We'll be back tomorrow. 

In the meantime, keep up-to-date with what is happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast and checking the BBC News website.

Today's proverb was:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this image Khaled Medhat Moeit posted on Instagram from Port Said in Egypt:  

Egypt's cabinet has said it will regulate the taxi app Uber after taxi drivers protested in Cairo, reports news agency AFP. 

Taxi drivers alleged that, apart from taking their customers, Uber drivers were using unregistered cars.

Egypt's cabinet said the authorities would take steps to regulate Uber, make sure drivers paid taxes, and present a "suitable framework for traditional taxi drivers to join them". 

Image source, Getty

Image source, Nigerian senates

Earlier we reported that activists have reacted angrily at Nigerian senators rejecting a gender equality bill.

On our Facebook page, external, in contrast, a lot of the responses have favoured the senators.

Chungu Yumba says:

John Owusoweshi says an equality bill would have been meaningless anyway:

Rukky Shade in Lagos, Nigeria, says the equality bill was rejected by Muslim senators and suggests it’s an indication that the country should split in two:

Mazi Mwalimu, also in Lagos, says the bill offended Christian values as well:

Karen Allen
BBC Southern Africa correspondent, Johannesburg

The admission by South Africa's Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas that he was offered, and rejected, the finance minister's job by the influential Gupta family has led to many commentators questioning who is in fact running South Africa at the moment -  President Zuma or his unelected business contacts. 

The sacking of a popular Finance Minister Nhlanla Nene last year severely dented South Africa's reputation internationally and sent the currency into freefall. 

Image source, AFP

After a botched attempt at a replacement which led to South Africa having had three finance ministers in the course of just one week, a new man, Pravin Gordhan, was appointed for the job. 

But this latest revelation by Mr Jonas is likely to dent President Zuma's reputation further.

He's increasingly been accused of presiding over "state capture",  enabling state functions to be hijacked by those with influence and money and undermining South Africa's democracy.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Many South Africans have expressed shock following renewed allegations that a $10m (£6.5m) bribe was paid to then-Fifa officials to host the 2010 football World Cup.

To host the tournament was something that made South Africans and people across the continent proud as it was the first time that the tournament was held in Africa.

The thought that the bid was won through corrupt means is troubling many people, but they are not sure whether to believe the Fifa leaders who have made the allegation.  

But if the allegation turns out to be true many South Africans will feel that that the values of South Africa's hard-won democracy had been betrayed. 

South Africa's Sports Minister intends to respond to the allegations: 

Leading Nigerian human rights activist Bukky Shonibare has told BBC Focus on Africa that the Senate's decision to reject an equality bill was a sad day for women in the West African state:

If you missed it, listen back to the show here:

We've just got some pictures of the mosque which was bombed earlier today in north-eastern NIgeria.

The suicide attack in a village near Maiduguri city killed 22 worshippers:

Image source, TVC News

Image source, TVC News

Image source, TVC News

Image source, TVC News

Image source, Gallo Images

South Africa's wealthy Gupta family has strongly denied that it offered Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas the job of Finance Minister last year. 

Mr Jonas, a member of the governing African National Congress (ANC) party, made the allegation in a statement earlier today. 

It renewed speculation about the wealthy family's close ties with President Jacob Zuma, and its influence over him. 

South African media has been tweeting the family's response: 

South Africa's News 24 spotted this unusual traffic alert for commuters early this morning in the north west of the country:

The crocodile had been spotted a few minutes earlier by another commuter:

Meluse Kapatamoyo
BBC Africa, Lusaka, Zambia

Zambian activists have threatened mass action if a countrywide shortage in HIV testing kits is not dealt with.

One of the reasons for the shortage is the fact that 500,000 kits expired before they were delivered to clinics, says Kunyima Lifumbela Banda from the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS.

The group wants someone to be held accountable for "poor supply chain management".

Without test kits couples where one person has HIV and the other doesn't can't monitor their status and pregnant women can't begin taking medication to prevention transmitting HIV to the child.    

Image source, Getty Images

Tamasin Ford
BBC Africa, Abidjan

Ivory Coast is marking the third and final day of mourning for the 18 people who were gunned down on Sunday by militant Islamists.  

As a show of solidarity, President Alassane Ouattara held his weekly ministerial meeting in Grand Bassam, the site of the attacks, instead of at the Presidency. 

He told reporters that Ivory Coast will always remember those who died at the weekend:

Grand Bassam is the most visited beach spot in the country.  It’s popular with tourists and Ivorians alike.  Many are now worried visitors will stop coming.  

But Ernest Nogbou, one of the town’s traditional rulers, insisted Grand Bassam is not going to change: 

In our 14:21 post we wrote that activists are angry after the Nigerian Senate rejected a bill which aimed to eliminate "all forms of discrimination" against women.

The BBC's World Have Your Say wants to hear from women in Nigeria to find out the what your day-to-day life is like right now.

Get in touch by replying to this tweet:

South Africa's Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas has confirmed media reports that he was offered the position of finance minister by a member of the wealthy Gupta family.

In a statement, external, he said he turned down the job.

“The basis of my rejection of their offer is that it makes a mockery of our hard-earned democracy, the trust of our people and no one apart from the President of the Republic appoints ministers,” said Mr Jonas, who is a member of President Jacob Zuma's governing African National Congress (ANC) party. 

Image source, AFP

The Gupta family has previously denied that they had made the offer to Mr Jonas, South Africa's News24 website reports.

The family is said to be close to President Zuma, and has been accused by critics of trying to "capture" the state. 

Correspondents say Mr Jonas' statement is bound to be a further blow to the credibility of Mr Zuma, who has been dogged by allegations of corruption throughout his presidency and is under growing pressure from the opposition to resign. 

He has repeatedly denied allegations of corruption. 

Read: Who are the Guptas?

Image source, AFP

Niger's jailed opposition leader Hama Amadou has been airlifted to France to receive specialist medical treatment.

He is due to take part in Sunday's presidential run-off, although his party says he will boycott the vote.

He says being in prison has prevented him from campaigning.

His doctor was arrested on Tuesday on charges of spreading false news, having told media that Mr Amadou had been hospitalised after losing consciousness twice.

Read the full BBC story here

In 1999 Justice Edwin Cameron publicly revealed he was HIV-positive - becoming the first public official in the South Africa to do so.

He told BBC Outlook that he decided to speak out after a sex worker was stabbed to death by her neighbours. 

It came three weeks after she had been on radio talking about living with HIV.

Listen to his whole interview on Outlook:

A body of a young man shot in the head has been found on the beach in Ivory Coast attacked by gunmen on Sunday, AFP news agency reports.

There is a suggestion that the body had been washed back by the waves, AFP adds. 

This would bring the death toll from the attack up to 19 people.

Islamist group Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) said it was behind the attack on Grand Bassam beach.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Activists in Nigeria are circulating a petition urging senators to reconsider a bill they rejected which aimed to eliminate "all forms of discrimination" against women.

One of the people to condemn Nigeria's senate is actress Uche Jombo, external who said "every Senator that voted against the bill should hide in shame".

But a senator told the BBC that in Islam, women get half of men's share in inheritance and it is unacceptable for anyone to change that.

Botswana's highest court has rejected an attempt by the government to ban a gay rights lobby group, in a rare victory for gay rights campaigners on the continent, Reuters news agency reports. 

The Court of Appeal upheld a 2014 judgement of  a lower court that the Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LEGAGIBO) group should be allowed to register and campaign for changes in anti-gay legislation.   

"It is clear that the government's decision (to seek the ban) interferes in the most fundamental way with the respondents' right to form an association to protect and promote their interest," Judge Ian Kirby said.  

Homosexual acts are illegal in Botswana.  

The ruling has been welcomed by some people on Twitter:

Zimbabwe will make it an offence for parents to reach a customary marriage arrangement on behalf of children below the age of 18 years, Vice-President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said, the state-owned Herald newspaper reports, external. 

Parents would also be banned from agreeing to a bride price before their children turn 18, he added. 

Image source, AFP

The government would not wait for a Constitutional Court ruling outlawing child marriages, and had already identified legislation which needed to be changed, Mr Mnangagwa is quoted as saying. 

A clause in the the Marriage Act, allowing for the marriage of minors with the consent of their guardians or a court, would be repealed, he said.

The Customary Act, which was silent on child marriages, would be amended to include a clause prohibiting it, the vice-president added. 

Himadou Amadou
BBC Afrique, Niamey

We reported in our 9:03 post that Niger's jailed opposition leader is going to receive medical treatment in France. 

Hama Amadou has just landed in Niger's capital Niamey from Filingue, a town in the south-west where he was detained.

He should be flown on shortly to Paris for treatment. 

Mr Amadou has been imprisoned since November and awaiting trial over baby-trafficking allegations, which he denies. 

Image source, Reuters