After 17 days with no statement from the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev today went on Russian TV today to tell the Russian people that the death toll has reached 9 and a further 299 are hospitalized with radiation poisoning from the Chernobyl accident on April 26th. Meanwhile fallout from the nuclear accident has been identified as far away as the USA.

Winnie Mandela, the wife of Nelson Mandela, is given a six-year prison sentence for her part in the kidnap of four youths suspected of being police informers, one of the kidnapped boys later died of his injuries. Mrs Mandela's is believed to be behind the activities of her bodyguards - known as the "Mandela Football Club" who are involved in violence in the Soweto township including the notorious "necklace killings" which involved putting a tyre around a victim's neck and setting fire to it.