Highly publicised kidnaps, drug-related violence and general lawlessness have kept all but the most intrepid travellers away from Colombia, despite its long list of potential tourist sites including Amazon jungle, historic monuments, high Andean plateaus and white sand beaches.

Al-Qaeda released a videotape on Thursday purporting to show some of the September 11 hijackers training in Afghanistan and meeting Osama bin Laden shortly before the 2001 attacks on the US. The tape, which was broadcast by the Arabic satellite channel al-Jazeera, showed masked men practising martial arts and concealing knives.

Embattled former National Intelligence Agency (NIA) director general Billy Masetlha rejected a golden handshake of more than R1million offered to him by the government after his dismissal. This is revealed in court documents lodged by Masetlha in a bid to overturn President Thabo Mbeki’s decision to suspend and dismiss him as head of NIA.

The R7,2-billion in foreign direct investment promised by the Russian investment group Renova may not be quite what it seems, documents detailing the financial structure of the deal suggest. The most prominent among the business people accompanying Russian President Vladimir Putin on his first visit to South Africa was Renova chairperson Victor Vekselberg, Russia’s third-richest man.

ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma is posing a new dilemma for the party, which is unable to stop him from embarking on what appears to be a rejuvenated campaign for the presidency. Zuma is due to address several upcoming alliance activities in several cities, including meetings of trade unions and activities organised by the ANC Youth League.