9am Briefing: Pensioner injured chasing snowball yobs

A Pensioner has broken her leg trying to chase a group of yobs who were pelting her windows with snowballs, it was reported today.

Margaret Sharp, 65, and husband Ronald said they had phoned police 18 times about the gang, who they say have been waging a campaign against them since the start of November.

Mrs Sharp slipped on the ice outside her home in Port Seton, East Lothian, when she went to confront the gang of kids.

She said: "I had gone out to tell the gang of kids to clear off and I slipped on ice. We rang police before I fell but they told me 'we don't do snowballs'."

Police last night said the complaint was being followed up.

• SCOTTISH MPs have persuaded the coalition government to ban the ship-to-ship transfer of oil in the Firth of Forth.

There had been pressure from Tory and Lib-Dem MPs in the south west of England over the issue, which had led to the possibility of an order banning the practice in the Forth being reviewed.

A previous campaign against the controversial proposal saw environmentalists warn of the devastating consequences of allowing ship-to-ship oil transfers in such a sensitive area.

And yesterday shipping minister Mike Penning announced that ship-to-ship oil transfers will be restricted to a single designated area off the north Suffolk coast, but not in Scotland.

• SUSAN Boyle finally made it to the stage of Royal Variety Performance last night, a year after missing out on a place after finishing runner-up in Britain's Got Talent.

The prize for the winners Diversity was a spot at last year's show, but since then 'SuBo' has become an international star, with her second album released earlier this year another huge seller.

The West Lothian star joined performers including Kylie Minogue, Take That and Cheryl Cole to perform for an audience including the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

Boyle sang her own version of Lou Reed's Perfect Day. The charity event was hosted by Michael McIntyre.