John Ashcroft, the United States Attorney General and the embodiment of the Christian right in the Bush administration, announced his resignation on Tuesday night, marking the start of a second-term reshuffle. He was ill with pancreatitis earlier this year and had his gall bladder removed.

Palestinian officials said Yasser Arafat was close to death on Tuesday night after suffering a brain haemorrhage and sinking deeper into a week-long coma. The Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, visited Arafat at a Paris military hospital to try to establish the true state of his health after two weeks of confusing and contradictory claims.

The Reserve Bank’s push for overambitious inflation targets is a deeply flawed policy at the heart of South Africa’s modest growth and chronic joblessness. Even if inflation dropped to zero and stayed there, the primary toxin — uncertainty — would remain. The economy’s fundamental structure ensures volatility and uncertainty. Policymakers should accept this and move on.

Fraser’s weekly round-up: the theft (again) of the US elections, Zimbabwean propoganda, fake dismissal letters to send to colleagues, virgins online, celibacy FAQs, people modelling toilet paper, 20 things that only happen in the movies, and more.