Kenya's Gloria Orwoba, who campaigns against "period poverty", says she was aware her trousers were stained.

World Cup football semi-finalists Morocco will play a friendly against Brazil on 25 March, the Moroccan football federation said on Wednesday.

The match will be played at the Ibn Batouta Stadium in Tangier, and will be the first time home fans will see their team in action since their strong performance at the World Cup in Qatar last year.

Image source, Getty Images

Rising costs mean people are struggling to source more expensive imported African food items.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Two commercial banks have reportedly been set on fire during riots in Warri city in southern Nigeria over the scarcity of cash following the central bank's controversial decision to scrap the use of old banknotes.

Some banks were also said to have been broken into and looted.

In Benin City, angry protesters surged towards the local offices of the central bank, but were pushed back by security officers who fired tear gas.

In the city of Ibadan, protesters blocked roads as they complained about the non-availability of new banknotes.

The central bank says the currency redesign and replacement policy will help it tackle inflation by reducing the amount of cash in circulation.

The new notes would also be harder to forge, it adds.

Cameroon's Minister of Public Health has said that no-one has been infected with the Marbug virus in the country.

Manaouda Malachie confirmed earler reports that there had been two suspected cases in the Olamze area in the south, but added that they both tested negative.

"It was two cases of malaria," he said.

Neighbouring Equatorial Guinea has reported its first-ever outbreak of the virus. It has reported nine deaths and 16 suspected cases.

Protests have broken out in parts of southern Nigeria as anger mounts over the scarcity of cash following the central bank's controversial decision to scrap old banknotes, and to replace them with new ones that are not widely available.

The local Vanguard newspaper reports that Benin City is in shutdown, with protesters attacking banks and destroying ATM machines.

Two people are feared dead after the security forces foiled an attack on the local offices of the central bank, the newspaper reports.

It has posted a video of the protests on Twitter

Protests have also taken place in Ibadan city, where major roads were blockaded with burning tyres and banks, shops and other businesses were shut.

Local journalist Remi Feyisipo told AFP news agency that protesters were angry because traders, petrol stations and transporters were rejecting the old notes for transactions.

The Vanguard reports that anger also boiled over in Delta State's Udu local government area, where police fired shots into the air to disperse protesters.

Only seven people are known to have survived after a boat sank on its way to Europe.

Ghana's inflation rate has fallen - albeit slightly - for the first time in 19 months, official statistics show.

The inflation rate in January was 53.6%, compared with 54.1% in the previous month.

But food inflation rose slightly to 61.0% in January, while non-food inflation was down to 47.9%, Ghana Statistical Service figures showed, Reuters news agency reports.

This means that prices are still rising, just not quite as quickly as before.

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A reduction in fuel prices saw transport inflation fall, Ghana's Joy FM website reports.

Ghana's economy is in deep crisis, with the website reporting that international rating agency Fitch has downgraded its creditworthiness to "further junk status", external.

Reuters describes the economic crisis as the worst in a generation, saying that capital outflows, a crushing debt-service burden and rapid currency depreciation have wrought havoc on government and household finances.

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At least 73 migrants are reported missing and presumed dead following a shipwreck off the Libyan coast on Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has tweeted, external.

Only seven survivors made it back to shore in "extremely dire conditions" and have been admitted to hospital, it added.

The vessel was reportedly heading to Europe, the IOM said.

Vincent Aboubakar says Cristiano Ronaldo asked him to stay at Al Nassr, before his move to Besiktas.

The Supreme Court of Nigeria has adjourned a legal challenge to the government's policy of scrapping old banknotes, which has caused a severe cash shortage.

More states, including Lagos and Katsina, have joined the case.

It will now be heard on 22 February, three days before the general election.

Last week, the Supreme Court suspended a deadline of 10 February for old notes to be handed in.

But the governor of Nigeria's central bank, Godwin Emefiele, has added to confusion by insisting that the old notes are no longer legal tender.

He said the situation had calmed substantially.

Andrew Harding
BBC Africa Correspondent

Image source, Science Photo Library

The UK has been accused of crimes against humanity in its refusal to allow a group of islanders to return to the Chagos archipelago, half a century after they were forced off the island by British troops.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said reparations should be paid to generations of people affected by the decision to depopulate the remote islands, deep in the Indian Ocean.

The UK's Foreign Office has responded by repeating its “deep regret” about the manner in which people were removed from the islands in the late 1960s and early 70s. But it stressed that “we categorically reject the characterisation of events” as crimes against humanity.

The HRW report comes as the UK is facing growing international condemnation for holding on to what it calls the “British Indian Ocean Territory,” with the UN’s International Court of Justice ruling that the continuing British occupation of the archipelago is illegal.

The UN General Assembly has also voted, overwhelmingly, in favour of the islands being returned to Mauritius.

“The UK is today committing an appalling colonial crime, treating all Chagossians as a people without rights. The UK and the US, who together expelled the Chagossians from their homes, should provide full reparations for the harm they have caused,” said HRW’s senior legal adviser, Clive Baldwin.

The UK insisted on keeping hold of the Chagos islands when it negotiated Mauritius’s independence in 1968. Mauritian officials have since accused the UK of “blackmailing” them into relinquishing the territory.

The UK had already entered into secret talks with the US to lease one of the islands, Diego Garcia, to Washington for use as a military base.

Today the Foreign Office insisted that base “helps to keep people in Britain, the region and around the world safe, combatting some of the most challenging threats to international peace and security, including those from terrorism and piracy, and responding to humanitarian crises".

But with all but a handful of nations now backing Mauritius’s claim, the UK has now entered into negotiations about the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago.

Jagdish Koonjul, Mauritius’s UN ambassador, described those talks as “constructive", and his government welcomed the HRW report, saying: “Justice must be done.”

Mauritius insists the US can continue to keep its base on Diego Garcia, and that it will commit to resettling “any individuals of Chagossian origin” on their home islands.

Read: Chagos islanders in emotional, historic trip home

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, AFP

Somalia's government has ordered private companies - including telecommunication firms and money transfer banks - to register their businesses and clients with the authorities to curb money laundering and the financing of militant Islamist groups, state-owned Somali National TV has reported.

At a news conference, Information Minister Daud Aweis also asked mobile service providers to collect personal details of their clients, including fingerprints and photographs.

The minister also warned the public against helping militants, who have been waging a brutal insurgency.

"The public are asked to avoid any steps that may aid terrorism - particularly the crimes of money laundering and financing of terrorism, which are major criminal acts," Mr Aweis said.

The minister added that licences would be revoked for any company that violates the government directives.

He said the move was aimed at cutting the revenue streams of militants and prevent terrorism-related money laundering.

On Tuesday, the spy agency warned traders against travelling to areas controlled by al-Shabab, the main militant group in Somalia.

A light aircraft that crash-landed near Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, was carrying diamonds which were being transported under heavy security, the government-owned Herald news site reports.

The plane crashed in an open field on Monday afternoon after a suspected engine fault. It had five people on board, police are reported as saying.

Police said the diamonds were being transported from a mine in the southern town of Zvishavane that is operated by mining giant Murowa Limited.

The company is quoted as confirming the crash but it did not comment on the diamond consignment.

The diamonds were secured at the crash site and transported to Harare under security, the news site reports.

Image source, AFP

The African Union has appointed former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta to lead its observation mission in the forthcoming general elections in Nigeria.

Nigerians go to the polls on 25 February.

The observer mission includes representatives from the AU member states' election bodies, civil society, independent experts and AU organs.

Its objectives include providing an accurate and impartial assessment of the electoral process and offering recommendations for improvement of future elections based on the findings.

It is also expected to “demonstrate AU’s solidarity and support towards consolidation of democracy, peace, stability and development” in Nigeria.

The Zimbabwe Newport Volunteering Association delivers 30 to 50 African food parcels a month.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

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Hundreds of followers of the main Christian Orthodox church in Ethiopia have been arrested in recent days following tensions with the authorities, lawyers representing the religious institution have told the BBC.

The head of the church’s legal team, Ayalew Bitanie, said the number of those detained was more than 200.

Most of the detainees were held in the capital, Addis Ababa, and districts near the city but some of them have been taken to an army camp more than 200km (124 miles) east of Addis, Mr Ayalew said.

The BBC has not been able to independently confirm this claim.

Among those arrested are youth organisers and a popular preacher, Mr Ayalew told the BBC.

Some were brought to court in Addis Ababa during which police said they were investigating them for possible terrorism-related crimes and attempts to dismantle the constitutional order.

Tensions began after a breakaway group of clergy in the country’s Oromia region appointed bishops and the main church’s highest body accused the authorities of supporting the group.

There is an uneasy calm - after the church postponed rallies it had called - as the country prepares to host the annual African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

Social media and messaging platforms including Facebook, Telegram and YouTube remain restricted.

Uganda's military has denied accusations of abducting and torturing an opposition activist, a day after pictures emerged showing the victim with visible marks of torture on his chest.

In a Twitter thread, external, opposition leader Bobi Wine had said his supporter was burnt with hot metals on the chest and metals were used to tear his skin.

"This has been the fate of hundreds of our supporters who are regularly abducted!" he said.

But the military spokesperson said, external an internal investigation found that the victim, Eric Mwesigwa, "was not in the hands of any security agency".

"We advise him to go to the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and report or the police so that we can commence intensive investigation," the spokesperson added.

More on this topic:

• Uganda: 'Drones' the vans that take people away

BBC World Service

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The United Nations says countries in the Sahel must do more to combat the trafficking of arms into the region.

The UN says the majority of the weapons have been diverted from national armed forces in other African countries, notably Libya, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

It blamed both corruption and a low state presence for the inflow.

An Islamist insurgency across Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions - but the UN said the jihadists were not primarily engaged in the trade and are unlikely to derive significant revenue from arms trafficking.

A Kenyan senator was ejected from parliament after attending a session while wearing a white suit stained red in an apparent menstrual activism campaign.

Gloria Orwoba, of the ruling coalition, is due to table a motion on a bill to provide for free sanitary pads on Wednesday as part of efforts to end period poverty.

Senators disrupted Tuesday's afternoon session to draw the Speaker's attention to Ms Orwoba's "inappropriate dress code".

But the senator protested saying: “I am shocked that someone can stand here and say that the House has been disgraced because a woman has had her periods.”

Speaker Amason Kingi ordered the senator to go change her clothes before she could be readmitted to the chambers.

"Having periods is never a crime... Senator Gloria I sympathise with you that you are going through the natural act of menstruation, you have stained your wonderful suit, I'm asking you to leave so that you go change and come back with clothes that are not stained," the speaker said.

Outside the chambers, the Senator Orwoba told journalists: