The breakthrough on the Biko case represents one of the TRC's greatest coups and strengthens its claim to

The breakthrough on the Biko case represents one of the TRC's greatest coups and strengthens its claim to be a better vehicle than the criminal courts for dealing with the past.The application however will almost certainly anger Biko's family. Yesterday Biko's eldest son Nkosinathi, 26, said the family could not comment before it had discussed the matter.But last year Biko's widow, Ntiski, backed by the Azanian People's Organisation (Azpo), which claims to be the true carrier of the Biko torch, challenged the legitimacy of the TRC in the Constitutional Court.They argued the TRC was an instrument of political expediency and that its amnesty powers robbed victims' families of justice. A successful application for amnesty, granted to those who freely confess to past atrocities if they can prove political motivation, bars any future criminal charges or civil claims against perpetrators.The family lost their challenge when the 10 constitutional court judges ruled that without the offer of amnesty there would be a disincentive to tell the truth.Nation divided, page 9. Detectives investigating a multi-million-pound string of art burglaries were yesterday questioning eight suspects following a series of dawn raids across central London. The men were arrested following a four-month inquiry into at least 40 burglaries at galleries and private homes in Kensington, Notting Hill and Hampstead over the past three years. The investigation started last September when a raid on the north London premises of a suspected middleman uncovered a pounds 3m "Aladdin's cave" of rare stolen books, paintings, statues and other antiques.

That 1,500-item haul included five Dutch masters, thought to have been snatched from a Bond Street gallery, together worth pounds 500,000.. The death toll in the Scottish food-poisoning outbreak has risen to 18 after an 86-year-old woman succumbed to the infection. Health officials confirmed last night that a woman from the Wishaw area, who was admitted to Monklands Hospital, Airdrie, on 9 December with E. coli 0157 infection, died on Friday. The total number of fatalities is now almost equal to the worst-known outbreak of the infection, when 19 pensioners died in 1985 at an old people's home in Canada.

German doctors are to perform a post-mortem examination on a 41- year-old woman whom they suspect may have died from the "new variant" form of the brain disorder Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), which has been linked to mad-cow disease, or BSE. If the case is confirmed, then the woman would be the first known victim of v-CJD in Germany. A growing body of evidence has linked the new variant to exposure to BSE-infected products - almost certainly food. The test on the woman follows the announcement last week of the death of a cow, born to an animal imported from Britain, in the fifth case of BSE reported in Germany, which has already ordered the slaughter of more than 5,000 cattle imported from Britain and Switzerland Charles Arthur. Barbie, the 37-year-old doll, has been named toy of the year for the first time in her history. The British Association of Toy Retailers said the Mattel doll, which also won the Doll of the Year and Best Girls' Toy titles, had now achieved cult status. Andrea Bergstein, a senior product manager at Mattel said: "[Barbie has] always been top of the trends. She has always provided girls with what they want."The boys' toy of the year was Barbie's long-time rival, Hasbro's Action Man - which was toy of the year in 1966.