General Augusto Pinochet, the Chilean former dictator whose brutal regime cast a shadow over his country and the rest of the continent for more than three decades, died on Sunday at the age of 91. Police were quickly deployed across the city and residents in working-class districts erected barricades on Sunday night.

Japanese whalers are expected to clash with environmentalists in Antarctica over the next two months as separate fleets head south prepared to confront each other in some of the world’s most hostile seas. The pro- and anti-whalers on Sunday night appealed for the support of countries they hoped would back their views on whaling.

The battle for George W Bush’s ear began in earnest on Wednesday following publication of the Iraq Study Group’s report. The United States president’s instinct is to hang tough, gambling that "a last big push" will bring victory of sorts. "We’re going to stay in Iraq to get the job done," he said last week. Amid great uncertainty, one thing is sure: Bush does not do graceful exits.

In <i>White Writing</i>, JM Coetzee describes white South Africans as "no longer European, not yet African". Almost 20 years later, we may ask if white South Africans are any closer to Africanness. Can white South ­Africans be African? Frederik van Zyl ­Slabbert is suspicious of answers that define "African" along ethnic or racial lines, and rightly so, writes Jason van Niekerk.