THE head of the Priory chain of rehab clinics ran a care home that mistreated elderly people, the General Medical Council heard yesterday.

AN entire British battlegroup was scrambled into action in southern Iraq last night after reports of a group of insurgents on the move south of Basra.

THE Hatfield rail crash, which claimed four lives and left 102 people injured, was a disaster waiting to happen, a court heard yesterday.

HEALTH professionals have called on the Executive to raise awareness of eating disorders amid concern that Princess Diana's death has driven bulimia nervosa underground.

SOUTH African prosecutors said yesterday they did not have a strong enough case against Mark Thatcher to guarantee a conviction when they agreed a plea bargain over his suspected involvement in a foiled coup.

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl who became Britain's youngest drink-driver when she stole her father's car after downing beer and an alcopop, was banned from the roads yesterday.

THE father of Julie Ward, the British tourist murdered in Kenya in 1988, arrived in Nairobi yesterday to press the new government to reopen investigations into the killing.

TWO terrorism suspects may choose to remain in prison rather than be subjected to new house arrest restrictions, their lawyer told a special court yesterday.

IRAQI militants yesterday issued dramatic video footage which they said proved they had shot down an RAF Hercules in central Iraq, killing ten British servicemen.

TONY Blair came under renewed pressure to take a stronger line over Sudan's Darfur region last night, amid suggestions the United Nations has decided the systematic killing of civilians in the area does not constitute genocide.

JACK McConnell became embroiled in a row over drinking last night after appearing to condone young people getting drunk "once in a while".

PATRICIA Hewitt, the Trade and Industry Secretary, yesterday exposed a Cabinet rift over controversial new anti-terrorism laws, insisting the power to put suspects under house arrest would only be used against Islamic extremists.

JACK McConnell's flagship plan to cut waste and bureaucracy was dealt a body blow yesterday, when it emerged that the cost of running the Scottish government has soared by £45 million in just four years - a rise of nearly

LABOUR posters attacked as anti-Semitic were last night removed from the party's website.

TONY Blair will this morning launch a tough new regime to wean people off incapacity benefit, in a welfare crackdown that will have a central role in Labour's general election campaign.

DAVID Davidson stood down as the Tories' Scottish health spokesman yesterday in the wake of allegations about binge drinking and an affair with an SNP MSP.