9am Briefing: 13 pulled from burning building

FIREFIGHTERS rescued 13 people from a burning building during a major emergency operation at the Shore.

Seven casualties were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation but nobody was seriously injured.

The blaze started in the first floor flat of a four-storey tenement block above the Waterline Pub, in Leith, at 8.40pm last night.

Around 45 firefighters tackled the flames. An investigation is underway today into the cause.

* THEY may have no Scottish ancestry, but the giant pandas due to arrive at Edinburgh Zoo before the end of the year have been given their own tartan.

The zoo is expected to launch the new tartan in honour of Tian Tian and Yangguang within the next few weeks, it was reported today.

Gillespie tartan was taken as the starting point for the design in recognition of Edinburgh lawyer Thomas Gillespie who founded the Royal Zoological Society of Edinburgh in 1909.

The predominant colours are black and white, representing the pandas, with red for China and green to reflect bamboo, the animals’ favourite food.

* THE five-star Scotsman Hotel on North Bridge is expected to be put up for sale after the owners went into administration.

Bankers Lloyds pulled the plug on The Scotsman Hotel Group, which also has hotels in Leeds and Paris, over reported debts of £50m.

But the 69-room hotel, which opened in April 2001 in the former home of The Scotsman and Evening News, was said to be “trading normally”.

Industry experts predicted “a lot of interest” from potential buyers for the Edinburgh hotel.

* THE FEAR of crime is much greater than the reality of offending, a new survey revealed today.

Although figures are at a 35-year low, more people are said to believe that crime is rising locally and nationally.

The proportion of Scots who said they had been victims in 2010/2011 fell to 17.8 per cent, the second successive fall.

Fear of being robbed or mugged is 25 times higher than the reality, while fear of car theft is 20 times higher.