Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Getty Images

Kenya remains on high alert following a series of terror attacks that have killed at least 15 people over the past weeks.

It comes after the US, UK and France warned their nationals of an impending attack in Kenya citing credible intelligence.

All the recent attacks have been blamed on al-Shabab militant group, which has continued to carry out strikes on Kenyan soil particularly aimed at security forces.

In the latest incident, four people were killed on Tuesday in the north-eastern region of Wajir, when their vehicle hit an improvised explosive device.

On Monday, 10 other people lost their lives after a minibus hit a roadside bomb in Mandera near the border with Somalia.

Security has been beefed up across the country in areas considered to be terror attack hotspots in the north-eastern region and at the coast.

Kenya has been targeted numerous times by al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group.

The last major incident by the group in Kenya was at the luxury Dusit hotel complex that killed over 20 people in 2019,

However al-Shabab fighters have continued to carry out smaller attacks against civilians and security forces in towns along the long porous border with Somalia.

Mohanad Hashim
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The ongoing closure of the highway connecting Sudan to Egypt by the Sudanese resistance committees of the north has entered its ninth day.

Sudanese protesters in the northern state have erected several barricades along the road connecting the two countries and have disrupted the movement of Egyptian-owned vehicles returning to Egypt with Sudanese livestock or goods.

Protesters, who are mostly farmers, closed the road initially because the government raised the cost of electricity and forced the government to make a U-turn.

The protest eventually morphed into a wider rejection of the coup and opposition to the military and its regional allies, which include Egypt.

Videos shared on social media show long columns of Egyptian trucks stranded on the desert road between Khartoum and Ergeen on the border.

One particular video filmed near the border crossing, external by an Egyptian trucker has triggered outrage on Sudanese timelines

The man showed 18 trucks loaded with cattle stranded on the Sudanese side of the border by what he called “mercenaries”.

Another video , externalshows a long line of parked Egyptian trucks.

Many of the pro-democracy activists in the state are opposed to the exportation of live cattle and other Sudanese agricultural goods, which they claim benefits the military and its companies.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Zimbabwe’s meteorological department has said that tropical cyclone Batsirai, which is expected to make a landfall in countries across southern Africa, is too far to affect the country.

It has however said thunderstorms and rains are expected from Thursday until the weekend.

In an advisory, the meteorological department has said Batsirai weakened a little since Tuesday and that it been at the minimum stage of a tropical cyclone.

The advisory was issued just two days after the Climate Services Centre (CSC) of the Southern African regional bloc Sadc warned of heavy rainfall that could be triggered by the cyclone, which is expected to make landfall over the next few days.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

The Nigerian army says it has shot dead three suspected kidnappers in the southern state of Edo.

According to an army spokesman, Onyema Nwachukwu, the men were part of a notorious gang that was intercepted as it set up an ambush on a major highway.

Some of the attackers fled.

The gang is believed to have carried out numerous kidnappings and robberies.

Violent clashes between the Nigerian army and suspected gang members are widespread.

In the north-western state of Zamfara, gunmen abducted six people after security forces said they killed more than 40 members of a gang in the area.

BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

Eleven people are now known to have died in Tuesday's failed attempt to overthrow President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, the government of Guinea-Bissau says.

Both soldiers and civilians are reported to be among the dead.

A major investigation has been launched to find the unidentified gunmen.

The army has since been patrolling the streets of the capital.

Shops and banks have been reopening but there are few customers at the markets in Bissau.

The neighbourhood surrounding the main government complex - the site of a five-hour gun battle - is still closed off.

Guinea-Bissau is a hub for cocaine trafficking between Latin America and Europe, leading many to speculate that the coup was the work of drug gangs.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC News, Monrovia

The co-author of a biography of Liberian President George Weah has been stopped from leaving the country amid controversy over sections of the book.

Women's groups are angry over a chapter where the president is quoted as having made some indecent and denigrating revelations about the sexual habits of his wife.

The president is said to detail in the book various reasons why he chose his wife over other women for marriage, including her performance in bed.

The first lady, Clar Marie Weah, has not commented about the controversy.

The latest incident comes after excerpts of the book were shared online by US-based Liberian talk show host Henry Costa.

Isaac Vah Tukpah was forced to quit his job - as an opposition figure's aide - and apologised for including the interview about the first lady.

The government has denied claims by the opposition that the author was arrested over the publication.

In a statement, the information ministry said he was stopped from leaving the country on Tuesday night for his safety and because the border was already closed.

President Weah in the statement said Mr Tukpah was "not being sought after" and that he was "free to live in or travel out of Liberia".

Women's groups angry about the publication are said to be planning demonstrations to condemn the book.

But many people want the Liberian president to be clear and admit whether or not the authors lied about what he told them in the biography.

Update 13:05 GMT: Mr Tukpah has now been allowed to leave the country

Our African proverb of the day:

Image source, Getty Images

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

Chester Zoo vets and scientists are embarking on the first trial of a potentially life-saving vaccine for a virus that kills young elephants.

South Africa's 1995 Rugby World Cup win was a huge moment in the country's post-apartheid history. Within a year, there was another.

Senegal are through to their third Africa Cup of Nations final after three second-half goals, including one from Sadio Mane, gives them victory over Burkina Faso.

Watch as Senegal advance to their third Africa Cup of Nations final with Sadio Mane on target to help them overcome Burkina Faso.

Watch as Senegal's Sadio Mane scores a record-equalling 29th international goal to seal a 3-1 win over Burkina Faso and put his side through to the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

That's all for now from the BBC Africa Live team until Thursday morning.

You can keep up with latest from the Africa Nations Cup (Afcon) semi-final on our website, or listen to the Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of Wednesday's wise words

And we leave you with photos of Burkinabè and Senegalese fans at a stadium in Yaoundé ahead of the Afcon kick-off:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Ellen DeGeneres’s campus for gorilla conservation in Rwanda has opened.

The centre was the idea of her wife Portia de Rossi - and has been several years in the making.

It is officially named Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund - after the late US conservationist, who inspired the TV host's love of the primates.

DeGeneres made the announcement on Twitter:

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Adriano Lazaro/Facebook

Five miners have died after a gold mine collapsed during flooding in a remote area of central Mozambique’s Manica province.

Public broadcaster Radio Mozambique reported the accident on Wednesday – two days after it happened.

The head of the mine, Afonso Muagara, said operations were banned during the rainy season.

“Nobody knows why they were there given that no mining activity is allowed when the rain falls,” he told Radio Mozambique

Manica province was hit by Tropical Storm Ana, which pummelled the region last week, claiming 86 lives in Mozambique, Madagascar and Malawi.

Kennedy Gondwe
BBC News, Lusaka

A woman in Zambia has been charged with defaming President Hakainde Hichilema after she accused him of involvement in nefarious dark rituals.

If found guilty, the 24 year old could face a maximum jail term of three years.

Mr Hichilema is facing criticism for allowing such defamation cases to proceed as he promised before his election in August to abolish "archaic laws" should he become president.

Last month, an opposition politician was interrogated under defamation laws for using the local riddle "put your buttocks down" to advise Mr Hichilema to take it easy.

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

A man has survived a terrifying fight with a crocodile in a bid to save his fishing net in Mozambique.

João Armando, 35, is now in hospital and at risk of having one of his hands amputated after his left arm was bitten by the giant reptile. His right leg was also injured.

He was fishing on the River Shire, a tributary of Zambezi River, when he saw the crocodile tearing at his net.

From the bank he tried to pull the net free, but the crocodile pulled him into the water and then the real fight began.

“The crocodile attacked me, I tried to kill it,” said Mr Armando in the local Csena language.

“In the fight, the animal plunged me into the water, I screamed for help and soon I was saved by some people.”

The surgeon who first treated him said he was unconscious when he arrived at the clinic in Morrumbala.

Mr Armando is being transferred to a hospital in the city of Quelimane for further help.

Nicola Morrison
BBC Monitoring Disinformation Team

The turmoil surrounding the coup in Burkina Faso and the mutiny that preceded it led to several pieces of misleading content and false information being posted online.

It took more than a day for the takeover to be announced on Monday 24 January - and in that time residents were hearing gunfire in the capital, Ouagadougou, leading to much speculation

A video posted on Facebook in the days before the putsch, showing protesters clashing with the military, was claimed to have been filmed over the weekend - when in fact the footage was from the country’s 2014 uprising against then-President Blaise Compaoré.

Image source, Facebook

After the military confirmed that President Roch Kaboré had been deposed, there was a scramble to find out more about coup leader Lt-Col Paul-Henri Damiba. Some mixed him for the junta’s spokesman - who made the announcement on TV.

Before the announcement, others identified the coup leader as Lt Isaac Zida, who briefly took over in 2014 after Mr Compaoré was ousted. Lt-Col Damiba himself did not appear on TV to address the country until last Thursday.

In the aftermath of the takeover, several online reports alleged that Gen Gilbert Diendere, imprisoned for leading a coup in 2015, had been released from military prison.

But this too was false and denied by the military prosecutor.

Gen Diendere is also on trial in connection with the 1987 murder of former President Thomas Sankara. He and Lt-Col Damiba were both allies of Mr Compaoré but they fell out following the seven-day coup in 2015.

Image source, Reuters

At least six people were killed in a failed attempt to overthrow Guinea-Bissau's President Umaro Sissoco Embaló, Reuters news agency quotes state radio as saying.

They included four assailants and two members of the presidential guard.

An army official, who requested anonymity, told AFP that the six were all soldiers - without clarifying whether any had been the attackers.

For five hours on Tuesday, heavily armed men fired on government buildings in the capital, Bissau, where the president was attending a cabinet meeting.

The attackers may have been linked to drug trafficking in the country, the president said.

The former Portuguese colony struggles with massive foreign debt and has become a transit point for Latin American drugs, leading it to be dubbed by some as Africa's first narco-state.

It has seen nine coups or attempted coups since 1980.

• Read the BBC News story for more

Image source, PA

A UK church court is considering whether a Cambridge University college can remove a marble memorial to a 17th Century donor who invested in the slave trade from its chapel.

An ecclesiastical judge is presiding over the hearing in Jesus College's chapel, where the plaque to Tobias Rustat is mounted.

Rustat, a courtier to King Charles II, invested in the Royal Africa Company - which transported tens of thousands of West African slaves across the Atlantic.

Jesus College wants the memorial moved to another building, where a panel explaining its context will be added.

Some alumni and descendants of Rustat oppose its removal.

Jesus College recently repatriated a Benin Bronze cockerel to Nigeria.

Sonita Alleyne became the college's master in 2019 - the first black person to be chosen to head a college at Oxford or Cambridge.

You may be interested in:

• Benin Bronzes: 'My great-grandfather sculpted the looted treasures'