Alex Duval Smith
BBC Africa, Dakar

Three opposition politicians in Senegal have been arrested and police have fired tear gas to prevent a demonstration against a controversial government bill.

Protesters gathered early this morning near parliament in the capital, Dakar.

Some said they wanted to prevent MPs from attending a controversial voting session at the national assembly.

The politicians arrested are Idrissa Seck, Malik Gakou and Thierno Bokoum.

Judging from television coverage from parliament, the sitting has started and the house is well attended.

The proposed new electoral law increases the number of signatures candidates need to collect before standing in presidential elections.

The opposition says the bill is an attempt by President Macky Sall to limit and control competition in the next election in 2019.

But the government says it wants to streamline the electoral system.

News website Senenews.com has tweeted a link to a live video of the action on the streets:

Image source, PA

A British youth worker who uncovered a massive child abuse network is travelling to Nigeria to pass on what she learned.

Hundreds of girls were sexually exploited in the northern English town Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Jayne Senior, who was a youth worker in the town, helped reveal the scale of the abuse and failures of the authorities to act.

She was invited to Nigeria by the president of the Nigerian children's rights group, Jose Foundation.

A report by the UN's children's charity Unicef, external found one in four girls and one in 10 boys in Nigeria would experience sexual violence before they turned 18.

Read more on the BBC News website.

Image source, PA

British monarch Queen Elizabeth II says she wants her son Prince Charles to replace her as the head of the Commonwealth.

She was speaking at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm).

She said it was her "sincere wish" that the Commonwealth would continue to "offer stability and continuity to future generations, and will decide that one day the Prince of Wales should carry on the important work started by my father in 1949".

A decision on whether Prince Charles will succeed her as head of the Commonwealth is expected from the heads of state on Friday.

Nineteen of the 53 Commonwealth states are African.

Many are ex-British colonies but Rwanda and Mozambique also became members in recent years, while Zimbabwe left amid reports of election rigging in 2003.

Mansur Abubakar
BBC Pidgin, Kano

Image source, AFP

More than 4,500 newly recruited primary school teachers in Nigeria’s northern state of Kaduna have been sacked for “incompetence”.

Lawal Danjuma, an aide to the state commissioner of education, told BBC Pidgin:

Kaduna state has just recruited 15,897 teachers after sacking about 22,000 others last year for failing a test set for their six-year-old pupils.

He said the names of those who have just been fired must have been smuggled in during the recruitment process.

Read more: Why Nigeria is failing teachers and pupils

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Nurses in Zimbabwe are continuing their strike over pay, on the day the government is starting to rehire nurses after it sacked more than 14,000 for going on strike.

The nurses went on strike on Monday to press demands for the payment of allowances and to protest about new pay grades.

A spokesman for President Emmerson Mnangagwa said the government was recruiting unemployed nurses and recalling retired nurses below the age of 70 who were willing to work.

He said nurses who were sacked could apply for the posts as new employees.

But Enock Dongo, secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Nursing Association, told the BBC this just wasn't viable.

He said the sackings violated the country's labour laws and so the strike was still on.

We reported yesterday that Zimbabwe’s Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga said that striking workers had refused to return to work despite their outstanding allowances being paid.

But Mr Dongo told the BBC that the nurses had not received any of their demands and all the government had promised is money they already owed in back pay.

Correspondents say a presidential election is just months away and some Zimbabweans see the government's hardball tactics as a risky move that could alienate voters.

A South Africa lobby group says it is going to privately prosecute outspoken South African opposition leader Julius Malema on allegations of corruption and fraud.

Afriforum, a group that campaigns to protect the rights of white Afrikaners, said it was taking up a case against the Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF) leader because that the National Prosecuting Authority had failed to pursue it.

A report by South Africa’s anti-corruption ombudsman in 2012 had recommended that legal proceedings be opened over how On-Point Engineering, a company Mr Malema co-owned, was awarded a tender by the Limpopo roads and transport department.

The EFF leader denied the allegations at the time, saying they were politically motivated.

In response to today’s announcement, he tweeted that he was not scared, adding: “No white man will decide my destiny.”

Mr Malema, who was expelled from the governing African National Congress (ANC) in 2012 for bringing the party into disrepute, is known for making strident and controversial comments.

He has told his supporters that white people cannot claim to own land in South Africa because it belongs to the country's black majority.

Read more about South Africa's firebrand leader.

Image source, Getty Images

East African clubs Al Hilal of Sudan, Gor Mahia of Kenya, Rwanda's Rayon Sports and Young Africans (Yanga) of Tanzania all qualified for the group stage of the Confederation Cup last night.

The four teams progressed to Saturday's 16-team draw despite losing the second legs of their play-offs on Wednesday.

No club from East Africa has won a continental club title since 1989 when Al Merreikh of Sudan won the now defunct African Cup Winners Cup.

The Confederation Cup is a second-tier club competition across the African continent.

It's not to be confused with the similarly named Confederations Cup, where national teams from across the globe compete a year before the World Cup.

See all the results from last night and Tuesday on the BBC sport website.

This taxi driver in the US capital, Washington, has a big secret - he is a musical star in his native Ethiopia and he still composes in the back of his car:

Video by Hannah Long-Higgins

Image source, Getty Images

Ethiopia's new prime minister has named a new cabinet where six of the 16 members are from the previous cabinet, reports Reuters news agency.

Abiy Ahmed said on state television that he had reshuffled six ministers and introduced 10 more.

He moved the former mining minister to the role of defence minister and kept the finance and foreign ministers in their roles, Reuters says.

He has requested parliament to ratify the change but as everyone in parliament is from the ruling coalition, observers say it is expected to go through.

The Nigerian press is reacting to comments by President Muhammadu Buhari criticising young people in his country.

At a Commonwealth Business Forum in Westminster, UK, he is quoted as saying:

The Daily Trust has interpreted, external that to mean Mr Burahi thinks young Nigerians are "lazy", while the Daily Post accuses Mr Buhari of "attacking" young people.

Finally the Vanguard reports, external that a 36-year-old presidential hopeful, Adamu Garba, has accused the president of being "humorous with our national pride".

Image source, AFP

The mace stolen from Nigeria’s parliament has been recovered under a flyover in the capital, Abuja, police say.

Several intruders rushed into the Senate, the upper chamber of the National Assembly, and grabbed the ceremonial staff during a session yesterday.

The Senate's spokesperson accused suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege of leading the "armed hoodlums", saying they had committed treason. He has since been arrested and denies any involvement in the theft.

The police say they set up roadblocks and launched stop-and-search operations in the wake of the theft.

In a statement, the police said the mace was eventually found under a flyover “where a patriotic passer-by saw it and alerted officers”.

The police chief has ordered security is to be beefed up at parliament as a consequence.

Watch the moment the mace was stolen:

Today's African proverb:

Image source, AFP

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we will bring you the latest news from around the continent.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page for today. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of today's wise words:

Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this photo of a colourfully dressed woman in Ivory Coast:

Image source, Reuters

Nigerian police have arrested suspended Senator Ovie Omo-Agege after he allegedly led a group of protesters to steal the Senate's mace earlier today.

Several intruders rushed into the upper chamber of the country's parliament, grabbed the ceremonial staff during a session and fled with it.

The Senate's spokesperson accused Mr Omo-Ageg of leading the "armed hoodlums", saying they had committed treason.

Mr Omo-Agege was recently suspended because of a row over comments he made during a debate on electoral reform.

The suspension was to serve as a deterrent to other senators who might wish to take the Senate to court over internal matters.

One of the 15,000 Zimbabwean nurses fired by the former army chief has told the BBC’s Focus on Africa radio programme why she and her striking colleagues are refusing to return to work.

The midwife, who asked to remain anonymous, spoke about their working conditions:

Image source, AFP

The authorities in South Sudan have shut down the BBC’s FM relay stations in the capital, Juba, and in Wau.

A top South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation (SSBC) official, Magok Chilim, said the BBC had ignored requests to “pay arrears”, despite a reminder in January.

He threatened to sue the BBC should the broadcaster not pay its bill.

In a statement, the BBC said it regretted SSBC’s decision to stop broadcasting "its news services to an audience of more than 400,000 in South Sudan”.

The corporation was working hard to reach an accommodation with SSBC to restore the service, it added.

The first South African convicted for racist abuse has lost her appeal and will have to serve her full prison sentence.

Vicky Momberg was sentenced last month to three years in jail, with one year suspended, for using a derogatory word against a black police officer 48 times.

Magistrate Pravina Rugoonandan dismissed her appeal, saying the sentence was "fair and just", the AFP news agency reports.

Racism remains a major issue in South Africa, almost 24 years after white minority rule ended.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

A suspected gang of Islamist militants has attacked the village of Ncumbi in northern Mozambique, reports say.

About 10 fighters launched their raid on the village in the province of Cabo Delgado at about 01:00 local time, according to the independent Mediafax news service.

Looking for food, they proceeded to kill a local trader who refused to let them into his stall, it said.

Some of the attackers, including national and foreign citizens mainly from Tanzania, are now in police custody.

Since October last year, some districts of Cabo Delgado have experienced intermittent attacks by armed men, thought to be linked to an Islamist militant group.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

South Africa says it takes “strong exception” to advice issued by the Australian government to travellers telling them to exercise a “high degree of caution”.

Its travel advisory website smartraveller.gov.au, external warns:

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said that the advisory had the potential not only to deter Australians from visiting South Africa but also would tarnish the country's image.

Foreign Minister Lindiwe Sisulu is to raise her concerns with her Australian counterpart Julie Bishop, saying:

This is not the first spat with Australia over South Africa's reputation.

In March, Ms Sisulu said that comments by Australia’s home affairs minister about the alleged persecution facing white farmers were misleading, alarming and harmful to South Africa’s image and she demanded a retraction.

Peter Dutton had said he was exploring giving them access to fast-track visas on humanitarian grounds because they lived under “horrific conditions”.