9am briefing: Hunt for sex attacker continues

The woman, who are attacked as she walked home on McDonald Road from an evening out, was approached by a man who attempted to strike up a conversation before grabbing and assaulting her.

It is understood the woman pulled free and the attacker made off towards Leith Walk. The incident took place at around 3.25am on Saturday.

• PROUD parents have been celebrating the arrival of Christmas Day babies, with the first being born just a few minutes after midnight. At the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, Aleasha Campbell and Steven Todd from Edinburgh welcomed their daughter Lily, weighing 7lb 10.5oz, into the world at 12:05. (00.05) The first baby to be delivered on Christmas Day at St John’s Hospital in Livingston was a boy weighing 9lb 10oz.

Jacksen was born to parents Heather and Derek Brown, from Bathgate, at 2.22am.

• POLICE are hunting a robber who demanded cash from a man in a supermarket car park.

The victim was forced to his car at a branch of Asda, on the city’s Sandpiper Drive, by the attacker, who claimed he was armed with a knife.

The robber walked off empty-handed after being startled by another customer approaching a car nearby.

Police have appealed for witnesses to the incident, which took place at 3:50pm on Christmas Eve.

• THE Duke of Edinburgh has spent a third night in hospital after a visit from his grandchildren brought him some Christmas cheer.

Six of the royal grandchildren, including Princes William and Harry, went to see 90-year-old Philip at Papworth Hospital near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, yesterday.

The Duke is said to be eager to leave the hospital, where he is recuperating after treatment for a blocked coronary artery.

• GREATER cultural exchange between China and Scotland must go hand-in-hand with economic ties, the First Minister has told a Chinese TV programme.

Alex Salmond was speaking during an interview for Phoenix TV’s Talk With World Leaders, which has an estimated 350 million viewers across the country.

In the programme Mr Salmond welcomed increasing trade links and industrial co-operation in renewable energy.

But he said non-economic ties were also important to promote “real understanding” between citizens of both countries.