess consumerism encouraged by Black Friday sales in the city and worldwide.

Three people were arrested as the anti-consumerism rallies caused congestion and delays into the early evening. Events included a free clothing swap in the plaza ouside Vancouver City Centre Station.

Vancouver Sun

Reactor safety steps

A reactor damaged in the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan has cleared a major hurdle to getting back online.

On Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulation Authority approved a draft assessment for the No. 2 reactor at the Onagawa plant.

It says safety steps taken by the plant’s operator meet the regulations introduced after the Fukushima accident.

NHK-World