9am briefing: Brave Edinburgh youngster undergoes heart operation

A SEVEN-year-old girl from the Capital is recovering well after undergoing a groundbreaking heart transplant operation.

Hanna Adnan is the first person in the world to have lived with an artificial heart during the wait on three separate occasions, it was reported today.

Her family has faced an anxious wait for a donor heart but last month one became available.

Hanna and her father Adnan Zubir travelled to Newcastle for the operation four weeks ago and will soon be able to return to their home in the Capital after the success, it was reported today.

Ticket sales record for Royal Highland Show

ORGANISERS of the Royal Highland Show say the event has now reached capacity on its current site as they revealed ticket sales are running around ten per cent ahead of last year's record-breaking event.

Advance ticket sales for the show at Ingliston, which starts tomorrow, have reached nore than 200,000, more than ever before.

Visitor numbers at the four-day event have soared from 148,283 in 2007 to 187,644 last year.

Customs mix-up causes delay at airport

DOZENS of flights at Edinburgh airport were delayed after passengers arriving from Turkey were shown through the wrong door, bypassing passport control and customs.

A security alert was sparked after the travellers were directed to domestic arrivals by mistake, it was reported today.

Passengers ready to take off were required to queue up and go through security checks a second time because staff could not be sure where people from the Turkish flight had gone.

Scale of Scotland's negative equity problem revealed

MORE than four out of five Scottish homes bought in the last five years are now worth less than their purchase price, fuelling fears of negative equity.

Of more than 374,000 properties bought since 2006, 306,000 are now valued below the price paid. Homeowners who bought at the market peak are worst hit with 93 per cent of homes bought in 2007 now worth less than the purchase price.

MP in fascist jibe at SNP

THE chairman of the Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee has sparked fury by describing the SNP as "neo-fascists".

Labour MP Ian Davidson used the term during a debate at Westminster on the Scotland Bill last night.

He attacked the "narrow, neo-fascism of the nationalists" but was immediately condemned by SNP MPs who reacted angrily in the Commons chamber.