A Hollywood film about the young Ugandan chess champion Phiona Mutesi is due out this month with big name stars such as David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o,

The Queen of Katwe is about how Phiona grew up in one of the Ugandan capital's poorest slums to become an international chess player.

It is based on a book of the same name written by Tim Crothers, who told the BBC’s Newsday programme about Phiona and her ambitions to go to Harvard University.

He said that in July he was surprised to hear that she hadn't seen any previews of the film and wasn't too bothered to do so, telling him: "Well, Tim, I know how the story goes."

Listen to the whole interview:

Kenya’s only tyre manufacturer, Sameer Africa, is closing down its plant in the capital, Nairobi.

It intends to shift its production base to China and India because of “stiff competition from cheap and subsidised tyre imports entering its markets”.

Allan Walmsley, Sameer Africa’s managing director, said a reduction in custom duties for tyre imports and the high cost of electricity were other factors that led to the decision.

Hundreds of workers are likely to lose their jobs when the factory closes at the end of the September.

According the Kenya’s East African Standard newspaper, external, the company has 500 workers in Kenya.

Sameer Africa's website says, external the Yana tyres it produces aim “to be a pan-African tyre brand.

"This brand is backed by leading tyre technology, and the local development and production is engineered to meet the challenging driving conditions in Africa.”

A bail hearing in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, has just finished with most of the nearly 70 people arrested last Friday during an anti-government demonstration being denied bail.

A lawyers’ rights group tweets:

According to al-Jazeera journalist Haru Matasa those who were given bail included a journalist, security guards, a pregnant woman, the elderly, and some university students.

She says relatives of those who were denied bail and face public violence charges could be seen crying outside the magistrates court in Harare.

A protest planned by opposition parties for today has been postponed until Friday 16 September after the police yesterday banned all public demonstrations for two weeks.

Image source, AFP

Image source, SPL

This week, the great elephant census revealed that over the last decade the African population had dropped by a third and is expected to be halved again over the next 10 years.

But the appetite for ivory products, especially in China, shows no sign of abating. 

As a result ivory hunters are now heading into the wilds of Siberia to search for woolly mammoth skeletons from more than 10,000 years ago. 

Photo journalist Amos Chapple went on one such expedition, external with prospectors and told BBC's Newsday programme how the woolly mammoth skeletons are found:

The hunters he was with received $32,000 (£23,000) per tusk. 

They found four within eight days and he saw one of these tusks on sale in Hong Kong for $1m.

Bashir Mohamed
BBC Somali Service, Nairobi

Hundreds of furious hawkers have taken to the street of Eastleigh - the business district of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, known as "Little Mogadishu" - to peacefully protest against the smashing of their stalls.

Overnight, police destroyed all their desks that line the streets where they pile up all their goods (see earlier entry).

They say they have paid their taxes and the authorities have acted illegally.

The police operation follows complaints by shopkeepers who say they block entrances to malls.

Their shops are again closed as part of their three-day protest demanding that Nairobi's city council do something about the hawkers.

It is near impossible for money lenders to obtain adequate data about people across Africa, particularly in rural area, to help them decide whether to give loans. 

So new ways of getting information about people are cropping up.

Our colleagues at BBC Business have found a lender in Nigeria which uses your social media profile to decide whether they will give you a loan.

They found another company in South Africa which looks at your mobile phone data to see how much airtime you use and other spending habits recorded by your phone to decide whether to lend you money.

Tell us on Facebook, external or Twitter, external how you feel about handing over this information in exchange for a loan.

Is it an invasion of privacy or a smart way of working out credit worthiness?

You can also tell us what you think on Whatsapp: +44 7341070844

Image source, Jumo

Image source, AFP

The UN Security Council has called for calm in Gabon, where violence has erupted following a disputed presidential election.

It appealed to candidates and their supporters to avoid provocations and to resolve any disputes by legal means.

Three people are known to have been killed in clashes in the capital, Libreville.

The AFP news agency is reporting that two more people died overnight: A 27-year-old law student who died of his wounds in hospital after he was shot in the stomach and the body of a 30-year-old was seen being carried by a protesting crowd through the district of Nzeng Ayng.

The security forces have arrested more than 1,000 people as opposition protesters accused President Ali Bongo of rigging his victory in Saturday's poll.

His rival Jean Ping is now in hiding.

Read an election observer on: Vote rigging: Six tell-tale signs

Image source, Getty Images

The president of the South African Traditional Healer's Association has warned people not to go to fake traditional healers - and there were telltale signs on how to spot them:

1. If they used body parts claiming to be powerful "muti", the term used traditional medicine, would could make you rich.
2. If they slept with their patients, claiming it would make them powerful.

Sylvester Hlathi, who qualified as a traditional heal in 1982 after four years of studying, told the BBC's Newsday programme that such charlatans had not completed their studies.

He also warned apprentices who were taken on by fake healers:

Image source, Science Photo Library

More than two billion people could be at risk from Zika virus outbreaks in parts of Africa and Asia, according to scientists writing in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, external.

Populations in Nigeria as well as India and Indonesia are some of the most vulnerable to transmission, the researchers said.

The infection, spread by mosquito bites, reached Africa recently.

In Brazil in 2015, Zika virus was linked to an unprecedented rise in the number of children being born with unusually small heads, called microcephaly.

But the researchers said there were still many unknowns about the virus and how it spreads, including which species of mosquito transmits the virus and whether some populations are immune to the virus because of previous outbreaks in the area.

Jonathan Ball, professor of molecular virology at the University of Nottingham, said it was evident that travel and trade would help spread the Zika virus around the world:

Read the BBC News story for more

Ahmed Adan
BBC Africa, Nairobi

The stalls of thousands of hawkers in the busy district of Eastleigh in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, have been destroyed in a police operation overnight.

Shopkeepers in Eastleigh have been complaining that hawkers have affected their business by blocking entrances and undercutting them as they don't pay tax. 

Earlier this week, they shut up their shops in protest.

And it seems the authorities have taken their shutdown seriously.

All the desks where the hawkers laid out their wares along the streets have been destroyed by police.

Nearly 20,000 hawkers have been doing businesses in Eastleigh, according to some anonymous police sources.

Eastleigh – known as “Little Mogadishu” because of its large Somali community – is one of the biggest trading centres in East Africa and has more than 50 shopping malls.

There are fears of violence demonstrations could kick off in the market area as the hawkers are very angry.

Police are patrolling the area.

Today's African proverb:

Image source, Getty Images

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