9am news briefing

Edinburgh Zoo chairman Donald Emslie has quit amid bitter infighting just days after refusing to step down despite a vote of no-confidence.

He said he had wanted to discuss with board members what the next step should be. "I was able to do this at a board meeting on Friday, during which I informed my fellow trustees that I would resign as chair and allow the board to rebuild the confidence of the members."

Vice-chairman Manus Fullerton will take over as acting chairman.

The zoo has also named its new interim chief executive as Hugh Roberts, who will take up the role from Wednesday.

• The Duke of Edinburgh has criticised the decision to decommission the Royal Yacht Britannia, which was taken out of service after 43 years in 1997.

Interviewed by broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh to mark his 90th birthday, the duke is asked what his feelings were when the yacht – now a tourist attraction in Leith – was decommissioned. He answered: "Sad." Asked if he thought it was the right thing to do, he replied: "No."

He added: "She should have had her steam turbines taken out and diesel engines put in. She was as sound as a bell and she could have gone on for another 50 years."

• THE green credentials of JK Rowling have been called into question by the Cockburn Association, which is objecting to her plans to demolish a house in Edinburgh.

The Harry Potter author, who owns a 17th-century mansion in the city, wants to level a neighbouring property to make way for a Renaissance-style garden.

But her proposal has failed to impress the conservation body, which has questioned the "sustainability" of knocking down a "perfectly good" house.

The body said it "regrets" that the 1970s house, which Rowling recently bought for 1 million, should be facing demolition and warned it could set a precedent.