Leaked records 'suggest war crimes'

Leaked US military files about the conflict in Afghanistan could contain details of "thousands" of war crimes, the man behind their release has said.

Whistleblowing website WikiLeaks published tens of thousands of secret records giving a day-by-day account of Nato forces' operations from January 2004 to December 2009.

The military logs revealed new details about the extent of Afghan civilian casualties, a covert special forces unit targeting insurgent leaders, and concerns that Pakistani intelligence could be supporting the Taliban.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he hoped the information in the files would be investigated and exposed as a deterrent to future human rights abuses. He told a press conference in London: "It is up to a court to decide clearly whether something is in the end a crime. That said, on the face of it, there does appear to be evidence of war crimes in this material."

Grandma 'found bodies of family'

A woman who found the bodies of her two tiny granddaughters and their parents screamed "all my babies are dead" as she ran from the house where they died.

The toddlers' father is believed to have slit the children's throats and their mother's before hanging himself.

Police were called to the semi-detached house in Provost Street in the New Forest village of Fordingbridge after the shocking discovery.

The family were named locally as Andrew and Vicki Case and their daughters Phoebe, two, and Nereya, one.

Neighbours said they believed Case slit the throats of his wife and the two young children before killing himself.

More than 400 North Wales Police staff could lose jobs

Police

MORE than 400 police staff may face the axe, with 250 frontline officers not replaced, under a projected £30m budget cut.

The estimated hammer blow facing North Wales Police was revealed in a financial report to the police authority, which warned up to 484 support staff could be lose their jobs – almost half of the support workforce.

The report also predicts 251 police officers, expected to leave the Force over the next four years, will not be replaced.

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd to get revamp instead of being demolished

Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan

YSBYTY Glan Clwyd won’t be demolished, health bosses decided yesterday.

Instead of spending £300m rebuilding the hospital, one of North Wales’ biggest, because of asbestos problems, it will be given a multi-million pound revamp.

Welsh Health Minister Edwina Hart had agreed the hospital at Bodelwyddan needed to be replaced.

ŠIt followed serious concerns about the level and condition of asbestos in the 40-year-old building, especially the central H-block.