Senegalese President wins Saudi prize

The Senegalese President, Abdou Diouf, has been rewarded by Saudi Arabia for his services to Islam.

The award committee of the King Faisal Foundation said President Diouf had encouraged the use of Arabic in his country and had been a relentless supporter of Islamic causes.

The foundation -- named after King Faisal, who was assassinated in 1975 -- presents annual awards of two-hundred-thousand dollars for scientific and literary achievements as well as Islamic studies.

An Egyptian Professor, Abdelsattar Alhalwagi, shared the prize for Islamic research with a Saudi colleague, Yahya Mahmud Ibn Junaid.

The committee said no award was given this year for Arabic literature because the entries received lacked sufficient merit.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service