BBC World Service

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An appeal court in Tunis has upheld the public indecency conviction of a couple arrested in September for kissing in a car.

Nessim Ouadi, who is a French national, was also accused of refusing to obey police after they apprehended him and his Tunisian girlfriend.

The couple were given lighter sentences - four months for the man and two for the woman - than the original terms handed out at their October trial.

The case prompted widespread outrage on social media and triggered a debate in Tunisia over public morality and the role of the police.

The public prosecutor said the case had been misrepresented in the international press and that the couple had been naked and engaged in a sexual act when stopped.

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The new instalment of Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, has been released in Johannesburg.

Dare Not Linger tackles his five years as South Africa's president after the collapse of apartheid and gives his view of the country's first multi-racial elections in 1994.

Mr Mandela's unfinished handwritten draft of the book was completed by a successful South African novelist.

The title of the book is taken from the final sentence of Mr Mandela's celebrated autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, in which he wrote: "With freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended."

Read more on the BBC News website.

Cosmetics giant Nivea is under fire for marketing a skin lightening product in West Africa.

Billboards and TV adverts for the "natural fairness" moisturiser - starring former Miss Nigeria Omowunmi Akinnifesi - have appeared in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Senegal.

Model and activist Munroe Bergdorf - who was recently fired from a L'Oreal campaign after speaking out against racism in the US - is among those who have criticised Nivea's TV advert, which she shared in full on her Instagram page:

While many are pointing out that the product isn't new, it has become a talking point on social media where people had also been quick to call out a "racist" Dove advert in recent weeks.

The Nigerian-American model featured in the Dove campaign, Lola Ogunyemi, has since spoken out and defended the advert saying it had been taken out of context.

Read more: Africa: Where black is not really beautiful.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

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Leaders from 12 African nations are due to meet in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, for a two-day summit that will address some of the continent's most intractable problems.

The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region will discuss a diverse range of violent conflicts including those in the Central African Republic, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.

Large amounts of money, resources and expertise have been spent without success attempting to resolve these crises in the past.

The group of political leaders - from Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia - has not met at summit level since June 2016.

Laeila Adjovi
BBC Africa

Image source, AFP

Togo's opposition is defying a government ban on weekday protests by planning a second day of protests today.

Four people were shot dead - one of them a boy - in clashes yesterday between protesters and security forces in the country's two largest cities, Lomé and Sokodé.

It follows months of on-and-off demonstrations against the regime.

On Tuesday, clashes following the arrest of an imam caused the deaths of two soldiers and two civilians.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the government confirmed that imam Djobo Mohamed Allassani, the Sokodé representative for one of the main opposition parties, had been arrested for allegedly calling for violence and sedition.

Rights group Amnesty international says the human rights situation in Togo is deteriorating at a worrying pace.

Since mid-August, hundreds of thousands of people have demonstrated throughout Togo, to demand the return of the 1992 constitution - which included a limit of two presidential terms - and the end of a 50-year political dynasty.

Image source, AFP

Read more: Togo protests: Why are people marching against President Faure Gnassingbé?

Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

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The British banking groups HSBC and Standard Chartered are likely to be investigated over new claims that they may have been used to launder money stolen from the South African state.

The British Finance Ministry has referred allegations, raised by the former cabinet minister and anti-apartheid activist, Lord Hain, to the Serious Fraud Office.

Lord Hain says whistleblowers have told him that hundreds of millions of dollars have been taken out of South Africa, illegally, via Hong Kong and Dubai.

He told BBC Newsday that he is bringing the issue up in the UK's House of Lords this morning.

“I have no evidence that they [the banks] were willing conduits," he said, adding that they could be that those banks may have been inadvertent conduits.

The money was allegedly stolen by South Africa's President Jacob Zuma and a wealthy business family, the Guptas.

Both Mr Zuma and the Guptas have denied any wrongdoing.

Standard Chartered said: "We are not able to comment on the details of client transactions, but can confirm that following an internal investigation accounts were closed by us in 2014." HSBC declined to comment.

Read more on the BBC News website.

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