Image source, AFP

Germany and Nigeria have signed an agreement to hand over ownership of more than 1,130 Benin Bronzes looted during colonial times that are held in several German museums.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Nigerian Information and Culture Minister Lai Mohammed were among senior officials who inked the deal in Berlin on Friday afternoon.

Nigerian ambassador to Germany Yusuf Maitama Tugga told the BBC this means the immediate return of two works, which are being taken to the embassy and will be back in Nigeria "possibly as early as next week".

The UK Guardian newspaper quotes Hermann Parzinger, the head of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, as saying, external: “The return is a milestone in the process of reappraising colonial injustice in the field of museum collections."

The term Benin Bronzes refers to thousands of metal sculptures and ivory carvings made between the 15th and 19th Centuries and looted by British troops in 1897 from the West African kingdom of Benin, in modern-day Nigeria's Edo state.

Many of these priceless stolen artefacts are held by museums across the world - and there has been a push in recent years to get them returned home.

"It's a historic moment for us," Abba Isa Tijani, director of Nigeria's National Commission for Museums and Monuments (NCMM), told Germany’s Deutsche Welle news site ahead of the ceremony, external in the German capital.

The Artnet website reports that many of the artefacts will be returned to Nigeria before the end of this year , externalwhile some will remain on long-term loan at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

More on this topic:

• Benin Bronzes: 'My great-grandfather sculpted the looted treasures'
• The art dealer, the £10m Benin Bronze and the Holocaust

Jersey suffered a second successive Twenty20 defeat to Namibia as the island side lose by three wickets in Windhoek.

Italian Serie A side Inter Milan sign Cameroon goalkeeper Andre Onana on a free transfer from Dutch giants Ajax.

Faoziyah Saanu-Olomoda
BBC Yoruba

Ayopo Ogunleye, who has fathered five sets of twins, has become something of a local celebrity in western Nigeria.

He told BBC Yoruba he was now bringing up his children alone in the Ado-odo area of Ogun state as his wife left years ago after her parents complained that she was having too many twins.

Now in his 40s, he is raising seven children as the couple lost the first set of twins as infants and a boy from the last set also died.

Mr Ogunleye said he had not been expecting twins the first time his wife conceived and was surprised when he was called from the hospital.

“When I heard that my wife had given birth, I asked if it was a boy or girl, and they said I had twins.”

This was a dream come true for him.

“I had been praying about it from childhood, I gave thanks to God. I hugged my wife and congratulated her.”

The Yoruba community, mainly found in western Nigeria, has one of the highest rates of twin births in the world.

Twins are called “Ibeji” and culturally they believe they have to be followed by a single birth - known as “Idowu”.

But Mr Ogunleye said each time his wife became pregnant, it was twins.

“Second time twins, third time twins, fourth twins, fifth twins,” he said.

The reason for having so many twins remains a mystery to him.

In fact, the father does not affect the chances of having twins, and there is no proof of any link to diet. But the chances of having fraternal (non-identical) twins are increased if the mother has a certain gene.

Despite the financial and physical constraints of raising so many children, Mr Ogunleye would like to have more and hasn’t ruled out marrying again.

“Children are blessings from God,” he said.

Additional reporting by John Alabi

• WATCH: Nigeria's twin town

We talk to the Afro-Italian artists hoping to make a change.

Nigerian music star Seun Kuti has cancelled his performance in Morocco this weekend to mourn 23 sub-Saharan migrants who died last Friday trying to break into the Spanish enclave of Melilla, which neighbours the North African nation.

“It pains me to say that my spirit has been completely broken and shattered by the events that happened,” the 39-year-old musician said in a video posted on Instagram.

The youngest son of the late pioneering Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti performed at the Glastonbury Festival last weekend with his father’s Egypt 80 band.

The musicians were all meant to be heading to the Jazzablanca Festival in Casablanca for a performance this Saturday, but he said they had made a hard decision to cancel the engagement.

“It isn’t possible for me in good faith or in good conscience to get on stage and party and have a good time when so many Africans have lost their lives,” he said.

Between 1,500 and 2,000 migrants who had been camping in the Moroccan mountains surrounding Melilla descended on the city's border last Friday hoping to scale the border fences and therefore reach Spanish territory.

In the chaos that followed, many of them were crushed between the six-metre-high fences and Moroccan border guards, who used tear gas and batons on the migrants.

“Somebody has to mourn them. We have to mourn our own and for that reason I cannot find it in me to be at Casablanca. I am really sorry,” Kuti said.

The UN has called for an independent inquiry into the deaths of the 23 migrants. The Spanish prime minister has blamed people traffickers for the deaths.

A message accompanying Kuti’s video said: “May the souls of the departed find rest with the ancestors.”

Patricia Oyella
BBC News, Kampala

Image source, AFP

Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye has been granted bail following his arrest on 14 June.

The 66 year old was detained as he urged his supporters in the capital, Kampala, to protest against the high cost of living.

It happened a few hours before the country’s president presided over the reading of the budget.

He and activist Samuel Lubega were both charged with inciting violence. They must return to court on 29 July for the next hearing in their case.

Dr Besigye launched the People’s Front for Transition - a coalition of political parties and activist groups - last year, several months after President Yoweri Museveni won a sixth term in office.

Image source, Getty Images

The 81-year-old president has managed to stay in power since 1986 and has defeated Dr Besigye on four occasions.

Dr Besigye - who used to be Mr Museveni’s personal physician - has been arrested on numerous occasions since going into opposition politics.

More on this topic:

• Uganda's Yoweri Museveni: How an ex-rebel has stayed in power

Nigeria, South Africa, Burundi and Botswana are in Group C of the Women's Africa Cup of Nations, which kicks off in Morocco on 2 July.

Ishaq Khalid
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Getty Images

Six people have been sentenced to death in Nigeria in two separate cases.

In the mainly Muslim state of Bauchi, an upper Sharia court sentenced three men to death by stoning after they were found guilty of homosexual acts against children.

A court official told the BBC those convicted included two young men and another in his 70s.

The judgement was passed on Wednesday in the town of Ningi but details are just emerging.

During the hearing the men had no legal representation and pleaded guilty. They do have the right to appeal against the judgement within one month.

The local commander of the Islamic police, a force known as the Hisbah, told the BBC the men were arrested in May in the village of Wada after they were accused of abusing two boys whom they had lured with dates and coconuts.

Bauchi is among around a dozen states in northern Nigeria where Sharia is practised along with the country’s secular laws.

In the second case in neighbouring Plateau state, a secular court on Thursday sentenced three men to death by hanging or lethal injection.

They had been convicted of stabbing a young man to death during a dispute among people celebrating Christmas in 2015.

The lawyer for the convicted men told the BBC they planned to appeal.

Death sentences are rarely carried out in Nigeria. Instead, those on death row are usually detained in prison indefinitely.

For a condemned person to be executed in Nigeria, the death penalty must be approved by the governor of the state where it is handed down.

More on Nigerian justice:

• Nigeria's 100-year-old death-row inmate seeking pardon
• Nigeria's prisons problem: Former inmates reveal horrific experiences
• What is Sharia law?

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News

Image source, AFP

Three people - two children and a woman - have died of starvation in South Sudan's northern Warrap state over the last two days as the country starts feeling the effects of a suspension of food aid.

A World Food Programme (WFP) official has confirmed to the BBC that the UN agency is no longer distributing food countrywide after issuing out the last rations a week ago.

This leaves more than 60% of the population facing starvation - with some now turning to water lilies and wild leaves for survival.

The WFP announced early last month that it would stop distribution of food to those in need of assistance because of a chronic shortage of funding.

It said in a statement on 14 June that it had "exhausted all options before suspending food assistance, including halving rations in 2021, leaving families in need with less food to eat”.

The UN agency said it required $426m (£352m) "to reach six million food insecure people through 2022".

But that funding has not been forthcoming as the attention of donors is focused on other world crises like the Russian war in Ukraine.

That conflict has led to rising food and fuel prices with the UN agency struggling to buy much-needed food.

Prices of commodities have shot up by nearly 100% because of supply chain problems brought about by the war.

The situation has also been worsened by four consecutive seasons of flooding that have destroyed homes and farmlands and displaced tens of thousands in South Sudan.

Several other states in the world's youngest nation are also facing drought amid inter-communal conflict.

• A quick guide to South Sudan

Peter Mwai
BBC Reality Check, Nairobi

A doctored image of a billboard purporting to thank the Kenyan president for reducing the price of maize flour by less than a cent is circulating on social media.

It features President Uhuru Kenyatta and a packet of maize flour, saying the price has been reduced by two Kenyan shillings ($0.02, £0.01).

A very small reduction in the price of a 2kg packet is expected after the government recently scrapped levies on maize imports.

It appears someone on Twitter is poking fun at the policy having little real impact on consumers given food prices have risen by 14% over the last year.

We have traced the original image of the billboard to a post by an advertising agency in May, external that featured a fries and chicken advert.

Image source, Firmbridge Advertising

While some online users have detected that the image has been manipulated, others appear to believe it, with one posting: “It's infuriating. How much did they spend on the billboard?”

An increase in food prices has become an issue of concern with the country heading into elections next month.

The latest government figures show that the inflation rate went up from 7.1% in May to 7.9% in June.

Former Chelsea and Real Madrid midfielder Claude Makelele remains keen to fill the vacant managerial position at DR Congo.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

The Ethiopian government has said recent military operations against rebels in the restive states of Benishangul-Gumuz, Oromia and Amhara were "successful" and brought relative peace to the regions.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's spokesperson, Billene Seyoum, told journalists , externalon Thursday that government forces had destroyed rebel training bases and seized weapons in the operations.

Ms Billene accused the rebels of committing "heinous acts" after more than 330 civilians were killed in Oromia region on 18 June.

Following the killings, the Ethiopian military launched an operation against the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) rebel group, which denied any role in the killings.

“The architects of ethnic strife colluding with their foreign masters know which strings to pull in the divisive fabric-weaving for the past 28 years,” Ms Billene said.

Nearly 400,000 people displaced due to recent unrest in the three regional states "have returned to their homes", according to officials.

The UN has said it will investigate the Oromia incident.

Surges of Covid are happening again around the world, driven by some new subvariants of Omicron.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, Getty Images

The UN says its investigators have started a probe into the recent mass killings of ethnic minorities in western Ethiopia.

More than 330 people were killed in the attacks earlier last month in remote farming villages inhabited by the Amhara community, according to government figures.

The attacks were blamed - by authorities and survivors - on the armed group the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).

But the group dismissed the accusations.

There have been calls for independent investigations and now the Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia, appointed by the UN, has said it is doing exactly that.

It is also examining allegations of abuses in the brutal civil war in the north.

There has been a lull in fighting in northern Ethiopia while conflict continues to spread in other areas.

The commission says the ongoing spread of violence in Ethiopia is "an early warning indicator of further atrocities”.

Ethiopia was initially opposed to the commission’s establishment in December to look into accusations of atrocities in the north - but now its members are allowed to enter the country.

However, it is still not clear if they will have access to war-affected areas.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News

Image source, AFP

The United Nations says its peacekeepers in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have come under rocket fire from rebels.

There are no reports of any casualties as a result of the attack in Kibindi district in North Kivu province, which has been blamed on fighters of the M23 group.

The UN has condemned the attack on their compound.

Earlier this week, the Congolese army regained control of villages in the area after heavy fighting.

The upsurge in clashes since April has prompted 175,000 people to flee their homes.

The fighting has also raised tensions between DR Congo and Rwanda, which denies supporting the rebels.

On Wednesday, a top UN official told the Security Council that M23 fighters were operating like a conventional army with the military capacity to overrun UN troops.

World number two Ons Jabeur on 'Ons the footballer' and her love for Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid.

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

Image source, EPA

Tanzanian Maasai herders arrested early last month during violent clashes with security forces over a land dispute with the government have been charged with murder.

The 25 suspects had taken part in protests against the eviction of their community from their ancestral land in Loliondo in the northern Ngorongoro district.

The suspects, who include the ruling party CCM's Ngorongoro district chairman and ward councillors, appeared on Thursday before a magistrates' court in the northern town of Arusha.

They all faced a second charge of attempted murder. They have not yet taken a plea on the charges.

The prosecution alleges that the Maasai people attacked security forces demarcating land in the area and speared a police officer who later died of injuries.

Resident Magistrate Herieth Mhenga adjourned the case to 14 July as police investigations continue.

A group of 15 lawyers is representing the accused.

Tanzania's government leased a part of Loliondo in 1992 as a hunting block to a company based in the United Arab Emirates.

Attempts to relocate the Maasai from the 1,500 sq km (580 sq miles) protected area since 2009 have faced local and international pressure.

The government argues that the community will still have access to 2,500 sq km of land in the area.

The UK has announced a deal with Nigeria to tackle illegal migration.

In a tweet, Home Secretary Priti Patel said the "landmark agreement with Nigeria will increase the deportation of dangerous foreign criminals".

The announcement on Thursday was made hours after the UK deported at least 10 Nigerians for alleged immigration-related offences.

Human rights campaigners in the UK had expressed concerns that members of the LGBTQ+ community, who had sought asylum in the UK, were among them.

People can be deported from the UK if they are not a British citizen and have been convicted of a criminal offence.

Earlier this month, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) cancelled the first flight due to take asylum seekers from the UK to Rwanda.

The flight was part of the Rwanda asylum plan, announced by the UK government in April, that sees some asylum seekers given a one-way ticket to Rwanda to claim asylum there instead.

The government said the scheme would discourage others from crossing the English Channel.

More on this topic:

• Nigerian deportee: My life is at risk because I'm gay

BBC World Service

Image source, EPA

Spain's Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has tempered comments he made last week following the deaths of at least 23 migrants on the border between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

He told Spanish online newspaper La Sexta that he had not seen pictures of corpses at the scene when he praised the response of the security forces to the storming of the border fence by hundreds of migrants.

At the time, Mr Sanchez blamed mafias involved in human trafficking for the tragedy.

However, he told the paper he did not regret his commitment to a strong national immigration policy.