America’s second biggest bank, JP Morgan Chase, has made a rare apology for its subsidiaries’ involvement in the slave trade 200 years ago, admitting that it accepted slaves as loan collateral and ended up owning several hundred. In a letter to employees it expressed contrition for involvement in a ”brutal and unjust institution”.

The biggest influx of illegal immigrants to Australia last year came not from Asia or the Middle East but from Britain and the US, according to a government report. More than 10 000 British and American visitors outstayed their welcome by June 30 last year, about a fifth of all foreigners on expired visas.

The African National Congress’s surprise censure of Zanu-PF this week is seen as a spin-off from last year’s fence-mending between the ANC and Zimbabwe’s largest opposition party. During a visit to South Africa last year, Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai endorsed President Thabo Mbeki as an honest broker between Zimbabwe’s two antagonists.

Tender documents for Cape Town’s R1-billion N2 Gateway Project warn of ”disruptive forces” that may emerge in response to the removal of residents. The Cape Town City Council documents, issued on December 30 last year, refer to the need to ”mitigate the impact” of possible disruption.

Better known as a retreat for sensitive artists, Nieu-Bethesda has finally entered the toyi-toyi age. Last week, more than 300 angry township residents marched through the isolated Eastern Cape village, intent on ridding themselves of their town clerk. Behind its picturesque reputation as home to the Owl House, the Sneeuberg hamlet is scarred by rampant poverty, unemployment, violence and alcohol abuse.

Lawyers for the South African Pharmaceutical Society claim the Department of Health has embarked on a campaign to discredit pharmacists and marshal public sentiment before the Constitutional Court hears the society’s appeal against new drug pricing regulations. The accusation came last week it was alleged that pharmacists were charging three times more than regulations allowed for medicines that cost less than R50.

This week, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) vowed to intensify its protests with marches in Gauteng and Bloemfontein. The union has threatened a countrywide strike if its demands are not met. The union says the prisons need at least 9 000 more warders to guard the growing prison population.

A South African spy captured by Zimbabwean counter intelligence is alleged to have been severely tortured before agreeing to co-operate with local officials, the Institute for Security Studies said in Pretoria on Friday. The spy revealed the names of his collaborators within the governing Zanu-PF party.