News

Views are being sought on plans to introduce two new council tax bands for properties worth more than £1 million and £2m respectively to help fund local public services across Scotland. A public consultation seeks responses on possible increases of around £720 and £3,600 abov

A politician in Poland has been charged with insulting the country’s president after prosecutors claimed a social media post compared Karol Nawrocki's wife to a character from Shrek. Wojciech Ślusarczyk, a county councillor in central Poland, faces up to three years in prison if convicted.

The Scottish government has been asked when it will implement domestic abuse protections – which are still not in force despite being passed by parliament five years ago. Pressing John Swinney at First Minister’s Questions over a sharp rise in sexual crime, Scottish Liberal Democrat lead

A second award in a month is proof beyond reasonable doubt that a true crime podcast from the University of Dundee is essential listening. Inside Forensic Science has been named winner of the True Crime, Mystery and the Dark Stuff category at the 2026 Scottish Podcast Awards. It is the second succes

Dorothy Bain KC will hold court when she hosts one of the University of Dundee’s showcase events tomorrow. Ms Bain will share insights from her career when she presents the 2026 Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic Science Annual Lecture: From suspicion to certainty? Science, proof and the

The first evidence hearings in the public inquiry into disgraced brain surgeon Sam Eljamel are expected to begin in September after delays caused by safety concerns at the inquiry’s Edinburgh venue. Inquiry chair Lord Weir said the Scottish government was working to resolve building safety iss

The captain of a fishing vessel who treated foreign crew workers ‘like slaves’ has been sentenced over a breach of maritime health and safety regulations. Evidence gathered by prosecutors showed Tom Nicholson, 38, imposed arduous working conditions on five migrant sailors.

Scotland recorded a 74 per cent rise in equity investment value in 2025, defying a wider UK trend that saw overall equity funding into smaller businesses fall slightly (by four per cent), according to new research from the British Business Bank. Published today, the Bank’s annual Small Busines

A new inquiry into the affordability and sustainability of Scotland’s tax and spending plans has been launched.

An Aberdeen climate law expert has taken part in key United Nations negotiations that will help shape discussions at this year’s global climate summit. Dr Mitchell Lennan, co-director of the Centre for Energy Law at the University of Aberdeen, attended the 64th sessions of the United Nations F

More than 500kg of cocaine has been discovered concealed inside frozen tuna at the port of St Petersburg, according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The agency said the drugs were found in a shipment of legally imported whole frozen tuna that had arrived from Ecuador. Officers used

Great Britain continues to be one of the safest places in the world to work, according to new analysis published by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).  The analysis comes alongside the annual release of HSE’s statistics for work-related fatalities for 2025/26, which show that 126 work

An Aberdeen lawyer could face jail after admitting an 18-month course of abusive behaviour towards a woman he assaulted, stalked and harassed, while also repeatedly demanding sex. Alexander Hutcheon, a 70-year-old property solicitor based in the north-east, appeared at the High Court in Glasgow afte

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) must urgently improve the quality of its casework after an independent review found investigations were often unfocused, resources were wasted and the work of legal interns was not properly supervised. The review by HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorat

Lindsays' Ian Beattie has been recognised for his achievements in athletics and as a passionate advocate of the role sport plays in improving health and wellbeing. He received the honour during a ceremony at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall.