9am Briefing: Top city private school to close

STAFF and pupils at a top Edinburgh private school were in shock today after it was announced it would close for good at the end of the month.

St Margaret's School in East Suffolk Road, Newington, has gone into administration, with receivers KPMG ruling it is no longer financially viable.

The closure will affect 100 members of staff and 350 pupils. The school, which is 110 years old, is due to close on 29 June.

Administrators said St Margaret's, which charges up to 2,628 a term, had no option but to close its doors after several years of declining rolls and operating deficits. The value of its property portfolio had also been reduced in value by the recession.

MS home closure

SCOTLAND'S only respite care home for people with multiple sclerosis is set to close.

Leuchie House, near North Berwick, provides day care and breaks for hundreds of people with MS and their families.

But now the MS Society, which has run the home since 1998, has announced it is to stop providing respite care at Leuchie House as well as its three homes in England.

Rhinos 'acting like brothers'

TWO heavyweights of Edinburgh Zoo are acting like brothers only days after they were introduced, keepers said today.

Rhinos are normally solitary animals in the wild and power struggles can take place when they live in the same area, even when they are young.

But staff at the Zoo said greater one-horned Indian rhinos Samir and Bertus, who are 18-months-old, are now are already inseparable.

Mandella's great-granddaughter dies

THE opening of the World Cup was marred today by the death of former South African president Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter in a car crash.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said Zenani Mandela, 13, was killed on the way home from last night's Soweto concert heralding today's launch of the tournament. , which is being held in Africa for the first time.

The girl apparently died in a one-car accident and no-one else was injured.

Cameron tribute to troops

DAVID Cameron paid tribute today to British troops fighting in Afghanistan, telling them that they were doing "great work" that would never be forgotten.

The Prime Minister spent the night in Camp Bastion, Helmand province – home to more than 5,000 British servicemen and women.