Breaking news: Tuesday, March 12

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4:15pm: Grampian Police are anxious to trace a pregnant woman who has been reported missing from the Foresterhill area of Aberdeen.

3:50pm: Investigators may finally be closing in on the cause of a “potentially catastrophic” mechanical failure in the gearbox of a Super Puma helicopter which was forced to ditch in the North Sea six months ago.

3:20pm: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticised for hugging mother of late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.

2:40pm: Two heroic helicopter crewmen have been honoured for their part in a dramatic rescue in the North Sea last December.

2:20pm: Nearly 800 drivers have been caught speeding in a three-day crackdown, the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos) said today.

2.00pm: Scottish scientists are leading a groundbreaking study to develop a “pillcam” carrying tiny ultrasound technology that can be swallowed by patients.

1.40pm: Phillip Simelane, 22, is to be charged with the murder of schoolgirl Christina Edkins, who was stabbed to death on a bus in Birmingham last week, West Midlands Police said today.

1:25pm: Nearly 1,500 people were caught speeding or not wearing seatbelts in a weekend crackdown by Scottish police, including a baby carried on a passenger’s lap.

1:15pm: Two more speed cameras in the Borders have been vandalised in the latest round of a “systematic campaign of violence”.

1:00pm: Appeal judges have started hearing a man’s attempt to overturn a conviction for armed robbery more than 30 years ago.

12.55pm: A former KGB agent suspected of murdering Alexander Litvinenko has told a press conference that he will withdraw co-operation with the UK-based inquest into the spy’s death

12.40pm: Two more Borders speed cameras have been vandalised with a saw, with the latest attacks on the A68 bringing the total to six.

12:30pm: Authorities in Brisbane, Australia have destroyed a ‘baseball-sized’ Giant African snail after worries it could do severe damage to the country’s ecosystem.

12.23pm: Police have issued another warning about potentially lethal substances after a man was found dead in his home.

12:10pm: South African forensics experts searching for the bodies of two men last seen at the home of Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife have exhumed a pair of graves.

11:55am: Edinburgh commuters faced the second longest delays in the UK during rush hour this morning with drivers stuck for more than 60 minutes on one of the main routes into the capital.

11:45am: An Aberdeen man has been jailed for attacking and seriously injuring a drugs supplier who died weeks after the assault.

11.32am: The Scottish Government has announced plans to build 78 new affordable homes across the Highlands.

11:05am: Catholic Cardinals were today celebrating a final Mass at the Vatican before sequestering themselves in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to elect the next pope.

10:50am: A date has been set for the Landward Caithness by-election to find a successor to Councillor Robert Coghill (Ind) who stepped down last month following medical advice.

10:40am: Improvements to a notorious stretch of the A9 in Caithness have taken a step forward.

10:35am: A major search of the Angus coastline was continuing today for a missing Royal Marine from the 45 Commando base at RM Condor in Arbroath.

10:20am: NicolaSturgeon today said 16 and 17-year-olds are ready to “take responsibility for Scotland’s future”, as she set out plans to hand them the vote in next year’s independence referendum.

10:10am: Two prominent scientists at one of Scotland’s leading agricultural research institutes have been named as the victims of a horrific fatal road crash in Aberdeenshire last Friday.

10:05am: Officers from the newly formed Specialist Crime Division of Grampian Police have recovered crack cocaine with a street value of over £23,000, following the search of a man in the Guild Street area of Aberdeen.

10:00am: A futuristic play set on a new version of Earth staged in a vast sports complex on the outskirts of Scotland’s capital is to take centre-stage at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.

9:45am: The body of a man who died in a New Delhi jail while in the midst of a trial for rape has been released to his family after a post-mortem exam.

9:00am: In the US, Democrats are ready to push expanded background checks and other gun curbs through a Senate committee, giving President Barack Obama an initial if temporary victory on the issue.

8:00am: The people of the Falkland Islands have voted overwhelmingly to remain an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, with 98.8% declaring themselves in favour.