9am Briefing

FORMER city council leader Ewan Aitken is to be Labour's candidate bidding to oust Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill from his Edinburgh seat at next year's Holyrood elections.

The former parish minister and councillor for Craigentinny/Duddingston saw off competition from former Lord Provost Lesley Hinds and ex-councillor Shami Khan to win the party's nomination for the newly-named Edinburgh Eastern constituency.

• ONE of the Capital's grandest buildings is set to become the biggest performance venue at this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The A-listed, 1,000-seat McEwan Hall has agreed to allow the Underbelly – one of the biggest operators at the world-famous festival –to stage performances including Danny Boy, John Bishop and Jim Jefferies.

And the Underbelly has put tickets for the August dates up for sale today, three months ahead of the traditional June launch of the Fringe programme.

• A NEW tournament is offering golfers the chance to win a 1 million cash prize – provided they stump up a 50,000 entry fee in the competition.

The Cool Million Challenge, at Archerfield Links, a private members' club in North Berwick, East Lothian, is set to take place in August between 60 golfers.

The total prize fund could be in excess of 2 million.

• LECTURERS and students held protests at Edinburgh University buildings after all permanent staff at its education faculty received letters warning that they are at risk of redundancy.

Protests were held outside Moray House and at the University's George Square base.

Mary Senior, Scottish Official for the University and College Union said she hoped compulsory redundancies could be avoided through consultation.

As many as 12 posts could be cut by the end of July.