Shingai Nyoka
BBC Africa, Harare

Image source, AFP

Zimbabwe's largest hydro-electric power plant has warned it could suspend electricity output completely if water levels at the Kariba dam continue to fall.

Zimbabweans are already without power for up to 10 hours a day, largely as a result of a devastating drought.

The power utility company is owed more than $200m (£159m) by the government and individuals.

The authorities say that if some of this money is repaid, electricity imports from South Africa could resume.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC Africa, Monrovia

After a backlash from diplomats demanding that aid money taken without authorisation from their accounts be returned "without delay", Liberia's President George Weah has vowed to stop such borrowing from the Central Bank.

Mr Weah also announced a staffing shake-up, with the Central Bank's executive governor to retire within the next three months, and his deputy for economic policy resigning with immediate effect.

It came after a letter sent by nine ambassadors - including the US, UK, France and the EU - requested that the money taken in "irregular" ways be returned.

But government critics say President Weah used the wrong language in his announcement, by describing the withdrawals from account holders at the Central Bank as "borrowing" when in fact they were removed without prior consent.

Corruption is a huge problem in Liberia which President Weah vowed to combat when he took office in January 2018.

Image source, Office of the Ethiopian Prime Minister

The authorities in Ethiopia say 1.2 million internally displaced people have been returned to their homes - about half the total number forced to flee by recent ethnic conflicts.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed visited people who had returned home in southern Ethiopia, where the government says it is providing building materials to repair their damaged houses.

Mr Abiy has introduced numerous political reforms, some of which have led to an upsurge in ethnic violence.

Rights groups have warned that many root causes behind the conflicts have not been addressed.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

It is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with many worshippers around the world fasting from sunrise to sunset.

In Nigeria - where roughly half the 190 million population is Muslim, it can be a challenging period.

For some of the faithful, difficult economic conditions mean they must continue to engage in strenuous jobs to make ends meet.

''If I do not do this hard labour, I have no any other source of income," says Salisu Ibrahim, who currently works on a building site in the Gwarinpa neighbourhood of Abuja.

"When we start in the morning, we don't usually have a problem because we have the strength. But in the afternoon, some even abandon the work because they can't cope.''

Islamic clerics say Muslims whose jobs involve strenuous activities can suspend their fast if combining the two becomes extremely difficult - or even threatens their health or life.

''Islam is the religion of mercy and is the religion of hard work," Sheikh Muhammad Kabir Adam - one of the imams at Nigeria's National Mosque in Abuja - told the BBC.

Mr Ibrahim, meanwhile says it's a relief to break his fast when the evening comes, but says he wishes he could "have a more meaningful job so that I leave this hard labour".

Rachel Ola dreams of one day being the best female surfer in Nigeria, but to start with she’d like to be able to buy a board in the country.

Surfing is not hugely popular in the West African country.

However when Rachel first saw it she told BBC Minute, external she was intrigued, got hooked and now hopes that more Nigerians will take it up.

Video journalist Dan Ikpoyi.

Image source, Getty Images

The Cricket World Cup has started today in England.

In the first match, south Africa are taking on the hosts, England.

In their innings, England got 311-8.

South Africa have just started their innings, chasing 312 to win.

• For more details follow live updates here

Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Algeria's Ministry of Justice will conduct an investigation into the death of hunger striker Kamel Eddine Fekhar, the ministry has said in a statement.

The imprisoned human rights activist died in hospital on Tuesday after more than 50 days without food.

He fought for the rights of Algeria's minority Berber community.

He was arrested in March for "undermining state security" and put in pre-trial detention.

His lawyer, Salah Dabouz, said his client had endured great suffering and neglect behind bars.

After his death, Amnesty International called on the authorities to investigate his death and "immediately review their repressive policies and the shameful treatment of activists and protesters".

Mayeni Jones
BBC News, Lagos

Africa's largest economy is one of the countries yet to sign the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

The policy, which came into effect at midnight on Wednesday, aims to create a tariff-free continent that would grow local businesses, boost intra-African trade, spur industrialisation and create more jobs.

Last July, during a joint press conference with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Nigeria's leader Muhammadu Buhari had suggested he'd soon sign the agreement, but wanted to be sure of its implications for his country's economy.

The Nigerian president explained that he wanted to protect the country's industries from unfavourable competition, and ensure local jobs went to Nigerians.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement would remove barriers to trade, allowing the free flow of goods and services between its members.

It was signed by 44 African countries in March 2018, but so far, only 24 of them have ratified it.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The Congolese army says it has killed 26 rebels from the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), which is believed to be linked to the Islamic State group.

The bodies of most of the dead were put on display in the town of Beni, where hundreds of people have been killed by the ADF over the past few years.

It was not clear whether all of the dead were Congolese, and at least one was reported to be a white man.

The ADF, which was initially made up of Ugandan Muslims, has operated in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for the past two decades.

Hollywood actor Idris Elba is in Tanzania with his new wife where they have visited the Serengeti National Park, popular with tourists who want to see wild animals.

Elba's wife, Sabrina Dhowre, has posted pictures on Instagram and thanked the tour guides for showing the couple around a region of the Serengeti known as Singita.

The couple tied the knot in a lavish ceremony in Marrakesh in Morocco in April.

Elba, who's of Ghanaian-Sierra Leonean heritage, played Nelson Mandela in the 2014 biopic Long Walk to Freedom.

Bekele Atoma Boru
BBC Afaan Oromoo

More than 2,000 Ethiopians are set to be repatriated from Yemen by the end of next week in an operation coordinated by the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM's Olivia Headon in Yemen told the BBC that an initial group of 120 left on Tuesday for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

The Yemeni authorities have been cracking down on migrants who enter the country without the correct paperwork.

They are holding those migrants in what the IOM calls "makeshift detention sites" where people are being held "without basic services".

"Lives have been lost due to disease brought on by the appalling detention conditions and one young man, shot while detained, will likely never walk again," said IOM director of emergencies Mohammed Abdiker in a statement, external.

Fourteen have died from acute watery diarrhoea over the past few months.

The IOM hopes to transport the rest of those being held by the end of next week, though some logistical problems may delay the flights.

Artist Kehinde Wiley, a favourite of US celebrities who is probably best-known for painting Barack Obama's official presidential portrait, is opening an artists' residency in Senegal.

Naomi Campbell and Alicia Keys attended the star-studded launch party in Dakar at the weekend, as reported by Washington Post journalist Danielle Paquette, external:

Artists from around the world have applied for the 15 or so places up for grabs at Black Rock Senegal, the organisation says, with the winners to be announced in coming weeks.

"They’ll arrive three at a time and live in townhouses on the property next to Wiley's personal studio, where tutors will be available to teach them French, English and Wolof - Senegal’s mother tongue," the Washington Post quotes a Black Rock Senegal representative as saying.

The organisers' website says the selected artists will stay between one and three months, during which time they will meet "local artists, artisans, and arts organisations".

But Black Rock Senegal has not confirmed to the BBC whether any African artists are in the running.

The Kenyan government has been holding a national prayer breakfast, an annual event in its 17th year.

The colourful ceremony, which brought together leaders to pray for the country, has got a lot of people talking on Twitter.

This year, it was attended by Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, among others.

United States Ambassador to Kenya Kyle McCarter was also there, and has tweeted his thoughts.

He said it's a "good start" as leaders pray and ask for forgiveness "for the sin of thievery".

But some Kenyans on Twitter have been angered, claiming nothing ever comes from these gatherings.

Kenya has been dogged by corruption scandals, with officials being accused of stealing money meant to be spent on government projects.

Maggie Mutesi
BBC Africa Money Daily, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement legally came into effect at midnight, but the countries that have signed up have until July to work out the details of how it will work.

It is only from then that we'll start to see what difference it could make.

The AU's commissioner for trade and industry has been celebrating the news:

So far, only 24 African countries out of 54 have ratified the trade agreement with, among others, Africa’s largest economy Nigeria yet to sign.

Burkina Faso became the latest country to join when it signed up on Wednesday.

The agreement is aimed at creating a single continental market for goods and services with free movement of goods, people and investments, similar to the European Union.

Experts say it will boost trade in Africa and strengthen the continent’s position in global trade.

The UN's Economic Commission for Africa estimates that the agreement has the potential to boost intra-Africa trade by 53%.

Currently, Africa trades far less with itself than it does with the rest of the world.

The African Union says if all countries signed up it would become the largest free trade area since the formation of the World Trade Organization.

The announcement of the verdicts on the four men accused of masterminding the attack on a Kenyan university campus in 2015 killing 150 people has been postponed.

Rashid Mberesero, Sahal Diriy Hussein, Hassan Edin Hassan and Muhamed Abdi Abikar made a brief appearance in court in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, but the judge said he had not yet reached his conclusions.

They are facing 152 charges relating to the Garissa University attack in April 2015, including being members of a terror group.

The verdicts will now be delivered on 18 June, the judge said.

The women appointed to the new cabinet by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa have the qualifications and experience for the jobs and are not there for "window dressing", a South African journalist has told BBC Newsday.

Verashni Pillay said President Ramaphosa's move to have half of all cabinet posts occupied by women was a "surprise". But it shows that the head of state is "astute", she said.

Ms Pillay added that one of the biggest surprises was having someone from outside the ruling African National Congress appointed to cabinet.

She said Patricia De Lille, who is now minister for public works and infrastructure, is a political survivor and fighter who has been in many parties.

Listen to Verashni Pillay below:

Image source, Getty Images

The body of opposition leader and father of Democratic Republic of Congo's new president is set to arrive to his home country on Thursday, two years after he died in Belgium, his family has told BBC Swahili.

The arrival has been announced before but it has not happened.

According to Etienne Tshisekedi's brother, Archbishop Gerard Mulumba, once the body arrives at the airport it will be taken to the Martyrs' stadium in the capital, Kinshasa, for mourning.

Tshisekedi died in Belgium's capital, Brussels, at the age 84 in February 2017, but his body remained there because of political tensions with former DR Congo President Joseph Kabila.

His son, Felix, was elected president in last December's controversial poll.

Tshisekedi was in opposition for decades but failed in his attempts to become president.

Image source, EPA

Nigerian forward Alex Iwobi's goal for Arsenal gave the Gunners a brief glimmer of hope of a comeback against Chelsea in the Europa League final but his team eventually lost 4-1.

Substitute Iwobi struck in the 69th minute to bring the score to 3-1, but Eden Hazard killed the tie with his second goal of the night, from the penalty spot, three minutes later.

Gabon and Arsenal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who was joint top scorer in the Premier League, failed to make an impression.

Victory gave Blues boss Maurizio Sarri the first trophy of his managerial career and ensured the Gunners will miss out on next season's Champions League.

With only about 5,000 fans from both sides able to make it to Azerbaijan, there was an eerie atmosphere at the Olympic Stadium in Baku, which appeared less than half full.

Read more: Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 to win Europa League final

Image source, Reuters

The World Bank has agreed to give Kenya the $750m (£590m; 75bn Kenyan shillings) loan it had requested.

The World Bank says the funds would be used to support vital reforms and curtail corruption in agriculture, and also to boost productivity and income for farmers.

This latest loan comes amid concerns of high debt levels among some Kenyans, the BBC’s Charles Gitonga says.

Kenya raised $2.1bn in London earlier this month. Recently, the East African nation’s citizens took to social media with strong opinions against the move, accusing the government of over-borrowing when the country is broke.

But some economists say it is normal for an economy like Kenya to take out loans to finance projects and other spending priorities.

Experts have warned that for every $1 raised in tax revenue, the country is spending the equivalent of $1.23 in loan repayment costs.

The country’s public debt is in excess of $51bn most of which is owed to international lenders and investors.

Kenyan Finance Minister Henry Rotich said the World Bank money would be used for the Big Four Agenda that seeks to provide affordable healthcare, housing, food security and manufacturing.

Image source, AFP

Angola's main opposition party, Unita, has moved to cool tensions over the handling of the remains of former leader Jonas Savimbi, AFP news agency reports.

On Wednesday we reported on the row between the government and the opposition over the planned re-burial of the rebel leader, whose death 17 years ago brought an end to nearly three decades of civil war.

The government was due to have handed over Savimbi's body to representatives of Unita so that he may be buried in his hometown on 1 June.

However, the handover did not happen - and both sides blamed each other.

But following a meeting between Savimbi's family and Unita, the party had said the burial will still go ahead on Saturday, Unita spokesman Alcides Sakala Simoes is quoted by AFP as saying.

"We are calling for calm," Mr Simoes said.