9am Briefing: Salmond under fire over charity auction

A separate lunch with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was also sold for around the 2,000 mark.

The money was raised for the SNP's election campaign in one of its target seats.

The Scottish Parliament does not allow party fundraising on its premises, but the SNP said lunch with parliamentarians had been a "fundraising opportunity" across the parties for many years and was not breaking any rules.

However, opposition politicians claimed the perception of cash for access was damaging to the parliament and the office of First Minister.

Boy in hospital after crash

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy was taken to hospital last night after suffering minor head injuries when he was knocked down by a car on Prestonfield Avenue.

Paramedics were called to the scene after the incident just after 5.30pm and took him to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children.

Anger over hotel plan

BACKERS of a campaign to transform one of Edinburgh's best-known landmarks into a national photography centre have condemned a decision to turn the building into a hotel.

Duddingston House Properties has won the chance to bring the A-listed Royal High School on Calton Hill back to life by turning it into a "world-class" hotel.

However, campaigners behind the Hill Adamson scheme – named after the photographic pioneers whose studios were based on Calton Hill – are furious the council has rejected the idea of transforming the old Royal High into a cultural attraction.

Woman injured in bag snatch

A BAG snatcher wrenched a handbag from a woman's shoulder and left her lying injured on the ground.

The woman was walking in the lane behind Bogwood Road, in the Mayfield area of Dalkeith, yesterday afternoon when the thief struck. He pulled her handbag from her shoulder causing her to fall to the ground. She sustained a minor injury in the fall.