9am news briefing

A WOMAN who died in a car crash in Aberdeenshire alongside her Royal Marine brother has been named as a Heriot-Watt University graduate from Edinburgh.

Dr Maia Strachan, 26, was killed alongside Captain Michael Strachan, 28, a 45 Commando marine from Glasgow, when the sports car they were travelling in crashed at a sharp bend on the B979 Stonehaven to Netherley road in Aberdeenshire on Wednesday. Dr Strachan recently graduated with a PhD in marine biology.

• EDINBURGH'S independent George Watson's College is to become the first school in Scotland to offer the International Baccalaureate qualification alongside Highers.

No local authority schools in Scotland offer the elite qualification, although Fettes College offers it alongside A levels and GCSEs.

Watson's is one of a handful of schools selected to offer the two-year diploma, an internationally-recognised alternative to Highers and A levels.

• A MAN charged with the attempted murder, rape and abduction of a woman at a house in Livingston has appeared in court.

John McKeown, 22, from Livingston, who was also charged with breach of the peace and assault, underwent a judicial examination at Livingston Sheriff Court yesterday.

The case follows an alleged attack on a 39-year-old in a house in Oakwood Drive in the early hours of Saturday, November 7.

McKeown made no plea or declaration and was fully committed on all charges. He was remanded in custody.