Ali al-Shaer was delivered in separate ambulances to the mob awaiting his arrival with a mixture of fury and obscene fascination at the Nasser hospital. First came what remained of his charred torso after an Israeli rocket slammed into his car as it worked its way through the cluttered streets of Gaza’s Khan Yunis refugee camp on Monday.

A newly discovered short story by Ernest Hemingway indicates that part of the writer’s ultra-macho image had its origin in a scene of knockabout farce in a Spanish bullring in his youth. Hemingway himself sent up the incident, one of the few occasions when he is known to have been less than earnest about a sport he came to view as semi-mystical.

French police protested on Monday after Hannibal, the son of the Libyan leader, Moammar Gadaffi, was allowed to go free after being clocked at more than 139kph on the Champs-Elysées. ”This is a genuine scandal,” said Frédéric Lagache of the biggest police union, Alliance, when it emerged that Gadaffi (28) had not been charged after he presented his diplomatic passport.

British contractors in the Basra area of Iraq are following the kidnapping of Kenneth Bigley with concern and sympathy, but have questioned the wisdom of living and working in Baghdad without security or personal protection. Many who watched Bigley’s impassioned plea for mercy on oversized television screens last week say that it would not have happened to them.

Under a nearly full moon, rebel fighters leapt on to the sand from the back of their battle-wagon; a Toyota pick-up truck with a machine gun on its cab and an anti-tank missile launcher slung from the wing mirror. The moonlight picked out every rock, bush and dune for miles, but these men had no fear of being seen or heard.

Indian cricket hero Sachin Tendulkar looks set to move even closer to super-human status next month when the curtain goes up on a Hindi musical based on his colossal achievements. Main Sachin Tendulkar (I Sachin Tendulkar) is loosely based on the life of the batting legend, pop singer Shaan said on Tuesday.

Eight cases of rape were reported in Soweto over the long weekend, and six arrests were made, police said on Monday. Many of the rapes involved minors less than 16 years old, and in most cases the attackers were known to the victims, said Sergeant Richard Munyai.