Grant Ferrett
BBC World Service newsroom

Image source, AFP

Saudi Arabia has announced another attempted ceasefire between the warring military factions in Sudan.

The Saudi foreign ministry said the Sudanese army and its paramilitary rivals had agreed a 24-hour truce.

It is due to begin on Saturday at 05:00 GMT.

Saudi Arabia and the United States have made repeated mediation efforts since the fighting erupted in April.

The foreign ministry in Riyadh warned that if the ceasefire failed, it would consider suspending peace efforts.

Previous truces have been largely ignored.

The UN estimates that nearly 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes since the fighting began, many of them crossing to neighbouring countries.

You may be interested in:

• Sudan conflict: Children rescued from orphanage in Khartoum
• Sudan crisis: Mediators over a barrel in mission to end fighting

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Simon Ponsford
BBC World Service newsroom

Image source, AFP

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) says it is suspending some food aid to Ethiopia while it addresses worries that donations are being diverted from those in need.

It will continue to help the most vulnerable, such as children and new mothers, and welcomed what it called the Ethiopian government's commitment to investigate.

The United States - the biggest donor to Ethiopia - also suspended aid a day ago, saying it had uncovered a campaign to divert assistance.

It did not say who was behind it.

Donors have heard allegations that Ethiopian government entities were the orchestrators, and military units the beneficiaries.

More than 20 million people in Ethiopia need food aid because of drought and the recent war in the Tigray region.

The world's largest ruby, described as a "once-in-a-lifetime" jewel, fetches $34.8m at auction.

Jonathan Shapiro - the cartoonist known as Zapiro - talks to HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur about some of his most controversial work.

Farah Yussuf
BBC Monitoring

Image source, Getty Images

The authorities in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, have banned protests planned for Friday by supporters of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

On 1 June, a court in Dakar acquitted Sonko on charges of rape and issuing death threats but sentenced himto two years in prison for "corrupting" a young woman in 2021.

Under Senegal’s penal code, "corrupting" is described as "anyone who offends against morality by inciting, promoting or facilitating the debauchery or corruption of young people of either sex under the age of 21".

Violence sparked by the two-year jail term claimed the lives of at least 16 people and injured hundreds last week.

Sonko, a former tax inspector, is the mayor of Ziguinchor city and chairman of the Patriots for Work, Ethics and Fraternity (Pastef) party.

He came third in the 2019 presidential election with 15.7% of the vote.

Sonko's supporters consider his sentencing politically motivated and part of a government plot to stop him standing in a presidential election scheduled for February 2024.

Friday's protests were also about fears President Macky Sall may attempt run for an unconstitutional third term in office.

The opposition has vowed to hold the banned demonstrations on Saturday.

Image source, Getty Images

A Russian citizen has been killed by a shark off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada.

A tiger shark attacked the man as he was swimming off the city’s Dream Beach on Thursday afternoon, Egyptian and Russian officials say.

An eyewitness caught the moment of attack on camera and shared the video with Reuters. It shows the man, in his early 20s, thrashing about in the sea before being dragged under water.

According to Reuters, a diver described how a lifeguard at a nearby hotel had raised the alarm and people had rushed to help, but were unable to get to the man in time.

Swimming, snorkelling and other water sports in the area have been banned for two days, starting from Friday, Egypt's environment ministry said.

The shark had been captured by a specialist team and was being examined to determine the cause of the attack, it added.

Russian Consul-General Viktor Voropayev named the man as V Yu Popov, saying he had been living in Egypt for a while and was not a tourist, the Tass news agency reports.

The consulate passed on its condolences to his family and friends, and urged Russians be vigilant when in the water and abide by swimming and diving bans imposed by the Egyptian authorities, Tass said.

Image source, AFP

Wazir Khamsin
BBC World Service News

Image source, Getty Images

The spiritual head of the Anglican Church has urged the clergy in Uganda to reject a new anti-gay law just approved by President Yoweri Museveni.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said there was no justification for Anglicans to support legislation that went against Christian teaching.

The leader of the worldwide Anglican communion said he had written to Stephen Kaziimba, the head of the church in Uganda, to express his "grief and dismay" that the church has supported the law.

Gay sex is now punishable by life in prison, while what the law calls "aggravated homosexuality", including transmitting HIV, attracts the death penalty.

Image source, Reuters

Angolan President João Lourenço has sacked the minister responsible for economic and social development following protests triggered by the government’s decision to end fuel subsidies

He replaced Manuel Nunes Júnior, a seasoned minister and economics professor, with the central bank governor, José de Lima Massano, a statement said.

The withdrawal of the subsidies - which Mr Nunes Júnior said was aimed at cutting government spending - came into effect on 1 June, leading into a steep rise in fuel prices.

The oil-rich nation has since experienced a wave of protests, with more expected over the weekend.

On Monday, five people died and eight were injured after police opened fire on a group of protesters the city of Huambo.

Angola is one of the largest oil exporters in sub-Saharan Africa.

Image source, AFP

Rights group Amnesty International has called on Senegalese authorities to carry out independent investigations into the deadly violence during protests last week, saying at least 23 people died.

The death toll by Amnesty is higher than the official number of 16 announced by the government.

The rights group says three children were among 23 killed. It said the deaths "including some by gunfire" were recorded in the capital Dakar and the southern town of Ziguinchor during the violent protests on 1 and 2 June.

"We call on the authorities to carry out a credible, independent and impartial investigation into the circumstances of these deaths and to ensure that those responsible for unlawful killings are prosecuted according to fair trial standards," it said.

Senegal's government had earlier said it had launched an inquiry into the protest deaths. It has not responded to Amnesty's statement.

There has been a wave of recent protests in Senegal relating to the trial of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

Last week deadly protests erupted after Mr Sonko was sentenced in absentia to two years in jail for immoral behaviour, but cleared of rape charges.

His supporters say his charges are politically motivated.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, Getty Images

The Sudanese government has declared the UN envoy to the country, Volker Perthes, to be "persona non grata", meaning it no longer recognises his position in Sudan.

"The Government of the Republic of Sudan has notified the Secretary General of the United Nations that it has declared Mr Volker Perthes... persona non grata as of today," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Thursday.

Mr Perthes was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Thursday for a series of diplomatic talks, according to the UN mission's Twitter feed.

The head of the Sudanese armed forces - and Sudan's de facto leader - General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, recently accused Mr Perthes of stoking the country's conflict.

He demanded he be replaced.

Before the start in April of the conflict between the army and its paramilitary rival, the Rapid Support Forces, the UN mission in Sudan had been targeted by protests denouncing alleged foreign interference.

Image source, Tunisia Presidency/Twitter

Four Tunisian soldiers on military duty have died after their helicopter crashed into the sea in the country’s north-west.

President Kais Saied on Thursday offered condolences to the bereaved families, saying the "accident cost the lives of four army men".

He said there was a need to "renew military equipment" as he met the country's defence minister following the incident.

President Saied also said such incidents could occur in any country – while admitting that the deterioration of some equipment in Tunisia "had led and continues to lead to such tragedies".

In 2021, three soldiers were killed in an army helicopter crash in the southern Gabes province – the findings of the investigations into that incident have not been released.

The Newsroom
BBC World Service

Image source, Sotheby's

The biggest ruby ever to come to auction has been sold in New York for a record sum of just under $35m (£28m).

The stone, a whopping 55.22 carats, was discovered last year in a mine in Mozambique.

Uncut it was 101 carats. It has been called the "Estrela de Fura” meaning “Star of Fura” in Portuguese. The name refers to the company that mined the stone.

Polished rubies of more than five carats are extremely rare.

Sotheby's, who auctioned the gem, described it as a "once-in-a-lifetime" jewel.

The same auction also saw a record sum achieved for a pink diamond.

The 10.5 carat gem from Botswana - described as a fancy purplish-pink stone - sold for just under $35m.

Our proverb of the day:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

A selection of the best photos from across Africa and beyond this week.

Mathias Shipeta has been at the heart of the Shakahola cult rescue operation.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now. We'll be back on Friday morning.

Until then you can follow the latest news at BBCAfrica.com and catch up with the new BBC Focus on Africa podcast.

A reminder of Thursday's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo taken recently in Ivory Coast's main city of Abidjan of a bar in an area called Rasta junction.

Image source, Reuters

A co-ordinated campaign to divert food from those in need forces USAid to stop donations.

Image source, EPA

An opposition coalition in Guinea-Bissau has won an overall majority in parliament following elections on Sunday.

This means President Umaro Sissoco Embaló will have to share power with a prime minister nominated by the PAI-Terra Ranka coalition, which includes the former ruling PAIGC party.

The coalition won 54 out of 102 seats, with Mr Embaló’s Madem-G15 party taking 29, according to the electoral commission.

A crowd gathered outside the PAIGC’s headquarters in the capital, Bissau, when the results were announced, with many banging saucepans to express their joy, the AFP news agency reports.

For years the small West African nation has undergone political turmoil and numerous coups and coup plots.

It has also been a key transit point in the trafficking of illegal drugs from Latin America.

Mr Embaló - whose party broke away from the PAIGC - won presidential elections in December 2019 and last year survived a coup attempt.

You may be interested in:

• Why Guinea-Bissau had two presidents for a day
• How Africa's 'narco-state' is trying to kick its habit

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News, Addis Ababa

Image source, Getty Images

The US is suspending food aid to Ethiopia because it says donations are being diverted from those in need.

The US Agency for International Development (USAid) says an investigation has uncovered a widespread and co-ordinated scheme to divert assistance.

"We made the difficult but necessary decision that we cannot move forward with distribution of food assistance until reforms are in place," USAid said.

It does not say who is behind the campaign, but an internal briefing document quoted by the Reuters news agency alleges that some officials are doing it using “military units across the country”.

The US is by far the largest humanitarian donor to Ethiopia, where more than 20 million people need food aid because of drought and the recent war in the northern region of Tigray.

This suspension comes weeks after USAid and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) halted aid to Tigray over similar claims.