9am Briefing: Baby taken to hospital after electric blanket fire

The baby’s mother had gone to feed him at 12.20am and discovered the bed and bedding alight in the room.

Fire crews who attended the incident on Cobden Crescent in Newington gave the baby oxygen at the scene.

He was then taken to hospital where he was treated for slight smoke inhalation.

* TWO paramedics narrowly escaped serious injury after a brick was thrown at their ambulance by youths as they attended a 999 call.

The crew had been called to an incident in Musselburgh at around 1.30am on Sunday, it was reported today

As the ambulance travelled along the High Street, a brick hit the vehicle inches above the driver’s side window, causing a dent.

The crew - who both escaped injury - stopped and called police while another ambulance was dispatched to the emergency call.

Lothian and Borders Police said they were investigating.

* A WOMAN has died after being struck by a train at Linlithgow Station.

British Transport Police were called to the station at around 7.20pm last night after receiving a report that a person had been struck by a train.

A spokesman for BTP said the incident was being treated as non-suspicious.

A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.

* THE flourishing Edinburgh rental market has pushed prices above £600 a month for a one-bedroom flat for the first time, as homeowners remain in rented accommodation.

Estate agents have revealed that the cost of renting an average flat in the capital has risen by 75 per cent over the past three months, while rents in Glasgow have grown by around six per cent in the same period.

A lack of available mortgages combined with fears that property prices could fall further has meant more people are choosing to rent rather than buy.

* EDINBURGH-based construction company Miller Group is close to concluding talks in a deal which could see majority control pass to US private equity giant Blackstone.

A consortium of three banks will write-down a share of Miller’s estimated £730 million of debt and take equity, it was reported today.

Blackstone, through its GSO Capital Partners subsidiary, is expected to invest substantial funds, which will support acquisitions of other housebuilders.

A deal is likely to be announced before the end of the year.

The Miller family holds more than 60 per cent of the company and a key issue in the negotiations is said to be whether it should relinquish majority ownership.