Image source, AFP

Senior Zimbabwean opposition MDC Alliance official Tendai Biti was arrested after he reported to Zambian immigration officials at the Chirundu border post, about 350km north (217 miles) of the capital Harare, his lawyer Nqobizitha Mlilo has been quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

"It seems the Zambian immigration officials alerted the Zimbabwean police and they effected an arrest," Mr Mlilo added.

Mr Biti is the most senior MDC Alliance politician to be arrested since President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power in November after ousting long-serving ruler Robert Mugabe.

He had promised a new democratic era, but the security forces launched a crackdown on the opposition after it said its candidate Nelson Chamisa won last Monday's elections.

MDC Alliance Senator David Coltart told the BBC it was "utterly appalling" that Mr Biti had been arrested.

No action has been taken against soldiers who "kill people in cold blood", but Mr Biti, "one of our finest lawyers" and a former finance minister, was treated like a "fugitive from justice", Mr Coltart said.

He added that the current political climate was no different to that under Mr Mugabe:

Mr Coltart questioned the stance of the UK towards Mr Mnangagwa's government:

At least six people were killed in clashes between security forces and opposition supporters in the capital, Harare, last Wednesday.

See earlier post for more details

Victor Kenani
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Bulldozers have been demolishing the popular Southend mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi's middle-class neighbourhood of Langata.

The government's National Environment Management Authority (Nema) says the building was built on riparian land, and was therefore unsafe.

Nema intends to demolish more than 4,000 buildings in Nairobi over the next two months.

This comes a day after the demolition of a Shell petrol station in Kileleshwa, Nairobi.

Lawyers for the mall's owners had opposed the demolition, but Nema pressed ahead with it, local media report.

Kenyans have been reacting to the demolishing on Twitter:

BBC World Service

Image source, Reuters

The ruling coalition in the Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to name its presidential candidate in the coming hours.

President Joseph Kabila held talks to discuss the matter with party officials on Tuesday.

Mr Kabila, who should have left office two years ago, is constitutionally barred from another term, though he has not publicly said he won't stand again.

Presidential candidates must submit their applications to the electoral commission by late afternoon on Wednesday.

Eight hopefuls have already done so. They include the former vice-president and ex-warlord, Jean Pierre Bemba, who returned to the DR Congo last week after being acquitted of war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

Kenya's former 400m hurdles world champion Nicholas Bett has died aged 28, following a car crash on Wednesday.

Bett had just returned from the Africa Championships in Nigeria when he died in Nandi, north west Kenya., external

In 2015, he made history in China by becoming the first Kenyan to win a world gold at a distance shorter than 800m.

He was a two-time African bronze medallist and his twin brother Haron Koech is also a hurdler.

Athletics Kenya confirmed Bett's death, while Kenyan sports minister Rashid Echesa tweeted his condolences to the Bett family:

Image source, AFP

A senior member of Zimbabwe's opposition MDC Alliance, Tendai Biti, has been arrested at the border with Zambia, his lawyer is quoted as saying.

Police had issued a search warrant for Mr Biti, accusing him of "unlawfully" announcing that his party's leader, Nelson Chamisa, won last Monday's presidential election.

He is also accused of inciting the violence when MDC Alliance supporters clashed with security forces two days later, leaving six people dead.

His lawyer, Nqobizitha Mlilo, told the AFP news agency that Mr Biti had been heading to Zambia to seek asylum.

Mr Biti was the minister of finance in a unity government that was formed after disputed elections in 2008 - and is credited with helping stabilise the economy after years of hyperinflation.

The election was won by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, but the opposition says the result was rigged.

Image source, Reuters

Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has appointed a new boss for the domestic spy agency after masked gunmen took control of the parliamentary building on Wednesday, causing a political uproar in the West African state.

Matthew Seiyefa would act as the new director-general of the Department of State Security Service, replacing Lawal Daura who was sacked for what Mr Osinbajo's office called the "unlawful takeover" of the parliamentary complex.

It is unclear why the masked gunmen - linked to the spy agency - took control of the building, but opposition lawmakers said it was an attempt to intimidate and block them from entering parliament after they defected from the ruling party.

Image source, AFP

A leading war veteran in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, has branded ex-President Robert Mugabe a sell-out for endorsing his one-time foe Nelson Chamisa's presidential bid in last week's heavily disputed election, the state-linked Herald newspaper reports.

Lazarus Nyoni - the provincial treasurer of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association - compared Mr Mugabe to the biblical Judas Iscariot for betraying Zanu-PF - the ruling party he helped form 55 years ago.

The newspaper quoted Mr Nyoni as saying at the funeral of liberation war heroine Ketty Dube:

Mr Chamisa - the candidate of the MDC Alliance - lost the election to Zanu-PF flag-bearer Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mr Mnangagwa saw the election as vital to legitimising his rule after he ousted Mr Mugabe as president last year with the backing of the military.

Image source, AFP

Mr Mugabe had until then seen the MDC as a "puppet" of the UK, the former colonial power, and his security forces had beaten up and jailed MDC activists, including Mr Chamisa.

Some MDC leaders believe Mr Mugabe's support cost the MDC Alliance the election.

• Read more: How Mugabe and white farmers changed sides

Our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

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

BBC Africa Live
Natasha Booty

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page for now but 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 to send us your African proverbs.

We leave you with this picture of people relaxing on the beach in Ghana's capital, Accra:

Cameroon's electoral body, Elecam, has cleared nine candidates to run for the country's top office. They are:

1. Paul Biya (RDPC/CPDM)
2. Akere Muna (FPD/PFD)
3. Joshua Osih (SDF/FSD)
4. Garga Haman Adji (ADD)
5. Maurice Kamto (MRC/CRM)
6. Libi’i Li Ngue Ngue Cabril (Univers)
7. Serge Espoir Matomba (PURS/UPSR)
8. Ndam Njoya Adamou (UDC/CDU)
9. Franklin Afanwi Ndifor (MCNC/CNCM)

A total of 27 people applied to run in the presidential elections due in October, which are set to take place to the background of turmoil in the country's two English-speaking regions.

Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front and lawyer Akere Muna - a former head of the country’s bar association - are regarded as President Paul Biya's main challengers.

Mr Biya, 85, is seeking a seventh term in office.

Image source, Reuters

Nigeria's Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has condemned the "takeover" of the parliamentary building earlier on Tuesday by masked gunmen linked to the spy agency as a "gross violation" of the rule of law, the presidency has said in a tweet.

Mr Osinbajo sacked the head of the Department of State Security Service (DSS), Lawal Daura, after the gunmen blocked lawmakers from entering the building.

No official reason was given for the blockade, but the intervention came after more than 50 lawmakers - including Senate President Bukola Saraki - switched their loyalty in recent weeks from the ruling party to the opposition.

Mr Osinbajo regarded it as "completely unacceptable", and all law enforcement officials who "participated in this travesty will be identified and subjected to appropriate disciplinary action", the presidency tweeted.

BBC World Service

A Congolese former minister has announced his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for December, which he says he will contest as an independent.

Kin-Kiey Mulumba twice served as minister under President Joseph Kabila, who has remained in power despite his second and final term in office having expired in 2016.

Mr Kabila is meeting leaders of his coalition, the Common Front for Congo, one day ahead of the deadline for presidential hopefuls to submit their names.

A BBC correspondent in DR Congo says it's unclear whether Mr Kabila will to try to run again or whether he will name a successor.

Image source, Getty Images

Samuel Kalalei, who won the Athens marathon last year, is the third Kenyan athlete to have been found in breach of anti-doping rules in the last 10 days, Reuters news agency reports.

Kalalei, 24, tested positive for the blood-boosting substance EPO and has now been provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

He follows sprinter Boniface Mweresa, who was dropped last month from Kenya's team at the African Senior Championships in Asaba, Nigeria, after testing positive for a prohibited substance which he had claimed was a legal supplement, says the Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya.

Image source, AFP

While on Saturday, former Commonwealth Games 10,000-metre champion and marathon runner Lucy Kabuu was suspended by the AIU for failing a doping test. Kabuu, 34, tested positive for morphine during the Milan marathon which she won in April, two months after her victory in the Hong Kong event.

Image source, Mail Today/Getty Images

"It's sad that we continue to lose top athletes to doping," a spokesperson for the organisation told Reuters.

"Athletics Kenya obviously regrets the development and reiterates that athletes must run clean."

Ethiopia's government has signed an agreement to end hostilities with a rebel group that it had, up until June, labelled a terrorist organisation, Reuters news agency quotes Ethiopian state television as saying.

The Oromo Liberation Front had long disputed the terrorist label, saying it was fighting for the rights of the Oromo people against domination by the Tigray minority.

The accord is a clear break with the previous government of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, which designated the OLF a terrorist organisation in 2014.

It is seen as the latest in a series of reforms by current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who came to office in April.

Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's government has set this Sunday, 12 August, as the date for president-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa's inauguration following a disputed election.

There have been deadly protests and accusations of rigging but no formal or legal challenge to Mr Mnangagwa's win has been mounted.

The main opposition MDC Alliance is yet to lodge its court application contesting the results, but has until Friday's deadline to do so.

The party says the poll was manipulated to deny its leader the presidency.

Among its claims are that ballot boxes were stuffed, and that numbers were deflated for their candidate Nelson Chamisa and inflated for President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa.

If the MDC Alliance lodges an application challenging the election result and the courts decide that the group has a case, then the inauguration could be put on hold.

You've surely heard of the Azonto, but how about the Pilolo? It's the latest dance style to emerge from Ghana and tutorial videos on YouTube are racking up views as people from all over learn the moves.

BBC Newsbeat meets dancers Lloyd and Nick, who explain why social media has been the perfect space in which to get their talent noticed:

High Street shops in the UK that were prosecuted for selling illegal skin-whitening creams are continuing to do so, the BBC has found.

A woman who was fined for selling illegal skin-lightening creams sold the substance to undercover reporters, even though she had been fined for selling the product in the past.

Meg Chucks was fined ($1,800) £1,400 and had to pay £$1,350 of legal costs in October 2017, but still sold the health-harming cosmetics to a BBC investigations team.

South London YouTubers Arlene Dihoulou and Mariam Omotunde used skin-whitening creams when they were teenagers.

Image source, .

Arlene started using the treatments at the age of 16 because she wanted to "fit in".

"I used to look at my skin as really ugly. I just wanted to be desirable".

Mariam, 22, went to a local shop to purchase the creams. She did not read the ingredients, but just picked the products based on the skin colour of the lady on the bottle, assuming they were safe to use.

Both girls stopped using the products before they had damaging health consequences, but were shocked the illegal products were sold so openly in the shops.

• Read the full story here

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The ousted governor of Ethiopia's Somali regional state has been arrested by the federal army, regional state-owned ESTV website reports.

“Officials from Ethiopia’s Somali region told the Ethiopian Somali region media that Abdi Mahmud Omar who resigned yesterday [6 August] as a governor, was arrested by Ethiopia’s federal military,” the website reported.

"Officials from the Somali region in Ethiopia have confirmed to us reports of the arrest of Abdi Mahmud Omar,” the report added.

Mr Omar resigned from his post as a governor on Monday and Ahmed Abdi Sheikh Mohamed was appointed to replace him.

There has been insecurity in the region since 4 August after the federal army was deployed to help end a bout of ethnic tension that has killed thousands and displaced more than a million people.

The deployment led to a standoff with the regional authorities and sparked protests by residents, which reportedly resulted in the death of dozens of people.

Chris Ewokor
BBC Africa, Abuja

Nigeria's Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has fired the head of the domestic spy agency, his spokesman Laolu Akande has said on Twitter.

No reasons were given for the sacking of Lawal Daura, the Director-General of the Department of State Security Service (DSS).

Mr Daura has been ordered to hand over his responsibilities to the next most senior official in the department, Mr Akande said.

Earlier today, operatives of the secret police barricaded the gates of Nigerian parliament building and prevented lawmakers from going in for several hours.

See update: 'Takeover unlawful'