The Iraqi government has begun an investigation into the alleged abuse of more than 170 prisoners who were found locked in an interior ministry bunker in Baghdad, many of them beaten and malnourished and some apparently brutally tortured.

After more than a decade of living in comfortable exile, a deposed Chadian dictator nicknamed ”Africa’s Pinochet” was arrested by police in Senegal on Tuesday. Hissène Habré (63) who is accused of mass murder and the torture of political opponents, faces extradition to Belgium and a trial for crimes against humanity. He was ousted by the current Chadian president, Idriss Déby, in 1990.

The JSE hit new highs recently, breaking the important psychological level of 17 000. Most of this year’s gains have been on the back of the consumer party and the China effect, which has driven companies’ earnings in the retail and commodity sectors. According to Graeme Korner of Standard Equity Advisory Services, much of the market’s strength has been driven by foreign buyers.

The unholy scam that advertisers call "Christmas" is approaching and Ian Fraser enlightens us on a pathetic gift idea as well as other weird happenings on the world wide web. Apparently good bomb-making info that you should try at home: allegedly, if you drop sweets containing gum arabic into cold drink, they go "boom" — no kidding.

Not far from the mouth of the Amazon, dead animals, including manatees — mammals up to 3m-long with flat, paddle-shaped fins — and distinctive pink dolphins, line the banks of some tributaries. Normally, you would have to take a boat to cross these rivers but today, because of the Amazon Basin’s worst drought in memory, the rivers are little more than mudflats with a trickle of water in the middle.