Many years of hard work and collaborative effort culminated in a State of Biodiversity report for the Western Cape being made available from Cape Nature Conservation (CNC) at the end of November. The report will serve as a benchmark for subsequent five-yearly updates, and can be obtained on CD, at no charge.

While Minister Valli Moosa battles to get South Africans to change their bag habits, an overseas supermarket chain has developed a degradable eco-bag. Emma Brockes investigates whether this will mean the end of the plastic bag as we know it.

Education rights were legally tested last week in the first court case in the country involving non-payment of school fees.

Jonah Lomu may undergo kidney transplant surgery before the end of the year if a suitable donor can be found and a return to rugby can’t be ruled out, New Zealand Rugby Union doctor John Mayhew said on Monday.

Former Springbok utility back Thinus Delport will be available for national selection after his English club Gloucester and South African Rugby Pty Ltd agreed to a loan arrangement for the remainder of the year.

A horse called Funny Cide is on the cusp of delivering a smart kick in the goolies to the plump and pampered bloodstock industry. He has already won the Kentucky Derby, for which he was a 14 to one shot, and the Preakness, for which he was favourite, by nearly 10 lengths. On Epsom Derby Day, he lines up for the Belmont Stakes in an attempt to become the first Triple Crown winner in the United States since Affirmed 25 years ago.

Once the legions marched forward to repel the barbarian hordes; now a lone Italian food critic has ridden out against what he sees as their contemporary equivalent.