ANC deputy president Jacob Zuma will be opening his Christmas presents and kissing his numerous wives under the mistletoe at his homestead in Nkandla, northern KwaZulu-Natal, the Mail & Guardian has established. One assumes President Thabo Mbeki will not be among the guests.

It lived in the Yangtze river for millions of years and was revered by the Chinese as the ”goddess” of the mighty river. But now scientists believe that the baiji, a white, freshwater dolphin, is extinct. A painstaking six-week hunt on the Yangtze for any remaining signs of the baiji ended this month with the news scientists had been dreading: there don’t appear to be any remaining.

Ethiopian food, African honey wine and freshly ground roasted buna (coffee) poured from hand-made clay jugs or an all-purpose Mediterranean deli with a distinctly Greek flavour: you don’t have to hop on a plane to experience exotic offerings. Matthew Krouse, Niren Tolsi and Shani Raviv go in search of slices of life from faraway places.

Every year tens of thousands of children walk across borders and swim across rivers to escape poverty, abandonment and a lack of hope. Children as young as nine undertake terrifying journeys to cross borders illegally, convinced that life must be better elsewhere. For many, the dream is short-lived and they find themselves battling for survival, exploited and abused.

Twenty-one months ago Tracey Thomson appeared to have won her battle with drugs and her mother, Carol Thompson, could once again sleep at night. But then on March 11 this year, the 24-year-old from Kempton Park disappeared and failed to come home.

When rings have been exchanged, tearful “I dos” have been uttered and empty champagne bottles are all that remain after a wedding reception, newly-weds embark on their honeymoon. And now, it seems, hotels around South Africa are opening their doors to newly-weds both wearing tuxedos or white dresses – gay honeymooners.

Conflict is looming between the ANC and its youth wing after the ANC announced that it would step into the squabble between the ANC Youth League’s national leadership and its provincial structure in the Eastern Cape. The intervention of the ANC stems from a decision by the league’s national executive committee to disband the Eastern Cape provincial executive.

This year, South Africa became the fifth country in the world — and the first in Africa — to legalise gay marriages, following a circuitous legal journey through the highest courts of the nation. As gay couples start sending out wedding invitations, the traditional concept of marriage has been shunted into the spotlight. But are gay and lesbian relationships really suited to marriage?

Four separate developments this year will set the course of corporate social investment in the year to come, if not after. Firstly, the biggest philanthropic event this year was undoubtedly the startling giveaway by the world’s second-richest man of 85% of his fortune.