At least six people were killed, including a woman and two children, and 40 hurt when two suicide bombers blew up their cars on Friday outside a Baghdad hotel and near an interior ministry complex. The explosions, at about 8.20am local time, brought down the facade of a three-storey residential building.

Some African National Congress structures, including the ANC Youth League, may call for a special conference to tackle the ”war” between President Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma at the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting this weekend. The call could be made if the conflict appears intractable.

Intrigue at the highest level of the government, including an extraordinary political ambush and counter-ambush, has been disclosed in court documents lodged by suspended National Intelligence Agency director general Billy Masetlha. Masetlha is attempting a high court challenge to his axing last month by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils.

Calling Deuce Bigalow and gigolos everywhere: Heidi Fleiss needs you. The former Hollywood madam plans to open a ”rooster ranch” — a brothel catering to women — in Nevada. ”I am opening up a stud farm,” Fleiss told the Associated Press. ”I’m going to have the sexiest men on earth. Women are going to love it.”

The United States has detained more than 80 000 people in facilities from Afghanistan to Cuba since the attacks on the World Trade Centre four years ago, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The disclosure comes at a time of growing unease about Washington’s treatment of prisoners in its ”war on terror” and Europe’s unknowing help in the CIA’s practice of rendition.