Image source, Reuters

Moroccan fans have heaped praise on their football team's performance despite Wednesday night's World Cup semi-final 2-0 loss to France.

The team made history by becoming the first African and Arab nation to reach this stage of the competition.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI led fans in showing support to their team after the game with a thank you tweet:

French President Emmanuel Macron also praised the Moroccan team for their history-making run at the World Cup.

"To our Moroccan friends: congratulations on this beautiful journey. You are making football history," he tweeted, external.

US President Joe Biden said, external "it was remarkable to watch how much this team has been able to achieve".

French striker Kylian Mbappe told Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi, external, who is also his teammate at French club PSG, that "everybody is proud of what you did, you made history".

The BBC's Mayeni Jones watched the match from Morocco's western city of Casablanca and says the team has galvanised support across age groups and in the wider region.

She spoke to fans who were full of pride of the team's performance.

Mohamed Berrada, a local sports reporter, said: "Very proud of my country, very proud of the team. Unfortunately we lost our captain in the first 20 minutes. I’m disappointed but proud."

Adil, a French-Moroccan who supports the African side because he was born there said: "Always Morocco, we never give up, never. We had the best team, best played. They played better than the French."

The Morocco team will play their last match on Saturday against Croatia in the third-fourth place play-off.

Thomas Naadi
BBC News, Accra

Image source, AFP

Ghana’s annual inflation rate increased to 50.3% in November, up from 40.4% in the previous month, according to the latest figures by the Ghana Statistical Service.

This is the highest inflation recorded in more than two decades.

It is attributed to a sharp rise in the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which recorded an inflation rate of 79%.

On Tuesday, Ghana reached an initial agreement with the IMF for a $3bn (£2.4bn) bailout subject to approval by the fund's board if the country meets all the requirements.

The deal is expected to help restore Ghana’s economic stability and ensure debt sustainability. However the government has to restructure the country's debt to sustainable levels to qualify for the loan.

Domestic bond holders have rejected the government’s decision to exchange $10.5bn in domestic bonds for new ones as they disagree with the new terms.

Since last week, the local currency, the cedi, has been making significant gains against the US dollar after losing half of its value this year.

But it has not reflected in the prices of imported essential commodities.

The cocoa and gold-producing West African country has been struggling to deal with the worst economic crisis in a generation which has resulted in street protests in the capital.

BBC World Service

Image source, EPA

US President Joe Biden has announced billions of dollars in new funding for Africa at a summit of dozens of heads of state in Washington.

"The United States is 'all in' on Africa's future," President Biden told, external the over 40 African leaders attending the summit.

He also spoke optimistically of improved links with Africa during a summit in which he announced $55bn (£44.4bn) in new funding for the continent over the next three years. This included $100m for clean energy projects.

He told the gathering in Washington that when Africa succeeded, so too did the United States.

Mr Biden spoke of the importance of good governance, healthy populations and affordable energy.

The summit of heads of state is seen as an attempt by America to re-assert its influence in Africa at a time when China, Russia and Turkey are deepening their involvement.

It's the first such gathering hosted by Washington for eight years.

Our proverb of the day:

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Moroccan hopes of being the first African side to reach the last two ended in a 2-0 defeat by France.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who leads the UN public health body, says more than 50 others were killed.

Sold to a local chief aged 12, Hadizatou Mani spent a decade as a slave before fighting for justice in Niger.

Morocco have drawn football fans' support around the globe ahead of their game against France.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now but we'll be back on Thursday morning Nairobi time.

In the meantime there will be an automated service, but you can check the news by going to the Africa pages of the BBC News website or listening to our Africa Today podcast.

A reminder of our African proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this picture of coffee beans being roasted from "the birthplace of coffee" in Kaffa, Ethiopia:

BBC World Service

The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has said he's hopeful that Covid-19 will no longer be a global public health emergency next year.

But Dr Tedros warned that the availability of vaccines remained a big challenge, with only a fifth of people in low-income countries having received a jab.

The WHO meets every three months to consider whether Covid remains a threat to international public health.

Speaking at a press briefing, Dr Tedros said that the WHO was still pressing China to share data in order to better understand the virus' origins - adding that all hypotheses remained on the table.

He said he hoped 2023 would see the end of other health emergencies too, such as Ebola and Mpox.

Grace Kuria
BBC News, Nairobi

A Kenyan politician, who was among seven female leaders elected as regional governors in the August general election, has been impeached.

Kawira Mwangaza has been accused by Members of County Assembly (MCAs) in Meru of nepotism and illegal appointments, among other allegations.

At the centre of her political problems is her husband, who is allegedly playing a prominent role in the Meru county government.

Mrs Mwangaza has defended her husband Murega Baicu, saying that she had only appointed him to voluntarily roles in her administration.

On Wednesday 67 MCAs voted to impeach her, while two abstained.

According to Kenya's constitution, the governor will remain in office until her fate is determined by the national senate.

Mrs Mwangaza has not yet made any public comment.

Camilla Mills
BBC News, Casablanca

Heavy rains lasting most of the day in Casablanca have failed to dampen the spirits of Moroccan fans ahead of the much anticipated World Cup semi-final match against France.

In a stall set up near the Wydad Stadium, where hundreds of fans are expected, weather permitting, to watch the game on a big screen, trader Bina Mohamed points to his array of merchandise - flags, tops and caps in and around household items, including a smoking tajine.

He has been a trader for more than 40 years and hopes he will do good business before the big game.

His immediate concern though is the rain which has forced him to pack away some of his colourful merchandise.

Ameyu Etana
BBC Afaan Oromoo

Dozens of members of Ethiopia's federal parliament - from Oromia - have urged the government to hold talks with a banned rebel group to resolve the security crisis in the region.

Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) has been proscribed as a "terrorist group."

In the past five years, rebel attacks and confrontations with the military have made areas in western and southern parts of the populous region insecure and almost uninhabitable.

OLA has carried out attacks in Oromia and in neighbouring Amhara region sparking revenge attacks.

In a letter to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 80 lawmakers urged his government to end the insecurity.

Recent violence has forced tens of thousands of residents in Horro Guduru and East Wollega in western Oromia out of their homes.

Pressure is growing on the government to agree on a peace deal with OLA similar to the one reached with the rebels in the northern Tigray region.

The Benin Bronzes were taken by British forces during the sacking of Benin City in 1897.

The Basketball Africa League will return in 2023 with the same 12-team format used this year, with two conferences before play-off finals in Rwanda.

Pumza Fihlani
BBC News, Johannesburg

The head of South Africa's embattled state-owed power utility firm Escom has resigned.

Andre de Ruyter handed in his resignation earlier this week, local media report.

He is yet to comment on his leaving nor the reasons for his decision.

Mr De Ruyter's resignation comes amid crippling blackouts across the country known as load-shedding.

Through planned outages, the utility rations power supply, supposedly to keep the grid from collapsing.

The role of Eskom head has become a kind of poisoned chalice in recent years, with bosses abruptly leaving either due to public dissatisfaction or seeming government interference in its running.

Mr De Ruyter has been in the position for less than three years.

South Africa is currently on level-five rolling blackouts - which means no less than six hours of power-cuts during the course of the day.

The outages affect schools, businesses and households alike.

Read more: Can renewables help ease South Africa's power crisis?

Charlene Ruto's high public profile have led some to call her a "low budget version of Ivanka [Trump]".

BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

Opposition politicians in South Africa say they will challenge a vote in parliament that rejected an impeachment inquiry against President Cyril Ramaphosa.

He easily survived Tuesday's vote in the National Assembly that could have initiated proceedings to remove him from office.

Mr Ramaphosa is accused of concealing the theft of a large amount of money from his farm but denies any wrongdoing.

The African Transformation Movement described the decision not to investigate the president as irrational and said it would appeal to the high court in Cape Town on Monday.

The opposition Democratic Alliance said it was weighing its legal and parliamentary options.

Mr Ramaphosa is now in a stronger position to be re-elected as ANC president at his party's conference which starts on Friday.

Read more: How Arthur Fraser landed South Africa's president in trouble

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

A member of a local force supporting a government operation was killed in clashes between Mozambique's security forces and the militants operating in the northern Cabo Delgado province, privately-owned Carta de Mocambique reported.

One militant was also killed.

Sources quoted by the report said that the militants attempted to stage an assault against the army outpost in Nova Zambezia village, Macomia district, in a bid to steal weapons and supplies.

The Defence and Security Forces succeeded in repelling the assailants, the report added.

Mozambique's authorities are yet to issue a statement on the incident.

Militants in northern Mozambique have stepped up attacks against security forces and civilian targets in recent months despite the deployment of regional forces.

Alfred Lasteck
BBC News, Dar es Salaam

A top Tanzanian journalist has died after a bicycle accident on Mt Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak.

Joachim Kapembe, 45, was among a group of journalists covering the reinstallation of the internet which was cut off after a month-long wildfire destroyed infrastructure and hundreds of hectares of land on the slopes of the mountain.

The Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation shared Kapembe's picture online in a tribute message.

"Kapembe and many other journalists managed to reach the [mountain] roof top. As we were moving down, we reached Kibo camp where we were given options of either walking down or using bicycle to Horombo hut which was the next stop along that mountain route," government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa, who was part of the hiking group told reporters.

Kapembe was among those to chose to use a bicycle but had an accident that claimed his life, he said.

"We are so sad for his loss."

Kibo Hut is a high mountain hut at an elevation of 4750m (15520ft), whereas Horombo hut is 3720m (11,160ft) above sea level.

The distance between the two points is 9.6km (6 miles) and the trekking time is between 5-7 hours.

Details of how the accident happened have not been shared.