Image source, Kenyan parliament/YouTube

A Kenyan MP was ordered to remove a traditional Palestinian scarf he was wearing during parliamentary proceedings on Wednesday.

Farah Maalim said he was wearing the scarf in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, amid the fighting between Israel and Hamas.

He said Palestine "needs support of everybody in Kenya".

But the speaker of the National Assembly ordered the MP to remove the scarf, saying the garment violated parliamentary rules.

Fellow MPs also condemned the legislator for "disrespecting" the House rules.

It comes a few days after Kenyan police briefly detained three people for participating in a pro-Palestinian meeting in the capital, Nairobi.

President William Ruto has expressed his government’s full support for Israel in the ongoing conflict.

Image source, AFP

The World Bank will loan South Africa $1bn (£830m) to help the country resolve its energy crisis as it battles with its worst-ever power cuts.

There have been power outages since 2007 but they have escalated in recent years, with blackouts of up to 16 hours a day.

According to the World Bank, the frequent power cuts have severely impacted South Africa’s economy, slowing its GDP growth.

“The loan endorses a significant and strategic response to South Africa’s ongoing energy crisis and the country’s goal of transitioning to a just and low carbon economy,” the World Bank said in a statement on Wednesday, after its board approved the loan.

More than 80% of South Africa's electricity is generated by burning coal. As a result, the country is ranked as the world's 14th largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

The World Bank said that the loan will allow South Africa to reform the country's state-owned power company, Eskom, which has more than $26bn of debt.

Richard Hamilton
BBC World Service Newsroom

Image source, Reuters

The United States and Saudi Arabia say they will resume talks in Jeddah, aimed at achieving a ceasefire in Sudan.

Representatives of Sudan's army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have arrived in the Saudi port city for the talks, reports say.

Previous peace talks in Jeddah city collapsed in June after numerous ceasefire violations.

This time it is understood that the mediation efforts will include an African facilitator, from the regional development bloc, Igad.

Six months of conflict between the Sudanese army and the RSF has created a humanitarian catastrophe.

More than 9,000 people have been killed and about six million others displaced.

Chris Ewokor
BBC News, Abuja

Image source, Reuters

Nigeria's Supreme Court is due to rule on whether or not to uphold the disputed election victory of President Bola Tinubu.

His two main challengers, Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party and Peter Obi of the Labour Party, are seeking to overturn the February presidential election, alleging that it was marred by irregularities.

The Supreme Court had 60 days to pass its judgement. But it has decided to fast-track the ruling after hearing the arguments of the challengers on Monday.

Mr Abubakar put forward new evidence, saying a certificate that President Tinubu presented to the election authorities differed from the one purportedly issued by Chicago State University.

The other challenger, Mr Obi, said that Mr Tinubu was not qualified to vie for Nigeria’s presidency at the time he did.

They insist the country's highest court should quash the judgement of the Election Petition Court, which upheld Mr Tinubu's victory last month.

If it upholds the decision of the lower court, that would be following a pattern seen in previous elections in Africa’s most-populous nation, where a presidential election result has never been overturned.

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Mustapha Bundu says his first goal for Plymouth Argyle is one of the best of his career.

It is the first such death to be reported among the Kenyan troops since they joined the force last year.

Gebisa Ejeta, 73, receives the National Medal of Science for developing an improved sorghum hybrid.

Kenya assistant coach William Muluya saw friends killed in a hail of bullets in his youth, and credits football with saving him from a similar fate.

A bacterium found in several wild elephants may explain why hundreds died suddenly in Botswana in 2020.

The displaced residents want authorities to speed up aid as living conditions worsen ahead of winter.

A judge says the doctor is a "dangerous" offender who did not show remorse during the trial.

Many young Ugandan patients stop free treatment as their families cannot afford other hidden costs.

Incumbent George Weah will face Joseph Boakai, separated by around 7,000 votes in the first round.

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

Until then, there will be an automated feed on this page.

You can find the latest updates on the BBC News website or listen to the Focus on Africa podcast.

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And we leave you with this picture of a young fan at Tuesday's African Football League game between Egypt's Al Ahly and Tanzania's Simba SC:

Image source, Reuters

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa business journalist, BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Ghana has deposited seeds in the Arctic Circle's "doomsday vault" in an attempt to ensure the long-term protection of the country’s major food crops.

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a facility nestled in an arctic mountain on the remote Norweigan island of Spitsbergen, safeguards over 1.2 million seed samples, the world’s largest collection of crop diversity in any single location.

The vault is owned by the Norwegian govenment and designed to withstand all natural and human disasters.

According to its operators, the facility provides permanent protection and preservation for food crops to ensure future global food security in the wake of disaster, earning it the nickname “doomsday vault”.

Ghana's deposit was made by the West Africa country’s Plant Research Institute, CSIR-PGRRI, and includes key crops like maize, rice, eggplant and black-eyed peas.

The Crop Trust, which runs the seed vault, said it has seeds from almost every country on Earth.

Ghana follows African nations like Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia in making a deposit.

“This, our very first safety back-up, provides a sense of relief that our collections of crop diversity are on the path to being secured in perpetuity for the benefit of all humanity,” Daniel Kotey, Senior Research Scientist at CSIR-PGRRI said.

Read more:

• The gloomy Arctic seed bank that's key to future crops, external

Earlier we brought you news of a deadly attack by Islamist militants in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern town of Oicha.

More details have surfaced - a regional civil society representative has said 12 minors were among those killed, while Oicha's mayor said militants used machetes to kill the civilians.

Local army spokesperson Antony Mwalushayi said the attack was believed to be retaliation for recent army strikes against the Islamist group the ADF.

Meanwhile, in DR Congo's North Kivu province, fighting between M23 rebels and pro-government armed groups moved closer to provincial capital Goma on Tuesday, with reported exchanges of fire within 20km (12 miles) of the city.

The M23, which has captured swathes of territory in North Kivu province since 2021, is just one of numerous militias holding sway over much of the region despite the presence of peacekeepers.

The conflict has recently intensified around Goma, home to over a million people, with M23 rebels and armed groups loyal to the government breaking a precarious truce.

North Korea is to close its embassy in Uganda, ending half a century of diplomatic presence in one of its longest-standing African allies.

The move was announced on Monday, after a meeting between Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni and North Korean ambassador Jong Tong Hak.

A statement from the Ugandan presidency, shared with press agency AFP, said: "Ambassador Jong informed the president that North Korea has taken a strategic measure to reduce the number of embassies in Africa, Uganda inclusive, in order to increase efficiency of the country's external institutions."

Mr Jong was quoted as saying: "Our good friendship will continue and will be further strengthened and developed."

North Korea forged links with Uganda shortly after the latter's independence from the UK in 1962. Pyongyang supported Idi Amin when he seized power in 1971, providing his forces with training and weapons.

North Korea opened the embassy in Kampala a year later.

President Museveni has made several visits to North Korea, where he met the late leader Kim Jong Il, father of current leader Kim Jong Un.

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Image source, Getty Images

Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) group has accused the country’s army of “air-bombing the French embassy” in the capital, Khartoum.

In a long post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the RSF said the alleged bombing had caused “substantial damage to the facility”.

“The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) vehemently denounces the indiscriminate aerial attack on the French embassy," it said.

"This ruthless act is a breach of international conventions, norms, and laws. We urgently call upon the international community to condemn this atrocity.”

Neither Sudan’s army nor France commented on the allegation.

The six-month-long war between the RSF and the army has killed 9,000 people and displaced nearly six million others, according to the UN.

In April, a French national was wounded in an attack on a convoy that the warring sides blamed on each other.

Meanwhile, the RSF said on Monday that it had killed more than 500 soldiers in an attack on a military convoy in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman, including “volunteers recently recruited by the army”.

Kenneth Mungai
BBC News, Nairobi

At least 23 civilians have been killed in an early morning attack by armed rebels in the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The mayor of Oicha, a town in the Beni region, attributed the killings to the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

The ADF, a Ugandan armed group based in eastern DR Congo, has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and launches frequent attacks.

In June, ADF militants killed 42 people, including 37 students in a high school in western Uganda.

The deaths of two tourists and their guide at a national park in south-west Uganda last week were also attributed to the ADF.

Uganda and DR Congo launched a joint military operation two years ago to try to root out the insurgents.

Uganda's army said last month it had succeeded in killing more than 560 fighters and destroying some of their camps.