UK News: Terror police search homes as 12 men held

ANTI-TERROR police were searching homes in four cities today as officers questioned 12 men arrested over fears of a looming attack.

Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner John Yates warned the property searches in London, Cardiff, Stoke and Birmingham could take days to complete.

Vows ban cases in court

A LEGAL bid to overturn bans on gay civil marriages and heterosexual civil partnerships was to be launched at the European Court of Human Rights today.

Eight British couples are filing a joint application under the case, which is being brought by campaign group Equal Love.

Fears over jobs fund axe

THE government was today warned that its decision to end a jobs fund a year early will lead to unemployed young people facing a potential gap in support available to them.

The Work and Pensions Committee made 23 recommendations after studying the plan to end the 1 billion Future Jobs Fund next March, stressing that proper transitional arrangements should be put in place.

Norman returns to Beeb

VETERAN broadcaster Barry Norman is making a return to the BBC to present a short season of programmes for Radio 4.

The former BBC1 Film host quit the corporation in 1998 after 26 years to work for Sky, presenting movie premieres.

Mother 'kills children before hanging herself'

A WOMAN is believed to have killed two of her children before taking her own life.

Mother-of-five Melanie Stephens, 36, is thought to have suffocated Philip, five, and two-year-old Isaac before hanging herself at their home in north Wales.

Police forced their way into the property in Trawsfynydd, Gwynedd, on Sunday night after frantic relatives were unable to get in.

A Home Office pathologist was last night conducting post-mortem examinations.

Wigan: Workers at food giant Heinz go on strike today in the first of two walkouts before the end of the year in their dispute over pay.

Unite said around 1200 of its members in Wigan would take part. The workers went on strike last week after rejecting a two-year pay offer of 3.3 per cent and three per cent.

London: Recruitment has begun for the first UK trial of a bionic eye which can restore sight to blind people. Surgeons at King's College Hospital are now preparing for a study in the UK and hope to select six patients for the trial, with another six patients treated at Oxford Eye Hospital.