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Live Reporting

Clare Spencer and Damian Zane

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Friday's stories

    We'll be back on Monday

    That's all from the BBC Africa Live page this week. Keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website

    A reminder of today's wise words:

    Quote Message: You suffer from smoke produced by firewood you fetched yourself." from A Luhya proverb sent by Harriet Aseneka, Nairobi, Kenya
    A Luhya proverb sent by Harriet Aseneka, Nairobi, Kenya

    On Facebook, reader Robinah Kunihira interpreted this to mean that the person you are nice to today can stab you in the back tomorrow.

    Click here to send in your proverb.

    And we leave you with this photo at a South African mosque just after breaking fast from our selection of the best pictures from across the continent this week.

    A muslim worshiper walks in the Nizamiye Mosque after breaking fast at the end of the first day of Ramadan, in Johannesburg, South Africa, 07 June 2016
  2. Muhammad Ali's love affair with Africa

    As thousands of people line the streets of Louisville in Kentucky for Muhammad Ali's funeral procession.

    BBC Africa has been looking back at the boxing great's strong connection to the continent:

    Video content

    Video caption: Muhammad Ali's love affair with Africa
  3. Top African players released by Premier League clubs

    Premier League sides have released the list of players they'll be keeping for next season, and the ones who are no longer needed.

    And some big African names appear on the list of those whose contracts have come to an end:

    • Togo's Emmanuel Adebayor and Morocco's Marouane Chamakh from Crystal Palace
    • South Africa's Steven Pienaar and Ivory Coast's Kolo Toure from Liverpool
    • Nigeria's Peter Odemwingie from Stoke City 
    • Nigeria's Victor Anichebe and Benin's Stephane Sessegnon from West Bromwich Albion

    The players are now available to any other club on a free transfer.

    Kolo Toure
    Image caption: Kolo Toure will be among those looking for a new club
  4. The singing firefighters change their tune

    Milton Nkosi

    BBC Africa, Johannesburg

    South African fire fighters in Canada are due to meet their management team which is en route to hear what their grievances are after they downed tools following a wage dispute. 

    The 300-strong fire fighting team arrived in Canada to help deal with the forest fires amid much fanfare as they danced and broke into song at the airport:

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter

    Linton Rensburg from Working On Fire, the organisation which sent the firefighters to Canada, said "they were disappointed to hear about the strike". 

    Canadian officials promised to pay the South Africans a fair wage.  

    Canadian authorities had requested the South African firefighters' help to control wildfires that have been going for a month.  

  5. Ali remembered in Kinshasa

    Thousands are attending a farewell procession for boxing legend Muhammad Ali in his home city of Louisville, in the US state of Kentucky.

    Onlookers lining the roadside have been chanting "Ali, Ali" as a cortege led by the hearse carrying is driving through the downtown area.

    Meanwhile, in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, boxers are holding their own memorial.

    Sign at Kinshasa stadium

    The Muhammad Ali Head Held High boxing club is holding a series of exhibition fights outside the stadium where the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight happened in 1974.

    Ali defeated George Foreman to regain the world title as thousands shouted "Ali, boma ye" - Lingala for "Ali, knock him out".

    Two 10-year-old boys David Samba and Alex Bembele started things off.

    And they didn't hold back as you can see in this video shot by the BBC's Mbelechi Msoshi:

    Video content

    Video caption: Ali remembered in Kinnshasa

    Twenty-three-year-old boxer Modestine Munga was one of those up for the next bout:

    Female boxer

    Read more about the funeral here.

  6. Seventeen arrested in South Sudan for fattening themselves up

    Some 17 men have been arrested in South Sudan, accused of trying to make themselves fat for a banned fattest man competition, reports Radio Tamazuj

    The Gogrial state government has provisionally banned so-called fattening contests saying they promote laziness.

    Fattening is a practice in the Dinka culture where men leave their homes for weeks with up to 15 milking cows.  

    They feed on milk only and do not work in order to become very fat. 

    They return to their home towns to compete to see who is the fattest. 

  7. Benin football authorities hold controversial elections

    Nick Cavell

    BBC Africa Sport

    The Benin Football Federation held elections today despite a court in Porto Novo ruling on Thursday they should be cancelled indefinitely. 

    The elections need to be recognised by the Confederation of African Football and the world governing body, Fifa, in order for a global ban to be lifted. 

    If they are ratified in the coming hours it means Benin can continue their Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Sunday against Equatorial Guinea.

    The Benin team - who are known as the Squirrels - need to win that game and their final 2017 tie in September against Mali if they are to reach the finals in Gabon in January.

    Benin football squad
    Image caption: Benin will be hoping to play in a Cup of Nations qualifier on Sunday
  8. Five charged over Nigeria blasphemy murder

    Five Muslim men have been charged with the murder of an elderly Christian woman over an alleged blasphemy in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, police said, AFP news agency reports.

    The suspects are accused of killing a woman last week after she allegedly insulted the Prophet Muhammad. 

    The 74-year-old was beaten to death at a Kano market on 2 June.  

    All five pleaded not guilty at a magistrates court in the city and were remanded in custody pending another hearing on June 28. 

    The BBC's Chris Ewokor in the capital, Abuja, says since the incident there has been widespread outcry against the crime from both Muslims and Christians

  9. 'Penny Sparrow' trending in South Africa

    South Africans on Twitter are discussing Penny Sparrow after she was ordered to pay 150,000 rand ($10,000; £6,900) to a charity after comments she made on Facebook comparing black people to monkeys (see earlier entry).

    As you might imagine, there's not a lot of sympathy out there for her:

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter

    But there are a few people who are wondering how she's going to come up with the money:

    View more on twitter
  10. Bemba sentencing date announced by ICC

    The International Criminal Court in The Hague has announced that the former vice-president of the Democratic Republic of Congo Jean Pierre Bemba will be sentenced on 21 June.

    He was found guilty of two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes for actions that militia under his command carried out in the Central African Republic in 2003.

    The ICC says "a sentence cannot exceed a maximum of 30 years, except when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime".

    Bemba
    Image caption: Jean-{ierre Bemba was found guilty in March
  11. 'I can't go back to Somalia'

    The head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has been visiting the Kenyan refugee camp, Dadaab, talking to some of the more than 300,000 Somalis living there.

    The Kenyan government wants to close the camp by November but Filippo Grandi said the refugees should not be forced to go home.

    Some got to address him at a public meeting:

    Man asking question at microphone

    The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza reports that Abdi who came to Daadab when he was three years old said that if Kenya does not want the refugees then the UNHCR should consider taking them to a third country.

    "How can I go back to a country I don't even know. My whole life and education has been here, I am just about to start university in Kenya. I can't go back to Somalia," he said.

    The UNHCR tweeted a picture of Dadaab, the world's biggest refugee camp, from the air:

    View more on twitter
  12. Another engineer uses placard to get a job

    Last month we reported on a bit of a trend in South Africa - unemployed engineers advertising their services on placards. 

    Anthea Malwandle's placard got the attention of large firms: 

    placards

    The BBC's  Nomsa Maseko explained that it is not an uncommon sight in the country where an estimated five million people are unemployed, including skilled graduates.

    But now it looks like the trend has spread to Kenya:

    View more on twitter
  13. 'Dramatic' increase in open racism in South Africa

    Our previous post reported that a white South African woman has been ordered to pay $10,000 (£6,900) to a charity for calling black people "monkeys".

    South Africa's Times Live news site adds that magistrate Irfaan Khalil said he had seen a "dramatic" increase of reported incidents of open racism and hate speech in South Africa.

    It quotes the judge as saying there had been 230 cases registered with the commission this year.

  14. South African ordered to pay $10,000 over monkey Facebook comment

    South Africa's Equality Court in KwaZulu-Natal has ordered a woman to pay $10,000 (£6,900) to the  Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, which deals with the impact of apartheid, for comments she made on Facebook.

    Penny Sparrow caused a social media storm at the beginning of the year when she used the word "monkeys" to describe New Year's revelers on Durban's beach because of the mess she said they made.  

    She has 60 days to pay the money.

    Beach goers in Durban
    Image caption: It is a tradition in Durban to go to the beach on 1 January to celebrate the new year
  15. MTN apologises for 'series of unfortunate events'

    MTN Nigeria has released a statement after it agreed to settle the fine with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over failing to disconnect unregistered sim cards.

    It will pay $1.67bn over three years.

    Echoing the title of a collection of books by Lemony Snicket MTN Nigeria said:

    Quote Message: MTN Nigeria once again offers its most sincere apologies for the series of unfortunate events that led to the imposition of the fine.
    Quote Message: It was of critical importance to reach a solution that would be of universal benefit to all stakeholders given the importance of the ICT industry in Nigeria and its tremendous impact on socio-economic growth. Along with the authorities, we believe that has been achieved.”
    MTN workers
  16. MTN 'has learned its lesson'

    The South African telecoms company MTN has agreed to pay a $1.67bn fine to the Nigerian Communications Commission over a failure to cut off unregistered sim cards.

    The Reuters news agency is quoting NCC spokesman Tony Ojobo:

    Quote Message: I believe MTN has learned its lesson... Going forward, what we expect is service providers in this market will play to the rules."
  17. BreakingArrested alleged people trafficker says he's the 'wrong man'

    The man extradited to Italy from Sudan and described as a people-trafficking "kingpin" has said that his arrest was a case of mistaken identity. 

    Read more here.

  18. BreakingMTN case in Nigeria 'settled', South Africa diplomat says

    The head of South Africa's diplomatic service has tweeted that South African telecoms company MTN has settled the fine imposed by Nigeria over unregistered sim cards:

    View more on twitter

    In October last year, MTN Nigeria was fined $5.2bn by Nigeria's Communications Commission (NCC) for non-compliance with a deadline set by the NCC to disconnect all non-registered sim cards.

  19. Fifteen arrested at Zimbabwe anti-government protest

    Zimbabwe police have arrested 15 people at an anti-government protest in Africa Unity Square in the capital, Harare, the NewsDay newspaper reports.

    Among those detained was one of the newspaper's journalists and he tweeted as he was being picked up:

    View more on twitter

    The AFP news agency quotes lawyer Obey Shava as saying that the 15 are being charged with "robbery and obstructing or defeating the course of justice".

    He added: "These are trumped up charges to instill fear and discourage people from occupying Africa Unity Square."