Botswana leader awarded 5 million dollars
Botswana's former president Festus Mogae has been awarded a five million dollar prize to encourage good governance. The Ibrahim Prize, set up by Sudanese businessman Mo Ibrahim, is the most valuable individual prize in the world.

Mr Mogae, whose second term of office ended in April, was praised for tackling HIV and Aids and for diversifying the economy. According to a report recently published by the Ibrahim Foundation, governance in Africa has improved. Mauritius is ranked as the best-governed of 48 African countries, and Liberia is classed as having made the most progress.

US calls global finance summit
President George Bush has announced the US will host an international summit in November to discuss the global financial crisis. The summit - the first of a series - is set to take place after the country's presidential elections. According to an official statement, it will review the actions taken to address the current crisis and to 'assure global prosperity in the future'.

Turkey: 'Nationalist plot' trial
Eighty-six suspects including retired army officers, politicians, academics and journalists are to go on trial in Turkey on charges of armed insurrection, aiding a terror group and possession of explosives. Prosecutors accuse them belonging to an ultra-nationalist group called Ergenekon and of plotting a series of attacks in 2006. They say the attacks were designed to provoke the military into carrying out a coup in order to protect Turkey’s secular status. For many, the trial is the latest event in a power struggle between Turkey's secular nationalists and the governing AKP, which has Islamic roots.  

Albinos protest in Tanzania
Tanzanian albinos have staged a protest in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, against recent killings in the country. They were met by the President Jakaya Kikwete and urged the government to protect them. About 30 albinos, including babies, have been killed in Tanzania over the past year. The killings are connected to a superstition spread by witchdoctors, who say their body parts can make people rich. No one has been convicted of the crimes, but several people have been charged. President Kikwete promised the government would start an educational campaign against the practice.

SA: TB vaccine tests
In Cape Town, scientists are to begin testing a potential tuberculosis vaccine. The University of Cape Town's Lung Institute and the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Institute plan to start immunising volunteers in the next few weeks. TB is the leading cause of death for people with HIV, which weakens the immune system. The new vaccine has been developed by the Dutch pharmaceutical company Crucell and the not-for-profit Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation. In 2005, more than 337,000 TB cases were diagnosed in South Africa – an eight per cent rise on the previous year.