Schools nationwide are closing two weeks before the end of term as Uganda battles a deadly virus.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll leave you with an automated service until we're back in the morning.

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And we leave you with a pedestrian in front of murals in South Africa's main city Johannesburg:

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

The finance ministers of Ghana and Zimbabwe have been delivering their annual budgets amid the cost-of-living crisis that has hit the whole world.

And both announced an increased in Value Added Tax (VAT), which you pay when you buy goods.

In Ghana, Finance Minister Ken Ofori Atta - who is under pressure to resign because of the deepening economic crisis - pushed it up from 12.5% to 15%.

But in some good news for Ghanaians, the finance minister cut the tax on all electronic transactions from 1.5% to 1%, barely a year after its introduction.

In Zimbabwe, the tax on foreign currency transactions has been halved to 2% while a banking tax for the purchase of wheat has been dropped to keep bread prices low.

Read more on Ghana:

• Ghana economy: Entrepreneurs struggle as cedi plunges and inflations rises

The victim had gone to help fight rampant forest fires but was falsely accused of arson.

Ahmed Rouaba
BBC News

Image source, OtherOther

A tribunal in Algeria has sentenced 49 people to death for lynching an artist who was falsely accused of starting forest fires in the Kabylie region in 2021.

The sentences would be reduced to life in prison due a moratorium on the death penalty in the North African country, local media reported.

The defendants were found guilty of killing Djamel Bensmail who travelled more than 200 miles (322km) from his home town of Miliana toin Miliana to "give a hand to our friends" fighting the blazes.

He was killed before his body was burnt and taken to the village square. Video images of his murder caused national outrage.

At least 90 people perished and dozens more were injured in forest fires that devastated the North of Algeria last year.

Cameroon coach Rigobert Song is 'proud' of Breel Embolo despite the striker scoring the winner for Switzerland against his side at the World Cup.

Tesfalem Araia
BBC Tigrinya

African Union mediators are visiting Ethiopia's war-devastated Tigray region in their latest effort to implement a peace deal signed by the federal government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF).

Nigeria's former President Olusegun Obasanjo and South Africa's former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka are in the regional capital, Mekelle, for talks with TPLF leaders.

This is their first visit to Mekelle since the peace deal was signed on 2 November.

Little food, medication and other essentials have reached Tigray, despite Mr Obasanjo saying on 12 November that aid should have gone in "yesterday".

The region has been under a government blockade since the war started more than two years ago.

Some researchers estimate that famine, a lack of health care and fighting has caused the deaths of more than 300,000 civilians.

Another major issue is the disarmament of Tgrayan forces, and the withdrawal of Eritrean forces deployed to bolster federal government troops fighting the TPLF.

The US - which had observer status during the peace talks - has called for this to happen "concurrently".

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

A Kenyan policeman who gained notoriety after mobile phone footage showed him gunning down two men in 2017 is to be charged with murder.

Kenya’s police watchdog, the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA), says it has obtained a summons against Corporal Ahmed Rashid for the two killings in broad daylight in Eastleigh suburb in the capital Nairobi in March 2017.

He has not yet commented.

Corporal Rashid is known to have used social media platforms to warn individuals he claimed had broken the law. He featured in a BBC Africa Eye investigation in 2018.

The decision to charge him follows months of investigations by the IPOA .

Corporal Rashid was believed to be among a group of police officers known as the Pangani Six who drew both praise and condemnation from Kenyans for how they handled criminal gangs in the city.

The officers have been accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings.

The move to charge him comes weeks after the government announced the disbandment of an elite squad accused of killings, torture, extortion and abductions of dozens of Kenyans.

Eleven officers from the unit are facing multiple charges in court, including over the disappearance of two Indian nationals and their driver in July.

A Kenyan government minister urges World Athletics not to ban the country from the sport following a string of doping violations.

Rhoda Odhiambo
BBC News, Nairobi

Kenyan officials have recalled a locally manufactured drug given to HIV patients to suppress the level of the virus in their bodies.

The decision was taken after the manufacturer, Universal Corporation Limited, noticed that the tablets were stained due to improper packaging, the Pharmacy and Poisons board said.

The drug was a fixed-dose combination of three tablets - Tenofovir, Lamivudine and Dolutegravir.

It is unclear how many patients received the drug, but 14 batches were distributed to hospitals.

Patients have been urged to go to their health facilities to have the drug replaced.

The board added that it was conducting tests on the medication, and an investigation to establish the "root cause of the deviation".

It did not say whether the drug posed any health risk.

The board's chief executive Fred Siyoi said some patients also complained that some of the bottles had fewer tablets.

Kenya has about 1.3 million adults living with HIV.

The fight came during a parliamentary debate about proposed electoral reforms.

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

The International Federation for Human Rights says 2022 has been the most deadly year so far for people caught up in a decade-long conflict in central Mali.

In a new report, external, it blamed all sides for the violence, including self-defence groups, jihadists, the Malian army and Russian mercenaries.

It said civilians in the Segou and Mopti regions were experiencing a 'living hell', enduring summary executions, sexual violence and forced recruitment.

There have been two coups in Mali in the past two years. A jihadist insurgency is intensifying across the Sahel and starting to threaten countries in the Gulf of Guinea.

Image source, Reuters

The Tanzanian government has distanced itself from a preliminary report on the passenger plane crash that killed 19 people after the aircraft plunged into Lake Victoria.

The report, which was leaked on Tuesday, said that more lives could have been saved had rescue efforts not been delayed.

It also highlighted that rescue divers lacked oxygen in their cylinders and fuel for their boat.

The findings came from the Air Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and have been widely reported by local and international media, including the BBC.

But in a short statement posted on Twitter on Wednesday evening, government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa said that the authorities have yet to officially issue a report on the 6 November Precision Air crash.

“The report which is circulating online should be ignored because it did not emanate from official government authorities. When the official [report] will be ready, you will be informed,” he said.

One of the country’s main opposition leaders, Zitto Kabwe, who circulated the report on Tuesday, said he was ready to stand trial if the report was not genuine.

The report echoed earlier public criticism of rescue operations, but did not disclose the cause of the crash, saying that an investigation was still under way.

The plane left the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, and made a scheduled stop at Mwanza before it crashed at around 05:50 GMT as it was approaching the airport in the lakeside town of Bukoba.

Fishermen were first at the site and spearheaded rescue efforts.

Of the 43 people on board, 24 survived. The two pilots were among the dead.

The TPLF spokesman says his group is ready to address political problems in a “peaceful” manner.

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC News, Nairobi

Image source, Reuters

Kenyan MPs are hearing a petition seeking the removal of four electoral commissioners who refused to endorse the results of the last presidential election.

William Ruto was declared the winner after narrowly beating his rival, Raila Odinga, taking 50.5% of the vote.

But four commissioners, led by the vice-chairperson, said the result was erroneously aggregated.

The petitioners, who include three individuals and the Republican Party, accuse the commissioners of a serious violation of the law, gross misconduct and incompetence.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga and other key leaders of his defeated Azimio coalition are attending the hearing by parliament’s justice and legal affairs committee.

The committee will present its final report to parliament, which, if approved, will be forwarded to the president who will form a tribunal to oversee the removal of the commissioners.

A one-year-old child was mauled to death by a pit bull dog in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, according to local media reports.

The circumstances of the attack remain unclear but the dog is believed to belong to a neighbour, public broadcaster SABC reports.

The child was rushed to a health facility but died as medics attempted to resuscitate it, the broadcaster said.

It brings the number of the attacks across the country to three in less than a week, the IOL news site reports.

There has been increased public anger over reports of pit bulls attacking and killing children in recent weeks.

Abdi Dahir
BBC Monitoring, Nairobi

Image source, AFP

Somalia has launched a new TV channel named Daljir to counter al-Shabab’s propaganda as the government intensifies its media campaign against the al-Qaeda-allied militant group.

The state media reported that President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud inaugurated the SNTV Daljir (Somali National TV Daljir) channel - which "will focus on anti-Khawarij (al-Shabab) operations".

Days earlier, the government said it had shut down over 500 social media accounts spreading al-Shabab’s ideologies.

Al-Shabab has a sophisticated media machinery that includes several affiliated media outlets and dozens of accounts across social media platforms.

On 8 October, the government banned local media from disseminating "extremist ideology messages" that would "endanger national security".

The information ministry said the crackdown on pro-militant media was part of "an all-out war" against al-Shabab that President Mohamud declared in August.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held a meeting with Morocco's King Mohammed VI on Wednesday, where they discussed the disputed Western Sahara region.

Western Sahara - a former Spanish colony - is considered a "non-self-governing territory" by the United Nations.

Morocco controls 80% of the territory and the rest is held by the Polisario movement - which fought with Morocco for years after Spanish forces withdrew in 1975.

In October, the UN Security Council called on both sides to resume negotiations

The two leaders met on Wednesday on the side-lines of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations held in the Moroccan city of Fez.

King Mohammed reaffirmed Morocco's position that the dispute be resolved "on the basis of the autonomy initiative, within the framework of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Kingdom".

Image source, Reuters

South Africa's prison service has said it will challenge a court decision that sent former president Jacob Zuma back to jail.

"Having carefully studied the judgement, Correctional Services is convinced that another court may arrive at a different conclusion," the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) said in a statement, external.

The Supreme Court of Appeal had on Monday ordered Mr Zuma to return to prison after upholding an earlier ruling that his medical parole had been unlawful.

The 80-year-old was given a 15-month sentence last year for contempt of court over his refusal to testify during an investigation into corruption.

But he was released after two months in jail, after his lawyers argued that he had an undisclosed terminal illness and needed medical care that could not be provided in prison.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The Nigerian parliament has passed a bill seeking to establish a bank that can grant loans to students in higher institutions of learning - which include universities and colleges.

The bill is the first of its kind in Nigeria. It was passed by the two chambers of the National Assembly on Tuesday and will be forwarded to President Muhammadu Buhari for final approval.

The sponsor of the bill and speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the Nigerian Education Bank will offer interest-free loans to higher education students in Nigeria.

If signed into law, it is expected to enable students get more financial support from the government.

The bill says the bank "shall have the powers to approve and disburse the loan to qualified applicants. It will also monitor the students’ loan account/fund and ensure compliance in respect of disbursement”.

The loan beneficiaries are expected to start paying back the loan as soon as they gain employment, on completion of their studies and a mandatory national service.

Nigerian banks have been giving student loans only to the students' parents, with very stringent conditions including a very short tenure.

Needy students have had to drop out of school or engage in odd jobs to pay their way through school.