● <B> Botswana?s Mogae wins African leadership prize. </B> Botswana?s former President Festus Mogae won the Mo Ibrahim Prize for African leadership on Monday for ensuring «stability and prosperity» in his country. The winner of the $5-million prize ? the world?s largest individual award ? was announced by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan at London?s City Hall.

● <B>Australia won?t copy Britain?s carbon targets. </B> The Australian government ruled out yesterday following Britain with a tougher target for carbon emissions by 2050, saying business needed certainty over targets in the run-up to carbon trading. Climate change minister Penny Wong said Australia had set an ambitious target to cut in greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent by 2050, and the target would not change. Britain?s Energy and Climate minister Ed Miliband last week increased Britain?s target for greenhouse emissions, blamed for global warming, to 80%from 60% by 2050, winning praise from green groups for the tougher stand.

● <B>Cannibal chef jailed for lover?s murder. </B> A chef who murdered a lover and ate part of his flesh after cooking it with fresh herbs and olive oil was jailed for at least 30 years yesterday at Leeds Crown Court. Sentencing Anthony Morley, 36, a former winner of the Mr Gay UK contest to life, Justice James Stewart said the murder was one of the most gruesome he?d ever encountered and reminiscent of a scene from a work of fiction. ?Not only did you murder your victim by cutting his throat and stabbing him, but you cut him up, cooked him and ate part of him.?

● <B>Israel slams assaults on Palestinian olive harvest. </B>Israeli Defence minister Ehud Barak condemned yesterday ?assaults by hooligans? disrupting Palestinian olive picking in the occupied West Bank. Israel has deployed forces in a ?supreme effort? to let the harvest proceed despite attacks by Jewish settlers in some olive groves. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters that the disruption of the harvest was ?a dangerous Israeli escalation?. Olives are an important cash crop for thousands of Palestinians among the three million living in the territory captured by Israel in1967.

<B>HONG KONG. bird flu virus found in crow.</B> A house crow found dead in a crowded district in Hong Kong last week has tested positive for the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus, a government spokeswoman said yesterday. The appearance of the virus in Hong Kong, more active in the cooler months between October and March, is closely watched as it may indicate the level of activity of the virus in mainland China, which has a poultry population of 13 billion. The virus is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia but experts fear it will mutate into a form that is easily passed from human to human, sparking a pandemic which could kill millions of people. ?House crows are common in Hong Kong. We have no idea if it came from elsewhere, how it was infected,? the spokeswoman said. The crow was found dead in a public refuse bin last Wednesday. Since 2003, the virus has infected 387 people in 15 countries, killing 245, according to latest statistics from the World Health Organisation.