Scientists in Glasgow have devised a new method of attacking cancer cells. A team of experts from the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research gave mice a chemical which caused cancer cells to “commit suicide”.

Two old folks homes will be demolished and two council depots sold off to make way for a £15million development bringing 138 new affordable houses to central Peebles.

A doctor who sent home a schoolboy asthma sufferer who later died will have to serve a three-month suspension. Three appeal judges upheld a serious professional misconduct ruling against Dr Julie Mallon, from Stirlingshire.

The father of murdered Tayport teenager Karen Dewar has condemned Fife Council for choosing not to sever links with the residential school which was criticised over failings in its handling of his daughter’s killer.

A foster father found guilty of sexually abusing young girls in his care already had a conviction for lewd and libidinous behaviour when he was approved to look after children.

Around 1000 children are caught with drugs in Scotland every year. The figure, the most robust yet on addiction among the very young, came out yesterday as a high-profile report suggested some illegal substances could be harmless.

A former scout leader who was caught with a haul of child pornography has been jailed for nine months. Computer programmer Clive Holroyd, from Drymen in Stirlingshire, was caught in a transatlantic crackdown codenamed Operation Falcon.

A second hospital in less than a week has closed a ward following an outbreak of a potentially deadly bacteria. Five patients in the Royal Alexandra Hospital, Paisley, are receiving treatment for clostridium difficile, a stomach bacteria which can infect the gut.

MSPs are expected to give final approval to a bill which will tighten disclosure rules for those working with children and other vulnerable groups. A new central barring unit is to be set up to ensure disqualified adults do not slip through the net.

A childminder who sent explicit mobile-phone texts to a boy of 13 escaped a prison sentence yesterday after a sheriff said there were no sex-offender programmes for women behind bars.