Dominique Cottrez charged with multiple infanticide but husband is released over discovery of bodies in plastic bags

A French nursing assistant and mother of two has confessed to killing eight of her newborn babies, placing their bodies in hermetically sealed plastic bags and hiding them from her family over a 17-year period.

Investigators into what appears to be France's biggest infanticide case said Dominique Cottrez, from the north-eastern village of Villers-au-Tertre, had admitted deliberately suffocating the infants immediately after giving birth to them on her own.

She was charged today with murder. The 46-year-old faces life in prison for the killings, which are understood to have taken place between 1989 and 2006.

According to Eric Vaillant, prosecutor of the nearby city of Douai, Cottrez confessed "quickly" during questioning after the new owners of her late parents' home stumbled across the bones of two infants while digging in the garden on Saturday. She had, he said, then directed investigators to the remaining six corpses, found in the garage of the house she shared with her husband, Pierre-Marie Cottrez.

He was today freed as an "assisted witness" in the case despite efforts to have him charged for concealment of bodies and failing to report a crime.

Throughout her testimony to police, his wife maintained he was unaware not only of the killings but also of the pregnancies. "Mrs Cottrez told investigators he had known neither that his wife was pregnant nor that she had got rid of them directly afterwards," said Vaillant.

Dominique Cottrez appeared to have been fully conscious of what she was doing. According to her initial statement to police, "she was perfectly aware of all her pregnancies", said Vaillant.

If the psychological tests support this, it would seem unlikely that she had pregnancy denial, a condition in which the sufferer is unable to process the fact that she is expecting. Experts will now endeavour to determine her "degree of responsibility" for the killings, said Vaillant.

The findings in the two houses located about a mile apart have bestowed upon Villers-au-Tertre a sudden and unwanted notoriety. Before, residents joked that they lived in "a village of the dead" where little noteworthy ever happened.

Now local people are asking how could no one have noticed Cottrez's frequent pregnancies? And if they did know, why did keep their observations to themselves? Above all, if it is proved that Cottrez did what she says she did, then why?

Those who are keen for answers are her daughters Virginie and Emeline Cottrez, who tonight broke their silence, defending their mother and insisting they had no idea about the suspected infanticides. "We never noticed a thing. Yes, she had moments of tiredness but between her work as a nursing assistant and the housework she worked almost 24 hours a day," the women, 21 and 22 respectively, told the French newspapers La Voix du Nord.

"She never judged us; she accompanied us, supported us," they added, recounting how their mother had been at Emeline Cottrez's bedside when her first grandson was born. "It was she who held him, dressed him … We both had tears in our eyes," said the eldest daughter.

Their mother had told police that previous traumatic childbirth experiences had put her off having any more children but that she "did not want to see a doctor to get contraception", said Vaillant.

As for why nobody else noticed the pregnancies, Patrick Mercier, the local mayor, said that although Cottrez had always been "pleasant" she was "rather introverted and was seen out a lot less than [her husband] in the community".

Her figure was also a factor, said police, claiming that it was easier for someone "of a heavy build" to hide a swollen belly than a slighter person. But officers nonetheless expressed bewilderment that Cottrez's daughters, to whom, said locals, she has been "a very good mother", her husband and her employers, a Douai-based home help agency, had noticed anything.

"I am just overwhelmed and I'm finding it impossible to understand," said a villager, who did not want to be named, adding: "Pierre-Marie … is a mate of mine. We used to have a drink, talk about work … He is very generous. He wears his heart on his sleeve."

Since Thursday, when news of the bodies sparked a media invasion from all corners of Europe, a spirit of solidarity has descended on the community. A belated Bastille Day celebration which had been planned for Saturday has been called off. "We will not celebrate without our friends," said Mercier.

But it could be a long time before Cottrez comes home. A police spokesman said investigators were not expecting to find any more bodies. "But there is still a lot of work to do," he added.

North-west region hardest hit as floodwaters wash away roads and bridges, leaving an estimated 400,000 people stranded

The death toll in three days of flooding in Pakistan reached at least 313 today, rescue and government officials said, as rains bloated rivers, submerged villages, and triggered landslides.

The rising toll from the monsoon rains underscore the poor infrastructure in Pakistan, where under-equipped rescue workers were struggling to reach people stranded in remote villages. The weather forecast was mixed, with some areas expected to see reduced rainfall and others likely to see an intensification.

Pakistani TV showed images of people clinging to fences and other stationary items as water at times gushed over their heads.

The north-west appeared to be the hardest hit, and Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the information minister for the province, said it was the worst flooding in the region since 1929. The highway connecting Peshawar to the federal capital, Islamabad, was shut down after the water washed away bridges and other links.

At least 291 people died in various parts of that province over the last three days, said Mujahid Khan of the Edhi Foundation, a privately run rescue service that operates morgues and ambulances across the South Asian country.

In Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, at least 22 people were confirmed dead last night, the area's prime minister, Sardar Attique Khan, told reporters.

The tolls from the deluge were expected to rise because many people were still missing. Poor weather this week also may have been a factor in Wednesday's Airblue plane crash that killed 152 people in Islamabad.

In the Swat Valley, residents were forced to trudge through knee-deep water in some streets.

A newly constructed part of a dam in the Charsadda district collapsed, while the UN said it had reports that 5,000 homes were underwater in that area.

Hussain estimated 400,000 people were stranded in various north-west villages.

"A rescue operation using helicopters cannot be conducted due to the bad weather, while there are only 48 rescue boats available for rescue," he said today.

Pakistan's poorest residents are often the ones living in flood-prone areas because they can't afford safer land.

South-west Baluchistan province has also been hit hard by the recent rains. Last week, flash floods in that region killed at least 41 people and swept away thousands of homes. A UN statement today said 150,000 people were affected there.

The UN said Punjab province in Pakistan's east was also hit by some flooding. Crops were soaked in farmlands throughout the country. The UN said the humanitarian community was trying to put together a proper response, but the rains were making many roads impassable, complicating efforts to assess needs.

Legislation will give security services powers to arrest people for crimes they have yet to commit

Russian citizens can be issued official warnings about crimes that they have not yet committed under powers granted to the security services today.

President Dmitry Medvedev signed off on a new law giving the FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, the right to caution people suspected of preparing acts of extremism, or to jail them for obstructing the agency's work.

The powers appear similar to those enjoyed by Precrime, the police unit in the 2002 Hollywood film Minority Report. "This is a draconian law reminiscent of our repressive past," said Boris Nemtsov, a leader of the Solidarity opposition movement.

Rights activists had hoped Medvedev would rein in the security services, after his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, a former KGB colonel, stuffed his administration with hawkish veterans. The Kremlin's tough stance comes against the backdrop of a disparate but emergent civil movement protesting against corruption and authoritarian government.

Under the new provisions, the FSB will be able to echo Soviet practices. The punishment for ignoring a warning was unclear, but 15-day jail sentences are envisaged for "obstructing an FSB officer's duties". Sergei Ivanenko, a leader of the Yabloko party, called it "the law of a police state". He said: "If such a law exists in a democratic country then it is limited by a very powerful system of civil, public and parliamentary control. In our conditions it will mean absolute power for the security services."

Rights activists, who fear the measures could be used to stifle civil disobedience, had expressed optimism that Medvedev might step in to quash the legislation.

There have been signs of democratisation under Medvedev, while Putin, whom he replaced two years ago, has continued to promote a hardline image from his post as prime minister. But during a meeting with Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, a fortnight ago, Medvedev said: "Each country has the right to perfect its own legislation, including that which affects its special services." He added: "What's going on now – I would like you to know this – was done according to my own direct instructions."

Russia's police and security services have looked increasingly clumsy as they try to deal with inventive grassroots activists or single-issue protest groups. One group wears blue buckets on their heads in mimicry of the flashing blue lights on the cars of bureaucrats who terrorise the roads: police arrested several activists but had to let them go because they had committed no crime. Another organisation has been attacked while trying to stop destruction of a protected forest near Moscow.

"Medvedev may smile more than Putin but the face of power hasn't changed," said Eduard Limonov, an opposition politician who plans to run for president in 2012. "The Kremlin is still terrified there will be an Orange Revolution in Russia if people are allowed to gather on the streets."

This Saturday will be the first anniversary of protests started by Limonov and a coalition of activists known as Strategy 31. They meet in Triumfalnaya Square in Moscow at 6pm every 31st of the month to demonstrate in favour of Article 31 of the constitution: the right to free assembly.

Despite each rally being broken up by riot police, the protests have grown steadily, attracting more than 500 people in May. About 180 of them were arrested.

"Instead of thinking of new ways to suppress us, the authorities should listen to our concerns," said Limonov.

Yet democracy activists are often demonised as traitors or extremists in the state-dominated media. This week at its summer camp the Kremlin-backed Nashi youth movement put up a photograph of 83-year-old Lyudmila Alekseyeva, one of the organisers of Strategy 31, on a dummy wearing Nazi insignia.

On Saturday she will go to Triumfalnaya. The protest movement, she said, "will only grow in the face of repression."

Music Weekly returns with something a little different. The eyes of the world have been on South Africa for the 2010 World Cup but, away from football, the country also boasts a thriving house music scene. This was the one sound the vuvuzelas failed to drown out: house beats blasted from clubs, shebeens and car stereos.

This week, we hand over our podcast to those involved in the scene. Singer Pastor Mbhobho tells us how kwaito, the township music that soundtracked post-apartheid South Africa, upped the tempo and formed an exciting new fusion with house music.

DJ Cleo explains how a braai – a South African BBQ – is as good a place to hear house music as a club, and tells us why it's important to have traditional African drumming in his music.

We also hear from journalist Smalz Ngobese who explains why taxi ranks are the best place to buy house mixtapes. And DJ Oskido explains how wider interest in South African house started with a Masters at Work record deal four years ago, which led to the genre dominating this year's Miami Winter Music Conference. Finally, Black Coffee tells us about being played on the UK funky scene.

Listen to the show and let us know what you think. Alexis and Rosie will be back in the hot seat next week for more exclusive interviews and world-dominating music chat. See you then.