9am news briefing

PASSENGERS faced more travel chaos today after at least 176 flights at Edinburgh Airport were disrupted by the volcano ash cloud.

Some 98 flights scheduled to leave the Capital between 7am and 1pm were grounded, with at least 78 arrivals cancelled.

BAA Edinburgh said the airspace over the airport would reopen this afternoon, but airlines would decide themselves if flights would go ahead.

Airspace agency NATS said that the Icelandic ash cloud continues to change shape and it was not able to confirm how long the disruption would last.

• A COUNCIL worker sacked for watching porn in front of children at an Edinburgh school could receive a 60,000 unfair dismissal payout after blaming his actions on diabetes.

Alistair Dickson, who lives in Joppa, claimed he did not know what he was doing at the time as he was suffering a hypoglycaemic episode after failing to properly control his blood sugar levels.

Edinburgh City Council was ordered to reinstate the 54-year-old and pay 25,000 in compensation after an employment tribunal ruled the authority had been wrong to ignore his medical condition.

But Mr Dickson believes the ruling did not go far enough and plans to press for a larger payout.

• AN Edinburgh woman has vowed to become the first person to climb Ben Nevis unaided in a wheelchair.

Sally Hyder, 47, who has multiple sclerosis, says she will not be "shackled down by this stupid disease".

She is currently training to take on Britain's highest mountain in a battery-powered off-road wheelchair in August.

Athough wheelchair users have reached the 4,406ft peak before, the path is so steep at the top that they have previously had to be carried to the summit.