No first-year students have been admitted for around 100 degree courses offered at at least 40 universities in Kenya for the 2019 academic year, education officials say.

The privately-owned Star newspaper , externalsays the jobs of hundreds of lecturers of the "unpopular courses" are now at stake ahead of the start of the academic year in September.

The paper quotes the Kenya Universities and Colleges Placement Service as saying that not a single first-year student will study for 98 programmes offered at at least 40 universities, either because their applications were rejected or no-one applied.

Some of the courses include Bachelor of Arts in Peace and Conflict Studies, Bachelor of Theology, Bachelor of Business Administration, Bachelor of Science Agribusiness, and Bachelor of Science Horticulture, says the paper.

A descendant of Moroccan Jewish sages, Rabbi Yoshiahu Pinto, has been made Morocco's chief rabbi, reports The Jerusalem Post, external.

A chief rabbi is considered to be the leading Jewish spiritual leader in a country.

The newspaper adds that this makes Morocco the only Muslim country in modern times to recognise a Jewish rabbinic authority.

It also says that Rabbi Pinto is the first chief rabbinic judge in Morocco in 100 years.

The inauguration ceremony was held in Casablanca and was attended by leaders of the Jewish community, senior officials from the government, police and the army.

BBC World Service

Sudanese authorities have revealed that 14 people were killed in clashes at a camp for displaced people in the western region of Darfur.

South Darfur's acting governor, General Hashim Khalid, said the clashes broke out in the Kalma camp on Saturday.

He did not reveal who was behind the fighting, but said the camp was home to several groups that threaten state security.

Conflict in Darfur erupted in 2003 when tribal leaders took up arms against the Arab dominated government of the now ousted president Omar al-Bashir.

Image source, Getty Images

Equatorial Guinea's President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has promised to abolish the death penalty so that the country can retain its membership of a group of Portuguese-speaking nations, AFP news agency reports.

Speaking during a visit to Cape Verde, Mr Obiang said the the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) has asked Equatorial Guinea to scrap the death penalty, but he did not want to act unilaterally.

"So my government will soon put this question to parliament, where my party has a majority. I am sure that this proposal will be approved," he is quoted as saying.

Mr Obiang is Africa's longest-serving ruler, having seized power in a coup in 1979.

Equatorial Guinea last carried out executions in 2014 - the year the former Spanish colony was granted membership of the CPLP on condition it introduced a series of reforms, including abolishing the death penalty.

Image source, Press Association

The authorities in the UK and Nigeria have joined forces to launch a Not For Sale campaign, urging Nigerian women and girls to find jobs at home instead of “risking a life of modern slavery” in the UK.

Posters will go up in schools, churches and marketplaces in an attempt to reduce human trafficking, sexual exploitation and forced labour.

Baroness Dame Julie Okah-Donli, the head of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons in Nigeria, told BBC Newsday that human trafficking was a global problem and that there are many girls who are forced into prostitution, forced labour and domestic servitude as they travel out of Nigeria to look for work.

"It’s everywhere, all the states are endemic. It’s no longer an Edo problem or a Delta problem. It’s now all the states. Most of them have very low self-esteem and it's a question of their mindset," she said.

Image source, Getty Images

Africa has seen a dramatic rise in measles cases of up to 700%, says the World Health Organization (WHO).

The UN agency also says the number of measles cases reported globally in the first three months of 2019 has tripled, compared to the same period last year.

Provisional data shows a "clear trend", with all regions of the world seeing outbreaks, and the numbers could be higher since only one in 10 cases globally are reported, the WHO says.

Madagascar, India and Ukraine have been the worst hit by the highly infectious viral illness, with tens of thousands of cases reported per million people.

WHo says since September at least 800 people have died from measles in Madagascar alone.

Measles can lead to serious health problems such as infections of the brain and lungs.

Read: Measles cases triple globally in 2019, says UN

Image source, Getty Images

The mayor of South Africa's commercial capital, Johannesburg, was forced to abandon a meeting on Monday night after protesters threw empty water bottles and papers towards him.

Herman Mashaba said the "thuggery" of the governing African National Congress (ANC) led to the disruption of the meeting, called to discuss his plans to improve living conditions in the city's poor Alexandra neighbourhood.

Alexandra - traditionally a stronghold of the ANC - has been hit by weeks of protests with residents complaining of poor public services, and the mushrooming of illegally built shacks.

Mr Mashaba is a member of the opposition Democratic Alliance, which ended ANC control of Johannesburg in the 2016 local government elections.

The tensions come as the ANC and DA are involved in a tight contest to win Johannesburg in parliamentary elections due next month.

Protesters, some dressed in ANC regalia, sang and danced, and Mr Mashaba was forced to leave the stage as they became increasingly rowdy.

Here is a video of some of the chaos:

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has become the first foreign leader to meet members of Sudan's new military council.

General Galaledin Alsheikh led a delegation to neighbouring Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday to brief Mr Abiy about the latest developments in Sudan, following the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir, the prime minister's office said.

The military rulers urged Ethiopia to continue its long-standing support for Sudan, while Mr Abiy called on them to address "grievances and concerns as Sudan makes a peaceful transition", the prime minister's office added in a statement posted Facebook:

Image source, Getty Images

The African Union's Peace and Security Council has given Sudan's military junta a 15-day ultimatum to transfer power to a civilian-led political authority - or face suspension from the pan-African body.

In a statement after a meeting at its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, the council said a "military-led transition would be completely contrary to the aspirations of the people of Sudan".

It therefore demanded that the military council "step aside and hand over power to a transitional civilian-led political authority" within a maximum period of 15 days, or else Sudan would be barred from taking part in AU activities until the restoration of constitutional rule, the council said.

Read: How Sudan's military strongmen stayed in power

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 trends from around the continent.

That's all from BBC Africa Live for now. 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 today's wise words:

And we leave you with this picture showing the difference between rich and poor in Angola's capital Luanda:

Randy Joe Sa'ah
BBC Africa, Bamenda

Women who have fled into the bushes from the conflict in English-speaking regions of Cameroon are using moss squashed into balls as tampons, risking infection.

One 16-year-old explained to BBC Focus on Africa the challenges she is facing since she left her home:

Another woman explained to me what she had been using for the last six months:

Health workers strongly warn against this because of the risk of infection.

More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee, external their homes, according to the International Crisis Group.

Militias began to emerge in 2017 after a security force crackdown on mass protests, led by lawyers in wigs and teachers in suits, over the government's alleged failure to give enough recognition to the English legal and education systems in the North-West and South-West.

The government was accused of relying heavily on people trained in the French legal and educational tradition to work in key posts and generally marginalising Cameroon's English-speaking minority, who make up about 20% of the population.

Thomas Naadi
BBC Africa, Accra

Another person has been announced dead after floods in Ghana's capital Accra on Sunday.

This mean that six people have now died following heavy rains.

Two other persons have been declared missing.

As we reported earlier, three of those who died were in a military pick-up truck which veered off a bridge.

The Ghana Meteorological Agency had earlier warned residents living around the coastal belt about the rainstorm.

A similar incident last week led to the death of five people.

Ghana’s capital is prone to floods due to a poor drainage system.

Some of the major drains in the capital are choked despite promises by authorities to deal with the problem.

Ghana's government has disbursed more than $30m (£23m) to remove silt from major drains in Accra following perennial flooding caused by heavy rains.

Alastair Leithead
BBC Africa correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Great change has already come to Sudan, but it’s still not enough for those who risked it all to overthrow President Omar al-Bashir and believe they have the momentum to demand even more.

Protesters told the BBC why they are still out on the streets:

The transitional military council has made a lot of concessions - the arrest of former government figures, new heads of the army, police and the security service, and a promise the opposition can choose a new prime minister.

But senior officers have a lot to lose and there is still suspicion this is a carefully choreographed appearance of change.

Today there were reports the military had tried to disperse the continuing protests - they had pledged not to.

At this point trust is hard-won and easily lost - broken promises could quickly destabilise talks aimed at bringing a transitional civilian council, which is what the demonstrators are demanding.

The economy has collapsed.

The future of millions of Sudanese people depends on international assistance – which will only come with stability.

Thomas Naadi
BBC Africa, Accra

The British government is expected to disburse over $15m (£11m) this month to commonwealth veterans of the British Armed Forces.

Most of them have been neglected for decades and struggle to make ends meet.

One of the veterans waiting for payment is 94-year-old Ashitey Hammond.

The Ghanaian fought for Britain in Burma in World War Two and was awarded the Burma Star for his bravery.

But he now lives in his late brother's small one-bedroom apartment in the capital Accra and struggles to get by.

He says the British government had promised regular cash payments to veterans from 1946 and failed to deliver:

The veterans were given a lump sum of money in 1946.

The amount each veteran received depended on the number of years in service.

Some were paid 30 shillings which could sustain them for just a month.

In 1950, following protests, they were given a monthly payment of nine shillings as their pension until Ghana gained independence in 1957 and took over the payments.

But they believed they deserved more.

In November last year, the British government announced, external that it would feed 7,000 veterans from the Commonwealth who had served in the British Armed Forces.

The plan is for each veteran to get £1,000 a year for the next five years, Derrick Cobbinah, projects coordinator for the British government support programme told me.

The Ghana Veterans Administration is compiling the list of beneficiaries in the country. Their spokesperson, Bright Segbefia, says nearly 200 veterans will be eligible for the payment.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

A court in northern Zambia has sentenced two Chinese nationals to death by hanging for killing a security guard.

The Kasama High Court found Yang Yuan and Zhao Guo Don guilty of murdering Evaristo Chileshe.

They had pleaded not guilty.

Mr Chileshe was employed to guard an arena where some iron sheets went missing, the court heard.

The two beat Mr Chileshe until they broke his skull, the court found.

They were visibly stunned by the sentence, according to Steven Mwewa, a local journalist who was at the court.

Though condemning convicts to death is common in Zambia, death sentences are usually changed to life imprisonment.

Roncliffe Odit
BBC Nairobi

A taskforce formed by the Kenyan government has recommended recognition of intersex people as a "third sex".

The taskforce suggested the introduction of an Intersex (I) marker on official documentation and that intersex people are counted in the census.

Intersex people are born with both male and female sex characteristics, which can appear at birth or later in life. The UN estimates that intersex people make up 0.05-1.7% of global births.

Based on Kenya's population of about 48 million, this means between 24,000 and 800,000 people would be intersex in the country.

Campaigners in Kenya have long complained about discrimination, lack of recognition and a need for medical care for intersex people.

This report, which was released on Monday morning, comes after almost two years of consultations.

The task-force also recommends a review of laws to ensure equal treatment, respect and protection of the human dignity of intersex people.

The report says that South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda are the only other African countries that have made attempts to explicitly recognise the existence of intersex people.

If the taskforce's recommendations are passed into law, it could be the first African country to legally recognise intersex people.

Germany, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, India and Canada have all passed measures to redress issues facing intersex citizens.

Read more: The midwife who saved intersex babies

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

At least seven soldiers are reported to have been killed in an attack by the Islamist group Boko Haram in Chad.

Some 15 others were wounded in the incident in the Lake Chad area, which occurred at night.

The military says 63 jihadists were killed but there has been no independent confirmation.

Last month more than 20 Chadian soldiers were killed by Boko Haram, in one of its deadliest attacks in the country.

Boko Haram is based in Nigeria but also carries out attacks in Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

Image source, Other

About 150 fighters of Ethiopia's Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) rebel group, who entered into a peace deal with the government, are being treated in hospital for suspected poisoning, a doctor has told BBC Afaan Oromoo's Zelalem Tadesse.

Some of the soldiers said they started collapsing after having breakfast at the Tollay camp in south-western Ethiopia on Sunday.

The soldiers suspect that a white poisonous substance was thrown into their tea.

‘’In the tea cup we used, we saw something white," a soldier told BBC Afaan Oromoo.

Officials at the camp, set up to politically rehabilitate the OLF fighters after they laid down their weapons, have not yet commented.

A doctor at the hospital in the nearby town of Waliso, Abillatif Yisiak, confirmed that more than 129 soldiers were admitted on Sunday for suspected poisoning and a further 20 today.

The OLF members complained of nausea and vomited blood. They also suffered from severe headaches and diarrhœa, Dr Abillatif added.

Blood and urine samples had been taken to establish the exact cause of their illness, he said.

More than 800 OLF fighters heeded a call earlier this year by Abba Gadas - a respected body of traditional leaders and elders - to resolve differences with the government peacefully.

The fighters are learning about the constitution and the rule of law with the aim of being integrated into the Oromia region's security force.

The OLF fighters have previously complained of a lack of food and proper sanitation at the camp.

Read BBC Afaan Oromoo