9am Briefing: City house prices up 11 per cent

EDINBURGH house prices rebounded by more than 11 per cent in the last quarter.

The average value of a house in the Capital is now 201,687, up 11.4 per cent on the last quarter, according to Lloyds TSB Scotland.

However, prices remain 8.9 per cent down when compared to January last year

Cow autopsy tops festival

AN AUTOPSY on a cow, the search for artificial blood and a chance to learn about the creation of computer games are among the highlights of this year's Edinburgh International Science Festival.

The programme for this year's festival, launched today, also revealed that visitors would be able to investigate human, animal and machine intelligence, find out whether faulty equations caused the economic meltdown, and discover how robots play football.

Barclays profits hit record

BANKING giant Barclays posted record annual profits of 11.6 billion for 2009 today as its two most senior bosses turned down bonuses for the second year in a row.

Workers at the investment banking arm, Barclays Capital share a pay and bonus pot of 4.5 billion - almost double the previous year.

The bank's pre-tax profits – 92 per cent ahead of 2008 – were buoyed by the success of Barclays Capital and the sale of part of the business last year to raise funds.

Two in hospital after accidents

A MAN and a woman have been taken to hospital following two separate road accidents.

The first accident took place on the A7, two miles south of Heriot in Midlothian, just before 5pm yesterday.

Almost an hour later, a woman was trapped in a car when it collided with another vehicle on Liberton Drive in Edinburgh at around 5:40pm.