Nomsa Maseko
BBC Africa, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Firebrand South African politician Julius Malema has lost his application to declare the country's Riotous Assemblies Act unconstitutional.

He challenged the constitutionality of the act at the High Court in Pretoria, saying the state was using apartheid-era laws to prosecute him.

This relates to two incidents in which the state accused Mr Malema of inciting violence when he urged supporters of his Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) to invade unoccupied land.

A criminal case against the EFF leader was brought by Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum.

Mr Malema had argued that the Riotous Assemblies Act was passed under the apartheid regime to oppress black people including Nelson Mandela, and that it should never be tolerated under a new democratic dispensation.

He also said that the act was used to silence him.

A Malawian woman who was trafficked to the US as a domestic worker has told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme she was "treated like a slave" by her employers.

Fainess Lipenga worked for diplomat Jane Kambalame at Malawi's Washington embassy.

She told the BBC's Kim Chakanetsa that for three years she was verbally abused, starved and forced to work in the family carpet cleaning business.

She eventually escaped and sued her employer.

In 2016, she was awarded $1.1m (£860,000) after a successful lawsuit against Ms Kambalame.

Her former employer denies the charges and has failed to pay the damages, which last month led the US to suspend visas for domestic workers for all Malawian diplomats.

Listen to the full interview here:

Image source, Getty Images

Ghana's parliament is due to hold a press conference about the much-criticised plans to build a new 450-seat chamber for lawmakers.

The project, which is said to have a price tag of $200m (£160m), has led to outrage in Ghana. Some have described the leadership of parliament as "out of touch" with the people.

A social media campaign using the hashtag #DropThatChamber has become the top trend on Twitter in Ghana, with campaigners planning to march next week against the building project.

Ghanaians are asking parliament to justify why MPs need to spend so much on a new chamber while students they represent lack proper classroom blocks and continue to study under trees.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu revealed that the project has become "necessary due to inadequate space in the chamber, near exchange of fisticuffs, security threat among others".

The justification of the project has not stopped some people from complaining on Twitter.

The speaker of parliament, Mike Ocquaye, with support from the Parliamentary Service Board unveiled the new design last week.

Some legislators from both government and opposition have joined the campaign against the new chamber.

A former adviser to Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has made an initial court appearance after being detained for circulating a letter that suggested that there was a plot to kill Deputy President William Ruto.

Dennis Itumbi is alleged to have put the letter on a WhatsApp group linked to the deputy president.

The assassination allegations led to three government ministers being summoned by the police for questioning.

The prosecution want Mr Itumbi to be detained for two weeks so that police can investigate further, the Daily Nation reports, external.

Initial investigations suggest that the letter was a forgery, the newspaper adds.

Mr Itumbi's lawyer said he was arrested purely for dramatic effect, the Star newspaper reports, external.

The lawyer added that Mr Itumbi was unable to influence the high-profile members of the WhatsApp group.

Vandals are being blamed by the Nigerian authorities for an oil pipeline explosion in the commercial hub, Lagos state.

A huge fireball was seen in the early hours of Thursday causing panic in the state's Ijegun area.

Footage shared on social media shows huge flames and residents fleeing just before dawn.

The country's emergency management agency Nema says it has alerted the national oil company about the fire and has "also called on the safety unit of the corporation to immediately shut down further supplies through pipeline in order to suffocate the fire".

The agency's Ibrahim Farinloye said that some of the suspected vandals may have been affected by the fire.

There has been no confirmation of any casualties.

Image source, YOUTUBE/ALEM GENA TUBE

The alleged leader of what the authorities called a coup in Ethiopia's northern Amhara state denied that it was a coup attempt, a journalist who spoke to him before he was shot dead has told BBC Amharic.

Brig Gen Asaminew Tsige was killed as he attempted to escape from his hideout in Amhara's capital, Bahir Dar, a day after the regional governor and an assistant died in an attack, police said.

Fasika Tadesse, editor-in-chief of the Addis Fortune newspaper, says she was the last journalist to interview Brig Gen Asaminew. They talked a few hours after the killing of the regional governor.

This is the first time she has spoken about that interview, but the BBC has not heard her recording.

Brig Gen Asaminew told Ms Fasika that the 22 June shooting was part of a security problem in Bahir Dar where people were clashing. He said it was not a coup attempt.

He also said that he would hold a press conference to explain what had happened. But the press conference never took place.

Shortly after the killings, the authorities said that they were part of an attempted coup and linked them with the shooting dead in the capital, Addis Ababa, of army chief Gen Seare Mekonnen.

The government has set up a commission to look into last month's events and to discover if there was a link.

Authorities in Switzerland have handed suspended sentences to at least five members of Cameroon President Paul Biya's security team, after they were arrested on Tuesday in Geneva for an alleged assault on a journalist.

Swiss newspaper Tribune Geneve reports, external that the five men appeared in court on Wednesday and a sixth member of the team, a woman, had been released as she held a diplomatic passport.

A statement by the regional government , externalsaid a criminal complaint had been filed by a journalist, working for Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), who alleged that he had been assaulted in front of a hotel while covering a demonstration by opponents of the Cameroonian president last week.

The statement said the journalist was slightly injured and his equipment damaged.

The Geneva-based RTS said the men were sentenced, external for "duress, damage to property and illegitimate appropriation".

It added that the men received suspended sentences of at least three months. They were immediately released.

President Paul Biya has been in power for more than 36 years and won another seven-year term in 2018.

He's been criticised by some for a supposedly "hands-off" style of rule and his foreign travels. A report by investigative journalists estimated that he spent nearly 60 days out of the country in 2017 on private visits., external

Image source, Getty Images

John McManus
BBC News, London

Image source, AFP

The Egyptian government has called on the auction house Christie's to halt the sale of a 3,000 year-old bust of the boy king Tutankhamun, due to be held Thursday.

Cairo says the bust was probably stolen from an ancient Egyptian site in the 1970s, something Christie's denies.

Tutankhamun was nine years old when he became Pharaoh around 1336BC. The discovery of his tomb thousands of years later in 1922 caused a sensation, sparking an interest in the reign of the "boy king" that has never waned.

But this sale by Christie's of an 11-inch (28cm) quartz relic, external which depicts Tutankhamun's features has been condemned by Egypt's foreign ministry. It says the piece appears to have been stolen from the Karnak Temple complex in the 1970s.

Christie's says it would never auction an object over which there were legitimate concerns, and has published a chronology of the relic's owners over the last 50 years.

It shows that the bust was owned by a German prince in the 1970s, but it doesn't explain how the object came to Europe from the Middle East before that time.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

The interim president of Algeria, Abdelkader Bensalah, has made a state television address repeating his call for elections and national dialogue to end the political crisis in the country.

Mr Bensalah said it was the only democratic solution and that the army would not be part of talks.

His previous appeals for dialogue have been rejected by protesters who want to overhaul the entire political system.

A presidential election was scheduled for Thursday 4 July but had to be postponed because no candidates were deemed eligible to run.

Mr Bensalah's mandate is due to expire next week.

The mass protests fuelled the resignation three months ago of the veteran President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Elisha Abbo, 41, a Nigerian senator who hit a woman in a sex toy shop in the capital, Abuja, has apologised, saying: "I have never been known or associated with such actions in the past."

On Tuesday, CCTV footage , externalthat showed the senator hitting the shop assistant was published by online newspaper Premium Times. Mr Abbo's apparent conduct has been widely condemned.

The senator told the BBC that the video had been "doctored" and that the part where he was attacked by the woman had been cut out.

Reading out the apology to journalists, Mr Abbo said: “Regardless of what transpired prior to my expression of anger, I am sincerely sorry and plead that all men and women of good conscience should have the heart to forgive me."

He added that the episode had taught him a "very great lesson, [both] as a private citizen and a public officer, particularly as a senator".

On Wednesday the police said they were investigating the incident and had been in touch with the victim.

The senate also condemned the action of the lawmaker, and set up a committee to look into what had happened.

Mr Abbo, who became emotional while reading his apology, is currently the youngest senator in Nigeria's upper chamber.

Peter Bowes
North America correspondent

The United Nations Security Council has failed to condemn an attack on a detention centre for migrants in Libya because the United States did not endorse a proposed statement.

At least 44 people died in what the US State Department earlier described as an abhorrent attack.

During a two-hour closed-door meeting of the Security Council, Britain circulated a statement that condemned the air strike and called on the warring sides to commit to a ceasefire.

But US diplomats told the meeting they required a green light from Washington to approve the text of the statement and the talks ended without agreement.

It's unclear why approval wasn't forthcoming.

The US has not called for an independent investigation but a State Department spokeswoman said the attack underscored the urgent need for all Libyan parties to end the fighting in Tripoli and return to the political process.

In April, the US and Russia refused to support a UK-drafted resolution calling for a ceasefire in Libya.

Anne Soy
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Image source, EPA

Direct talks between military rulers and protest leaders have resumed in Sudan with some progress being made on the release of political prisoners, a mediator has said.

The negotiations had stalled since May because of disagreements over the composition of the top body that will lead the country during a transition period.

The African Union and Ethiopian mediators hope the two sides will agree on how to share positions on the sovereign council.

The opposition groups also want the deadly raid on their sit-in last month investigated.

The resumption of dialogue restores hopes for a transition to civilian rule.

After a first round of fresh talks on Wednesday, the African Union mediator said Sudan's military rulers had agreed to release all political prisoners. He did not offer further details or specify how many people were affected.

The military council, which is currently running Sudan, has been under pressure from the international community to hand over power.

Protests were held on Sunday across the country to press for change. The demonstrations were organised in spite of a month-long internet shut down and threats against opposition leaders.

By the time the talks collapsed in May, the two sides had agreed to have a majority civilian legislature and a three-year transitional period.

Read more on Sudan:

• Sudan crisis: New sense of hope for young revolutionaries

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Welcome to BBC Africa Live where we'll be bring you news and updates from the continent and beyond.

BBC Africa Live
Nduka Orjinmo, Damian Zane & Dickens Olewe

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 BBCAfrica.com.

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And we leave you with this picture of a boy skating along a street in South Africa's commercial city of Johannesburg.

Investigations are ongoing in Kenya and UK to determine the identity of the stowaway who fell from a Kenya Airways plane in London.

Kenyan officials say the individual may be an employee at the airport who had access to the airside.

But what circumstances did he face while hiding in the compartment holding the landing gear. Our innovation team explores:

Peter Jegwa Kumwenda
BBC Focus on Africa

A top aide of Malawi President Peter Mutharika has been banned from entering the US because of “involvement in significant corruption", the US embassy in the capital, Lilongwe, has said.

Uladi Mussa had "engaged in and benefited from public corruption” when he served as minister of home affairs, the statement said.

This means that Mr Mussa had breached the standards set by the US State Department, it added.

Mr Mussa, who is also a top official in the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told the local press he was surprised by the US decision which, he said, had not been formally communicated.

The veteran politician lost his MP seat in the May elections. He had also served in various roles as a government minister.

The US State Department has also banned one of Mr Mussa’s wives.

Zimbabwean Chengetayi ditched the corporate world of work to pursue her love of dancing as a full-time career.

In a country where unemployment rates are on the rise, she tells us why she made the brave decision to walk away from a stable income, and whether she has any regrets.

Watch:

Gaius Kowene
BBC Africa, Kinshasa

Image source, AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo's President Felix Tshisekedi has dismissed a proposal by opposition leader Martin Fayulu to set up a team to review the country's constitution to pave way for a new election.

He said that it was not his priority:

Mr Tshisekedi was elected in December 2018 in a poll which Mr Fayulu condemned as rigged.

His argument that false results had been announced was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

On Tuesday, a document signed by Mr Fayulu proposing that he heads a constitutional review team to resolve what he sees as a political standoff was widely circulated online.

President Tshisekedi said he agreed that there was a need for big changes in the country and that he would be willing to meet with opposition leaders to discuss them.

He, however, accused opposition leaders of having hatred in them.

Image source, Getty Images

A court in Kenya has sentenced militant Islamist Rashid Charles Mberesero to life in prison for his role in the 2015 Garissa University College attack, which left about 150 people dead.

Two other militants - Mohamed Ali Abikar and Hassan Edin Hassan - were jailed for 41 years each.

The three had earlier been found guilty of conspiracy to commit a terrorist attack and of belonging to al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda.

Mberesero is a Tanzanian, while the other two men are Kenyans.

Read: What happened in Garissa University College attack?