Global warming is causing the Arctic ice-cap to melt at such an unprecedented rate that by the summer of 2070 it may have no ice at all, according to the most comprehensive study carried out on global climate change in the region. The Arctic ”is now experiencing some of the most rapid and severe climate change on Earth”, the report says.

South Africans have grown as fat as Americans, partly because they associate slimness with HIV/Aids, researchers said on Tuesday. More than half of black women in South Africa are overweight or obese, as are a third of black men, an epidemic on a par with that in the United States.

Al-Qaeda is ”bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy”, Osama bin Laden claims, in a section of his latest videotape which has just come to light. Delivering a financial report on the ”war on terror”, he says that every dollar spent by al-Qaeda in attacking the United States has cost Washington -million in economic fallout and military spending.

He promised this would be his last campaign — and he was determined to fight it hard to the bitter end. George Bush told aides that, win or lose, this would be the final time he sought public office and he was determined on Tuesday to leave nothing to chance.

A new film of the kidnapped aid worker Margaret Hassan shows her kidnappers threatening to turn her over to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s group within 48 hours if British troops do not leave Iraq. The tape was delivered to the Arab television station al-Jazeera, but it decided not to broadcast it on humanitarian grounds.

Polls closed and counting began in a majority of states on Tuesday night, putting four fifths of the crucial electoral college votes in play. Exit polls suggest there have been early disappointments for both sides, but no major upsets. States that voted for George Bush in 2000 were called for the incumbent, while the challenger, John Kerry, picked up reliable Democratic states.

South Africa’s chief envoy to India has sought assurances from Delhi police that cricketer Nicky Boje will not be questioned over a match-fixing scandal when he arrives with the national team next week. However, Indian media reports on Thursday said Delhi Police Commissioner KK Paul did not give any assurance that the cricketer will be spared.