World News: Police arrest couple after bodies of eight babies found

Police were continuing to search with sniffer dogs in Villers-au-Tertre, near Lille in northern France, according to officials today.

The two in custody are said to be the parents of the children. They are being held on suspicion of concealment of a corpse and the non-reporting of a crime. Residents said the new owners of a house in the village had called in the police after finding the remains of infants in the garden of their home.

Inquiries led to another house in the village where the bodies of more babies were found, the residents added.

However, other reports said the remains were found in the house and garden of the same home.

The bodies are reported to have been wrapped in plastic bags.

Prosecutors are due to hold a news conference about the discovery today.

France has had a string of cases in recent years in which parents have killed their newborn babies.

In March, a mother confessed to killing six of her newborn children and hiding them in the cellar of her house, which was situated in north-west France.

Twitterings from Captain Kirk

Former Star Trek captain and the star of new Twitter-inspired comedy "$#*! My Dad Says" 79-year-old William Shatner, has confessed he hasn't yet got to grips with Twitter and that he has trouble remembering computer passwords.More powers for new KGB

Russia's president Dmitry Medvedev has signed a bill that widens the powers of the Federal Security Service, the KGB's main successor agency.

The bill would allow the agency, known as FSB, to issue warnings to people suspected of preparing to commit crimes against Russia.

Nasa workers facing blast off

The private contractor that handles the bulk of the work servicing Nasa's space shuttle fleet is notifying 1,400 employees that they will be laid off in the autumn.

The last shuttle flight is expected next year.

Jacko doctors avoid charges

US investigators probing the death of Michael Jackson decided not to file charges against seven doctors who treated him, authorities said.

The doctors were part of a probe by California state attorney general Jerry Brown's Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement, spokeswoman Christine Gasparac said.

One doctor, whose name was not released, was referred to the California Medical Board for prescribing drugs to a Jackson alias, she said.

Workers start to clean up chemical spill

China: Workers began cleaning up a chemical spill in the north-east today after more than 3,000 containers of chemicals were washed into the Songhua River by the worst floods to hit China in more than a decade.

Japan: The United States said the US ambassador to Japan will for the first time attend a ceremony marking the August 6 anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack in Hiroshima.