Briefing: Alan Cumming to return to the Fringe

BROADWAY star Alan Cumming is to return to the Edinburgh Fringe with his solo cabaret act 20 years after the Festival show that launched him on the road to stardom.

The Scottish actor will fly to the city to appear for three nights between filming in the US.

His appearance in a midnight version of his cabaret show, I Bought a Blue Car Today, is seen as a major coup for the Assembly venue as part of its 30th anniversary celebrations this year.

BA post record losses

BELEAGUERED British Airways today posted record annual losses of 531 million.

The airline – facing more strikes on Monday in a bitter dispute with trade union Unite – has been hit by recession, the volcanic ash cloud and a first wave of industrial action in March.

Today's slide into the red is slightly less than the 600m feared, but brings BA's total losses for the past two years to 932 million after a 401 million reverse the previous year.

Two homes hit by fire

TWO fires broke out in the living rooms of two homes in the Capital in the early hours of this morning.

The first fire took place in a ground floor flat on Giles Street at around 3am. The fire was extinguished before firefighters arrived.

Around 30 minutes later firefighters were called to another living room fire in Newtongrange's Beechwood Park.

The fire was extinguished before the fire service's arrival.

Nobody was injured in either of the fires.