9am news briefing

A MAJOR emergency response was launched this morning to extinguish 40 tons of hay which had caught fire in a derelict barn.

The barn at Leyden Road, Kirknewton, West Lothian is also suspected to have asbestos in the roof cavity said firefighters.

Lothian and Borders Fire and rescue said crews expected the firefighting and cleanup operation to last for a large part of the day.

Police said it was too early to say whether the cause of the blaze was suspicious.

• AROUND 125,000 shopping trolleys stolen in Edinburgh and Glasgow were among a haul of metalic items stolen in the last year to fuel the booming trade in black-market scrap.

Environmental officers recently targeted scrap yards in Edinburgh hunting for stolen trolleys, railway cabling, man-hole covers, beer kegs and road signs, which have all gone missing recently.

British Transport Police has recorded 83 metal thefts in Scotland this year so far, nearly double the whole of 2009.

• A PENSIONER with dementia was sent home with a needle in his arm for the second time in ten days.

Ken MacLean, 77, was driven back from St John's hospital in Livingston, yesterday, with the needle still attached, it was reported today.

Ten days ago he was sent home with a needle in the other arm. NHS Lothian has written to Ken to say sorry and has begun a probe.

• A SCHOOLBOY has been charged in connection with a blaze which destroyed the old Craigroyston High.

The Muirhouse school had to be demolished yesterday after it was gutted by the fire, which started at around 8:30pm on Wednesday night.

As fire crews battled the 30ft flames, several fire hoses were slashed.

Lothian and Borders Police said they wanted to trace other suspects in connection with the hose slashing.

• THE Scottish Government today defended its decision to refuse invitations for Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill and prisons medical chief Dr Andrew Fraser to attend a US senate hearing next week over the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

Labour accused Mr MacAskill of "running scared" and said he should explain his decision last year to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

A government spokesman said: "As has been said unequivocally, the Scottish Government has never, at any point, received any representations from BP in relation to al-Megrahi."