9am Briefing: Japan nuclear crisis at highest level

JAPAN'S nuclear safety agency raised the severity rating of the crisis at its nuclear plant to the highest level today, on a par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

An official with the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, speaking on national television, said the rating was raised from five to seven.

The official said the amount of radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was around 10% of that in the Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union.

• A PENSIONER was treated for smoke inhalation and chest pains following a kitchen fire at her Pilton home.

Fire crews provided the 76-year-old with oxygen before paramedics arrived to take her to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. A 33-year-old woman from the flat above was treated at the scene after breathing in smoke.

Firefighters used breathing kits and a hose reel to extinguish the flames yesterday evening.

• A FORMER principal of Edinburgh University has called for large sections of the country's university sector to be privatised, and for institutions to be allowed to set their own fees.

Lord Sutherland said universities should be able to charge at least 9,000 for a degree, and that 30 per cent of income would be set aside to help students from poorer backgrounds.

The former president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, now University of London vice-chancellor, is due to set out radical proposals at a keynote lecture tonight.

• MORE homes were put up for sale in Scotland last month than in any other part of the UK, latest figures showed today.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Scotland found that Scotland also saw the biggest increase in inquiries from potential buyers and had the highest number of agreed property sales during March, compared with elsewhere.

But the institute said the overall market was a "mixed bag", with prices and sales staying flat.