The Edinburgh and Lothians Property Group (ELPG), a group of five local estate agents, believes that the government needs to do more to reinvigorate Scotland's property market.

The Chancellor's announcement of a stamp duty "holiday" on properties under £175,000 comes at a significant juncture in Edinburgh's housing market. The Edinburgh Solicitors' Property Centre (ESPC) announced today that the average price of an Edinburgh property fell by 6.5% to £201,517 in August compared to a year ago. It is the first fall in decades.

More money than ever before was taken at the Edinburgh International Festival box office in 2008. The final figure at the box office is estimated to be £2.63m.

A quartet of young Israeli musicians making their Edinburgh International Festival debut today were forced to stop playing on seve

Budget flight operator Zoom Airlines was forced to ground planes and halt operations at 7pm GMT today after running out of money.

Edinburgh will mark 100 years of Adult Education in the city this year, with a special event that shows its development over the years. Included in the exhibition will be historic records and photographs which detail class programmes and information from as far back as 1908. There will also be information about the latest programme of classes and opportunities to enrol for classes.

The Fringe Director Jon Morgan has announced his resignation.

Jon Morgan who has only been the Fringe Director for just over a year, has today resigned over the ten percent drop in ticket sales compounded by the computer booking fiasco.

Triple Olympic gold-medallist Chris Hoy said he was "overwhelmed" by the large turnout for his victory parade earlier today down the Royal Mile.

The average home in Edinburgh cost £221,209, according to official figures for the second quarter (April to June) published today by the Registers of Scotland. The figures cover all residential sales, including sales for cash not involving a mortgage.

Lynn Ruth Miller, the septuagenarian, stripping granny from San Francisco, says that a member of the audience found her better digs when she heard that she was staying in a remote Edinburgh flat without heating.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival, which ended on Monday, celebrated a rise of 3% in ticket sales from 2007 with three quarters of all tickets selling. Persistent rain in one of the wettest Augusts on record turned parts of Charlotte Square gardens into muddy pools frequented by yellow rubber ducks and seagulls, but the festival still saw almost 200,000 visitors.

As part of her farewell British Isles' tour, The Queen Elizabeth 2, or QE2 as she is commonly known will make her final voyage in Scottish waters in the Forth Estuary on 7 October.

Career soldier General Sir Mike Jackson spoke last week of his experiences in conflicts from Northern Ireland to Iraq in a packed event at the

Five estate agents operating in the Edinburgh and Lothians area have joined the call for Chancellor Alistair Darling to freeze Stamp Duty levels to "re-invigorate" the local and national housing market.

The 62nd Edinburgh Festival Fringe, ending today, appears to have survived the wettest August on record and a ticketing fiasco which saw it suspending counter and telephone ticket sales even as preview shows were about to start.

The final allocation of tickets for the Bank of Scotland Fireworks Concert go on sale tomorrow at 10.00am. Tickets will be available only from the counter of the Hub.

A Seagull Task Force is being set up to look at ways in which urban gulls can be prevented from nesting and how nests can be effectively destroyed. A pilot project will begin in Dumfries next Spring to coincide with the breeding season.

The Edinburgh Military Tattoo is to extend its reach beyond Edinburgh, with a series of four events to be staged across Scotland, it was announced yesterday.

The Intelligent Finance Comedy Awards, the UK's premier comedy awards, are now in their 28th year. The two awards are given for the most outstanding up-and-coming, funny, original comedy show

Glasgow City Council has paid tribute to Chris Hoy's Olympic success by announcing that the new National Velodrome being built for the 2014 Commonwealth Games will be named in his honour.