A MOBILE phone “app” which can predict the likelihood of successful IVF has been created by academics. Called IVF Predict, it asks users a series of questions such as what the cause of fertility problems is, if known, and what drugs will be used. It then gives a percentage chance of how successful a procedure [...]
A FORMER girlfriend of George Best has won a bitter battle with one of Scotland’s biggest councils to save trees at a city centre beauty spot. Edinburgh council has said it will no longer cut down five willow trees near the Water of Leith in Cannonmills. More than 1000 locals signed a petition in two [...]
A SERIES of fires at a Fife paper mill are being treated by police as “suspicious”. Emergency services were alerted to a fire at Tullis Russell Paper Mill complex in Glenrothes at around 3.40am. Upon arrival, police and fire services established that there were in fact a number of incidents ongoing. Initially eight units of [...]
A SOLDIER who carried out the cold-blooded execution of three comrades has been released from prison on compassionate grounds following a stroke. Andrew Walker, 57, gunned down three army colleagues in a Lothians payroll hijacking in 1985. He had seven years added to his 30-year tariff after he led a riot at Peterhead prison in [...]
THE Met Office has issued an Amber Warning for Wind for much of central, southern and western Scotland tomorrow (Wednesday 28th December) between 9am and midnight. Gale or severe gale force winds - 60-70 miles per hour – are expected across all parts of the country with potential for gusts of up to 90 miles [...]
TWO Scots brought more than festive knick-knacks home with them after a Christmas shopping trip to Carlisle. The cross-border shoppers also returned to Scotland with a cat. After apparently finding the animal in an Asda car park down south, the Kingholm Quay residents mistakenly thought she was injured, and brought her home to their village, [...]
A DOG was dumped on Christmas Day by its callous owners. The 10-year-old spaniel setter cross, named Winter by rescuers, was dumped on a country road in Lanarkshire. A nearby householder saw a car stop on the lane, between Muirkirk and Strathaven near the A71, and found the distressed pooch soon after. Winter is now [...]
LOTHIAN & Borders Police are appealing for information regarding a man who exposed himself on a residential street in Bonnyrigg on Boxing Day. Investigators are looking for anyone who was in the area of Dobbies Road, Bonnyrigg, Midlothian around 1015 hrs on Monday 26th December 2011 , to contact them. It was at this time [...]
CHARITY organisers have been left high and dry – after their Boxing Day “Dip in the Sea” failed to recruit a single person. The organisers of the event at Portobello Beach, Edinburgh, hoped the idea of a bracing dip would draw a decent crowd. But the event had to be cancelled after the city’s no-show. [...]
BUS lane bandits are increasingly likely to escape prosecution because too few police are patrolling the roads, new figures suggest. The number of drivers caught by police using bus lanes in Edinburgh has dropped by 14% in the past year, despite £8m being spent on the scheme. Just over 600 motorists were stopped in the [...]
AUTHOR Alexander McCall Smith has advised Scots sitting on a pile of unwanted Christmas presents that it is acceptable to get rid of them – but wait until January 25. The creator of No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency took to Twitter to discuss with his followers what to do with unwelcome gifts. Online auction sites [...]
A TWO-month-old baby suffered smoke inhalation after a suspected fire attack on a car parked underneath the infant’s home. The family were forced to flee for their lives early this morning as thick black smoke poured from the blazing vehicle and into their Edinburgh flat. The baby breathed in some of the potentially deadly smoke [...]
GENEROUS Scots showered hospitality and hundreds of gifts on immigrant families who were driven from their homes by a massive fire two days before Christmas. Around 50 firefighters raced to the scene of the blaze in Kirkcaldy, Fife, which forced the residents of six flats to flee for their lives and left two families homeless [...]
A FAMILY had to hide in a balcony following a blaze in a stairwell, as a four-storey building filled with smoke. Two children aged four and two had to be checked over by paramedics for smoke inhalation following the fire in the early hours of the morning. Rubbish was set alight in a stairwell, causing [...]
A HORSE had to be hauled to safety by firefighters after becoming stuck in a muddy field on Christmas Day. The unfortunate animal had to have a hose reel wrapped around it in a bid to coax it free from the mud. The fire service said the animal had been freed by around 2.30pm (Sun). [...]
A WOMAN was sexually assaulted as she walked home from a night out in the early hours of Saturday morning, police say. Lothian and Borders police are appealing for information after the woman was attacked in Edinburgh’s McDonald Road. The attack happened at 3.25am. She was walking down the road when a man, thought to [...]
RED squirrels are making an apparent comeback in Scotland, amid hopes Aberdeenshire can be a bastion for the creatures as the tide turns against greys. There have even been sightings of reds in Aberdeen city centre, where they haven’t been seen for years. Reds have been on the back paw for years as American grey [...]
POLICE are hunting a man after a Chritsmas Eve shopper was subjected to an attempted mugging in a supermarket car park. The male shopper was only able to escape after another customer approached and forced the attacker to leave empty handed. Police are appealing for witnesses to come forward following the robbery in the car [...]
PANDA-cams at Edinburgh Zoo have gone live today. The public online feed will show Chinese visitor Yuang Guang frolicking in his enclosure, while the feed from female panda Tian Tian will only be visible to experts. Jon-Paul Orsi, Digital Specialist at Edinburg Zoo, said: “We were delighted to unveil Yang Guang and Tian Tian live on [...]
A RARE albino snake has been given a festive name after being found outside a Fife supermarket. Tinsel was spotted by a sharp-eyed member of the public outside a Lidl store in Leven on Wednesday evening. Animal experts say if the young Kingsnake had been left outside any longer it could have died. He is [...]