South Africa is to ban the hunting of animals bred in captivity or living in or near national parks after the practice known as ”canned hunting” was condemned by a panel of conservationists. Last year, the panel’s report says, an estimated 6 700 tourists killed nearly 54 000 animals.

Tens of thousands of bedraggled tourists, including 8 600 Britons, stranded in the Yucatan peninsula for nearly a week after Hurricane Wilma, are finally boarding planes to go home. But reconstruction of the battered Caribbean holiday region will take much longer, say local officials.

”Abu Theeb is a tall, handsome, well-built man with a thin beard and thick eyebrows. His name is a nom de guerre: it means Father of the Wolf. He is a farmer during daylight and a commander of a mujahedin cell, a group of holy warriors, at night.” Ghaith Abdul-Ahad goes behind the lines with Iraqi insurgents.

The White House was on Wednesday struggling to carry on business as usual amid feverish speculation that top officials were facing criminal charges in a potentially crippling political scandal. A special federal prosecutor presented a grand jury with the results so far of his investigation into the leak two years ago of a CIA agent’s identity.