Ralph the laboratory rat and his brother are a piece of nice timing – and a breakthrough in cloning technology from France. In the past five years researchers in Britain, America and Japan have cloned sheep, pigs, cattle, a kitten, mice and even a horse, but until now, rats have proved a puzzle.

Brazil, the last big country to resist GM crops, dashed the hopes of environmentalists yesterday and gave in to pressure from the US and its own big farmers to allow them to be grown for at least a year.

Gauteng Minister of Public Transport, Roads and Works Khabisi Mosunkutu has moved to defuse allegations of impropriety over his receipt of money from a company that had dealings with his department. The now-defunct Union Alliance Media is said to have channelled R10 000 into Mosunkutu’s personal account.

Edward Said — scholar, literary critic and the most eloquent supporter of the Palestinian cause — died in New York on Thursday after a long battle against leukaemia. He was 67.

America’s attempts to rebuild Iraq suffered a serious blow yesterday when Aqila al-Hashimi, one of the three women on the US-appointed Iraqi governing council, died five days after she was shot outside her Baghdad home.

Newly revealed confidential arms contracts have confirmed a massive increase in the cost of the SA government’s weapons package, initially estimated at R30-billion. The documents show that finance charges will add at least another 50% to the arms package and that key components are significantly more expensive.