Ariel Sharon was seeking the backing of the far right to keep him in power last night after the Labour party walked out of his national unity government and lifted the constraints on one of the most hardline prime ministers in Israel’s history.

Like most countries, America’s collective attention span only really allows for one big story at a time. Until last week the consuming obsession was the hunt for the Washington sniper. Then it was the climax of baseball’s ”world series” (actually a contest between two teams from California).

Eastern Cape dagga growers and the network of smugglers and dealers are worried that the cultivation of hemp in South Africa will render their crops worthless within a few years.

South Africa awoke to its second post apartheid experience of terror on Wednesday with reports that a series of explosions had rocked the township of Soweto south of Johannesburg.

Police were alerted to two white males ”acting suspiciously” leaving the area near Soweto, Johannesburg, where a bomb was found shortly before midnight on Tuesday, police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi said on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s bomb blasts in Soweto were the work of criminals seeking to introduce a terrorist campaign in South Africa, according to President Thabo Mbeki.

A plastic container with a battery and ”something that looked like a clock with wires coming out of it” was seen shortly after an explosion at a Buddhist temple in Bronkhorstspruit on Wednesday.