9am Briefing: Rev Ian Paisley to protest Pope's Edinburgh visit

The veteran Protestant preacher and a group of around 60 people from his Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster will hold a service in the Magdalen Chapel in the Cowgate, where John Knox once preached.

Mr Paisley, now Lord Bannside, said the protest would be peaceful and would involve unfurling a banner and having a public meeting outside.

Meanwhile, Cardinal Keith O'Brien claimed the cost of the Pope's visit would be outweighed by the moral benefits.

13 arrested over illegal dance drug

JUST 13 people have been arrested for alleged posession of the dance drug Meow Meow in the Lothains since it became illegal, it was reported today.

The drug was banned in April but since then only 79 suspects have been arrested in Scotland, nearly half in the Grampian region alone, allegedly in posession of the drug which was controversially linked to two deaths in Scotland.

However, drug campaign group The Scottish Drugs Action Forum has warned that the relatively low number of convictions could be down to revellers switching to new "legal highs" such as Ivory Wave.

Primary class numbers plan stepped forward

PLANS to bring in a legal limit of 25 for primary one classes took another step forward today.

On a visit to Letham Primary School in Livingston, Education Secretary Mike Russell was due to reveal the results of a consultation on the issue, which is expected to pave the way for the new regulations to be in place for youngsters starting school in August 2011.

The current legal limit of a maximum of 30 pupils per class has meant local authorities have faced legal challenges for turning down placing requests when trying to reduce class sizes.

The SNP pledged at the 2007 election to cut class sizes to 18 in primaries one to three.

Police cuts warning

THE convener of the Lothian and Borders Police board has warned that a proposed cash-saving merger of Scotland's police forces could end up costing more money in the long term.

Iain Whyte warned The Scottish Policing Board to "look carefully" at restructuring options, which may include the establishment of a single national force or three larger forces and could see the number of Scottish police officers reduced by thousands, it was reported today.

The decision to investigate the options was taken yesterday at a meeting of the Scottish Policing Board, chaired by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill.

Parties turn on SNP after cross-party plans to keep defence contracts

PLANS for a cross-party submission putting the case for Scotland ahead of the UK Government's strategic defence review have run into trouble.

The aim is to present a united front amid fears the two aircraft carriers being built at Rosyth and on the Clyde could be cancelled.

But Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray said the case drawn up by SNP ministers was "not persuasive and full of holes". Lib Dems said it had major weaknesses and the Tories described it as "work in progress".