Scotland

A parking crisis at Scotland's newest hospital forced health bosses to seek out car park spaces at a nearby shopping mall to cover the shortfall.

Intu Properties, the owners of Braehead shopping centre in the south side of Glasgow, were approached by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to ask whether they would be willing to hire out part of their commercial car park to the health board amid fears over a shortage of staff parking facilities at the new South Glasgow University Hospital.

The Braehead car park has capacity for 6,500 vehicles.

The deal never transpired, however, and the health board has since confirmed that a planning application to increase parking capacity at the New South Glasgow Hospitals site by 500 temporary places has been submitted to the council.

• Read the full story here.

This Friday's Big Debate is in Pitlochry. You can still apply for tickets here, but hurry!

More than 50 babies and young children are being offered booster vaccines after the fridge their original dose was kept in was found to be faulty.

It is believed the fridge could have been malfunctioning from October until December last year.

NHS Grampian is apologising to those affected at the Denburn Medical Practice in Aberdeen.

It says while it doesn't foresee any health problems arising from the situation, it is possible that the affected vaccines - for illnesses including polio, tetanus and whooping cough - may not be as effective as they should be.

A disgusted Celtic fan has launched a fund to collect cash for a young Rangers supporter who was seriously hurt as he attended his first Old Firm game .

The 10-year-old fan was hit in the face with a bottle and lost three teeth after the minibus he was travelling on with his father was targeted by yobs.

Now Hoops fan Rod Lee has set up a collection on the website Go Fund Me and hit out at the thugs who maimed the youngster.

The collection has already seen gifts of more than £300 handed over since its launch.

• Read the full story here.

The R&A have confirmed live coverage of The Open will move from BBC Sport to Sky Sports from 2017.

The Scottish government is to consider giving schools extra cash to buy textbooks for the new Highers.

The idea was put to the education secretary Angela Constance at Holyrood's education committee following a suggestion by the EIS union that an extra £1m was needed.

Ms Constance said she could not give any commitments but said she would look closely at what she described as a pragmatic suggestion.

Scotland's children's commissioner has been asked to investigate proposed education cuts in Dumfries and Galloway.

MSP Joan McAlpine has written to Tam Baillie, the commissioner for children and young people, to alert him to plans to scrap 52 learning support posts.

He has legal powers to investigate the move if the council's actions are suspected of harming the wellbeing of children and young people.

But the local authority insists the changes will improve the service.

Met Office tweets: Severe weather warnings for #UKsnow and ice have been issued.

A firm specialising in debt collection and consolidation is to create up to 100 new jobs at its office in Glasgow.

Capquest, which describes itself as a leading "credit solutions provider", will hire the extra staff at its Broomielaw office over the next year.

Once the recruitment is complete, the office will employ more than 200 staff.

Capquest is also recruiting staff at its UK headquarters in Farnborough, Hampshire. The company currently employs 370 people.

SNP's Stewart Hosie on Tory #evel plans: "I have no problem with English votes for English laws if the tax is 100% devolved.

"But I'm not prepared to countenance it when only modest bits of a tax is devolved."

MPs for Scottish seats would be stripped of the power to "impose" income tax rate changes on England under Conservative plans.

MPs for English seats would have a veto on tax, and issues like schools and health, which only affect England.

The plan falls short of the English Parliament demanded by some Tory MPs.

But Commons leader William Hague said it was a "fair solution". Labour is calling for a cross-party investigation into the matter.

Scottish ski centres are to invest £5.5m to upgrade their facilities.

Glenshee and Glencoe will replace their chair lifts, costing £2.47m and £1.89m respectively. The Nevis Range and Lecht will spend £707,000 and £456,000 on upgrades to tow lifts.

Highland and Islands Enterprise and Scottish Enterprise are providing 75% per cent of the funding, with the rest coming from the ski centres.

Cairngorm Mountain Ltd has already upgraded its infrastructure.

Health chiefs have been slammed after it emerged there were 22 instances of patients absconding from a Perth psychiatric hospital last year.

While the majority of disappearances from Murray Royal involved patients from the general psychiatry wards, seven were from the more secure Rohallion unit.

They included killer Paul Brownlie, a schizophrenic who knifed a man to death in a drug-fuelled attack in East Lothian 16 years ago.

• Read the full story here.

A demonstration has been held to show support for a controversial wind farm application.

More than 25 people turned out at Strathy Hall to back SSE's proposed 47-turbine Strathy South project.

They gathered outside a meeting held by a Scottish government-appointed official to explain the process of a public local inquiry on the scheme.

Last year, more 30 people held a protest in Inverness opposing the planning application.

The number of Scots hit by dementia is set to double to 176,000 within 20 years.

Increased life expectancy is behind the rise, placing a huge strain on families across the ­country.

The Alzheimer's time bomb is already stretching the NHS and social services, charities have warned.

Experts fear sufferers face inadequate care because doctors do not recognise dementia as a terminal illness.

• Read the full story here.

House prices in Scotland have continued to rise, according to official figures published this morning.

In the last quarter of 2014, the average home in Scotland rose in price by 3.4% compared to the same time the previous year.

It takes the selling price for a typical home to just over £165,000. The total value of property sales also rose.

East Renfrewshire now has the most expensive average property prices in Scotland.

Pedigree dog breeders are turning in increasing numbers to artificial insemination.

But what is driving the trade in dog semen - and what effect does it have on the animals?

Alicia Queiro has been looking into the issue.

NHS Highland has told MSPs it could have been forced to cancel operations and cut services if the Scottish government had not given it £2.5m.

The health board secured the funding in a deal last year.

Its senior management met with the Scottish Parliament's public audit committee on Monday to update MSPs on NHS Highland's finances.

The bosses said the health board expects to break even by the end of the financial year.

It was a very busy day and night yesterday, with the transfer window closing. But which deals did not go through?

Check out the latest football gossip.

The Scottish government has announced it is ending automatic early release for prisoners jailed for more than four years.

Prisoners are currently eligible to apply for parole after serving half of their sentence.

They are released automatically after two-thirds of their jail term.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced the provisions will be tightened and in future no-one will get automatic release.

Derry City winger Michael Duffy has completed his move to Celtic after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms with the Scottish champions.

The clubs had already agreed an undisclosed fee for the 20-year-old.

Derry said on their website: "Michael will be joining the development squad at Celtic Park under manager Stevie Frail with a hope of making the step to the senior team as soon as possible."

Duffy had impressed during two trial periods at Celtic Park.

M74 - N/B partially blocked, very slow traffic due to accident, four cars involved at J5 A725 Raith Interchange.

A firefighter has been slightly injured and two people taken to hospital after a blaze in a flat in Edinburgh.

A cat also died in the fire which broke out in a top-floor property in Portland Street at about 22:00 on Monday.

Two fire crews were called to the incident and six firefighters wearing breathing apparatus entered the building to search the flat.

A man and a woman were led to safety. A firefighter suffered minor injuries but did not require hospital treatment.

The man and woman were treated at the scene for smoke inhalation before being taken to hospital for further checks.

Dundee United have insisted that manager Jackie McNamara was fully behind the decision to sell Gary Mackay-Steven and Stuart Armstrong to Celtic.

In a statement, the Tannadice club said: "On-field we are still challenging on three fronts and have no intention of being diverted from our short term aims for this season.

"We can say that safe in the knowledge that the Manager himself is happy with the result of this transfer window and fully supported the Board's actions."

The club added: "We have some of the best players in the country and we have the best management team for attracting the best young talent. We trust in the Manager, his coaching staff and the players as an entire squad."

James Martin: Aberdeen is only ever in the news for scandals. I've lived there for years and the place, let's be honest, is dated, lifeless and there's no vision or path from the council to take us out of the bleakness. The council seems to pick fights with the Scottish government and Aberdeen residents for political reasons, rather than taking the city forward. Genuinely sorry to be so blunt, but I'm glad I left.

Tom Weir: Aberdeen fully deserves this award. The council are not socially aware and despite the oil years the city has gone backward. No bypass, traffic grid lock, a traffic light filter to access the airport (the oil capital of Europe), turning down £50m from Sir Ian, the struggle with Trump, etc, etc,. There is no vision for the future, the council should visit Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh to see what other councils have achieved.

Dundee have signed midfielder Stephen McGinn on loan from Sheffield United for the remainder of the season.

The 26-year-old former St Mirren and Watford player will join his brother Paul at Dens Park.

McGinn moved to Sheffield United in the summer of 2013 after three years with the Hornets and was a regular last season.

However, the former Scotland U21 international has only featured in four cup games for the Blades this term.

Scotland's Accident and Emergency departments treated 91% of patients within four hours between October and December, new figures suggest.

This compares to 94% in the previous quarter, and is slightly worse than England's performance, where 93% of patients were treated within this time frame.

There was a slight increase in attendances compared to previous years.

Norwich City have signed Hamilton Academical midfielder Tony Andreu for an undisclosed fee.

Frenchman Andreu, 26, follows former Accies boss Alex Neil to Carrow Road, where he has signed a three-and-a-half-year deal.

Business organisations across the Highlands are backing the expansion of Heathrow as the UK's hub airport.

The Airports Commission consultation - which has been gathering views on various plans to increase capacity in south east England - closes today.

The Highlands and Islands airport operator HIAL has written to the commission supporting Heathrow's expansion, but says it is conditional on it providing guaranteed access to regions such as the Highlands.

St Mirren manager Gary Teale moved to compensate for the loss of Kenny McLean to Aberdeen in yesterday's deadline day dealings by signing Tottenham Hotspur's Emmanuel Sonupe on loan until the end of the season.

The 18-year-old attacking midfielder came through Spurs' academy.

A spectacular lens from a historic Galloway lighthouse has finally gone on full view, more than 10 years after it was gifted to a local museum.

For more than a century, the lens was a beacon for seafarers in the Solway Firth.

It spent much of the last decade in darkness however, when it was removed from the Little Ross lighthouse, near Kirkcudbright.

But now it is lighting up the Stewartry Museum in a new display.

Bolton Wanderers have also signed Celtic midfielder Filip Twardzik for an undisclosed fee.

Czech youth international Twardzik, 21, who joined Celtic alongside twin brother Patrik in 2009, has agreed a deal until 2017.

He played for the Hoops under Trotters boss Neil Lennon.

Money raised to help a 10-year-old girl injured in a hit-and-run incident has been stolen in a raid on a foodbank.

Greater Maryhill Foodbank had raised a four-figure sum of cash to send Chelsea Sommerville and her family on holiday.

The money was taken, along with supermarket vouchers and clothing, from the foodbank at the weekend.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme, Julie Webster from the foodbank said she was struggling to comprehend the "vulgar behaviour" of whoever carried out the theft.

"It's devastating, absolutely devastating," she said.

"There was a lot of mess. Babies nappies and children's clothing that had been donated just scattered all over the floor with no respect for what we do.

"They did their best to get into the safe, which thankfully was secured, but unfortunately the tins with other money for this separate thing were smashed to a pulp in a kind of desperation to get what was in them."

Crystal Palace midfielder Barry Bannan has joined Bolton on loan for the rest of the season.

Scotland international Bannan joined Palace from Aston Villa in September 2013, and previously had loan spells at Blackpool, Derby and Leeds.

Bannan's loan move was part of a transfer deal that saw Lee Chung-yong move from Bolton to Palace on a permanent deal.

Today the Scottish Parliament's health and sport committee will hear that 78% of Scots think that controversial assisted dying proposals should become law.

The committee is currently examining the Assisted Suicide (Scotland) Bill, and they will once again be taking oral evidence from interest groups and individuals on both sides of the debate.

Supporters of the bill, the campaign group My Life, My Death, My Choice, carried out the poll.

But Dr Gordon Macdonald of the Christian charity Care who will be giving evidence to the committee today, argues that it is "totally unnecessary" to legalise assisted suicide.

Speaking on Good Morning Scotland earlier, he said: "What most people want is care at the end of life to ensure that they are not in pain, that they are not suffering, and that is available through the hospice movement, through palliative care."

Hibernian have signed Fraser Fyvie until the end of the season after he was released from his Wigan contract.

The 21-year-old moved to Wigan from Aberdeen in 2012 but featured rarely for the Latics and had loan spells at Yeovil and Shrewsbury last season.

Fyvie made over 60 appearances after making his Dons debut in 2009 and has been capped for Scotland up to Under-21 level.

BP spending cuts, the future of the North Sea oil and gas industry, the "vow plus", and a robbery at a Glasgow food bank are all making today's front pages.

• Read a full paper review here.

Lyle Taylor has returned to Partick Thistle on loan from Scunthorpe until the end of the current season.

The 24-year-old striker was a popular figure last season at Firhill, where he spent the second half of the campaign on loan from Sheffield United.

His seven goals in 20 appearances helped the Jags stay in the Premiership.

Firefighters are tackling a blaze at house at Lhanbryde near Elgin.

They were called to a property on Robertson Road just before 07:30.

A fire service spokeswoman said there was one casualty, but couldn't give any further details.

Striker Paul Heffernan has joined Dundee, his third Scottish club after spells at Kilmarnock and Hibernian.

The 33-year-old Irishman scored five goals in 30 league matches for the Easter Road side after joining them from Kilmarnock in August 2013.

Dundee manager Paul Hartley has also brought in defender Ben Priest from Wolverhampton Wanderers.

BP is to cut spending on exploration this year because of a fall in the company's profits. But how will these difficulties impact on the North Sea, where BP is the second biggest player?

Professor Paul de Leeuw, Director of Robert Gordon University's Oil and Gas Institute, told Good Morning Scotland he believed today's announcement would have further implications for jobs in the North Sea.

He said: "We have seen a steady decline in the number of exploration wells being drilled in the North Sea, which is a real concern.

"In the last couple of years we drilled less than 15 wells and that is simply not enough. We should really drill somewhere around 80 to 100 wells a year if we want to keep the infrastructure up and running for many years to come.

"And the cut back we certainly see happening by a number of companies including BP and Shell is actually a real worry.

"That's why as an industry we need to work very closely with government and other key stakeholders to make sure we actually increase the number of exploration wells, so we actually have production coming from the North Sea for decades to come."

St Johnstone have signed Danny Swanson on loan from Coventry City, subject to international clearance.

The former Dundee United midfielder, 28, will be at McDiarmid Park for the rest of the season.

Research from the Salvation Army suggests a third of Scots believe the main cause of homelessness is alcohol or drug addiction.

The survey, carried out by Ipsos MORI, also found that only 3% believe relationship breakdown is the main cause of homelessness.

However, the church and charity says there is a gulf between the public's perception of homelessness and the reality.

Major Russell Wyles, divisional commander for the West of Scotland, told Good Morning Scotland: "Fundamentally the issue from our service users is that relationship breakdown is the root cause.

"That is not to say that those other things don't play a part in some of their lives. But the relationships that people have are a great support system, so when they start to fall away the basics of life fall away as well and that leads into homelessness."

Motherwell have signed goalkeeper George Long (pictured), midfielder Conor Grant, winger Marvin Johnson and forward Nathan Thomas on transfer deadline day.

Long, 21, and Grant, 19, join on loan for the rest of the season from Sheffield United and Everton, respectively.

Johnson, 24 has moved from Kidderminster for an undisclosed fee.

Thomas moves north from Plymouth on a deal until the end of the season with the option of a further year.

Aberdeen has won the unwanted title of the most dismal town in Scotland. But what do you think? Does the Granite City deserve the dubious accolade?

Readers have already been getting in touch on the BBC Scotland News Facebook page.

Andrew Reid: Haha so Methil, Kirkcaldy and Coatbridge are better? Haha good one whoever judged this and btw Aberdeen is the third biggest city in Scotland, not a town

Audrey Geddes: It was a super city when I lived there

Johanna Gordon: In some places yes. The concrete and glass boxes that are due to go up at Triple Kirks and "Marischal Square"

Send us your thoughts.

Robbie Muirhead has left Kilmarnock to join fellow Scottish Premiership side Dundee United on a three-and-a-half year deal.

A fee of around £150,000 plus add-ons has been agreed for the Scotland Under-19 forward, who is currently 18.

And Huddersfield Town defender Paul Dixon has re-joined his former club United.

There are reports that Sky TV is on the brink of paying £10m a year to take exclusive coverage of the Open Championship away from the BBC from 2016.

The R&A wouldn't confirm the situation yesterday, and the BBC Press Office said that they are not able to comment on rights negotiations.

BBC golf commentator Peter Alliss says it does matter which channel shows The Open.

He said: "By removing the BBC they're taking away the opportunity for people who do not have Sky to watch golf.

"Golf from a tournament level is getting less and less in the UK. We used to have 12, 14 tournaments a year here, now there are only two or three.

"So its very easy to pontificate about how wonderful it will all be, but golf clubs pay about £400-£500 a year to have Sky in the clubhouse so only the wealthy clubs are going to do that."

Full year underlying cost profit was £12.1bn compared to £13.4bn over 2013, and for the final quarter of last year underlying profit was £2.2bn compared to £2.8bn for the same period of 2013.

The BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley has released a statement saying that the company has now entered a new and challenging phase of low oil prices through the near and medium term.

He said: "Our focus must now be on resetting BP, managing and rebalancing our capital programme and cost base for the new reality of lower prices, while maintaining safe, reliable and efficient operations."

Of course its not just the low oil price that BP have been up against. It's exposure to Russia, it holds a 20% stake in the largely state owned Rosneft oil company - that's also taken its toll - and of course its still suffering from the ongoing fallout from the Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Last year's Royal National Mod in Inverness generated £3.5m for the local economy, according to a study commissioned by its organisers.

An Comunn Gaidhealach said the figure was £1m more than it had expected.

The annual event celebrates Gaelic language and culture. Inverness was hosting it for the first time in 17 years.

More than 3,000 entrants competed in 200 competitions in Highland dancing, music, song, literature and drama.

Former England Under-20 midfielder Gael Bigirimana (pictured) is among five loan signings Rangers have secured from Newcastle.

The 21-year-old has made 28 appearances for Newcastle since arriving from Coventry City in summer 2012 for £1m.

But the Burundi-born player has not played for the Magpies' first team since August 2013.

Midfielder Haris Vuckic, Swiss defender Kevin Mbabu, English defender Remie Streete and Northern Ireland cap Shane Ferguson are also moving to Rangers.

So football fans, are you happy this morning? Did your club do well in the winter transfer window, or is it going to be a dark few months ahead?

Let us know what you think of transfer deadline day by emailing newsonlinescotland@bbc.co.uk or tweeting us at #ScotlandLive

Statistics on the performance of accident and emergency departments in Scotland over the busy winter period are due to be published.

They will show how many people went to casualty between October and December and the length of time they waited.

More than 200 operations were cancelled over the festive period as some A&Es struggled to cope.

Interim stats previously showed one in 10 people waited longer than four hours between 22 December and 4 January.

West Brom have signed Scotland midfielder Darren Fletcher on a free transfer from Manchester United.

The 31-year-old has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract at The Hawthorns with a 12-month option.

West Ham were also interested in signing Fletcher, but a move to Upton Park broke down last weekend.

Fletcher made 342 appearances for United but started only five times for the club after Louis van Gaal took over as manager in the summer.

Midfielder Stuart Armstrong and winger Gary Mackay-Steven have joined Celtic from Dundee United after the clubs agreed deals on transfer deadline day.

Celtic had offered United £250,000 to take winger Mackay-Steven, 24, now rather than wait until the summer, a move that had already been agreed.

And the Glasgow club agreed a deal for both players of £2m plus add-ons.

Armstrong, who has signed until 2018, and Mackay-Steven, whose deal runs until 2019, will be ineligible for Celtic's Scottish Cup meeting with Dundee on Saturday and next month's League Cup final meeting with their former club.

Royal Dutch Shell is to begin consulting on its plan to remove the first of the iconic Brent platforms in what will be the biggest North Sea decommissioning project to date.

Phase one of the operation - which it hopes to carry out next year - involves using a giant double-hulled ship to remove everything apart from the legs in a single lift.

A consultation will begin later this month before it submits plans to the Department of Environment, Energy and Climate Change.

The product of the oilfield, Brent Crude, is used as a benchmark for setting oil prices in the North Sea sector.

It was a busy day for Scottish football clubs on the final day of the winter transfer window.

There were big moves involving Celtic, Dundee United, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Hamilton.

Shetland Islands Council have said all schools have been closed for the day due to the winter weather.

Rothesay's Art Deco pavilion is to be transformed into a cultural centre with the help of a £3.3 million lottery grant.

Argyll and Bute Council and the Prince's Regeneration Trust have been leading efforts to restore the Grade-A listed Rothesay Pavilion on the Isle of Bute.

A Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £3m means the project can now go ahead, with project leaders reached their funding target of £8m.

As part of the transformation, the main auditorium will be upgraded and a second performance venue created. A bistro, bars, a shop and a box office are also part of the design, along with a new multi-purpose rooftop space.

Money which had been raised to help a 10-year-old girl who was injured in a hit-and-run incident has been stolen in a raid on a foodbank.

Greater Maryhill Foodbank had raised a four-figure sum of money to send Chelsea Sommerville and her family on holiday.

The cash was among about £5,000 stolen from the foodbank at the weekend.

Chelsea broke her leg after being hit by a car on Sandbank Street in Glasgow last year.

The architecture magazine Urban Realm says planning rows over Marischal Square and Union Terrace Gardens have been compounded by the loss of shops from Union Street, which it says has sucked the life out of Aberdeen city centre.

It says the city has a rich granite heritage but little has been built in the modern era to do justice to that legacy.

Aberdeen city council says progress is under way on a new masterplan which will pave the way for improvements.

The trophy - whose previous winners include John O'Groats, Coatbridge and Glenrothes - will be handed over this morning.

Aberdeen has won the unwanted title of the most dismal town in Scotland.

Urban Realm magazine said Aberdeen had become the "poor relation" of Scotland's cities as it awarded the annual Plook on the Plinth Carbuncle award to the Granite City.

Aberdeen City Council acknowledged that there was work to do to improve the heart of the city, but said progress was "well under way".

Cumbernauld, East Kilbride and Leven had been among the other contenders.

Hello, and welcome to today's edition of Scotland Live.

We'll be bringing you all the latest news, analysis, sport, weather and travel from around Scotland throughout the day.