Plans for new health services in Ayrshire have been put on hold in order to retain an accident and emergency unit, BBC Scotland has learned.

Hundreds of people are continuing to drink and drive in the belief they will not be caught, police said yesterday as they revealed a sharp increase in offenders in the latest Scotland-wide crackdown.

A Nigerian man yesterday accused the organisation responsible for refugees in Scotland of race and age discrimination at an employment tribunal.

A youth attacked and raped a teenager three weeks after he was released early from a young offenders’ institution.

First Minister Alex Salmond last night met Muslim leaders in the wake of recent terror attacks, claiming Scotland was better placed than any other European nation to achieve social cohesion.

Hundreds of striking social care workers in Glasgow today staged a massive unofficial rally. Around 500 defiant staff gathered at lunchtime in George Square after council chiefs refused their request to hold a demonstration.

One of Scotland’s largest social housing organisations has a new chief executive. Taroub Zahran has been appointed at Glasgow Housing Association, the body which took over Glasgow City Council’s housing stock.

Scotland’s First Minister, Rt. Hon. Alex Salmond MSP, has officially opened Park Court, in Ellon, a mixed community housing development by Margaret Blackwood Housing Association. Speaking at the development, Mr Salmond said:

Car parking charges at four Glasgow hospital sites came into effect for the first time yesterday. The Western Infirmary, the Yorkhill hospitals, the Victoria Infirmary and Gartnavel General Hospital are all affected by the move, which sees a sliding scale of charges to be paid by staff, patients and visitors.

Helpline NHS 24 could handle calls to GPs during the day to help surgeries open in the evening. The medical phoneline’s new chief executive, Sandy Forrest, said its nurses could play a key role in extending GP practice hours – one of the aims of Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon.