September 4, 2014.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Pimani Baloyi.
Making headlines:

Cabinet approves the Expropriation Bill.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awards $25-million to HIV vaccine research.

And, Lesotho’s Prime Minister has returned home under tight security after the 'coup'.

Minister in the Presidency Jeff Radebe said on Thursday that Cabinet had approved the draft Expropriation Bill. It will now be tabled in Parliament.

The bill was meant to replace legislation dating from 1975 and "align the overarching legislation governing the expropriation of property to the values and provisions of the Constitution”.

Government had tried to get an earlier version of the bill passed in 2008 but shelved it after its constitutionality was questioned.

The current version recognises the jurisdiction of the courts in determining the compensation due for expropriated property. Critics say that although this is an improvement, the change will, in practice, only benefit citizens who can afford potentially lengthy litigation.

Oregon researchers developing a vaccine that has shown promise in preventing HIV infection in primates said they had been awarded a $25-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Oregon Health & Science University scientists said they hope to develop a vaccine that not only prevents the HIV virus from infecting people exposed to it, but also eliminates the virus from those already infected.

The grant follows research published by the scientists seeking to show their vaccine candidate halting the transmission of, or eliminating altogether, a form of the virus in about half of more than 100 monkeys tested.

While the annual number of new HIV infections has declined in recent years, more than 35-million people globally were living with HIV and an estimated 2.1-million people were newly infected with the virus that causes AIDS last year, according to the World Health Organisation.

Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane returned to State House in the capital Maseru on Wednesday, four days after he fled to South Africa following an apparent bid by the military to oust him.

Thabane met with South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and security chiefs from neighbouring countries this week in an effort to end a political crisis in the mountain kingdom.

South African police had escorted him home afterwards, said Samonyane Ntsekele, an advisor to Thabane.

Thabane fled to South Africa early on Saturday, hours before the army surrounded his residence and overran police stations in Maseru, in what the prime minister called a coup.

Lesotho's army said it hadn’t tried to oust Thabane but rather moved against police suspected of planning to arm a political faction. One policeman was shot dead and four others wounded.

Also making headlines:

Fear of contracting the deadly Ebola virus is hampering efforts to recruit international health workers and slowing the delivery of protective garments and other vital materials to stricken areas in West Africa.

A hail of US missiles aimed at the leader of Somalia's al Shabaab militants may have left a gaping hole in the group's leadership.

And, the Small Enterprise Finance Agency has funded over 40 000 small and medium enterprises over the past year.

Also on Polity:

Be sure to watch political analyst Professor Raymond Suttner’s latest analysis on South African politics, as well as an interview with South African author Miranda Sherry on her book Black Dog Summer.

And, a new Human Rights Watch report details how Thailand’s use of immigration detention violates children’s rights, risks their health and wellbeing, and imperils their development.

Don’t forget to follow Polity on Twitter [@PolityZA]

That’s a roundup of news making headlines.