Image source, AFP

More than 170 Nigerians on a flight to Saudi Arabia were turned back on arrival on Monday after the Saudi authorities reportedly abruptly revoked their visas, Nigerian media report.

Reports say that 264 passengers, who had departed from the Nigerian cities of Lagos and Kano, had received visas and undergone rigorous screenings prior to boarding.

However, all their visas were reportedly revoked while they were airborne.

On arrival, the Saudi authorities reportedly refused to grant entry and instructed the Nigerian Air Peace airline to return them to Nigeria, reports add.

The Saudi authorities have not commented on the matter.

Affected passengers told local media that they were surprised to learn of the visa cancellation when they landed as they had met all the requirements for entry into the Middle East country.

Saudi Arabia is said to have ultimately allowed entry to 87 passengers after intervention by the Nigerian embassy there, but 177 were repatriated to Nigeria on Monday night.

Nigerian media reports say most of the passengers had travelled to Saudi Arabia to perform the lesser Hajj (Umrah), pilgrimage to the Islamic holy city of Mecca.

Image source, CCC/X

A Zimbabwe opposition activist who was abducted at the weekend while campaigning ahead of key by-elections has been found dead.

Tapfumanei Masaya's body was found in a decomposed state on the outskirts of the capital, Harare, his party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), said, external.

"We demand the police to investigate this heinous crime and bring the perpetrators to justice," it said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In a statement, external, the police confirmed the location of a body but said the identity of the dead person was yet to be established and more details would be released later.

The CCC says the activist had been forced into a vehicle by armed men on Saturday while campaigning for a party candidate ahead of the 9 December polls.

The by-elections are being held following what the party said was an "illegal and fraudulent" recall of its members.

Last month, over a dozen opposition MPs lost their seats after a man, who declared himself as the party’s interim secretary-general, said the MPs were no longer members.

The CCC now says the recall of its elected members had resulted "in the death of our change champion".

The death of the activist follows a pattern of abductions of opposition politicians and human rights activists in Zimbabwe.

The CCC has blamed state agents for the violence against its members - which the ruling Zanu-PF party has denied.

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Adventurer and journalist Simon Reeve heads to east Africa to uncover the stories behind the nation's favourite drink. While we drink millions of cups of the stuff each day, how many of us know where our tea actually comes from? The surprising answer is that most of the leaves that go into our everyday teabags do not come from India or China but are bought from an auction in the coastal city of Mombasa in Kenya.

From here, Simon follows the tea trail through the epic landscapes of Kenya and Uganda and meets some of the millions of people who pick, pack and transport our tea. Drinking tea with everyone from Masai cattle herders to the descendants of the original white tea planters, Simon learns that the industry that supplies our everyday cuppa is not immune to the troubles of the continent - poverty, low wages and child labour.