Tuesday 18 July is Nelson Mandela Day, recognising the South African leader's life and legacy. Read our guide to find out about his life story.

Homophobia is rising in parts of Africa, with lawmakers pushing for tougher anti-LGBTQ legislation.

Some of the emails reportedly contain sensitive information such as passwords and medical records.

That's all from the BBC Africa Live team for now, we will be back on Tuesday morning. There will be an automated news feed here until then.

You can also get the latest updates at BBCAfrica.com and listen to the new Focus on Africa podcast for stories behind the news

A reminder of the day's wise words:

Click here to send us your African proverbs.

And we leave you with this photo of young people from South Africa's Tsonga and Venda communities going through their traditional rite of passage in Ha-Mashamba, Limpopo province:

Image source, AFP

Esther Akello Ogola
Women's affairs journalist, Kenya

Several heads of state and activists have reiterated the need to protect the gender equality gains made so far globally, at the opening of the Women Deliver conference in Rwanda.

The summit is considered one of the world's biggest on gender equality, and is being held for the first time in Africa.

Speaking at the conference, President Paul Kagame said political pushback against women's equality means that they still suffer the most when it comes to global crises, like climate change.

Women's rights activist and president of Women Deliver, Dr Maliha Khan, urged activists and governments to "double down" on efforts and "work together" to "face enormous headwinds against gender equality".

Ameyu Etana
BBC News Afaan Oromoo

Thirteen people have been killed in a traffic accident north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Among them was a mother and her four children, the youngest of whom was just a year old, police tell the BBC.

The road conditions were said to be poor.

The accident happened when a heavy truck carrying fertilizer smashed into a van after hitting two other vehicles, according to Dagam area Inspector Shimallis Boressa.

"In my more than 20 years as a police officer, I have never seen such a horrible accident. Recovering the bodies of the victims was also very difficult,'' the officer adds.

Despite the relatively small number of vehicles in Ethiopia, thousands of people die on the country's roads each year.

Nichola Mandil
BBC News, Juba

A senior US official is to visit Kenya for five days to meet refugees there and discuss the two nations' bilateral refugee protection deal.

Julieta Valls Noyes - the US Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees and Migration - is also scheduled to discuss innovative partnerships on climate change when she meets Kenyan officials.

The ongoing conflict in Sudan between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has entered its fourth month, creating huge numbers of refugees in the East Africa region.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, AFP

The national chairman of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), has quit the position nearly five months after leading the party to a presidential victory at the polls.

Senator Abdullahi Adamu, a former governor of the central Nasarawa state, is said to have resigned along with the national secretary of the party, Senator Iyiola Omisore.

He became the head of the party just months before the February general elections.

There has been infighting within the party’ leadership since President Bola Tinubu assumed office nearly two months ago.

The chairman’s resignation may signal a huge crack in the party which could have a significant impact on the president’s cabinet appointments and governance.

It’s not clear what led to the chairman’s decision to quit. However, in the build-up to the APC presidential primaries he faced a backlash for his reported support of Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to run for head of state.

His action was strongly rejected by a league of governors from northern Nigeria who said they preferred Mr Tinubu.

Mr Tinubu eventually emerged as the party’s flagbearer and went on to win the presidential election.

After an emergency party meeting in Abuja on Monday, deputy national chairman Abubakar Kyari told journalists that no reason was given in the resignation letter submitted by the chairman.

Mr Kyari has subsequently taken over the leadership of the APC as the acting chairman.

Image source, AFP

Police investigating a doomsday cult in Kenya have now exhumed 403 bodies from the Shakahola forest, after 12 more bodies were found on Monday.

Hundreds of people linked to the Good News International Church are believed to have either starved themselves to death, were badly beaten or strangled at the Shakahola forest in south-eastern Kenya.

The cult leader, Paul Mackenzie, preached that the world was about to end and allegedly convinced his followers to starve to death so they could see Jesus.

Mr Mackenzie has not yet been formally charged.

Read more about this case:

• Kenya cult: Children targeted to die first, pastor says
• Pastor Paul Mackenzie: What did the starvation cult leader preach

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

There are fears that without a grain deal some of the poorest parts of the world will see increasing levels of hunger and malnutrition as prices rise.

British charity Oxfam is calling for a total rethink on how to feed the world. It argues that even before Russia's invasion of Ukraine, hundreds of millions of people were going hungry.

It says the fact that parts of Somalia and South Sudan are close to famine shows that the grain deal was not a cure-all to end hunger.

Oxfam is calling for more investment in small-scale farming in poorer countries instead of what it calls an unhealthy reliance on one of the world's few breadbaskets.

Image source, Reuters

A five-storey building has collapsed in Cairo killing at least eight people.

The building was located in a dense part of Hadayek el-Kobba, in central Cairo, Reuters news agency reports.

It is not uncommon for buildings to collapse in Egypt, due to poor construction standards in some areas.

Several thousand people take part in the annual Mamaya dance festival in Guinea.

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa Business Journalist, BBC News

Former Twitter employees who were based in Ghana say the company has gone silent on all negotiations with their lawyers following the massive layoffs in November last year.

They also say their severance packages have not been paid.

Agency Seven Seven, which is representing the aggrieved former staff members, says Twitter has not communicated with them or the staff since May when negotiations were almost concluded.

The agency says the social media giant, through its legal team, had almost reached an agreement to pay the fired staff members three months' salaries and repatriation funds for those employed from outside Ghana but it has remained quiet for weeks.

Agency Seven Seven says it is now exploring other ways to proceed. It fears that the lack of a settlement could set a bad precedent for how foreign-based companies treat employees in Ghana.

Twitter opened its only Africa office in Ghana last November and had about a dozen employees but they were then laid off as part of a global staff cull introduced by Elon Musk when he bought the company.

Twitter has not yet responded to the BBC's request for comment.

The memorandum of understanding includes $118m to stop smuggling and return irregular migrants.

Kalkidan Yibeltal
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Millions of Ethiopians are expected to take part in a massive tree-planting campaign, with the authorities saying they hope half a billion seedlings will be planted in 12 hours. But simmering violence in some areas could hinder people coming out in large numbers.

The move is part of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s "green legacy" initiative that has seen similar drives throughout the country’s main rainy seasons over the last four years.

In 2019, the government claimed 350 million seedlings were planted in a single day, something that has not been independently confirmed. At the time authorities said more than 20 million people took part in the campaign.

Questions were raised by some about the reliability of the figures provided.

In a statement released on Sunday, Prime Minister Abiy said the objective this year is "to break [a] record". But it’s not clear if the country is applying to get verification and recognition from the Guinness World Records.

According to Guinness, more than 50 million trees were planted in a single day in 2016 in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Ethiopia, once a densely forested country with 35% of its total land area covered in trees in the early 20th Century, saw that figure plummet to a little above 4% in the 2000s according to the United Nations.

You may also be interested in:

• Fact checking Ethiopia's tree-planting claims
• A quick guide to Ethiopia

Jose Tembe
BBC News, Maputo

Image source, Getty Images

Families who've gone home to northern Mozambique after Islamist violence forced them to leave say they don't have enough food to eat.

Their land in Nangade district hasn't been farmed and they say they've had little support from the government or aid groups.

Now, residents say they have no choice but to live off wild yams called mingõko, and are cutting grass themselves to build huts to live in.

Nangade district is in the gas-rich province of Cabo Delgado, which has been a magnet for jihadists seeking to exploit its lucrative natural resources.

They have been fighting the government since 2017. To date, more than 4,000 people have been killed and 800,000 forced from their homes in the province.

In Nangade, families have been able to return to their villages after Mozambican forces and foreign allies expelled the militants.

Televangelist Gilbert Deya was accused of stealing five children two decades ago.

Image source, Bokamoso Arts Institute

A choir from South Africa who've won three international medals are overjoyed, saying it's "just like the Olympics and football World Cup".

Bokamoso Choir are from a town called Mabopane, just north of Pretoria, and flew home from the World Choir Games in South Korea at the weekend.

They told the Sowetan newspaper it was their first time competing at the global event, external that drew more than 46 countries and 400 choirs.

"Winning these gold medals has put us in a better position because now we are sitting at number four in the world standings. This has officially launched our name worldwide and will open some doors for us," choir head Nceba Mdaka told the newspaper.

"We want to use arts and music as a get-away from poverty for these talented people."

Star Zambian striker Barbra Banda could light up the Women's World Cup despite missing the African qualifiers following a row over her eligibility.

Will Ross
Africa editor, BBC World Service

Image source, AFP

A court in Kenya has acquitted a controversial self-styled preacher who was accused of abducting five children.

Prosecutors had accused Gilbert Deya of using the children to back up his claim that he could help infertile couples conceive babies through prayer.

The magistrate said the prosecution had not produced enough evidence.

Mr Deya lived in the UK for many years where he set up several Pentecostal churches. After a lengthy legal battle he was extradited to Kenya in 2017.

More than a decade ago his then-wife Mary Deya was given a three-year sentence for stealing a baby from a Nairobi hospital and pretending she had given birth to the child.

• Read more on this story here