25/02/2016 Reporting Scotland

whose remains were found on a golf course in Edinburgh last month.

Whether or not she was coming to meet someone, a business or

commercial appointment, we just don't know.

becomes the first Holyrood politician to back the campaign

Spending reductions and jobs cuts on the table, as a number

of councils across Scotland set their annual budgets.

Scotland's rugby players head for Italy hoping

to avoid their tenth successive defeat in the Six Nations.

And after the congestion and delays that marred last year's T

in the Park, can this summer's festival overcome the problems?

A body discovered on the outskirts of Edinburgh over a month ago has

been identified as a 36-year-old woman from London.

Saima Ahmed was reported missing by her family in August last year.

They say she has no connections at all to Edinburgh.

Police are trying to work out why she came to the capital.

A single reminder of mystery that has baffled police. These flowers

were laid by Saima Ahmed's family, after they learned her body was

discovered on the of this golf course. The 36-year-old part-time

librarian was last seen at home in London. Her family reported her

missing on the 30th of August. Fast forward five months and police are

called to a golf course close to Edinburgh airport. Forensic officers

and diving teams spent weeks looking for clues. Police were here for

around a month trying to establish who this woman was. They say there

is no evidence at this point of criminality in her death but they

want to work out why she was here, so far from home. We want to hear

from anybody who might have seen her on her journey. Detectives launched

an appeal for information, a coordinated effort by forces up and

down the country. Her family insist she had no connection with

Edinburgh. She was a quiet woman who would rarely stay away from home.

This is not a murder investigation but detectives will not rule

anything out. I am not forecasting anything. We just have to ascertain

how she came to Scotland and how she came to be out there, presumably

from Edinburgh city centre. She was passing in London on the 30th of

August, captured on CCTV boarding a train from Wembley to Watford. On

the 9th of January her body was found in Edinburgh. Officers believe

she intended to travel by train to Birmingham and then Edinburgh. They

do not know why. I'm looking to speak to anyone who saw her or spoke

to her on her journey to Edinburgh. A ticket collector, perhaps a retail

sales assistant in a shop, on a train station platform. Police hope

the appeal will jog somebody's memory and offer some clues as to

how and why she came to be here. BBC London reporter Asad Ahmad

is in the London suburb of Wembley, I am on the road in Wembley in north

London where Saima Ahmed lived with her family, just a short distance

from where I am standing at the moment. It is said to be a

close-knit and happy family home which is why the police have so many

questions as to what happened at the end of August which led her to leave

here and had to Scotland. And what led to her body being found last

month on the outskirts of Edinburgh. That is why Police Scotland want

anyone with any information, however trivial, to contact them. The family

have asked to be left alone but issued a statement saying, we are

extremely saddened and shocked by the death. She was a loving and

caring person. We are hoping someone can provide some information as to

her journey in August and help us understand what happened. Police

Scotland are appealing for anyone with information to contact them, or

else contact Crimestoppers anonymously.

The report into the sexual abuse carried out by Jimmy Savile

while working for the BBC, has found that incidents took place

at virtually all of the corporation's premises, including

Scots girl when she went into what happened also gives

opportunities to stop him, because of a culture of reverence

Scottish MP Natalie McGarry has been briefly detained

Turkish media reported that the Glasgow East MP,

who was elected in May last year for the SNP but now sits

as an independent, was detained in Diyarbakir.

Catriona Renton is in her constituency.

Natalie McGarry is the MP for this area, Glasgow North East. She is

currently in Turkey as part of a trade union delegation in the

south-east of the country, about 100 miles from the Syrian border. That

area has been a focus of conflict between the Turkish government and

its Kurdish population. I spoke to her on the phone earlier and she

told me she is fine. She confirmed she was questioned and detained but

not arrested. She was not sure who questioned her but she thought it

was special forces. Her lawyer said she was questioned when recording

the sound of bombs from Turkish forces falling on a Kurdish area. He

said it appears a member of the Turkish security forces became

alarmed that she had her phone out near a security checkpoint. The

Foreign Office said a British national was briefly detained and

released in that area. Natalie McGarry was elected as one of the 56

SNP MPs. She now sits as an independent, having resigned the SNP

wept after it emerged police were investigating her in connection with

claims of funds missing from an independent campaign group. We

understand Natalie McGarry will be returning home from Turkey soon.

The Conservative MSP Margaret Mitchell has become

the first Holyrood politician to call for the UK to leave the EU.

That puts her at odds with her party leader,

But she has said her Tory colleagues are free to campaign for either side

Of the 129 MSP is, none of them publicly endorsed the campaign to

take the UK out of the European Union, until now. Margaret Mitchell

is the conservative justice spokeswoman. She is a former

Scottish Tory leadership candidate and she is the first MSP to back a

British exit from the EU. We spent an inordinate amount of money just

joining and being part of the club. We are a net contributor to the EU.

Even with our rebate, it is 45 million each day we are spending. I

think that would be better spent by making our own decisions and trade

agreements. There may well be other MSP 's follow her example, but some

of those who are minded to vote to leave the European Union do not want

to get involved in this debate before the Holyrood election. And

within the Conservative Party, some of the most Eurosceptic members here

at Holyrood have already said they will back the campaign to keep the

UK in the EU. If I want to see a failing European project turned

round, if I want an end to political and fiscal convergence, if I want to

see a Europe that works as a trading block, I think it is in our

interests to be on the inside are doing our case for change, instead

of being on the outside, allowing Europe to have its head. The Tory

Scottish leader backed and in even before David Cameron had

renegotiated the UK's membership terms. At Westminster, the EU is

more divisive for the Conservatives. David Cameron is one of 148 Tory MPs

in favour of continued membership. This clutch of ministers, and around

124 Tories, who want the UK to leave. It is not politicians who

will determine whether the EU flag keeps flying here, whether or not

the UK removes itself from the 28 country Alliance. That is a decision

for voters in Scotland and across the UK.

You're watching Reporting Scotland from the BBC.

After congestion problems marred last year's T in the Park,

will this summer's festival be a success?

And in Sport, as Scotland arrive in Italy hoping to halt their dismal

Six Nations showing, we'll bring you the team news ahead

And is this the goal that killed off Hibs' title challenge?

A number of Scotland's local authorities have been

setting their budgets today, with big spending reductions

In the Highlands the council has agreed a total cut of ?30 million

in its budget, which will mean hundreds

of redundancies and an impact on services, including education,

Craig Anderson reports from Inverness.

The council tax freeze and a tight budget settlement imposed on local

authorities by the Scottish Government are being blamed for what

this council's finance director described as the toughest budget

they had ever had to consider. The ruling administration says it has

been painted into a corner, and some councillors even staged a stunt

today condemning the death of local decision-making. We have been told

we cannot raise council tax or we will be fined ?18 million. We have

been told if we do not have the right number of teachers, they will

fine us even more. We can't operate under these conditions. It is

centralisation, politics of the bully. We are bullied by Edinburgh

and that is not democracy. By coincidence, MSPs macro work

debating the finance settlement at Holyrood today and Labour claimed

thousands of jobs were at risk. But the finance secretary insisted he

had protected Scotland's councils from the worst of Westminster

imposed austerity. The baseline position of local government starts

this difficult period at a much higher level than could have been

anticipated, and a significantly higher baseline than local

government south of the border, which has been absolutely decimated.

The reduction in the budget in resource terms amounts to less than

1% of local authority expenditure. That is why I think the claims that

are being put around by the Labour Party are exaggerated. It has taken

an entire day of bruising deliberations for the council here

to agree on a package of ?30 million of cuts to services and staff. And

other councils throughout the country are going through the same

process. For those involved, the SNP government's promise of complete

reform of local government finance cannot come a moment too soon.

I'm joined by our local government correspondent Jamie McIvor.

Some other councils have been setting budgets today.

Yes. The essential problem facing many councils is that their budgets

in the coming year are going to be tighter than originally anticipated,

which means they are having to find fresh options for saving cash. Cuts,

savings, raising charges, digging into reserves which were meant for

emergencies. As well as high land, Fife Council has been meeting today.

It says they were planning to propose putting up the council tax

by 7.5% before the government made clear just how much they would lose

if they did that. So what Fife is saying now is they have identified

?13 million from cutbacks which will certainly put a strain on staff and

services, they say, but will buy breathing space to look at

longer-term options. There is talk of 2000 jobs going in coming years.

Aberdeen has been setting its budget. It is looking at trying to

make savings of ?20 million. It argues it can make savings without

hitting jobs and front line services, but unions and others will

be watching closely to see if that is the case. Thank you.

The BBC is set to run a series of off-air pilots to test how

The proposal is for a single integrated TV news programme

covering Scottish, UK and international news from Glasgow.

In a statement the BBC said no decisions had been taken yet,

but that it was reviewing its news coverage.

A look at other stories from across the country.

Scotland's largest council and biggest social landlord have

launched a ?2.7 billion partnership, which they claim will help secure

Under the deal, Glasgow City Council and Wheatley Group will have a 50%

share in City Building Glasgow, the council's arms-length

Wheatley Group owns Glasgow Housing Association,

one of Europe's largest social landlords.

Motorists and a homeowner escaped serious injury,

after a people carrier crashed into a house on the A90

The people carrier and a lorry left the dual carriageway at Hillside

The first vehicle crashed into a house, with the lorry

Aberdeen's Robert Gordon University has warned that around 100 jobs

will have to go, in order to save ?4 million.

The university blames the downturn in the north-east of Scotland

for the move, saying its income has shrunk.

One union has called the move a "devastating blow"

which will threaten teaching quality.

A Perthshire pub has become the first in Scotland to install

a specialist toilet for disabled customers.

The "changing places" facility has been opened alongside

a new multi-sensory room at the Wheel Inn in Scone.

The owners say serving the wider community makes good business sense.

The footfall from families will increase, I hope. We will have more

people in the pub. Bearing in mind that people with particular worries,

autism or dementia, will want to come -- will not want to come into a

busy pub, so they will come when we are naturally quieter.

The cost of clearing up after the flooding caused

by Storm Frank in Aberdeenshire is expected to be ?7.6 million.

Councillors will be told next week that 1.7 million has

Much of the money will go on repairing 22 flood-damaged

The Scotland team have arrived in Rome ahead of a huge Six Nations

Vern Cotter has yet to record a win in the tournament in which the Scots

are trying to avoid a 10th successive defeat.

The head coach has made one change to the starting 15 -

bringing in winger Tim Visser to replace Sean Lamont.

Back in the starting 15 after missing the opening two matches of

the tournament through injury, the Dutch-born winger well aware of the

importance of this game. For us, this is the make or break of the Six

Nations. This is the game where we put ourselves in a good position to

move forward. We're not looking further than the weekend. Italy are

a good team at home. We have to go there and get a good win. Visser's

through. Visser has a habit of scoring against Italians. Exactly

the reason for his recall. Tim's a finisher, good at scoring in points.

We'll need points. He has a nose for the line, those tries. Key for him

to get involved, get his hands on the ball. So far this year, it's

played two, lost two, you get the feeling the head coach is a little

fed up being on the wrong end of the result. We don't like losing. Every

game we go out to win. We know we'll win one sooner or later. If it's

this weekend great, if it's next weekend, it'll can what it is.

COMMENTATOR: It's coming now. He's celebrating already. It's been two

long years since this Duncan Weir drop goal gave Scotland their last

win in the Six Nations, a run of straight nine defeats. What they'd

give for scenes like this on Saturday in Rome.

says supporters have the chance to take the club to another level.

Just as their hopes of automatically moving up a level

fans are being offered a bigger stake in Hibs.

And the money raised is earmarked for team improvement,

It was an unusual sight. For once, the visiting fans had cause to

celebrate at Easter Road. Morton put a huge dent in Hibs title challenge

with a 3-0 victory. Last night Hibs supporters have had much to cheer.

Their backing of a previous issues backed ?500,000 going to improve the

team. Now they are being asked to invest again with the promise funds

raised will go to improve the product on the park. It's been so

successful is they can see the ground we're making on the pitch. We

want to keep moving in the right direction. We feel we are. This is

another opportunity for the fans to invest in the club. Take the

another opportunity for the fans to another level. Another level. Hibs

another opportunity for the fans to But they hit a serious set back

against more ton. They are eight points behind leaders reiningers. Do

they have to win their final 11 games to have a chance of the title?

That's what we've wanted to do. Win our games. From that point of view,

nothing changes. It makes it more difficult to gain automatic

promotion. I've said all season we want to go up automatically. If not,

we'll try to do that through the play-offs. That may now be their

likeliest route to the top flight. Having beaten four preppiership

teams in Cup competition this year, the play-offs hold little to fear.

Towards inintroducing facial recognition technology at football

stadia. Discussions were held but the Government says the

responsibility for this lies with the football authorities and the

clubs. David will be back with the sport tomorrow.

Calvin Harris, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and LCD Soundsystem

will join The Stone Roses at this year's T in the Park festival.

It's the second year the music event has been staged

where it was marred by problems with congestion and delays.

Our arts correspondent Pauline McLean reports.

It remains the country's biggest music festival. Even if it's now in

a new location in the grounds of Straith Allan Castle. This year's

line-up includes the eighth appearance for DJ Calvin Harris. It

is one of the most diverse we've had for years. We've announced the stone

rows he is, Disclosure, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Calvin Harris as the

other Main Stage headliners, a real balance between them and The Stone

Roses. The line-up is confirmed but the event isn't. It requires a

public entertainment licence and Perth council wants substantial

reassurance following problems last year with the flow of people and

traffic from the site. A lot of people are telling you where to go.

Some people saying half an hour walk. Some people are saying 50

minutes. Whoa. That's not good. You get there eventually. A critical

report listed 36 recommendations but T in the Park say they're already

underway. The arena will 25% bigger than last year. We've proposed to

move some of the stages around a bit as well. Increase the flow around

the site. Improve the flow of traffic coming into the site.

Separating the buses from the cars. Putting in a new bus station. A lot

of operational improvements which are in to the council for approval.

Like the osprey who were carefully are in to the council for approval.

monitored on site, the festival's here to stay. Last year was a

difficult year. We accept that. You know, it's on wards and upwards.

Straith Allan Castle will be the long term home for T in the Park.

Tickets are now on sale. Now here's Shelley with

details of Scotland 2016. Zblp the weather pattern broughtly

similar over the next few days. Mainly dry, bright and cold. Today,

we'd a bit more cloud than we're used to. This sunshine was captured

by a viewer in the north-east. You can see quite a blanket of cloud

shunted ahead of this weather front. Tonight, we hang on to a good deal

of cloud. It will be predominately dry. There could be a widespread

frost. Wintry showers for the north and Western Isles. A few into

Dumfries and Galloway. Perhaps the Glasgow area later in the night.

They'll be wintry, even at lower levels but not amounting to much.

Temperatures around feeing if not below. Ice on untreated surfaces.

Showers will fall in the west on to unfrozen ground. Some freezing fog

patches in the morning but short-lived. The showers will clear

during the morning. Most places dry for the afternoon. A fine, bright

day. A good deal for the afternoon. A fine, bright

around. I think brought rather than sunny for Hain many of us. The

around. I think brought rather than of the sunshine over the Northern

Isles and Aberdeenshire. Temperatures 4 or 5 sellingous. With

mainly light winds and a bit of sun, it won't feel too bad. A freshening

south-easterly breeze picking up it won't feel too bad. A freshening

along the west coast later in the day. Tomorrow night, dry, clear,

another day. Tomorrow night, dry, clear,

frost. As we head into the weekend, high pressure to the north, low

pressure to the south. We pick up an easterly air flow. The few showers

focussed across eastern Scotland. Wintry at times. Generally, fine,

dry, bright weather, good spells of sunshine. Sunday, chilly but feeling

pleasant in the sunshine. That's the forecast. #6

Now, a reminder of tonight's #6 main news:

I'll be back with the headlines at 8pm and the late bulletin