New NRS figures show Scotland's drug deaths rose 11% to 1,133 in 2025, with record cocaine fatalities and nitazenes linked to 247 deaths amid drug crisis.

Today's cartoon from Steven Camley - you can read the full story here.

Scotland’s poorest children face significantly worse health outcomes

Scotland’s data centre backlash grows as local campaigns oppose hyperscale AI projects in Hurlford, Larbert, Cato, Hermiston, Chapelhall and the Lammermuirs.

Data centres and AI promise to reshape our landscape and lives. The Herald's new series looks at what that means - and the backlash against it.

UK travel company Groupia has been rescued by Funktion Leisure after falling into administration in June 2026.

Sandie Peggie is taking her trade union, the Royal College of Nursing, to an employment tribunal, claiming it failed to support her during the NHS Fife dispute over single-sex spaces.

Motorists are being urged to avoid this stretch of the motorway

Transport secretary Stephen Flynn has offered to meet the 1,500-business A83 Rest and Be Thankful campaign amid a revolt over four-year convoy plans.

Ministers pushed ahead with the £166m Ardrossan Harbour ferry project despite a Transport Scotland warning over future budget affordability.

Scottish minister Hannah Mary Goodlad pauses hyperscale data centre planning until Christmas, promising new guidance on water, energy, EIAs and community benefits.

The number of vocational and technical qualifications pupils have attained has doubled since 2022, suggesting a shift in the role of high-stakes exams.

Scottish Forestry insists a £2.3m woodland grant to a Gupta-linked company remains valid even as ministers seek a court interdict against GFG Alliance and the tycoon faces a Serious Fraud Office investigation.

An East Kilbride engineering company that collapsed with the loss of 119 jobs has been placed into liquidation

Tom Kitchin backs Scotland’s hospitality campaign for a VAT cut from 20% to 10%, warning John Swinney that rising costs threaten jobs and local venues.

The Shetland stars will be returning to comedy to play 'mismatched' travelling companions Cat and Garry in new show Rambling.

A blue diamond ring of “extraordinary rarity” could fetch up to £2 million when it goes under the hammer next month

New documents reveal how Glasgow’s Queen’s Park Glasshouse was wasting heat, overheating in summer and surviving on a razor-thin financial model. So can the landmark really be saved?

UK-based online wholesaler Creoate has fallen into administration after 10 years in business.

A new report backed by the British Chambers of Commerce warns that oil and gas decline is outpacing growth in renewables, with 25,000 North Sea jobs lost since the last election.

A prisoner was "briefly at large" after escaping from custody at a court in Scotland

Apology issued after David McCallum’s Glasgow Blue Plaque wrongly lists his Hillhead birthplace as Partick. Glasgow Clyde College is correcting the error.

Economists warn soaring energy costs could drive inflation sharply higher, hit real wages and leave Scottish households and businesses facing a difficult winter

The Court of Session has reserved judgment in the Scottish Government's legal fight to keep parts of the so-called Salmond files secret, after a day of hearings that repeatedly turned on the contempt of court conviction of Craig Murray.

A Glasgow artist took an 'unexploded vape' to the streets in protest over a vape shop being opened next to the Mackintosh Tea Rooms.

A new filmmaking centre named after Sir Sean Connery is set to become one of Edinburgh's most significant new cultural institutions in modern times.

The organisers of a protest in Glasgow which has so far seen more than 20 people arrested have posted a lengthy defence of Nazism

Scandal-hit heritage body Historic Environment Scotland (HES) needs specialist help as it seeks to recruit key figures following “a long period of turbulence”, MSPs have been told.

Police Scotland’s withdrawal of the the last remaining traffic officers based in the Scottish Borders is a “retrograde decision”, councillors will be told this week.

Two women who were convicted of murdering a man who headed a cult of which they were part will be allowed to live free while a court decides on their appeals

The Scottish Gallery’s Christina Jansen discusses Edinburgh art, Scottish artists, Shetland studio visits, collectors, exhibitions and its 185-year history.

Oasis's 20-date UK tour next year could see fans spend more than £693.3 million beyond the cost of their tickets, according to new analysis.

Elliot Wilson is a member of Preston Lodge High School Pipe Band in East Lothian and can often be found busking in Princes Street Gardens.

Dorothy McHugh’s convincing deepfake shows how AI can damage political trust - and expose gaps in platform moderation and the law, writes Hannah Brown.

Buzz County Clubs Limited in Falkirk is part of Buzz Venus Group Limited, one of the country's biggest bingo operators

The district could be given its own town council as part of proposed public sector reforms by the Scottish Government.

A "landmark" collection of over 50 paintings and drawings by Scottish and British artists has been added to Scotland’s national art collection.

Dundee councillor Dorothy McHugh welcomes removal of a convincing AI deepfake but warns platforms still fail to tackle fabricated political videos.

A number of postgraduate programmes at New College are also being closed as part of a “renewed academic offer", the university says.

Data centre growth in the US, Ireland and England raises questions for Scotland’s grid as Lanarkshire’s 500MW AI zone sparks energy and community concerns.

The sentencing of podcaster James English for domestic abuse of his former partner has been postponed as a report was not ready

Conservationists from the Scottish Seabird Centre and RSPB Scotland have raised concerns about the future of the puffin populations in the Firth of Forth - as new counts reveal declines on all but one of the local islands off the coast of North...

Police investigating the disorder in the Trongate and Glasgow Cross areas following Celtic’s Premiership title win in May have charged two male youths in connection.

A new national strategy aims to restore wildcats to a level where they are thriving and expanding in Scotland.

More than 100 headstones in a historic church graveyard are at risk of being laid flat after failing a safety test.

Scotland’s hyperscale data centre boom faces scrutiny over planning, energy use, water consumption and diesel generators

Clyde Street, Garscube Road and Victoria Road break records for share of journeys made by bike

Aldi and its bakery suppliers have thrown their weight behind calls for the humble Scottish morning roll to receive UNESCO cultural heritage status.

Last Wednesday, MSPs voted for a pause of up to 12 months on hyperscale data centre decisions until planning guidance is produced, writes Dr Kat Jones, director of Action to Protect Rural Scotland.

Business leaders and politicians oppose plans for four years of convoy traffic during work on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful in Argyll.