When I told four-year-old Hanna last weekend that we were going to Sweden to see the REAL Santa, she looked at me as if I was mad. ‘But I’ve already seen him, mum. Last year, remember? When Holly’s dad dressed up?’

For 45 days the phallus had gone unnoticed. But then Giorgos Karatzaferis visited Outlook, Greece’s biggest ever contemporary art exhibition. The far-right politician had a discerning eye: he stood in front of Belgian artist Thierry de Cordier’s Asperges Me (Dry Sin), and saw red.

A new no-frills budget airline, poised to make its debut within the next two months, is setting the scene for an all-out price war on South Africa’s overworked routes. Airline infant 1Time will compete head-to-head with the country’s only current low-budget operator, kulula.com.

A last gasp goal from substitute Kabamba Musasa earned Kaizer Chiefs a hard fought 1-0 win over Orlando Pirates in a pulsating Castle Premiership derby played at the FNB stadium on Saturday. There was no score at half-time.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in a subdued statement on Sunday acknowledged — but ventured no opinion — on the capture of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

It was meant to be a rare success story. According to the Afghan minister of culture, the small mound of soft yellow earth at Bazy-Kheil, 32km east of Kabul, was one of the country’s few protected archaeological sites. But as Mohammed Zakir, one of Afghanistan’s five archaeologists, puffed to the top, he saw something was badly wrong.

There are bears moving into the suburbs of New Jersey, and raccoons making their homes in Los Angeles. Wild animals that once fled from humans now live in closer proximity than at any time in the United States’ history.

Under heavy security, a Chinese court on Friday began hearing the case of 14 people accused of organising a mass orgy for Japanese tourists that sparked public uproar and diplomatic protests.