An official with Germany's domestic intelligence agency apparently shredded files relating to the neo-Nazi Zwickau cell after it became clear that they were responsible for a series of murders. The incident threatens to become a major scandal. Politicians are demanding an explanation from the agency head.

...The agency has reconstructed the timeline of the documents' destruction. The department head supposedly received orders on Nov. 10, 2011 to search his files for the names of the three NSU members -- Uwe Böhnhardt, Uwe Mundlos and Beate Zschäpe -- and look for possible connections to the far-right scene. Among other files, the officer looked at documents relating to Operation Rennsteig.

...The department head allegedly did not find anything of interest in his files. One day later, on Nov. 11, he informed his superiors that he had not found the names of the three suspected terrorists or other evidence in his records. At the same time, he noted that seven so-called procurement files had been archived for too long. This type of file includes all the details about the recruitment of a source, including their codename and observations about their character. The agency is generally obliged to destroy such files after a maximum period of 10 years. The department head gave orders for the files to be destroyed immediately. A day later, on Nov. 12, another employee carried out the shredding as per instructions.

It oftens feels like there are not enough hours in the day. But are there enough seconds?

The answer is no - according to the impressively named Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS).

The IERS, which is responsible for keeping track of the gap between atomic seconds and planetary time will be adding an extra so-called 'leap second' to their atomic clocks this weekend.

On Saturday night, therefore, atomic clocks will read 23 hours, 59 minutes and 60 seconds, before moving onto Greenwich Mean Time at midnight.