Image source, AFP

Judge Siraj Desai has sentenced South African triple axe murderer Henri Van Breda to life in prison, saying the 23-year-old used excessive and gratuitous violence and had shown no remorse for his actions.

His conduct warranted the severest punishment, the judge told the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town.

"Society expects no less."

Van Breda, who was 20 at the time of the attack, received three life terms and 15 years in jail for the attempted murder of his sister Marli.

The motive for the horrific murders is still not known and the judge said Van Breda had not take the court in his confidence about why brutally attacked his family.

Some believe he did it to inherit his father's multi-million dollar estate, but this was never proven.

• Read more: The man who killed his family with an axe

Image source, EPA

Henri Van Breda, who murdered his father, mother and brother with an axe in South Africa in 2015, has been sentenced to life in prison.

The alleged second-in-command of a syndicate behind cash-in-transit heists in South Africa has been arrested with 13 other suspects, Police Minister Bheki Ceke has been quoted by the local Times Live news site as saying, external.

South Africa has seen a sharp rise in heists - from 147 in 2017 to 159 so far this year, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric).

Criminals have hijacked and bombed armoured vehicles, escaping with large sums of cash, amid growing concern that crime is spiralling out of control in South Africa.

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Cele conceded that police officers were involved in some of the heists and firearms and bullet-proof vests used by the police and the military had been found at crime scenes, Times Live reports.

“We won’t sit here and deny the bad involvement,” he said.

The alleged second-in-command who had been arrested was among the 20 most wanted suspects, he added.

“South Africans are going to be safe. We are going to make them safe. Criminals have declared war and they must get ready to fight the war‚” Mr Cele said.

An undercover investigation by a Ghanaian journalist has filmed more than 100 African football officials accepting cash in apparent violation of the rules of the sport.

The footage - gathered using controversial methods - has been shared with the BBC.

Those alleged to have been involved include a referee from Kenya, Aden Range Marwa, who was due to officiate at the World Cup in Russia, and Kwesi Nyantekyi, the head of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), who also sits on the council of the world football governing body, Fifa.

Mr Marwa has denied any wrongdoing, but Fifa said he would not now be going to the World Cup. Mr Nyantekyi has so far declined to comment.

In a statement, the GFA said it viewed the allegations very seriously and would fully investigation them.

The wreckage of a small passenger plane missing in Kenya since Tuesday has been spotted in the Aberdare forest in the centre of the country, senior transport department official Paul Maringa has said.

The fate of the eight passengers and two pilots is still unclear.

“A recovery team, including medics has been directed there, and the Red Cross is on board too,” Mr Maringa is quoted by Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper as saying.

The wreckage was "reasonably" damaged, and had been spotted "11,900ft up a 400m cliff face in a dense area” after rescue operations resumed this morning, Mr Maringa added.

The plane, operated by East African Safari Air Express, flew out of the western town of Kitale late on Tuesday afternoon.

It disappeared off the radar screens at its final destination, the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital, Nairobi, around 80 minutes later, the owners, Fly Sax said in a statement., external

The cause of the crash is still unclear.

Image source, AFP

Nigeria’s president has named a new date for the country to mark democracy day.

Instead of being on 29 May it will now be celebrated on 12 June – which means this year Nigerians will get a bonus holiday.

In a statement, President Muhammadu Buhari said the new date had been chosen to commemorate the elections on 12 June 1993 when the military annulled the results.

He said that date was more symbolic for Nigerian democracy:

Mr Buhari said that for the past 18 years Nigerians had been celebrating 29 May as Democracy Day, which was the date when for the second time in the country's history, an elected civilian administration had taken over from a military government.

Our African proverb of the day:

Image source, af

Click here to send in your African proverbs.

Welcome back to the BBC Africa Live page on Thursday 7 June 2018, where we'll bring you news and views from around the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Flora Drury & Farouk Chothia

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page on Wednesday. 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.

And we leave you with a photo of a street child in Ghana's capital, Accra:

Halima Umar
BBC Hausa, Abuja

Musbahu (not his real name), who was born with a mixture of male and female sexual characteristics, grew up as an intersex man in the mainly Muslim north of Nigeria.

“Even though I was born an intersex, I was given boy’s name and I grew up with male friends,” he told BBC Hausa.

The 24-year-old says his life has been difficult - especially from the age of 10, when he hit puberty and developed breasts.

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said that he thought taking his own life would be "the best option".

He told the BBC that his parents convinced him not to:

According to Dr Anas Yahaya, from Bayero University Kano, one out of every 2,000 babies born at Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital in the northern city of Kano are intersex, meaning they have what is known as a sex development disorder (DSD).

DSDs can be treated with hormone therapy, psychological support and - sometimes - surgery.

If surgery is an option, Dr Anas says it should be put off until after puberty.

“That will allow us to know if the person is more of a male or female, because it will be easier to do the surgery that way," he says.

However, medical intervention can be costly for some families.

“It is so unfortunate that [most of] these people cannot afford the surgery, which costs about 250,000 naira ($695, £515),” the doctor said.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Malawi's ruling party has been divided ever since the widow of the late President Bingu Mutharika said his brother, the current President Peter Mutharika, is too old to run for a second term, arguing he should make way for his 45-year-old deputy, Saulos Chilima.

But in move that has shocked many in Malawi, Mr Chilima has announced he will not be challenging his 79-year-old boss for the party presidency at its elective convention later this month.

Addressing the media in the capital Lilongwe, Mr Chilima said he does not want to be seen as fighting the founders of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Image source, AFP

Today’s unexpected decision by Mr Chilima, who has reasonable support within the DPP, has eased tension in the party.

However, his supporters, who saw him as the future leader of Malawi, will feel betrayed.

There are suggestions that he could be planning to form a political party ahead of elections in May 2019.

If Mr Mutharika is re-elected, he will be 80 when he begins a new five-year term - which some people feel makes him too old for the job.

But President Mutharika has laughed off these concerns and, on more than one occasion, declared he will lead the ruling party in 2019.

The main opposition, the Malawi Congress Party, will be fielding Lazarus Chakwera as its candidate.

Speculation is also rife that former President Joyce Banda, who returned home in April, will also make a run for the top job.

A Cameroonian mother has told of her heartbreak after her daughter was kidnapped and killed during a military operation.

Mami Juliana's daughter was taken from Menka village in the North-West region, where there has been mounting tension between separatists and government forces.

The 19-year-old didn't come back alive.

You can hear the mother's story below:

Tunisia's interior minister has been fired just days after dozens of migrants drowned in the Mediterranean.

Lofti Brahem was fired by Prime Minister Youssef Chahed, with Justice Minister Ghazi Jeribi filling the position until a replacement is found.

However, the government statement announcing the decision, which was released on its Facebook page on Wednesday, gave no reasons.

Mr Chahed had earlier blamed security guards for failing to stop a boat packed with 180 migrants - mainly Tunisians - from leaving the country.

The boat later sank, leaving as many as 100 people dead.

Ashley Lime
BBC News, Nairobi

The first batch of Cuban doctors have arrived in Kenya's capital Nairobi, as controversy continues to swirl over the deal.

The 50 doctors, who are mostly women, were received by Kisumu County Governor Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and Dr Rashid Aman, chief administrative secretary at the Health Ministry, after arriving on Tuesday night at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The Cubans have come amid controversy surrounding their pay and treatment, including privileges such as furnished apartments, security and transport.

Dr Aman confirmed that the next group of 50 doctors is expected on Thursday evening.

The Health Ministry said the doctors would be taken to the Kenya School of Government for a two-week induction, before being deployed around the country's 47 counties.

“We will take them through a rigorous programme, introducing them to the country, the system, how things work and the health sector in this country,” said Dr Aman.

The Kenyan government will link them up with local doctors and facilities, hoping they will be able to share their experience.

The Cubans will mentor Kenyan doctors and engage in knowledge exchange, said Dr Aman.

Specialists among the Cuban doctors will include five kidney specialists, known as nephrologists, three radiologists, plastic surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons and neurologists.

About 50 Kenyan doctors will be sent to Cuba for specialised training, especially in family medicine, in September, the Health Ministry said.

Jose Tembe
BBC Africa, Maputo

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake has struck off the coast of Mozambique - with its effects felt as far away as neighbouring Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania.

The earthquake hit in the Mozambique Channel, 45km (28 miles) from Ibo Island, in the northern province of Cabo Delgado, at a depth of 10km.

It struck a few minutes after midnight, local time (22:00 GMT).

No casualties or damage to property has yet been reported but the National Institute of Mining, the body responsible for monitoring seismic activity in Mozambique, said it is in contact with the authorities in affected districts to monitor the situation.

The last such incident was recorded in March, when an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale struck the administrative post of Chire in the central province of Zambezia.

That earthquake was felt in all the country’s central and northern provinces, as well as neighbouring Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, Greater Manchester Police

A South African father is facing manslaughter charges after allegedly shooting dead his teenage son, who he mistook for a criminal.

According to South African police, the accused, who had a firearm on him at the time, fell asleep in the car while waiting for his son outside his school.

The 14-year-old, who had been taking part in an evening study group, then knocked on the passenger window of his father's vehicle, Captain Mpande Khoza said.

“The father got scared by the knocking; he pulled out his firearm and shot in the direction of the person who was knocking,” he added.

The boy died on the way to hospital.

Pupils at the school in Ennerdale, south of Johannesburg, will receive trauma counselling, authorities say.

The shooting comes days after a nine-year-old girl was shot dead outside her school near Durban during a botched hijacking.

Her father is now being investigated for her accidental death, South African website TimesLive reports, external.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Two Somali elders have been shot dead in the capital Mogadishu amid growing concern over a rise in the number of targeted shootings by Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The latest attacks come a day after three local politicians and their six bodyguards were killed in an al-Shabab ambush north of the capital.

The two elders were shot in different parts of Mogadishu - one right outside his home.

What is causing shock is the fact that over the past few weeks shootings have been carried out in broad daylight, sometimes on busy streets, with no intervention from the military or police.

Rescue teams in Kenya have been forced to suspend operations to find a passenger plane which disappeared from the radar on Tuesday afternoon, a local journalist has tweeted:

Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper reports that rescue teams lacked the resources needed to carry out night searches.

Eight passengers and two pilots were on board the plane, which went missing as it was flying from the western town of Kitale to the capital, Nairobi.

The search is focusing on a forested area about 80km (50 miles) north of Nairobi.

• Read our earlier posts on the missing plane - and the rescuers injured in a car crash as they rushed to the search area - by clicking here.

Ghana and Nigeria top the tables when it comes to Google searches for the abortion pill Misoprostol, according to research carried out by the BBC's 100 Women project.

Analysis of Google data showed the two West African countries had most interest in the pills globally.

In fact, of the 25 countries with highest search interest in Misoprostol, 11 are in Africa and 14 in Latin America.

The data appears to show women are searching for and purchasing the pills online in countries where access to abortion is restricted.

Ghana only allows abortions in cases of rape, incest, foetal impairment or to preserve a woman's mental health.

Nigeria is stricter still - abortion is only allowed in situations where a woman's life is in danger.

You can read more about the findings by clicking here.

Image source, AFP

Madagascar's new "consensus" prime minister has said his priority will be to organise a presidential election which will be "acceptable to all".

Christian Ntsay, who was appointed on Monday by President Hery Rajaonarimampianin, was sworn in amid rising tensions over electoral reforms in the island nation.

The president passed a controversial new law - since overturned - which would have prevented former President Marc Ravalomanana standing in the next election.

As a result, the opposition organised a series of protests.

Meanwhile, the defence minister said if a solution could not be found, the military would intervene.

Mr Ntsay is the leader chosen after the country's Constitutional Court ordered the president to form a new government with a prime minister supported by all political parties.

His predecessor, Olivier Mahafaly, resigned on Monday.

As well as promising to focus on the elections, news agency AFP reports Mr Ntsay listing his other priorities as peace, security and the fight against corruption.

The court has called for the elections to be completed during the dry season, which ends in October.

Since gaining independence from France in 1960, the Indian Ocean nation has experienced repeated political instability, including coups, unrest and disputed elections.