Works of Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie and more to feature in celebration of literature’s interplay with other art forms, says director

This year’s Edinburgh book festival is expanding its slate of genre-busting musical events, including staging Japanese Noh theatre at one of the city’s oldest religious sites, Greyfriars Kirk.

Jenny Niven, the Edinburgh international book festival’s director, said such events broke away from the traditional formula of authors sitting in tents, and aimed to attract new audiences and celebrate literature’s interplay with other art forms.

Experimental tablet produces encouraging results in patients with world’s most common forms of disease

• ‘I was getting ready to say goodbye’: patient’s hope after smart drug success

A smart drug that stops cancer cells “hiding” from treatment can shrink tumours by at least 30% in six of the world’s most common forms of the disease, early trial results show.

While immunotherapy treatments have improved survival rates for many patients, their effectiveness can stall or fail when tumour cells hide and then spread.

A large scrub fire broke out in Holyrood Park, near Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland, on Monday evening. The blaze started in vegetation near the ruins of St Anthony’s chapel. Plumes of smoke were seen over the city, as the Scottish fire and rescue service worked to contain the blaze

Liza Tobay, who lives in UK, was told her settled status had been ‘red flagged’ after trying to make a connecting flight from Munich to Edinburgh

A German woman has been separated from her two-year-old daughter in Edinburgh after a Home Office mistake left her stranded in Dusseldorf earlier this week.

Liza Tobay, who has lived in the UK for 15 years, had taken her oldest child, a six-year-old boy, to visit his grandfather and some other relatives over Easter when confronted with what she said appeared to be “a serious administrative error”.

Tiny eateries such as the award-winning Gwen in Wales, which holds just eight customers, are spreading across the UK

It started with the portion sizes, as all-you-can-eat buffets were reduced to bite-size small plates. Then the menus started to decrease, with pages of dishes shrinking to an A5 sheet of paper.

Now restaurants are undergoing another round of downsizing. Micro-restaurants, which usually seat fewer than 20 people, are gradually spreading across the UK.

August festival presents largest-ever jazz programme alongside full-scale operas and Scottish folk music

This year’s Edinburgh international festival will showcase American art that celebrates the creativity and energy of the US, while also exposing its cruelty and hypocrisy, its director has said.

Nicola Benedetti, the Grammy-award winning violinist now presenting her fourth festival, said Donald Trump’s explosive second term as president made that quest more important than ever.

Tour guide reports drawing of naked woman pointing knife at baby and coded writing at Old Calton burial ground

The tomb of the philosopher David Hume and two other memorials at a historic cemetery in Edinburgh have been vandalised with “disturbing occult-style paraphernalia”.

A tour guide made the discovery at the Old Calton burial ground. It included a drawing of a naked woman pointing a bloodied knife at a baby with a noose around its neck, and coded writing on red electrical tape attached to the David Hume mausoleum and two nearby memorial stones.

With the search for the country’s first town of culture under way, Guardian writers pick their favourite spots for art, architecture, food, festivals, music and celeb spotting

Why did Caesar, Saint Augustine, Hengist and Horsa make Ramsgate their first port of call on assorted crusading trips to England? Proximity to France? Easy landing beaches beneath the cliffs? The lively arts scene?

EasyJet, British Airways and Ryanair passengers among those caught up in cancellations caused by air traffic control problems

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Flights have resumed at Edinburgh airport after it suspended operations on Friday morning because of an IT issue in air traffic control.

Planes were beginning to take off at about 10.40am, according to a statement posted by the airport on social media.