Orla Guerin
BBC News, Cairo

We reported earlier that 15 people have been killed in an attack on a bus carrying Coptic Christians in southern Egypt.

The local provincial governor now says at least 20 people have been killed and 25 injured.

There are unconfirmed reports that that multiple gunmen were involved.

Initial reports say the dead were on their way to visit an ancient monastery today when their bus came under attack.

There has been no claim of responsibility but the so-called Islamic state has targeted Egypt's Coptic Christians several times in recent months, and vowed to do so again.

Last month it bombed two churches in northern Egypt.

A nationwide state of emergency was declared after those attacks and many Christians here complain that the state has done enough to protect them.

We reported earlier that the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights in Arusha, Tanzania, is due to rule on the case brought by Kenya's Ogiek people.

They're challenging the plan by the Kenyan government to move them from their ancestral home in the Mau Forest.

A BBC reporter in Arusha has snapped some of those who are waiting for the ruling:

In South Africa, the Zambian High Commissioner has said in a press conference that the reason South African opposition leader Mmusi Maimane was stopped from entering the Zambia was because of concerns that he would interfere with the treason case against his Zambian counterpart leader Hakainde Hichilema

“It was imperative that the due process of the law was respected without undue pressure or interference,” he told journalists.

Emmanuel Mwamba said the government was concerned by a statement he made before he travelled where he stated he would put pressure Zambian courts to release Mr Hichilema.

Mr Hichilema was charged with treason after his convoy allegedly refused to make way for President Edgar Lungu's motorcade, while both were travelling to a ceremony in western Zambia.

The leader of Zambia's main opposition party, the UPND, is now in court in the capital, Lusaka.

The magistrate is due to decide on whether to refer the treason charges he faces to the high court.

Mr Hichilema's party has been tweeting from the court:

Sammy Maina
BBC Monitoring

Justice Mandisa Maya has been appointed president of South Africa's Supreme Court, the first woman to hold the post.

This is the third highest position in the courts, after the Chief Justice and Deputy Chief Justice.

In a statement President Jacob Zuma congratulated her on "being the first woman to occupy such a high position in the judiciary".

Justice Maya served as a Supreme Court judge in Namibia in 2008 and a Court of Appeal judge in Lesotho in 2015. Directly before her appointment, she was the acting president of the Supreme Court.

Image source, Supreme Court

At least 15 Coptic Christians have been killed in an attack by gunmen on a bus in the Beni Suef governorate in Upper Egypt, the privately owned Copts United website has reported.

It said ambulances are rushing to the scene.

Copts in Egypt have of late been subject to militant attacks.

At least 46 people were killed in attacks on two churches in Tanta and Alexandria on 9 April.

South Africa's opposition leader Mmusi Maimane is leading a protest about the detention in Lusaka of his Zambian counterpart Hakainde Hichilema on treason charges.

In a video posted by Mr Maimane's party you can see him shouting "free HH" as well as criticising the presidency of Edgar Lungu.

Mr Maimane wanted to be in Zambia for Mr Hichilema's court appearance today, but was unable to leave his plane after it landed in Lusaka.

A magistrate's court is due to decide whether a treason trial should go ahead.

The Tanzania-based African Court of Human Rights is expected to deliver a ruling today which may force the hunter-gatherer Ogiek people to leave their ancestral lands in Kenya's Rift valley.

The government in Nairobi has long campaigned for the tribespeople's removal.

Officials argue the step is necessary to protect the Mau Forest.

It's the largest forest of indigenous trees in East Africa.

Thirty-five thousand complainants sued the Kenyan authorities over systematic rights violations and denial of land rights.

One community member, 96-year-old Debola Rashamba, told the BBC's David Wafula:

Zambia's opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema is due in a magistrate's court in Zambia's capital, Lusaka, to hear whether a treason case against him will go ahead in the High Court.

His party is tweeting pictures from outside the court:

South Africa's opposition leader Mmusi Maimane wanted to go to the trial to express his solidarity but he was not allowed to leave his plane when it arrived in Lusaka last night.

He is due to speak outside the Zambian High Commission in Pretoria where protesters have gathered according to the UPND:

Image source, Getty Images

Everton will become the first ever English Premier League team to play in Tanzania when they go there for a pre-season friendly.

The match will be played at Dar es Salaam's National Stadium on 13 July.

They're set to face the winners of the inaugural SportPesa Super Cup which will feature four teams from Kenya's Premier League and four from Tanzania's top flight.

Kenya-based betting company SportPesa are Everton's new shirt sponsors., external

Gunmen have abducted six school pupils in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, police say.

The kidnappers stormed Igbonla Model College on Thursday and took 10 pupils.

Local reports say they then released four after profiling their parents.

Police say the kidnappers got into the grounds by going through a swampy forest bordering the school, and cutting a hole in part of the school fence.

The search for the gunmen and the children is ongoing.

Six people were kidnapped from the same school in October.

Kidnappings for ransom is not uncommon in Nigeria.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has issued a statement to clarify that he is not opposed to setting up an inquiry into corruption in his government, despite going to court to challenge the report that recommended the commission.

Last year, a report from South Africa's anti-corruption body, the Public Protector's office, into the influence of wealthy businnessmen on the president found evidence of possible corruption.

It recommended a judicial commission of inquiry within 30 days, which has not happened.

A statement , externalfrom the president's office says that what Mr Zuma is challenging is not the idea of inquiry but rather the fact that under the constitution he cannot be ordered to set it up.

It says it "undermines the separation of powers doctrine".

South Africa's opposition leader has been expelled from Zambia, blocking him from attending the treason case of his detained counterpart, his party says.

Police boarded Mmusi Maimane's flight, and "forcefully prevented" him from entering Zambia, his party said.

Mr Maimane had planned to show solidarity with Zambia's main opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema when he appears in court on Friday.

A court is due to rule whether he should be tried for treason.·

Zambia's government has not yet commented on the statement by South Africa's main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) that its leader was deported.

Mr Maimane is due to give a statement about the issue at 09.30 GMT.

Last night, he tweeted pictures from the airport in Lusaka saying that he was assaulted.

Read more: Democracy on trail in Zambia?

The BBC's understands that the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi may have fought in Libya during the civil war that toppled Col Gaddafi.

The 22-year-old Salman Ramadan Abedi was named by police as the person who carried out the suicide bomb attack that killed 22 people at Manchester Arena on Monday evening.

Three separate sources have told Newsnight's Gabriel Gatehouse that Salman Abedi and his father Ramadan both joined a militia brigade fighting to overthrow the Libyan dictator in 2011.

Salman Abedi would have been 16 at the time.

Newsnight also understands that there was a family connection between the Abedi's and a known IS recruiter in Manchester.

Watch Gabriel Gatehouse explain what he knows so far about the links:

Read more on Abedi's Libya link and on Why Libya is so lawless?

BBC World Service

Thirty-three people are expected to appear in court in Tunisia today to face charges over the deadly attack which killed dozens of tourists at the beach resort of Sousse in 2015.

The 38 victims died at the hands of a single Tunisian gunman, Saifeddine Rezqui.

A legal official told the BBC that the accused include six police officers.

Today's court hearing is expected to pave the way for a full trial.

Several of the accused are on the run and it is reported that they will be tried in their absence.

Image source, .

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