How to delete a file in laravel 4

There is still the delete method in Laravel 4:
src/Illuminate/Filesystem/Filesystem.php

otherwise just use good old unlink()!?

Other delete usage:

// Delete a single file
File::delete($filename);

// Delete multiple files
File::delete($file1, $file2, $file3);

// Delete an array of files
$files = array($file1, $file2);
File::delete($files);

Source: http://laravel-recipes.com/recipes/133/deleting-a-file

I think you should append public_path() to file names , to get real file path, like this

File::delete(public_path().$id.'_news.jpg');

You can easily do something like:

$filename = public_path().'/uploads/foo.bar';

if (File::exists($filename)) {
    File::delete($filename);
} 

Reference: Laravel-recipes Delete a File