Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

Liberia's lower house of parliament, the House of Representatives, has used its powers to send a government minister to jail for two nights.

Deputy Information Minister Eugene Fahngon was censured over misconduct after he was involved in a scuffle and then rained insults down onto two lawmakers.

Tough-talking Mr Fahngon was handcuffed and taken to the Monrovia Central Prison where he spent his first night on Wednesday.

The deputy minister had reportedly refused to honour an invitation from the House to explain the incident.

The recording of the minister’s vulgar language against the two legislators has been played and replayed on local radio stations here.

The decision to jail him was reached after hours of deliberation in the House of Representatives.

President George Weah will now have to decide whether the minister remains in government.

Image source, Getty Images

Nomsa Maseko
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

A teacher has been stabbed to death, allegedly by a pupil at a school in South Africa’s North West province.

Department of Basic Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga has expressed shock following the incident.

He said police are still at the scene taking statements from eye witnesses.

In another incident, a 15-year-old Johannesburg teenager was arrested after pointing a firearm at his teacher on Wednesday (see earlier entry).

More than 50 people are now known to have been killed in a mudslide in a mountainous area of Sudan's Darfur region.

The disaster happened in a remote area in Jebel Mara on Friday, when heavy rainfall caused a hillside to collapse onto a village.

But details are only now emerging due to the remoteness of the area affected.

There were many children among the dead, a local official, Amin Muhamad Osman told BBC Focus on Africa.

"This is such a remote area that the affected villages are out of mobile phone coverage, so locals have to walk 7km to get phone reception. We are now trying to coordinate relief efforts."

Image source, EPA

Liberia President George Weah, 51, has become the oldest international on record after playing against Nigeria on Tuesday, according to a leading group of football statisticians.

Liberia arranged the Monrovia friendlyto retire their number 14 shirt, worn by Weah at his playing peak.

"Weah became the oldest player, male or female, to play in the national team of a Fifa member," said Neil Morrisonfrom the RSSSF group., external

The striker beats the previous oldest player on record - Greece captain Yorghos Koudas, who was 48 when he played his last game in 1995.

Liberia lost the match 2-1.

Image source, Getty Images

Read more here.

Kenya's police do not have a great reputation. Many accuse policemen of being corrupt and abusing human rights - through extra-judicial killings and not following due process.

But that is about to change, if President Uhuru Kenyatta is to be believed.

Launching a new-look police service, following a raft of reforms, he said the aim was to make the police a "service that is respected" rather than "a force that is feared".

One obvious change is the uniform: gone are the navy blue trousers and sky blue shirt (so last year) to be replaced by bright blue:

Image source, Kenya government

Image source, Kenya government

"Uniform" is trending on Twitter in Kenya as people comment on the new look.

And many are not impressed - this tweet is typical:

Among the other reforms are the merging of two branches of the police force, changes in the command structure, rebranding of training colleges and housing allowances for junior offices.

The president said the changes should raise the morale of the police.

Watch: Inside the world of Kenya’s ‘killer cop’

Ara Thunder is one of few women in Nigeria who play the traditional "talking drum" instrument.

The West African instrument is traditionally played by men and has long been used to transmit messages between villages.

Nomsa Maseko
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

In South Africa, a 15-year-old Johannesburg student has been arrested for allegedly pointing a firearm at a teacher.

The alleged incident took place at Eldorado Park Secondary School on Wednesday.

It’s unclear what sparked an altercation between the grade eight boy and his teacher.

He was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon before being released into the custody of his parents as he is still a minor under South African law.

The teenager will appear in court on Friday.

Meanwhile the education department’s spokesperson Steve Mabona said the teacher is receiving counselling.

Mr Mabona added that his department has adopted a “zero-nonsense approach towards delinquents and will demonstrate no mercy towards lawlessness”.

BBC World Service

The French presidency says Emmanuel Macron will acknowledge that his country set up a system that led to torture during Algeria's struggle for independence 60 years ago.

Although French generals have previously confirmed that opponents were tortured during the eight-year conflict, it will be the first time that a French president has admitted that the state facilitated abuses.

His acknowledgement will come during a visit to the widow of Maurice Audin, who disappeared in what is known as the Battle of Algiers in 1957.

Researchers say Audin, a maths professor at Algiers University and a pro-independence activist, was tortured for several days after being arrested at his home on suspicion of sheltering armed militants.

His widow, Josette, was told he had escaped while being transferred, though it is believed he was executed.

Mr Macron, the first French president to be born after the war, will also announce the opening of archives relating to disappearances during the conflict.

Image source, AFP

The Malian migrant who dramatically rescued a small boy dangling from a balcony in Paris, France, has been made a French citizen.

Mamoudou Gassama scaled four floors with his bare hands to save the four year old, who was left unsupervised.

Mr Gassama, who had been in France illegally, received international acclaim for his bravery.

French President Emmanuel Macron personally thanked him and said he would be offered a role in the fire service.

"This act of great bravery exemplifies the values which help unite our national community, such as courage, selflessness, altruism and taking care of the most vulnerable," said the official decree published on Wednesday announcing the granting of his citizenship.

Read more on this story here.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

Gunmen have opened fire on a crowd of cinema-goers in northern Nigeria, killing at least 11 people and injuring more than 20 others, witnesses and hospital sources have told the BBC.

The attack by suspected bandits happened on Wednesday night in north-western Zamfara state.

Eyewitnesses say the attackers arrived in the village of Badarawa on foot. They then headed to the village hall, known as a viewing centre, where residents gather at night to watch films or football.

When gunmen opened fire, the cinema-goers panicked, running for safety - most escaping with either multiple gunshot wounds or broken bones.

Hospital sources say some of the injuries are life-threatening.

The dead have already been buried.

It is not clear why the cinema was targeted but villages in Zamfara have been coming under deadly attack by armed bandits in recent months.

Image source, AFP

The rights group Amnesty International said in a recent report that nearly 400 people had been killed in the state since the beginning of this year.

The police say security personnel have been deployed to track down the most recent assailants.

There are growing concerns about security in Nigeria - Africa's most populous country - ahead of general elections in February.

Read: Why is no-one talking about the Zamfara conflict?

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Accra

Image source, EPA

Mourners dressed in traditional black and red attire filled the main hall of the Accra Conference Centre, which seats around 4,000 people.

More were in another auditorium just outside the main hall watching proceedings on a giant screen.

They were there to pay tribute to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who died last month.

Dignitaries from around the world came, including Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and current UN Secretary General António Guterres.

There were hymns and a performance by soprano and human rights advocate Barbara Hendricks.

Image source, EPA

Mr Annan’s nephew Kojo Amoo-Gottfried read a eulogy for the former UN secretary general, describing how he had led a hunger strike at his secondary school, Mfantsipim School in Cape Coast, west of Accra, to protest against the quality of the food in the dining hall.

There were also moving tributes by his family, including by his wife, Swedish lawyer and artist Nane Maria Annan.

During her speech, she described how Mr Annan was always excited to return home, and thanked Ghana for giving the world such an extraordinary man.

She said her husband had an irresistible aura of radiant warmth, she concluded: “His legacy would live on through his foundation and through all of us.”

You can watch the funeral service on YouTube:

Milton Nkosi
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

The South African judge leading the inquiry into whether the wealthy Gupta family exercised undue influence on politics has said they cannot give evidence via video link from outside the country.

Fearing arrest, Rajesh and Ajay Gupta have said - through their lawyers - that they do not trust the “incompetent" police, who have a warrant of arrest for them.

They are believed to be in Dubai.

Justice Raymond Zondo was very clear in his rejection of the request.

“This commission sees no reason to give Mr Ajay Gupta and Mr Rajesh Gupta any special treatment and it will not do so,” he said.

The Guptas had also asked the commission to grant them the right to cross examine government officials who have implicated them in corruption.

The judge declined this request as well.

He said unless they give evidence in person they cannot have the right to cross examine witnesses who physically came to give evidence to the commission.

But he granted the request of Duduzane Zuma, the son of former President Jacob Zuma, to cross examine ex-Deputy Finance Minister Mcebisi Jonas.

Last month, he told the commission that the Guptas had offered him a $40m (£31m) bribe to take the job of finance minister in Duduzane Zuma’s presence.

Justice Zondo also said that he wanted ex-President Zuma to give his version of events as he had been implicated in the evidence given by government officials.

Image source, Rafiki

The Kenyan maker of a film about a lesbian romance has gone to court to challenge the constitutionality of its banning in her home country.

Wanuri Kahiu's film Rafiki could not be shown in Kenya because the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB) objected to "its homosexual theme and clear intent to promote lesbianism".

Rafiki got its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Kahui says the ban is an infringement on the freedom of speech and will also stop the Oscars Selection Committee in Kenya from putting it forward for the academy award for best foreign-language film.

In a statement, which is also signed by a group representing Kenyans in the arts, she says:

Kahiu wants the ban to be lifted before the end of the month, which is when the Oscar nominations close.

An initial hearing is scheduled for Friday.

You can hear Kahui speak about her work in this episode of HardTalk.

Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo has been speaking at the funeral service for the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, which is taking place in Ghana's capital, Accra.

The president said that Mr Annan had "brought renown to our country".

He then described the late diplomat:

You can see more about Mr Annan's life here:

Family members and dignitaries are praising former UN chief Kofi Annan at his funeral service.

His daughter Ama Anana Adedeji spoke about how he "sought truth and fought for peace in his mild quiet manner".

She finished her eulogy by saying:

Current UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres told the mourners, including several African presidents and former presidents, that when Mr Annan spoke:

You can follow the service live here:

South Africans are celebrating the birth of quintuplets at a hospital near the main city of Johannesburg.

The Buthelezi children are only the fifth set of quins born in South Africa since 1960, Clinix Health Group, which runs the hospital where they were born, says.

The five children - named as Siyanda, Sibahle, Simesihle, Silindile and Sindisiwe - were born at 30 weeks, in other words, 10 weeks early.

But this is not unusual for multiple births, according to Clinix.

Each of the babies was more than a kilogram at birth and they are now breathing on their own and are steadily gaining weight, Clinix says.

"Best practice tells us with these factors on our side, the babies have the best chance of survival," lead physician Dr Moeng Pitsoe said.

"We expect that these quintuplets will be the first set [in South Africa] where all survive and steadily achieve their developmental milestones," he added.

The babies will be able to leave hospital after they reach 2kg.

People have been tweeting congratulations:

And one charity is already trying to raise funds to help pay for all those nappies (and other expenses):

Ishaq Khalid
BBC Africa, Abuja

The Nigerian army says Boko Haram fighters have attacked a military base in the north-east of the country.

Reports say the heavily armed militants, driving in trucks mounted with guns, stormed the military location in the town of Damasak in Borno state on Wednesday evening.

The troops then responded, prompting an exchange of fire, which lasted for several hours.

There are no details about casualties.

This attack is the third major action by the militants in just a week.

A Boko Haram faction known as the Islamic State's West Africa Province (Iswap) had said its fighters killed several Nigerian soldiers in the two previous attacks.

The two factions of Boko Haram have stepped up attacks mainly on military targets, seizing weapons and inflicting heavy casualties on the army in recent months.

There are growing concerns over security as Nigeria prepares for general elections next February.

Boko Haram joined Islamic State in 2015 adopting the name Islamic State in West Africa Province.

But a faction of Boko Haram pulled out from the alliance in 2016 following a leadership crisis.

Scientists say they have discovered humanity's oldest known drawing on a small fragment of rock in South Africa.

The drawing is about 73,000 years old, and shows cross-hatch lines sketched onto stone with red ochre pigment.

Scientists discovered the small fragment of the drawing - which some say looks a bit like a hashtag - in Blombos Cave on the southern coast.

The find is "a prime indicator of modern cognition" in our species, the report says.

While scientists have found older engravings around the world,research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature, externalsays the lines on this stone mark the first abstract drawing.

The article says the ancient artist used an "ochre crayon" to etch it onto the stone.

Image source, Reuters

Read more about the story.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Addis Ababa

Image source, AFP

South Sudan warring parties have signed a final power-sharing agreement meant to end five years of civil war.

The ceremony on Wednesday evening in the Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, follows an agreement reached last month by President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar.

It was a “final final” deal, government spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny told the Associated Press news agency.

Under the deal, President Kiir will maintain his position while Mr Machar will return to government as one of five vice-presidents to be appointed in an expanded transitional government.

But a similar peace agreement signed in 2015 collapsed months later, throwing the country into further violence.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced in the conflict which broke out about two years after South Sudan's independence.

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Accra

Image source, Reuters

The body of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is due to be buried in the Ghanaian capital, Accra.

For the past two days his body has been lying in state, with dignitaries and members of the public coming to pay their respects.

This marks the climax of weeks of preparation to celebrate the life of one of the world’s most respected diplomats.

Over the past two days drumming has echoed through the halls of the Accra International Conference Centre as mourners from around the country and the world pay their respects.

One of those in the capital for the funeral is Graça Machel, the former first lady of South Africa:

Presidents from across Africa, including the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and Zimbabwe will attend the funeral service; as well as former heads of state from Germany, Finland and Switzerland.

The ceremony will be followed by a private burial, with full military honours and a 17-gun salute.