A taxi driver in Ghana has been praised for his honesty after returning to the rightful owner 8,400 Ghanaian cedis ($1,100; £900) that he found in the back of his car, BBC Pidgin reports.

An emotional video of Isaac Ackon giving back the money to a fishmonger has been shared on social media.

Neighbours join the fishmonger in hugging the taxi driver and they can be seen thanking him for the honesty he showed the elderly woman who, they said, had been unable to sleep.

Other Ghanaians, including Vice-President Mahamudu Bawumia, were also moved.

Dr Bawumia gave Mr Ackon $2,600 as a reward.

Musician KiDi also gave the driver $660.

Meanwhile, former captain of the national football team Asamoah Gyan requested to meet Mr Ackon.

The driver said he returned the money because of his Christian values. He handed it back to the fishmonger after praying in church.

Talking to Fourth Estate media, he added that he didn't even count the money.

Read about what happened to Liberia's honest taxi driver:

• How returning $50,000 changed Emmanuel Tuloe's life

Prominent Eritrean actor Saeed Anwar Saleh, who has appeared in dozens of films, has died at the age of 38, BBC Tigrinya reports.

Information Minister Yemane Gebre Meskel described him as "one of Eritrea's iconic film actors".

He was best known for his role as a lead character, Josi, in the popular TV series Machelo.

In an interview last year,, external he described the character as self-centred and shameless, saying that in real life he was completely the opposite.

On acting in general he said: "I believe I am living my dream, because I always wished to be an actor in popular movies."

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, UGC

Violence has broken out at a tertiary college in the northern Nigerian city of Sokoto after a female Christian student allegedly made blasphemous comments against Islam.

The region is predominantly Muslim.

Muslim students at the Shehu Shagari College of Education reportedly killed the woman and set her body alight.

They then went on the rampage destroying property including vehicles.

A police spokesperson in Sokoto state told the BBC that security forces intervened to restore calm and an investigation was under way.

The authorities have shut down the college indefinitely and ordered students to go home immediately.

Nigeria’s most senior Islamic religious leader, the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar, has condemned the killing of the Christian student and appealed for calm.

Grace Kuria
BBC News, Nairobi

In Kenya, 104 girls aged between 10 and 19 died as a result pregnancy-related issues last year, according to figures just released by the country's health ministry.

This is a big increase from the previous year. In 2020, 31 girls died due to similar complications.

The reported deaths are mostly as a result of unsafe abortions and the fact that some of the girls’ bodies are not developed enough to carry a foetus, hence they experience obstructed labour.

Acting Director of Medical Services Dr Andrew Mulwa said that this rise should not necessarily be seen as an increase in cases of maternity deaths.

He said that as more pregnant girls are going to clinics for help, the deaths of those who unfortunately pass away are more likely to be recorded.

Ivory Coast's Amad Diallo is showing flashes of his talent at Rangers following his loan switch from Manchester United, according to Steven Thompson.

The man worked in Kenya, and says he was paid under £2 an hour to review posts including beheadings.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, IRMCT

The death has been confirmed of a former prominent Rwandan official who was wanted for many years for playing a key role in the 1994 genocide.

Protais Mpiranya was head of the presidential guard and was indicted more than two decades ago by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Whilst on the run he assumed a different name and investigators have finally tracked down his grave on the outskirts of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare.

Mr Mpiranya died in 2006.

The last of the major fugitives indicted by the tribunal was accused of ordering the murders of senior moderate Rwandan leaders at the start of the genocide, including Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana.

He was also charged with the murders of 10 Belgian UN peacekeepers.

Google Translate is getting a general thumbs up for its new translation efforts from the BBC’s Afaan Oromoo and Tigrinya services.

Afaan Oromoo and Tigrinya are two of the 10 African languages - and 24 in total - that have just been added to the tech giant’s translation platform.

An English translation of BBC Tigrinya’s front page looked like this on Thursday morning:

BBC Tigrinya editor Teklemariam Bekit said it was an impressive effort - and the best he had seen yet.

The English translation of BBC Afaan Oromoo’s front page was not bad either, according to one of its journalists Ameyu Etana:

The one phrase that caught our eye was “nipple holder” being used for sports bra.

There were other phrases that raised a smile. In one Tigranya story about asylum seekers being worried about being sent by the UK to Rwanda, the phrase “one-way ticket” came out as “one-legged ticket”.

The BBC Tigranya header ኣመና ፍቱዋት, which links to their most-read stories, is translated as “Very beloved” - and would probably be better as “Most liked” but certainly gets the message across.

Teklemariam says these are just teething problems, and given the translations are generally understandable - things can only get better.

And for Afaan Oromoo it is a big day, says Ameyu, with many on social media celebrating Google's acknowledgement of the language's importance as it is spoken by the country's largest ethnic group - but is still not recognised as one of Ethiopia's recognised working languages.

To test things further, we translated three phrases from English into Tigranya. This is how they fared:

1) The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog (an English sentence famous for using all the letters of the Latin-script alphabet)

እቲ ቅልጡፍ ቡናዊ ሓርገጽ ኣብ ልዕሊ እቲ ሰነፍ ከልቢ ዘሊሉ።

Verdict: This was perfect except “fox” came out as “crocodile” - “The quick brown crocodile jumps over the lazy dog”

2) The queue for the loo was long and moved at a snail’s pace (this includes an informal English word for toilet and an idiomatic expression)

ሪጋ ንሉ ነዊሕን ብናህሪ ቀንዴል ዝንቀሳቐስን’ዩ ነይሩ።

Verdict: Not quite as successful, "snail" came out as an "oil lamp" and "loo" was not recognised - “The line was long for the xxxx and it moves at as an oil lamp”

3) He who farts to spite others while eating only hurts his own appetite (a proverb from Liberia. This is Thursday's BBC Africa Live proverb, something featured each morning on this page and submitted by readers)

እቲ እናበልዐ ንኻልኦት ንምጽራፍ ዝፈስስ ንገዛእ ሸውሃቱ ጥራይ እዩ ዝጎድእ።

Verdict: Pretty good, expect the verb “fart” wasn’t recognised and was interpreted as “pours” - “The person who pours to insult others while he is eating only damages his own appetite”

There do seem to be some hiccups with the technology as you can translate web pages in the new languages (using the right-hand click on your mouse), but the languages are no longer showing up as options on the Google Translate page - though they were earlier in the day.

Jonathan Paye-Layleh
BBC News, Monrovia

There are fears in Liberia that the governing Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) party is recruiting hundreds of its supporters to provide uniformed security for its candidate in an upcoming senatorial election in the opposition stronghold of Lofa country, in the far north.

Dressed in khaki suits marked “CDC Militant” and red berets bearing the parry’s logo, these men have been captured on social and mainstream media conducting drills ahead of the crucial vote.

Critics concerned about the exercise say protection for all candidates should be the responsibility of state security not partisan forces.

But a ruling party MP co-ordinating activities in the region, Thomas Fallah, has said forming such groups is normal in Liberia and can be seen even in places like South Africa.

Lofa county is the home and stronghold of opposition leader Joseph Boakai who lost to George Weah in the 2017 presidential election

The ruling party is trying to gain a foothold there.

Patricia Oyella
BBC News, Kampala

Former Ugandan presidential candidate and opposition leader Kizza Besigye was blocked from leaving his home as he attempted to start protests against the government over the rising cost of living.

Police surrounded the four-time presidential challenger's home in Kasangati, a suburb 12km (seven miles) from the capital, Kampala.

Kampala Metropolitan Police spokesperson Luke Owoyesigire said the police prevented Dr Besigye from leaving his home because they believe the planned demonstration in the city centre would have turned chaotic had it been allowed to go ahead.

He said the politician had also not followed guidelines under the Public Order Management Act, a law that regulates public gatherings in the country.

Police have now been deployed near Dr Besigye’s home until further notice.

South Africa asks for Liberia's Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to be moved from Morocco as both teams are in the same group.

The 11 people who were in a plane that crashed in a forest near Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, on Wednesday, have all died, the AFP news agency quotes state radio as reporting.

An unnamed official from the transport ministry also told AFP that "there were no survivors".

The cause of the crash was not immediately clear but the plane lost radio contact with air traffic controllers and was later located in the forest near Nanga Eboko, around 150km (90 miles) north-east of Yaoundé, the ministry said in a statement.

The aircraft was flying from Yaoundé Nsimalen airport to Belabo, in the east of the country, it added.

Tshepiso Kwenampe, who had fled police custody in South Africa, is now back in detention after his parents handed him in, the news site IOL reports, external.

Mr Kwenampe, 22, was one of five men who broke out their cell in Zeerust by overpowering a police officer and taking the keys, IOL says.

He is due to appear in court charged with escaping lawful custody, North West province police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone is quoted as saying.

"At the time of escape, the detainees were, among others, facing charges of house robbery, rape, attempted murder, business robbery, and aggravated robbery,” he added.

Egyptian club Al Ahly appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over the decision to host the African Champions League final in Morocco.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The Nigerian military has launched a search and rescue operation for a battalion commander. He went missing after a security convoy he was leading was ambushed by gunmen in the state of Taraba.

The authorities say at least six soldiers, one anti-riot police officer and six gunmen were killed during clashes that followed the ambush on Tuesday.

The convoy came under gun fire as they travelled to the Takum area to contain a communal conflict between farmers and nomadic herders, according to the authorities.

The military commander leading the security forces then went missing during the clashes.

There are fears he might have been captured by the gunmen.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Nigerian military says a search for the missing officer has began.

It’s not yet clear who carried out the attack. But armed gangs kidnapping people for ransom operate in the region.

The extremist group Islamic State West Africa Province had said it carried out a deadly bomb attack last month in Taraba - a state the militants had previously spared in their years of armed insurgency in northern Nigeria.

BBC World Service

Two senior police officers and a policeman have been killed in the south of Egypt while giving chase to a wanted fraudster in a hilly area.

Security services said two generals and a private were travelling on a desert motorway near the city of Aswan when their vehicle rolled over.

The alleged fraudster - a moped taxi driver named Mustafa al-Bank - was accused of collecting millions of dollars after persuading villagers to sell him herds of cattle at a high price, promising to pay them three weeks later.

When villagers learned that he was on the run, they surrounded his house before police eventually arrested him.

Some reports say he had collected over $100m.

Samba Cyuzuzo
BBC Great Lakes

Image source, AFP

A military court in the Democratic Republic of Congo has sentenced to death a high-ranking police officer for his role in the murder of top human rights activists Floribert Chebeya and his driver.

Christian Ngoy Kenga Kenga was pronounced guilty of murder, desertion and the misappropriation of weapons and ammunition, the court said on Wednesday.

Jacques Migabo, another police officer, was sentenced to 12 years, while Paul Mwilambwe who had been a key witness in the trial was acquitted, UN-sponsored Radio Okapi says.

In 2011, four policemen were sentenced to death for the murder - but it was thought that there were other more high-ranking officials behind the killing.

DR Congo has not carried out the death penalty for many years.

Chebeya led the Congolese charity The Voice of the Voiceless, and was a critic of the government. He had received regular threats to his life during his career of more than 20 years.

His body was found tied up in the back of his car on a roadside in the capital, Kinshasa, in June 2010. The discovery came on the day that he had gone to police general headquarters to meet the then head of national police, Gen John Numbi.

His driver Fidèle Bazana went missing on the same day and later the authorities pronounced him dead.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Ethiopia’s government-appointed human rights body has accused security forces and their allied armed men of killing 11 people and wounding at least 30 others in the country’s eastern Somali region.

This happened during a traditional ceremony to choose a new clan leader in March.

Ethiopia's Human Rights Commission interviewed witnesses and visited graves in the Gursum District.

It said security forces had used excessive force to disperse the gathering and recommended a criminal investigation.

The commission has on several occasions accused government troops and allied militias as well as Tigrayan rebel fighters of committing grave rights abuses in the country's war-hit northern regions.

Lebo Diseko
BBC News, Johannesburg

Image source, AFP

Authorities in South Africa have confirmed that 48 people are still missing following last month’s deadly floods in KwaZulu-Natal. The official death toll now stands at 445.

Disaster management teams - including police and army - are still on the ground searching. But for many families the hopes of finding loved ones alive are dwindling.

The floods have been described as the worst natural disaster to hit South Africa in decades.

The cost of the damage is still being assessed, but initial estimates place the cost at more than $1.5bn (£1.2bn) and counting.

Major infrastructure was damaged by the rainfall, leaving many residents without running water and electricity for weeks

A national state of disaster is still in place after having been declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa - allowing the national government to put increased resources into the relief and recovery effort.

Read more:

• KwaZulu-Natal floods: The South African family who lost nine children

Haimanot Ashenafi
BBC Amharic

Image source, Selamawit Gizew

An Ethiopian woman who survived an acid attack last year now says her attacker has been threatening her on phone while in prison.

Selamawit Gizew, 24, says she fears for her life and has had to move away from her home after numerous calls from her attacker Yihenew Fenta.

A local police inspector Birhanu Admasu however says the attacker has no access to a phone in jail.

Selamawit's family says police were not helpful after they reported the acid attack on 27 December 2021, and that it took a month for the family to apprehend the attacker themselves and hand him over to the police.

Yihenew is serving a 14-year jail sentence for a charge of grave wilful injury.

Selamawit sustained acid burns on her face, neck, chest and back after Yihenew attacked her at a pharmacy where she was working in Keraniyo town, western Ethiopia.

She underwent plastic surgery and is recovering well.

Selamawit had rejected the advances of her attacker who had been stalking her for years after their first meet up at a local market.