9am Briefing: Lothian Police get details of five suspects after child porn ring smashed

THE details of five suspects have been passed to Lothian and Borders Police as part of a three-year operation to smash the world's biggest online child pornography ring.

The global investigation was built up around the website Boylover.net, which had 70,000 followers at its peak, leading to 4,000 intelligence reports being sent to police across 30 countries.

The details of 15 Scottish suspects have been passed to police, with the operation - which is still ongoing - having identified 670 suspects and 230 abused children.

It was also reported today that one woman paedophile, who was arrested by Lothian and Borders Police, has since been sectioned.

The UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop) launched the inquiry.

• THE VALUE of the Tattoo to Scotland's economy is set to top 100m, it was revealed today.

Organisers of the event said they will be able to boost the capacity for corporate hospitality events by 25 per cent from this summer as a result of the new-look arena.

Edinburgh Castle's 16 million event arena will be unveiled in the summer.

The Tattoo will be able to host gala receptions and major corporate functions for the first time.

• SEVEN Edinburgh City Council officials were paid over 100,000 last year, new figures show - one more than the previous year.

West Lothian Council also had seven staff on six figure salaries, one more than in 2008-09.

In East Lothian the figure jumped from six to eight, but in Midlothian it fell from one to zero.

• THOUSANDS of students will be affected by strike action as university staff walk out in a row over pensions today.

Members of the University and College Union (UCU) at Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Strathclyde and St Andrews universities are to protest against proposed changes to their pension schemes.

The union said the changes would reduce pension benefits and increase costs.

A second day of action – part of a UK-wide strike – is planned for March 24 if the dispute has not been resolved.