London, Oct 24 : The Labour party has been accused of hiding the true extent of the surge in violence in Britain.

According to the Sun, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith admitted some forces have not kept proper records for ten years, following revelations that police chiefs hid a massive surge in violence.

Tories and anti-crime campaigners said the system has created a "shambles", and blamed it on Labour''s obsession with crime-fighting targets.

Since Labour came to power, cops have recorded assaults under a less serious category if no grievous harm was inflicted, quoted the newspaper.

Stockholm, Oslo - Markets in the Nordic region tumbled Friday, shadowing developments in main markets in Europe and Asia.

The Stockholm bourse general index OMXS was down 9 per cent early Friday afternoon on reports of flagging demand for trucks from Swedish heavy-vehicle makers Volvo and Scania.

Volvo shares were down some 20 per cent after its third-quarter report was published, while Scania was off 10 per cent.

Poor reports from investment banking group Carnegie and construction company JM also contributed to the negative trends.

JM said it planned to trim some 600 jobs from its 2,400-strong workforce.

Mons, Belgium - Three NATO warships have reached the coast of Somalia and are ready to defend United Nations vessels from possible attacks by pirates, the alliance confirmed Friday.

Italy's ITS Durand de la Penne, Greece's HS Themistokles and Britain's HMS Cumberland were to begin escorting World Food Programme (WFP) vessels carrying food aid to Africa.

Bucharest - Unknown vandals have knocked over and, in some cases, destroyed 131 headstones in Bucharest's Jewish cemetery.

According to the Mediafax news agency on Friday, the vandals also smashed windows in the administrative offices of the cemetery in Romania's capital.

Some office equipment was also destroyed.

No anti-Semitic slogans were discovered on the destroyed headstones, according to police.

Romania's Justice Ministry denounced the vandalism and promised a speedy investigation of the crime and punishment for those responsible.

There are only about 9,000 remaining members of Romania's Jewish community.

Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Friday ratcheted back an earlier threat not to participate in a regional meeting on the crisis in Zimbabwe, saying party leader Morgan Tsvangirai would attend, despite still lacking a passport.

"Yes, he is attending. But he still doesn't have his passport," MDC spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said, referring to Monday's meeting of a group of leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the 15-nation regional political alliance.

Prague - Czechs began voting Friday in Senate run-off elections that have become a key test for Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek ahead of his country's EU presidency in the first half of next year.

The run-offs came a week after Topolanek's senior ruling Civic Democrats lost a regional election to their arch-rivals, the main opposition Social Democratic Party.

The weakened premier hoped to mitigate the defeat in the run-offs ending Saturday.

To focus on political hurdles at home, Topolanek, one of the most pro-US leaders in eastern Europe, decided to cancel next week's US trip, including a White House visit with US President George W Bush, his spokeswoman said.