Weekly news digest: Wales

Sergeant Robert Busuttil was shot in his hammock

Just in case you missed the news this week, BBC News Online brings you up-to-date with some of the headlines from Wales.

An inquest opened on Monday into the deaths of a soldier who shot another dead and then turned the gun on himself.

The hearing in Wiltshire was told that drunken Corporal John Gregory, 30, from Catterick, North Yorkshire, fired up to 10 bullets at Sergeant Robert Busuttil, also 30, from Sketty in Swansea, as he relaxed in a hammock at his military base at Kabul airport.

Later in the week, Wiltshire coroner David Masters recorded verdicts of unlawful killing on Sergeant Busuttil and suicide on Corporal Gregory.

Wales' biggest quango - Elwa - was back in the spotlight on Tuesday. The chair of the Welsh assembly's education committee said he was "shocked" at a damning report into the assembly-sponsored body.

Liberal Democrat Peter Black said the findings by the National Audit Office highlighting shortcomings at Elwa - the organisation responsible for post-16 education in Wales - were some of the most "appalling" he had seen.

The government watchdog said Elwa failed to protect the interests of taxpayers and that there was a serious and fundamental breakdown in the controls that should have been operated.

On Wednesday, an inquest heard how a mother had to listen on the phone as her estranged husband killed himself and their four young children.

Killed by their father : Joshua, seven, Thomas, six, Callum, five and Daniel, three

Farm labourer Keith Young, 38, drove his sons Joshua, seven, Thomas, six, Callum, five and Daniel, three to a beauty spot at the Horseshoe Pass, near Llangollen, north Wales, during an access visit.

He then gassed them by running a petrol lawnmower in the back of the family car, describing what was happening as he spoke to the boys' mother on his mobile phone.

North Wales Police officers who attended the scene said they were faced with one of the most shocking scenes they had ever seen.

Deputy Chief Constable Bill Brereton, said the incident was "horrendous beyond my imagination".

Concorde finally took off from Cardiff International Airport on Thursday afternoon - following a night on the runway following engine problems.

Crowds turned up to see Concorde leaving Cardiff

The British Airways flight, travelling from New York's JFK airport, was forced to land at Cardiff because it was running short of fuel.

Specialist engineers had to be called in to check that there were no mechanical irregularities, before it was allowed to continue its journey to London.

Plaid Cymru members had their first chance to see their new leaders together when Dafydd Iwan and Ieuan Wyn Jones rallied the faithful on the first day of the party's annual conference in Cardiff.

One of the subjects up for debate questioned the value of teaching British, as opposed to Welsh history in Welsh schools.

On Friday, a man was given two life sentences for a "depraved and brutal destruction" of his own family - his girlfriend and their baby daughter.

Heroin addict Andrew Roberts pleaded guilty at Swansea Crown Court to killing Louise L'Homme and their 10-month-old daughter Tia Roberts.

Their bodies were found under an upturned bed at their terraced house in Tylorstown, Rhondda, in February. Both had been strangled.

Louise L'Homme and daughter Tia were strangled

The court heard how Roberts had become "obsessive and jealous" after the couple got back together when he was released from prison for burglary.

On the same day, a south Wales businessman and his girlfriend were jailed for making two women live in conditions "akin to medieval slavery" for nearly 10 years.

The victims of Liaquat Haq from Mountain Ash in the Cynon Valley and Sharon Skitt from Pontygwaith, Rhondda, endured physical and mental abuse.

Haq whipped one woman and forced her to sleep in a room with his dogs, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

One of the women was found to have more than 100 scars on her body after she finally escaped.

Saturday was an historic day for Plaid Cymru. Delegates voted unanimously to affirm the party's long-term aim to secure independence for Wales within the European Union, and a seat as a full member of the United Nations.

The conference was the most significant in the party's history

The commitment ends decades of debate about the party's official line on the subject of self-government.

Delegates voted to drop the term "full national status" and declare its constitutional aim as "independence" - a word it has been avoiding until now, for fear of alienating some voters.

Controversially, however, Plaid Cymru' s assembly group leader, Ieuan Wyn Jones was not on the conference floor to take part in the historic vote.

His aides said he was finalising his conference speech and that he was "relaxed about the outcome of the vote". They denied any attempt to avoid involvement in the debate.

He had earlier refused to reveal how he would vote, saying he would make up his mind after listening to the debate.

For full details of all these stories, click on the links on the top right of this page.