If South Africa's first black president, Nelson Mandela, were alive, he would be celebrating his 100th birthday today.

He died in 2013 at the age of 95, and his comrades and friends have been trying to keep his legacy alive.

Sahm Venter, a researcher at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, has compiled some of the letters he wrote from prison into a book.

BBC Newsday's Lawrence Pollard has been speaking to her and Mandela's granddaughter, Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela, about the letters.

Dlamini-Mandela became emotional while reading a letter Mandela wrote to his children after the arrest of his then wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Listen to the full interview here:

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

Health authorities in Zambia are investigating the safety of a popular Zimbabwean juice, Mazoe.

There are fears that counterfeit Mazoe products have hit the market and are not fit for consumption.

The government suspects that the imported Mazoe drink does not meet the national food safety standards.

In a circular to provincial health directors, top government health official Jabbin Mulwanda said: “To strengthen food safety and protection of human health, the ministry is requesting that environmental health officers in provinces undertake random sampling and testing of all Mazoe drinks to ascertain compliance to standards.”

The Zambia Compulsory Standards Agency (ZCSA) also confirmed it is carrying out its routine market surveillances and testing of the drink.

The body’s spokesperson Lee Haamunji said: “The background is that a known Zambian company was locally producing Mazoe and other products in Zambia. We are aware that this company may no longer be in production and as such the majority of the product currently on market shelves is imported."

He added that SCSA had yet to find a contaminated sample that had entered the country.

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Tunisia's parliament has passed a law designed to help the government in its fight against corruption.

The legislation will force senior officials - including the president, cabinet ministers and judges - to declare their income.

The Prime Minister, Youssef Chahed, said this would make it easier to identify any illegally acquired wealth.

Corruption is widespread in Tunisia, and it is believed to cost the country's struggling economy billions of dollars every year.

Temidayo Olofinsawo
BBC Yoruba editor, Lagos

Nigeria's government has announced that a new national airline - Nigeria Air - will start operating in December.

The name and logo was unveiled by the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, at an airshow in London.

The government announced last year that it was investing almost $5m (£3.8m) to build a new national airline - 14 years after state-owned Nigeria Airways went bust.

"Nigeria has unfortunately not been a serious player in aviation for a long time. We used to be a dominant player, through Nigeria Airways, but sadly not anymore," Mr Sirika said.

The government would have a maximum stake of 5% in the airline, he said, adding:

“This will be a national carrier that is private sector led and driven. It is a business, not a social service. The government will not be involved in running it or deciding who runs it. The investors will have full responsibility for this.

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi

A new global report says HIV infections are rising in about 50 countries.

The report, launched by UNAids, says half of the people who are newly infected with the virus are not receiving the treatment they need to prolong their lives.

Nearly 37 million people across the world are living with the virus that causes Aids.

The syndrome kills about one million people each year.

UNAids is warning that progress towards controlling the spread of HIV is slowing globally.

However, the region worst hit by the infection – East and southern Africa - recorded the biggest drop in new infections.

This is because there is much more awareness and the majority of people living with HIV use life-prolonging medication.

The drugs also help to reduce the spread of HIV.

West and Central Africa, however, lag behind; three quarters of children and three out of five adults who need treatment are not receiving it.

The report notes that Nigeria, in particular, has made very little progress, even though it has high rates of HIV infection.

Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV remains high in most countries.

In some, as many as half of the people interviewed said they didn’t think children with HIV should attend the same schools as those without the virus.

She was an Egyptian feminist who removed her veil publicly in a rejection of the harem system which kept girls and women separate from men.

Huda Shaarawi story is the second story in a new eight-part series, African Women who Changed the World, which aims to shed light on great African women whose stories deserve to be heard.

Eritrea's information minister has tweeted a picture of passengers of the first passenger flight from Ethiopia being welcomed at the airport in Asmara.

They include former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn who was greeted by Eritrea's foreign minister:

Ferdinand Omondi
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, MICHAEL KHATEL

Kenya’s flagship railway project registered losses of $100m (£76m) in its first year of operation, according to the transport ministry.

The China-funded standard gauge railway - which links the coastal city of Mombasa to the capital, Nairobi, - was funded by a $3bn loan from China’s Exim bank, to be repaid over 15 years.

Kenya dismissed concerns that the railway project was overpriced, unsustainable and economically unviable.

The railway line was central to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election strategy, launched only months before the presidential poll last year.

While passenger trains get fully booked regularly, the minister said it was hard convincing businessmen to switch cargo transportation from road to rail.

Transport Minister James Macharia told a parliamentary committee that the state was now discussing with major private industries on how to make rail transport more viable.

The repayment begins next year, and if the railway doesn’t break even by then, Kenyan taxpayers will have to foot that bill.

Economists estimate that China now owns 70% of Kenya’s debt. However, the government hopes the railway will start making a profit in the next financial year.

Image source, AFP

A bitter row has flared up between a Spanish rescue charity and the Italian government after a dead migrant woman and child were found off the coast of Libya.

Proactiva Open Arms posted images of the bodies and its rescue of a surviving Cameroonian woman clinging to timber on their deflated dinghy.

The charity said the Libyan coastguard had abandoned the three, and blamed Italy for backing it.

Italy and the Libyan coastguard deny the charity's allegations.

The coastguard said it had rescued 165 migrants on Monday from a damaged boat in the area where the dinghy was found, nearly 80 nautical miles (148km) off the coast.

It said the migrants were dehydrated after drifting for more than 60 hours, and one dead baby girl was also recovered.

The coastguard did not say why the three others had been left on a damaged raft.

Read the full story on the BBC website

Former US President Barack Obama is winding up his talk to young African leaders who have gathered in a town hall in South Africa's main city of Johannesburg.

In parting, he shares advice he was given when he was in his 20s: “Worry less about what you wanna be and worry more about that you wanna do”.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani, who is at the event, has tweeted this exchange about how young people can assert themselves in politics:

A second passenger plane has left Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, for Asmara due to high demand, AFP news agency reports.

It shared a picture of passengers taking selfies aboard the first flight, which landed in the Eritrean capital few minutes ago.

Image source, Marvel/Disney

Marvel Entertainment is working on a new comic book series following the success of the film, Black Panther.

The film was listed as the 10th-highest box office earner of all time, making $1.2bn ( £916m), Forbes reported in April., external

The series will be based on T'Challa's younger sister, Shuri. The character was played by Guyanese-British actress Letitia Michelle Wright.

The series will be written by Nigerian author Nnedi Okorafor, who penned the digital comic series Black Panther: Long Live the King for Marvel.

"[Shuri is] an African young woman of genius level intelligence who is obsessed with technology and has travelled spiritually so far into the past that she's seen Wakanda before it was Wakanda.

The Ancestors call her Ancient Future. And she's super ambitious. What do I love about her? All that and more," Okorafor is quoted as saying.

Marvel expects to release the series in October.

Former US President Barack Obama is addressing over 200 young African leaders from across 44 countries in South Africa's largest city of Johannesburg.

They are the first class of the Africa leadership programme run by The Obama Foundation.

He has repeated the message he made yesterday while giving the annual Mandela lecture - that he was inspired by Nelson Mandela to serve.

He told the young people that he was also inspired by the work they were doing in their communities.

Mr Obama says he knew while he was still president that he wanted to return to Africa to help its young people build networks, as he says it is through networks that people are able to build communities and his foundation wants to help to bridge that gap.

He is currently taking questions from participants.

The BBC's Pumza Fihlani has tweeted this picture from the event:

Andrew Harding
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Nelson Mandela was born 100 years ago today.

In South Africa, the former US President Barack Obama marked the centenary on Tuesday with a speech in which he warned that the politics of fear was spreading fast across the world.

A century after his birth, and five years after his death, Nelson Mandela is still inspiring people, and still provoking debate.

Many in South Africa are marking this day with acts of charity – remembering Mandela’s own sacrifices in the fight against apartheid.

Some people here – angry at the country’s enduring inequalities - are starting to question the compromises he made to secure peace.

But for most, Mandela remains a touchstone – an example of selfless leadership.

In a speech to mark today’s centenary, the former US President Barack Obama pointedly compared Mandela to today’s arrogant strongmen, who ignore facts, make stuff up and seem, he suggested, small-hearted.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Sudan's Foreign Minister Al-Dirdiri Mohamed Ahmed - who is mediating efforts to end South Sudan's conflict - says rival politicians are due to decide in the next few hours whether to agree to a proposed power-sharing deal.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and his rival Riek Machar signed a permanent ceasefire last month, although there has been some violence since that agreement.

The latest proposal would see an expanded government with five positions of vice-president - including one woman.

Since the fighting broke out in 2013, more than four million people have been displaced.

All seats and luggage room have been filled for the inaugural flight to Eritrea's capital, Asmara.

A return ticket for the 90-minute flight cost $800 (£600).

Our reporter who is among the lucky ones on board has snapped these pictures:

Ethiopian Airlines has shared a picture of its first passenger flight - after 20 years - leaving for a journey to Eritrea.

News site Addis Standard reported 456 passengers are on board.

A journalist with news agency AFP has tweeted a picture of passengers aboard the inaugural flight from Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa to Etritrea's capital, Asmara.

Passengers have been served champagne:

Passenger air travel between Ethiopia and Eritrea has resumed today after being halted by 20 years of hostility between the countries.

Flights will again link the two capital cities, Addis Ababa and Asmara.

It's the latest in a series of steps aimed at normalising relations, just over a week after the former enemies signed a peace declaration.

News site Addis Standard reports that 456 passengers including former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and his wife as well as ambassadors, civil society organisation representatives and journalists will be on the flight.

Also travelling is the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza who reports that some of the passengers are going to reunite with family while others are going just to be part of a history-making event.

Mr Hailemariam told our reporter he was excited to be on the inaugural flight, and was emotional.

"It's a golden moment for the two countries and the two people," he added.

The captain of the flight told our reporter that he has flown for 38 years but that this trip was different.

"I'm going back to where I grew up... I am in cloud nine", Yosef Hailu said.

On Monday, Eritrea re-opened its embassy in Addis Ababa.

Eritrea broke away from Ethiopia in 1993. Five years later they began a border war in which about 80,000 people were killed.

Phone communication have already been restored between the two countries, allowing family members who have been cut off by years of hostilities to get in touch.

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