9am Briefing: Theatre evacuated after dry ice set off fire alarms

A CITY theatre had to be evacuated after a technical hitch triggered fire alarms during a public performance.

Dry ice being used at the opening night of Back To The Eighties at the Churchill Theatre in Morningside engulfed the auditorium, setting off alarms at 8:30pm last night.

The fire service attended the incident and the audience were allowed back into the building within fifteen minutes of the alarm sounding.

Boyle quits US TV show

SUSAN Boyle pulled out of a major US TV performance after rock legend Lou Reed banned her from singing Perfect Day, it was reported today.

The West Lothian singing sensation reportedly quit her spot on America's Got Talent after being given just two hours to rehearse Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah instead.

Insiders reportedly claimed that the former Velvet Underground frontman refused to let SuBo sing his song because he "didn't like" her.

Merger plan slammed

A GROUP of Scotland's most high-profile arts and business figures have criticised plans to carry out a 40 million merger between Edinburgh College of Art and the University of Edinburgh.

Stagecoach tycoon Brian Souter, artist William Baillie, Lady Mathewson, the wife of former RBS chairman Sir George, and arts impresario Richard Demarco are among the signatories of a letter to education minister Mike Russell urging him to block the plans to bring the historic institutions together.

The principals of the ECA, the Britain's oldest art college, and University of Edinburgh believe substantial costs could be saved in the long-run.

Award for Watson

WORLD-FAMOUS photographer Albert Watson is to receive the Royal Photographic Society's highest award at a glittering ceremony in London tonight.

Edinburgh-born Watson will become the first Scot to receive the Centenary Medal after an unrivalled career capturing images of figures ranging from Bill Clinton to the Queen and Kate Moss to rock stars.

The 68-year-old has also shot more than 200 Vogue covers and 40 covers of Rolling Stone magazine since the mid-1970s.

Lib Dems facing seat boom

LIBERAL Democrats stand to win half of Edinburgh's Scottish Parliament seats under the new boundaries which come into effect at next year's elections, according to an expert analysis.

Professor David Denver of Lancaster University has calculated that if the 2007 elections had been fought on the new boundaries, the Lib Dems would have won Edinburgh Central as well as Edinburgh Western and Edinburgh Southern, while Edinburgh Eastern would have gone to Labour rather than the SNP.

The SNP would have won Almond Valley - based on Livingston - by just four votes. And the Nationalists would have beaten the Lib Dems to take the new Midlothian South, Tweeddale & Lauderdale seat.