9am Briefing: Three in hospital after flat fire

Around six fire engines, police and ambulance crews attended the blaze at Bridge Road in Colinton which started at around 6.50am this morning.

Three female casualties required treatment but their injuries were not thought to be serious.

The fire started in a flat behind Mathur's Colinton Convenience Store.

Shop owner Anupam Mathur, 35, said: "I was in the shop at the time and noticed a lot of smoke pouring in. I went outside and saw a very fierce blaze in the flat behind the shop. It was very dramatic but fire fighters put out the fire very quickly."

Lord Advocate 'disastrous experiment'

A LEADING QC has described Lord Advocate Elish Angiolini's appointment as a "disastrous experiment", it was reported today.

Robert Black, Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Edinburgh said Ms Angiolini – who announced her resignation last week – was too close to the government and described her as "a Crown Office staffer".

He said: "She had never in her working life spent a day outside the Crown Office when the whole point of a Lord Advocate is that he or she is not a Crown Office creature.

"The appointment of a Crown Office staffer as Lord Advocate was a disastrous experiment."

Koren facing legal action

FRINGE impresario Karen Koren is facing legal action from the city council over unpaid bills totalling 200,000.

Her Winter Wonderland ice rink in Princes Street Gardens made huge losses over the last two years.

The council confirmed it was about to start legal proceedings against Ms Koren, who has already lost the contract to run the ice rink this year.

Protesters shut down careers fair

PROTESTERS at Edinburgh University temporarily shut down its careers fair to campaign about the presence of arms producer BAE Systems.

Around a dozen Students for Justice in Palestine campaigners disrupted the event yesterday by chanting and brandishing banners at the BAE stand.