Ahmed Rouaba
BBC Arabic

Algerians have reacted angrily after police forced striking female teachers to board a bus in the capital, Algiers, and then dropped them off on a road about 130km (80 miles) away.

Yacine Lamrane posted a photo of the teachers on Facebook and wrote in Arabic: "A state which abandons its women and girls on the highway and puts them at risk for their lives is a state without dignity."

The teachers were protesting outside the education ministry when they were picked up by the police.

Teachers across Algeria have been on strike for weeks to demand better pay and working conditions.

A US air strike has killed four militants from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group in southern Somalia, the US military has tweeted:

A policeman guarding a bank in Asyut, Egypt, caught a child falling from the third floor.

The child was unharmed and the policeman was only slightly injured.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

A court case has begun in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, challenging laws which prohibit sexual activity between two people of the same gender.

The National Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission is behind the case and argues that two laws from the colonial era contravene sections of Kenya's constitution which protects everyone from discrimination and violence.

Under the current law gay sex can be punished with a 14-year prison sentence. Christian and Muslim civil society groups are arguing for the law to remain in place

Image source, AFP

Image source, Getty Images

Struggling Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna have signed Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari until the end of the season., external

The move comes after a successful trial period with the club.

The 33-year-old former Sunderland and Portsmouth star, a free agent after leaving Italian side Pescara last summer, impressed new Deportivo manager Clarence Seedorf.

Muntari reunites with Seedorf having spent time together at AC Milan.

Read the full BBC Sport story here

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The Seychelles is to create a vast new marine reserve in return for a large amount of its national debt being written off.

It is said to be the first scheme of its kind.

Under it, $21m (£15m) of government debt will be swapped for conservation funding to protect both the sea and the archipelago's economy, which relies on fishing and tourism.

The Hollywood actor, Leonardo DiCaprio, whose foundation partly funded the deal, said it would serve as a model for future conservation projects around the world.

Alhassan Sillah
BBC Africa, Conakry

Image source, AFP

A video has emerged on social media in Guinea appearing to show a minister inciting violence a week after another member of the government warned anyone doing so would face justice - and at the International Criminal Court if needs be.

The video footage appears to Sports Minister Gbantama Sow addressing a gathering people in the northern town of Marella, a stronghold of the governing RPG party, and urging them to take revenge on their rivals.

Tensions are simmering in Guinea after local elections two weeks ago were followed by violent clashes which left seven dead, five of them children.

Guinea’s minister for national unity, Gassama Diaby, has been quoted by local media as saying the sports minister’s behaviour is "unacceptable... especially from a representative of the state".

Mr Diaby added Mr Sow's name would be put on a list of people preaching hatred and violence and he would face justice.

Image source, AFP

Chad has reached a deal with commodity giant Glencore and four bank lenders on the restructuring of an oil-backed loan of more than $1.45bn (£1bn) following months of negotiations.

The oil-for-cash deal was struck in 2014, when Glencore lent the sum to Chad's state oil company to be repaid with crude oil cargoes, but was restructured a first time in 2015 when the slump in global oil prices left the oil-dependent nation struggling to meet its payments.

This time around, Reuters news agency quotes a spokesman for Chad’s state oil firm as saying the new terms include an extension of the maturity to 2030 from 2022, a two-year grace period on principal payments and a lower interest rate of Libor plus 2 percent, down from 7.5 percent.

The IMF, the Financial Time reports, had previously warned, external that Chad’s large external commercial debt was absorbing most of the country’s oil revenues and delayed releasing part of $300m in credit to Chad until the Glencore loan was restructured.

Temidayo Olofinsawo
BBC Yoruba editor, Lagos

A respected pastor in Nigeria has hit out at the practice of tithing - which is when Christians give 10% of their earnings to the church.

Pastor Tunde Bakare told the BBC Yoruba service that it should not be compulsory.

Giving tithes is a controversial topic here in Nigeria and many churches compel members of their congregations to tithe, even though many people cannot afford to do so.

It is estimated that 80% of Nigerians live on less than $2 (£1.40) a day, external.

Pastor Bakare, who leads the popular Later Rain Assembly church in Lagos, did not mince his words:

The words of the pastor, who is also a politician - he served as President Muhammadu Buhari's running mate in the 2011 elections won by Goodluck Jonathan - are likely to spark a fierce debate.

He warned:

Watch Pastor Bakare's interview in Yoruba

Image source, AFP

A court in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, has sentenced 21 people to death for terror offences, with the approval of the country's most senior Muslim cleric.

They were found guilty of joining a terrorist group, targeting public and private facilities and plotting to assassinate military and police personnel.

Some were tried in absentia.

Local news reports say the defendants were accused of plotting in 2015 to blow up a police station in the coastal city of Damietta and gas pipelines in a nearby village.

The final sentence was passed after the court's initial recommendation was approved by Egypt's Grand Mufti, Sheikh Shawki Allam, the country's most senior religious authority.

Zimbabwe's social welfare ministry has agreed to take eight children who have been in the custody of the South African authorities since November, a South African media outlet is reporting.

The eight were apparently being smuggled into South Africa when they were found in a truck.

A spokeswoman for South Africa's Department of Social Development told the eNCA news site that the children will be sent back to Zimbabwe, as these tweets show:

Image source, AFP

A cut in funding from South Africa's national lottery has forced the country's leading animal welfare charity to reduce its free services, reports News24, external.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) - which offers care and treatment to domestic, working and wild animals - was reportedly told that "animal welfare is not one of the focus areas".

The National Lottery Commission is prioritising poverty relief, and has advised the the charity to seek funding elsewhere, external.

But local media says the change will impact poor, rural communities who depend on donkeys, horses and oxen for labour and transport.

According to South African news site Ground Up, external, the SPCA had received tens of millions of rands in funding from the National Lottery Commission over the last 15 years.

Exective Director Marcelle Meredith said the decision was “short-sighted and inexcusable”, external, adding "the manner of communicating this was blunt and unforeseen".

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Yobe State government

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari is sending a delegation of ministers to north-east Nigeria on a fact finding mission following the kidnapping by Boko Haram of dozens of schoolgirls on Monday.

There is confusion over how many students were taken by the militants when they attacked Dapchi in Yobe State.

It is not clear if the number missing is around 50 or more than 100.

Local government officials said some girls had been rescued on Wednesday but gave no numbers.

This was the first time they had acknowledged that anyone had been kidnapped.

The attack is being compared to the kidnapping of the Chibok girls four years ago - more than 100 of them are still missing.

Read: The secret diaries of the Chibok girls

Uganda's privately owned Observer newspaper has tweeted photos which, it says, show police chasing away journalists to block them from covering a high-profile trial.

The Observer reports that the man on trial is a former police chief, Muhammad Kirumira, who the police force had previously accused of torture, extortion, corruption, bribery, unlawful arrests and excessive use of authority.

He denied the charges earlier this month and quit his job but the police refused to accept his resignation.

Mr Kirumira is said to be popular with the public, earning the nickname "the spirit of the nation".

He is known to use Facebook to criticise his colleagues, saying they are to blame for some of the criminal activities in the country.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The leader of a Boko Haram splinter group in Nigeria has appeared in court on charges related to the abduction and murder of 10 foreigners, including European and Arab nationals.

Khalid al-Barnawi, the leader of Ansaru, pleaded not guilty. He also denied the charges during a court appearance last year.

He was asked to plead again after a new judge took over the case. The previous judge recused himself after the militant said he did not trust him.

Most of the hostages - including British, German, Lebanese and Syrian nationals - were killed and buried in shallow graves.

The abductions took place between 2011 and 2013 in the northern Nigerian states of Kebbi, Kano and Bauchi.

The victims included British engineer Chris McManus and his Italian colleague Franco Lamoniara, who were killed by their captors during a failed attempt by British special forces to rescue them.

Barnawi was arrested by the military in 2016 in central Kogi state.

The US had placed a $5m (£3.5m) bounty on his head after branding him one of three Nigerian "specially designated global terrorists" in 2012.

Ansaru is a splinter group of Nigeria's largest militant Islamist group, Boko Haram.

It is ideologically aligned to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Barnawi has been charged with seven others over the abductions and murders.

The case has been adjourned to 9 April.

Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International has ranked the public sectors in sub-Saharan Africa as the most corrupt in the world, with two countries hit by instability - Somalia and South Sudan - topping the list.

Releasing its 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index, the German-based group says that the majority of countries in the world are making "little or no progress in ending corruption".

The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories based on the perceptions of business sector and experts, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.

This year, New Zealand and Denmark rank highest with scores of 89 and 88 respectively. Syria, South Sudan and Somalia rank lowest with scores of 14, 12 and 9 respectively," Transparency International says.

"The best performing region is Western Europe with an average score of 66. The worst performing regions are sub-Saharan Africa (average score 32) and Eastern Europe and Central Asia (average score 34)," it adds.

Grime star Stormzy stole the show at last night's Brit awards, beating Ed Sheeran to the coveted titles of best British male and best British album for his debut Gang Signs and Prayer.

The musician, who was raised in south London by his Ghanaian mother, was visibly moved when he collected both awards - first holding his head in his hands as he walked to the stage and later falling to the ground when his second win was announced.

Stormzy told the crowd Gang Signs And Prayer - the UK's first grime album to reach number one last March - was "the hardest thing" he had done and he gave "all the glory to God".

He said: "I've never worked on something like this in my life. We made something I feel that is undeniable, that I can stand by today."

The star also used a freestyle between songs at the end of the show to deliver a blistering criticism of British Prime Minister Theresa May's handling of the Grenfell Tower fire, in which 71 people living in a social housing block in London were killed last year.

"Yo, Theresa May, where's that money for Grenfell?," he rapped. "What, you thought we just forgot about Grenfell?"

Stormzy later thanked his fans in a tweet, saying, "love you all, thank you, thank God, emotional, overwhelmed, speechless... gonna go have a drink and party with my family".

Kenya's Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o is to star in a film adaptation of internationally acclaimed South African comedian Trevor Noah's autobiography, Born a Crime.

"I could not put the book down. Excited to announce that I will be starring in and producing its feature film adaptation!," Nyong'o said on her Instagram account.

Noah - who anchors one of the US's most influential TV programmes, The Daily Show - responded on Twitter by simply saying, "I'm in heaven".

He gave a detailed response on Instagram, saying Nyong'o - fresh from her success in Black Panther - was "beyond a perfect fit" for his mother.

"My mom is a powerful woman who could easily be one of the beautiful soldiers in Wakanda. So it's beyond a perfect fit that she would be portrayed on the big screen by the radiant and regal Lupita Nyong' o. I'm beyond excited," he wrote.

Born a Crime refers to Noah growing up in apartheid-era South Africa as the son of a black mother and white father.

BBC Hardtalk’s Zeinab Badawi spoke to the 34-year-old about it in 2016:

Our African proverb of the day:

Welcome back to BBC Africa Live, where we resume our coverage of the latest news and views from around the continent.