Caster Semenya's lawyers have released a statement on her behalf saying that the South African athlete is considering appealing against the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) not to overturn regulations from athletics' governing body (IAAF) saying it can restrict testosterone levels of female athletes:

The lawyers say the 28-year-old believes that women like her should be respected:

Image source, Reuters

The statement then quotes Semenya herself:

Our reporter, Lebo Diseko, has flown over two islands just off the coast of northern Mozambique which were stuck by Cyclone Kenneth last week.

Ibo and Matema have largely been cut off until now.

Lebo has seen how villages were totally destroyed:

The BBC's Mohanad Hashim reflects on returning to Sudan after 23 years to cover the historic protests.

It is nearly three weeks since the long-serving President Omar al-Bashir was removed from power by the military, following months of anti-government protests.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) has released a statement explaining its ruling rejecting Caster Semenya's appeal against new IAAF rules restricting testosterone levels in certain events.

She has a condition that is generally known as differences or disorders of sex development (DSD).

Cas said:

South Africa's Sports Minister Tokozile Xasa says the government will study the ruling rejecting Caster Semenya's appeal against regulations allowing athletics' governing body to restrict women's testosterone levels in certain events.

But she says the government maintains its support for the Olympic champion.

"As the South African Government we have always maintained that these regulations trample on the human rights and dignity of Caster Semenya and other women athletes," she tweeted adding the hashtag #WeAreCasterSemenya.

Well-known female tennis star Martina Navratilova has added her voice to those criticising the rejection of Caster Semenya's appeal against new rules that would force her to reduce her testosterone levels.

Navratilova said on her website, external that:

Athletics' world governing body, IAAF, says it is "grateful to the Court of Arbitration for Sport [Cas] for its detailed and prompt response to the challenge" by South African athlete Caster Semenya over its rules to restrict female athletes with high testosterone levels from competing in certain events.

As we've been reporting, Semenya lost here appeal.

The IAAF's regulations, external will come into effect in a week's time and says that athletes who think they could be in breach of the regulations should consult their "medical team".

Responding to Cas's concerns that the rules might not be fair in the way they are implemented, the IAAF said the regulations will be administered with "care and compassion".

Despite the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) rejecting Caster Semenya's challenge against the new rules by the international athletics body (IAAF) it said it had "serious concerns as to the future practical application" of the new rules.

The IAAF can now restrict testosterone levels in female runners in certain events.

Semenya, 28, had said the regulations were "unfair" and that she wanted to "run naturally, the way I was born".

Now she - and other athletes with differences of sexual development (DSD) - must either take medication in order to compete in events from 400m to the mile, or change events.

Cas found that the rules for athletes with DSD were discriminatory - but that the discrimination was "necessary, reasonable and proportionate" to protect "the integrity of female athletics".

However, Cas set out serious concerns about the application of the rules, including:

• Worries that athletes might unintentionally break the strict testosterone levels set by the IAAF;
• Questions about the advantage higher testosterone gives athletes over 1500m and the mile;
• The practicalities for athletes of complying with the new rules.

Cas has asked the IAAF to consider delaying the application of the rules to the 1500m and one mile events until more evidence is available.

The new rules come into effect on 8 May.

Image source, AFP

Reaction has been swift to South African athlete Caster Semenya losing her appeal against athletics' world governing body.

Some say that she has been subjected to examination in a way that white athletes would not have been treated:

Caster Semenya has responded to the ruling by the Court of Arbitration of Support to reject her appeal against a decision by the world athletics body to restrict the testosterone levels of female athletes in certain events.

She tweets that "sometimes it's better to react with no reaction".

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected an appeal from South African Olympic champion Caster Semenya against the decision by the world athletics body to restrict the testosterone levels of female athletes in certain events.

Anna Holligan
Reporter BBC News, The Hague

Judges in the Dutch city of The Hague have ruled that a case brought by a group of Nigerian widows who accuse the oil giant Shell of complicity in their husbands' executions can continue, rejecting Shell’s request to have the law suit dismissed.

Among those hanged in 1995 by the Nigerian military regime over their protests against oil pollution in the region of Ogoniland was the famous playwright Ken Saro-Wiwa.

Shell has denied any wrongdoing.

Two of the women bringing the case sat in the front row of court, as the judges explained this was only an interim judgement.

Esther Kiobel and Victoria Bera accuse Shell of instigating the brutal crackdown on protesters in an effort to protect their economic interests in Ogoniland - thus being complicit in the execution of the Ogoni Nine.

The men were hanged after what was widely condemned by the international community as a sham trial.

The judges ruled that Shell must now hand over confidential internal documents that relate to the Nigerian trial, and invited the women to provide evidence to support their claims that witnesses had been bribed.

The widows want Shell to offer a public apology and compensation for the financial and emotional suffering caused by their husbands' deaths.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, AFP

Just 23% of those who registered to vote in Benin bothered to cast their ballots in Sunday's parliamentary election, in which opposition candidates were barred from running.

This was a record low turnout, AFP news agency reports.

The candidates who did run were from parties aligned to President Patrice Talon.

Opposition hopefuls were unable to take part as they did not meet new stringent eligibility requirements.

Benin has often been held up as a model of democracy. Five years ago candidates from 20 parties were able to run for parliament, AFP says.

The authority running the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, has been showing off the new enclosure where the city's 12 rare black-maned lions will live.

It has spent the last five years developing the site, according to the tweets from the Addis Ababa City Construction Bureau.

The current enclosure, several kilometers from the new place, has been criticised for a long time because of the poor conditions the animals were kept in.

Image source, Getty Images

The lions are thought to be descendants of animals that Emperor Haile Selassie, who was overthrown in 1974, kept in his private menagerie.

Image source, Getty Images

A former policeman and Somali refugee in the US state of Minnesota has been found guilty of murdering an unarmed Australian woman.

Mohamed Noor shot Justine Ruszczyk Damond as she approached his patrol car to report a possible rape behind her Minneapolis home on 15 July 2017.

Noor, 33, testified last week that he opened fire because he feared he and his partner were being ambushed.

Ms Damond, 40, a yoga instructor from Sydney, was engaged and was due to marry a month after the shooting.

Read the full BBC story here

Lebo Diseko
BBC News, Pemba, Mozambique

Image source, Reuters

The people here have a resolve that defies the elements as life goes on in Pemba. There is so much water that it's hard to know if you're looking at a river or waterlogged fields,

But the structures peeking out of it are people’s homes. Hundreds lived in the area, much of which is now underwater.

But some are still trying to go about their daily lives.

People will have spent years and years building homes for their families, and so much of that has been destroyed.

Lots of the people that did live here have been taken to local schools, which are being used as shelters as authorities just try and keep people safe.

Classrooms serve as a kitchen, a clinic, and bedrooms for around 1,000 people.

Manassa Jamal told me she has four children with her:

“The water got into my house and then a cashew tree fell on it. The house was completely destroyed.

“We don’t have firewood. Yesterday we had our first meal at 13:00. There’s no water, there’s no food, and no firewood.”

Cartoonists normally poke fun at politicians who are seen to be power-hungry and corrupt, but Kenya's Victor Ndula has used May Day - a holiday to celebrate workers' rights - to put the spotlight on the country's leading trade unionist, Francis Atwoli, who is currently in his fourth term as secretary general of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions:

Meanwhile, the union has tweeted a message from its leader:

Workers - including a police band - are on their way to Uhuru Park in the capital, Nairobi, to join in celebrations:

As we've been reporting, potentially one of the most pivotal moments in modern sport will occur not on a track, pitch or court, but in a plush office building in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Wednesday.

The Court of Arbitration in Sport (Cas) is expected to announce a verdict on one of athletics' biggest names - South Africa's Caster Semenya - and her right to compete as a woman.

Since her meteoric rise from unknown teenager to world champion in 2009, her gender, and possible advantages in her biology, have come under scrutiny.

BBC Sport has been looking at some key questions:

What are disorders/differences of sex development (DSD)?

People with a DSD do not develop along typical gender lines.

Their hormones, genes, reproductive organs may be a mix of male and female characteristics.

The term 'disorders' is controversial with some of those affected preferring the term "intersex" and referring to "differences in sex development".

What next after diagnosis?

Most people with a DSD stay with the gender they were assigned as a baby. However others, who feel their assigned gender doesn't represent who they are, may choose to change their gender.

People with a DSD may be infertile and need hormone therapy and psychological support to help them come to terms with their condition.

What about elite athletes like Semenya?

Research commissioned by the IAAF showed in 2017 that female athletes with elevated testosterone had "a competitive advantage", claiming that high testosterone was responsible for as much as 3% improvement in runners.

However those findings have been contested by Semenya and her team.

The decision is expected in the next few hours.

Image source, AFP

The Tanzanian government will not extend maternity leave limits, privately-owned newspaper The Citizen reports., external

Deputy Health Minister Faustin Ndugulile told parliament that mothers who give birth to one baby will continue enjoying 84 days of maternity leave while those with twins will get 100 days, the paper says.

Dr Ndugulile was responding to a question from main opposition party Chadema MP Grace Tendega on Tuesday on whether the government had plans to increase maternity leave days for mothers who give birth to premature babies, the daily reports.

The deputy minister said lactating mothers were to be given two hours per day for breastfeeding and that the government will continue to implement the 2007 health policy on provision of free health services to special groups, including pregnant women, The Citizens says.

"The ministry is striving to improve various child delivery services. We are now implementing phase two of a strategy to improve the health of infants including premature babies," Dr Ndugulile is quoted as saying.

But the minister acknowledged that treatment for premature babies was costly and the authorities would tackle the issue.

Tété-Michel Kpomassie grew up in West Africa but he was obsessed with the Arctic.

When he was 16 years old he ran away from his village in Togo determined to reach Greenland.

It took him eight years but in 1965, he finally arrived. He then went north to fulfil his dream of living among the indigenous people.

Years later, he wrote an award-winning account of his odyssey, An African in Greenland, which has been translated into eight languages.

Witness History: The stories of our times told by the people who were there.