9am Briefing: City councillor Maginnis dies at 54

COUNCILLOR Elizabeth Maginnis died yesterday of a brain haemorrhage.

The 54-year-old Labour councillor, who won election to the new Forth ward last May, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2004, but was given the all-clear in November and returned to the City Chambers after an absence of just a few months.

A councillor in Edinburgh for more than 21 years, Ms Maginnis was admitted to the city's Western General with a suspected haemorrhage on Thursday afternoon and died early yesterday.

Football fan had Hearts season ticket before being born
SCOTLAND'S youngest football fan was reportedly a Hearts season ticket holder before she was even born.

One-year-old Terri-Ann Reid's parents, George Reid and Theresa Clunie, bought her seat at Tynecastle while she was still in the womb.
Jambos-daft dad-of-four, Mr Reid, 51, said the family never miss a game.

City festivals to be jointly marketed
EDINBURGH'S 13 festivals are reportedly to be jointly marketed for the first time.

Leading agencies from across Britain are expected to pitch for the chance to create the first campaign to showcase the group of events that includes the Fringe, Tattoo and Hogmanay.

The 13 crowd-pullers are estimated to be worth around £135 million to the Capital's economy.

Binge drinking fears for Lothians
MORE people are literally drinking themselves senseless in the Lothians, new figures have revealed.

Hospitals discharged 79 people suffering from alcohol-related brain damage in 2006/07, the last full year of figures from NHS Lothian. This is up from 54 in 2003/04.