In early February, just a few weeks before the Iraq war began, a funny thing happened in the corridors of the Pentagon – it went strangely quiet. After a flurry of deployment orders in the new year, sending tens of thousands of soldiers and marines out to the Gulf, the flow of paperwork out of the defence secretary’s office slowed to a trickle.

The British military today claimed that a group of Iraqi civilians trying to flee the southern city of Basra were fired upon by Iraqi mortars that were being shot in the vicinity of British forces.

Oil prices today hit their highest levels since the start of the war in Iraq amid concerns about the loss of momentum in the military campaign and a sharp cut in Nigerian supplies.

A complaint to the Office of the Public Protector by the dismissed security chief of the Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) paints a disturbing picture of dysfunction at the top level of the company’s management that allegedly led to glaring gaps in safety at Johannesburg International airport.

The Inkatha Freedom Party is demanding R155 000 each from both of its former party members who crossed the floor this week.

Teflon politician Peter Marais has gone solo. Under the motto ”Come home” he announced his own unnamed political party on Thursday.

The South African Post Office has been served with a claim for R50-million in damages over a tender to supply a biometric identification and electronic payment system for welfare payments in North West Province.

Transport and logistics giant Imperial, which is being investigated by the Scorpions and the Department of Transport for alleged illegal actions in its car fleets contract with the government, is facing another probe — in Lesotho.