Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The World Health Organization (WHO) says a doctor infected with Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo is in an area entirely surrounded by rebels.

The WHO's deputy director general, Dr Peter Salama, said this was a problem health workers had been dreading.

"It is the first time we have a confirmed case and contacts in an area of high insecurity. It is really the problem we were anticipating and at same time dreading," Dr Salama told a news briefing in Geneva.

Image source, Reuters

The doctor is in hospital in the eastern town of Oicha, which is surrounded by a Ugandan Islamist militia, the Allied Democratic Forces.

A total of 97 people he has been in contact with are in the same area, which health teams are unable to access because of security concerns.

The WHO says nearly 40 people are confirmed to have died in the current outbreak.

Read: Ebola basics: What you need to know

Image source, Facebook

Thomas Cook is removing all its customers from a hotel in Egypt after the death of a British couple.

John Cooper, 69, and his wife Susan, 63, from Burnley, died while staying at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic in the Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

Egyptian authorities said Mr Cooper was taken ill with heart problems, but the couple's daughter said the cause of their deaths was unclear.

Kelly Ormerod said her parents had been "fit and healthy".

'Died in front of me'

Mrs Ormerod, who was also at the hotel with her three children, said in a statement to a radio station, external: "They had no health problems at all. We have no cause of death, a post-mortem is under way.

"Dad never went to hospital, he died in the hotel room in front of me. I went to hospital in the ambulance with Mum, where she passed away."

Mrs Ormerod praised the support from Thomas Cook, which said it had received "further reports of a raised level of illness among guests".

In a statement, Thomas Cook said 301 holidaymakers will have options for alternative hotels from Friday onwards and those wishing to go home will be flown back on Friday.

It added: "Safety is always our first priority, so as a precautionary measure we have taken a decision to remove all our customers from this hotel.

"While we understand this is upsetting for those on holiday, we believe this is the right thing to do."

Read the rest of the story here

Image source, AFP

South Africa's former Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas has alleged that controversial businessman Ajay Gupta threatened to kill him if he ever disclosed that he offered him 600m rand ($44.6m; £36.2m) at a meeting in 2015 in exchange for him taking the post of finance minister and advancing the Gupta family's business interests.

Mr Jonas made the disclosure while giving evidence at a judge-led inquiry into "state capture", a reference to the alleged undue influence the family wielded in then-President Jacob Zuma's scandal-hit government.

"At the end of the meeting Mr Gupta repeated that they had information on me, and if I suggested that the meeting had occurred they would kill me," Mr Jonas told the inquiry, led by Deputy Chief Justice Ray Zondo.

"I was very shaken by what had happened," he added,

Mr Gupta has previously denied that the meeting took place at his mansion in an upmarket suburb in South Africa's main city, Johannesburg.

Mr Zuma's son, Duduzane, was a close business partner of the Gupta family, and was alleged to have been present at the meeting. He has denied any wrongdoing.

A South African journalist has been tweeting from the inquiry:

Image source, Adam Catzavelos

A South African man has apologised for the "unspeakable pain" he caused by making a racist slur in a video widely shared on social media.

Adam Catzavelos faced a huge backlash since he filmed himself on a beach on holiday, saying it was "heaven on earth" as there were no black people there.

He said a derogatory term used historically by white people to denigrate black South Africans.

In a statement, Mr Catzavelos said:

Read more: South African man sacked after viral racist rant

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

There has been fierce fighting between the military in Cameroon and Anglophone separatist rebels in the north-west.

Residents of the town of Esu say a gun battle lasted for six hours.

There are reports that the rebels later captured automatic weapons from a contingent of Cameroonian soldiers during an ambush and that municipal council offices were set on fire.

Correspondents say the rebels are trying to make the English-speaking areas of Cameroon ungovernable in an effort to force the government into peace talks.

The minister of territorial administration, Paul Atanga Nji, said the separatists were being wiped out and urged those he described as remnants to surrender.

South Africa's foreign minister Lindiwe Sisulu has expressed disappointment about the US' "failure" to use diplomatic channels to raise its concerns about Pretoria's land policy, the foreign affairs department has said.

Ms Sisulu made her views known to a senior US diplomat summoned to the foreign office in an escalating row between the two countries over South Africa's plans to allow for the expropriation of some white-owned farmland without compensation.

Image source, Getty Images

The US state department said the policy would send South Africa down the wrong path, and a tweet by President Donald Trump referred to "land seizures" and "large scale killing" of farmers in South Africa.

However, statistics from a federation of South African agricultural organisations, AgriSA, show farm murders are at a 24-year low in South Africa.

• Read more: South Africa rejects Donald Trump's tweet on farmer killings

Image source, Getty Images

One of the two airport security men praised by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari for returning a bag full of cash and valuables says he was "mocked" by his friends for his honesty.

President Buhari commended junior security guard Achi Daniel and his supervisor Francis Emepueaku for being "good, honest Nigerians" by handing back the money to a traveller at the international airport in the commercial capital, Lagos.

During a ceremony honouring the men, Mr Daniel told online newspaper Sahara Reporters that it was not the first time he has returned valuables while on duty and was not discouraged by the mocking.

"If the money was in multi-millions of foreign currencies I would still have returned it," Mr Daniel told Sahara Reporters.

He said on returning the bag, its owners tried to give them money as thanks, which he and Mr Emepueaku rejected as they "were just doing their job".

“No amount of money would make me to take what doesn’t belong to me,” he added.

Both men have been awarded by their security company with education scholarships worth 250,000 Naira ($686, £534)

Our African proverb of the day:

Image source, Getty Images

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Welcome to the BBC Africa Live page where we'll be keeping you up-to-date with news and views from around the continent.

BBC Africa Live
Damian Zane & Tara John

That's all from the BBC Africa Live page for now, we'll be back on Friday. In the meantime, keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or check the BBC News website.

A reminder of our wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave with this image of young Ethiopians celebrating the Ashenda festival in the country's Tigray region in the north - you can read more about it here.

South Africans have been responding throughout the day to US President Donald Trump's tweet on the country's land reform programme.

Mr Trump talked about the "large scale killing of farmers" and a South African researcher into murder rates, Nigel Branken, decided to put the record straight in a Facebook post.

You can read the post in full here, external:

A BBC Reality Check investigation in November found there was no reliable data to suggest farmers were at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Parliamentarians in Equatorial Guinea have been banned from travelling outside the country unless the trip is authorised by Vice-President Teodorin Nguema Obiang, the son of the president.

A reporter with the AFP news agency obtained the letter which was sent last month to lawmakers and it says the measure has been put in place on grounds of national interest.

In June a similar ban was imposed on all civil servants.

The restriction is suspected to be as a result of an attempt last year to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema - Africa's longest serving leader.

The government of Equatorial Guinea said the coup attempt was instigated by civil servants who had travelled to Europe.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP

Uganda's musician-turned-MP remains in detention after being charged with treason in a civilian court earlier on Thursday.

He first appeared in a military court where charges of illegal possession of firearms were dropped, but he was immediately re-arrested and taken to the other court.

There's a big question over his state of health.

"He looked fine, but the big issue is that he wasn't able to stand up by himself," the BBC's Catherine Byaruhanga told Focus on Africa radio.

"He wasn't able to walk out without support. There were moments when he was visibly in pain.

"This is after allegations that he's been badly beaten while in custody."

The army denied that he had been beaten, and President Yoweri Museveni described the reports as "fake news".

Uganda's Bobi Wine: Pop star MP charged with treason

Image source, AFP

In Ubang, a small farming community in southern Nigeria, men and women speak different languages.

They believe the language difference is a blessing and hope to build a tourist centre to showcase their culture.

Video journalists: Yemisi Adegoke and Joshua Akinyemi

Nkechi Ogbonna
Visual journalist, BBC Africa

Image source, Getty Images

People in Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos, are gearing up for further traffic chaos as the state government plans the temporary closure of one of the city's key routes.

The authorities have announced that the Third Mainland Bridge will shut for three days to carry out maintenance investigations.

The closure is due to start at midnight on Thursday and should end 72 hours later on Sunday night.

The 11.8km (7 miles) bridge is one of the main crossing points in Lagos city, which covers the mainland and a series of islands, is often blighted by traffic jams.

Major repairs are due to start at the end of the year or at the beginning of 2019, but it is not clear how long they will go on for.

The Third Mainland Bridge is the continent's second longest bridge.

The local authorities have produced a map of alternative ways of getting round the city.

A rights group in Zimbabwe says a critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been charged with criminal nuisance after posting what were considered to be offensive statements about him on Facebook.

The organisation Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says the police have also charged Munyaradzi Shoko with public violence for taking part in an opposition protest last month.

The military shot dead six people during the protest.

Mr Shoko heads the Children of Zimbabwe War Veterans' Association, which is allied to the former president's wife, Grace Mugabe.

The police have also charged the government critic with assault after accusing him of attacking a governing party member at a hotel last year.

Image source, Reuters

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Addis Ababa

Aid agencies have raised concerns over a looming humanitarian crisis in southern Ethiopia following recent clashes that have displaced tens of thousands of people.

The rainy season has made some roads impassable further complicating the delivery of much-needed aid to more than one million people. They have been displaced after a wave of inter-communal clashes along the border areas of Gedeo and West Guji zones.

I saw people living in really dire situations with schools and colleges being converted into temporary homes for the thousands of displaced.

Malnourished children, pregnant women and the aged have to share very small spaces, which are exposed to the rains.

Dozens of people are believed to have died in a further wave of violence which erupted in March.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has condemned the clashes witnessed in various parts of the country, and promised to crack down on the perpetrators.

More than two million people have been forced to flee their homes in Ethiopia due to ethnic conflicts and drought.

Image source, EPA

Arsenal's former manager Arsène Wenger has arrived in Liberia ahead of an award ceremony on Friday when he is due to receive the country's highest honour.

Wenger was President George Weah's first European football coach and brought him to Monaco in 1988.

The president is the only African to have won the Fifa World Player of the Year award.

He retired from football in 2003 and took up politics.

Liberians have been tweeting photographs of Wenger being welcomed to the country.

The former Arsenal manager got to meet another Arsène, according to this tweet:

Liberia's Arsenal fan club had organised a special welcome ceremony of their own for Wenger, Liberia Information Minister Eugene Nagbe told the BBC.

Wenger will be inducted into the country's Order of Distinction and be given the title of Knight Grand Commander of the Humane Order of African Redemption - the highest rank possible.

The news has generated controversy in Liberia, with some saying that the honour should not be given to an individual for what they have done for the president personally, the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh reports from Monrovia.

While there has been a lot of criticism and condemnation of President Donald Trump's tweet on South Africa's land reform programme, there is one group that has welcomed his intervention.

AfriForum, a group that campaigns for the interests of Afrikaners in South Africa, said in a statement that it had influenced the US president's views.

The group lobbies globally on the issue, saying South Africa's white farmers feel under attack.

Mr Trump echoed these sentiments, tweeting that there was the "large scale killing of farmers" in South Africa.

A BBC Reality Check investigation in November found there was no reliable data to suggest farmers were at greater risk of being murdered than the average South African.

South Africa's government is currently considering how to change the constitution to clarify that expropriation of land without compensation is allowed.

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, Getty Images

South Africa's Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has reacted to US President Donald Trump's tweet on South African land reform .

In a media briefing in Johannesburg, Mr Malema said:

He said it was not just the US that would criticise expropriation of land without compensation.

On the allegation that white farmers are being killed in South Africa, he said: "There’s no white genocide here. They are killing black people in the US."

Mr Malema's party has been pushing hard for land reform - and now the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is pushing ahead with lands to expropriate land without compensation.

But Mr Malema hinted that President Cyril Ramaphosa's heart wasn't in it, saying it was difficult to explain a policy one didn't believe in.