BBC News with Marion Marshall

Government security forces in Afghanistan say they've seized two massive

consignments

of explosives in different parts of the country. About 2.5 tonnes were found close to the provincial governor's residence in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north. In the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, intelligence officials said they've found more than nine tonnes of explosives. Bilal Sarwary is in Kabul.

The Afghan government says that al-Qaeda and Taliban wanted to launch

spectacular

attacks. They said that they would have launched the attacks weren't they put off, but choosing a target would have been the New Year - this is when a number of Afghans gather; this is when senior officials also take part in ceremonies, especially in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif. So the Afghan officials definitely would like to

take credit for

a very important discovery.

At least two male nurses in Uruguay have been arrested in connection with the suspicious deaths of several patients. The judge overseeing the case said they could be responsible for dozens of

induced

killings. The police began their investigation after hospital officials reported several suspicious deaths. Vladimir Hernandez has more.

The arrests are the result of a two-month investigation into a number of suspicious deaths at two hospitals in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. Both nurses have reportedly admitted responsibility for inducing the deaths of dozens of