Africa highlights: Zimbabwe 'restricts imports', Ghana leader to be probed over car

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Liberia athletics coach Sayon Cooper, pictured above, has told the BBC that authorities must get tougher on drug cheats. 

He was speaking on the opening day of the African Athletics championships in Durban, where athletes will continue to try and make Olympics qualifying times. 

Sayon Cooper said a two-year ban was not enough:

Quote Message: First offence should be four years, and second time means you're done with the sport of athletics."

First offence should be four years, and second time means you're done with the sport of athletics."

His comments come as the International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday that Kenyan athletes would have to undergo extra tests to take part in the Rio games, due to their country's poor anti-doping record (see previous entry). 

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The head of Kenya's Olympic delegation says that he is not surprised by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) decision to require Kenyan and Russian athletes to undergo extra testing if they want to take part in the Rio games in August.

Both countries have been affected by serious doping scandals in the past year.

Stephen Arap Soi told the BBC that Kenyan sports authorities would ensure that only clean athletes went to to the Olympics. 

He also suggested that envy was contributing to an attempt to derail Team Kenya's preparations for the games:

Quote Message: Not everybody likes us because of our performances, especially in track and field."

Not everybody likes us because of our performances, especially in track and field."

If Kenya were to be excluded from the Games, some of the world's top athletes would miss out on medal chances.

The country topped the medal table at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in Beijing with seven gold medals.

Read full BBC Sport coverage

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An official body in Ghana says it will investigate President John Mahama for receiving a vehicle as a gift from a Burkinabe businessman who has won government contracts in Ghana. 

The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) said it would conduct an investigation following petitions by private citizens and the youth wing of the opposition Convention Peoples Party. 

Anti-corruption institutions have in the past week condemned President Mahama after he confirmed reports that he received a Ford Expedition vehicle worth $100,000 from a Burkinabe contractor Djibril Kanazoe. 

The government has denied there was any wrongdoing or that the gift influenced the awarding of contracts to Mr Kanazoe.

The vehicle was now part of the presidential motorcade, it added.  

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Ethiopia is to dump 69 million condoms, bought for $2m (£1.3m), because they were of a poor quality, the government's Pharmaceuticals Fund and Supply Agency of Ethiopia said, according to a local news site.

Steps are being taken to recover the money, obtained from the UN-backed Global Fund, from the supplier, the agency's director-general, Meskele Lera, is quoted as saying.

David Beckham: 'You need to wear a condom in the fight against HIV'

Angola's president has said the state oil firm has been unable to pay revenues into the country's budget since January and low oil prices have caused a lack of foreign currency, Reuters news agency reports. 

Managing the affairs of Angola had, as a result, become "extremely complicated", Jose Eduardo dos Santos said. 

Reuters says he made the comments, published by Portuguese news site Rede Angola, on the sidelines of a meeting of his Council of Ministers. 

Earlier this month, Mr Dos Santos appointed his daughter, Isabel, as head of the state oil company, Sonangol, ignoring accusations of nepotism. 

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Read: Cult of Dos Santos  

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Zambian police have fired tear gas to disperse staff protesting against the closure of leading daily newspaper, The Post.

Makokwa KoziCopyright: Makokwa Kozi

Staff had been outside the offices of the newspaper in the capital, Lusaka, to protest against the authorities' decision to close it over an unpaid tax bill of  $6.1m (£4.1m).

See earlier posts for more details.

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Two people have been shot dead and 40 arrested during violent protests in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, against the governing African National Congress' (ANC) choice of candidate for mayoral elections in August, according to police.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) tweeted:  

Looting of shops, including those owned by immigrants, has continued today, but on a far lower scale than yesterday and Monday. 

 A local broadcaster has been posting footage from the scene:

In pictures: Pretoria burns amid SA mayoral protests

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Moise Katumbi, the opposition presidential hopeful in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for the illegal purchase of a flat in the eastern city of Lubumbashi. 

He was also given a $6m (£4.1m) fine.

Mr Katumbi was not present for the sentencing, having flown to South Africa for medical treatment a day after authorities issued an arrest warrant on separate charges last month.

He was accused of hiring foreign mercenaries in an alleged plot against the state, which he denied.  

Mr Katumbi has condemned the charges against him as an attempt to derail his campaign to replace President Joseph Kabila in elections due in  November.

Mr Kabila, in power since 2001, is nearing the end of his second term and he is constitutionally obliged to step down by December.

Moise Katumbi profile

Erick Karangwa was born in Rwanda but spent much of his childhood in refugee camps. 

He ended up in South Africa, working as a car guard in Cape Town. 

At night he would gaze into the gallery windows in upmarket neighbourhoods. 

Finally, Mr Karangwa made contact with landscape painter Andrew Cooper, who has become his mentor.

Our reporter Mohammed Allie has been to meet the two artists:

The Togo Football Federation will not sack coach Claude LeRoy despite French prosecutors demanding he go to jail.

LeRoy is facing a case about his involvement in the fraudulent transfer of players at French club Racing Club de Strasbourg in the 1990's and 2000's.

Prosecutors asked the High Court of Strasbourg last week to jail LeRoy for two years, with 18 months of the sentence to be suspended.

LeRoy has denied the charges. 

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Read the full BBC Sport story 

The United Nations says the preliminary results of an inquiry into a deadly attack on one of its compounds in South Sudan show that confusion over command and control affected the response. 

The medical charity MSF said the peacekeepers took up to 16 hours to react. 

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At least 30 people were killed and more than 100 wounded during the attack in February.

More than 50,000 civilians were seeking refuge in the camp in Malakal. 

In a separate investigation, the UN blamed South Sudanese government troops for the attack.

Read: Men of dishonour 

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Hong Kong is the world's most expensive city for expats, leapfrogging Angola's capital Luanda in the annual chart compiled by consultancy firm Mercer.

Luanda, which had consistently topped the list in recent years, fell in the ranking owing to the weakening of its local currency.

Zurich and Singapore were third and fourth on the list, unchanged from a year ago. Tokyo rose to fifth.

The survey is designed for companies to calculate expat workers' allowances.

It weighs up the cost of living in 209 cities across the world, comparing the cost of more than 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing and entertainment.

Read the full BBC story here

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Zambia's Human Rights Commission (HRC) has appealed to the authorities to reconsider their decision to close down one of the country's leading newspapers, The Post. 

The paper was shut down yesterday by the Zambia Revenue Authority for failing to pay $6.1m (£4.1m).

Calling for The Post to be reopened, HRW's information chief  Mweelwa Muleya said: 

Quote Message: It has over the past 25 years played a pivotal role in safeguarding and consolidating democracy and development

It has over the past 25 years played a pivotal role in safeguarding and consolidating democracy and development

Quote Message: It is hoped that there will be high level intervention in this matter aimed at giving The Post newspaper an opportunity to meet its tax obligation while continuing operating."

It is hoped that there will be high level intervention in this matter aimed at giving The Post newspaper an opportunity to meet its tax obligation while continuing operating."

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See earlier post for more details

If the UK chooses to leave the European Union in Thursday's historic referendum, the impact of that decision is likely to be felt across the world.So what would be the possible consequences for Africa? The BBC's Rob Watson gives us his predictions.  

Rising star Abraham Attah has been announced in the lineup for Marvel's reboot of the Spiderman franchise, due out in 2017. 

It's a big break for the actor, whose debut performance saw him star alongside Idris Elba in West African child soldier drama Beasts of No Nation. 

Attah received critical acclaim for his performance in the drama, taking the Best Actor prize at the Venice International Film Festival.

He was discovered by chance by the film's director at a football match in Ghana. 

NetflixCopyright: Netflix

The PostCopyright: The Post

Zambia's biggest independent newspaper, The Post, has been shut down over unpaid taxes, one of it editors has said.

Staff managed to produce the daily paper overnight with the help of a private printing company, managing editor Joseph Mwenda told AFP news agency.  

Police and tax officials physically shut its offices in the capital Lusaka late on Tuesday, after demanding $6.1m (£4.1m) of disputed tax arrears immediately, the newspaper said in a statement. 

The newspaper says it was shut down despite having almost paid its tax bill in full. 

Mr Wenda told AFP: 

Quote Message: This is a clear abuse of power because we have paid some money and we even have a court order stopping them from going ahead but they have disobeyed the courts.

This is a clear abuse of power because we have paid some money and we even have a court order stopping them from going ahead but they have disobeyed the courts.

Quote Message: It's clear that they want us shut down ahead of the elections."

It's clear that they want us shut down ahead of the elections."

Elections are due to be held in August.

Red more about Zambia

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Zimbabwe has imposed restrictions on mainly South African imports in an attempt to protect local industries and curb the outflow of scarce US dollars, Industry Minister Mike Bimha has said, Reuters news agency reports. 

Importers of the affected products, from canned beans to furniture, will now have to apply for special licences and explain why they need them, Mr Bimha told Reuters. 

Other listed goods included cereals, potato crisps and dairy products, building materials and steel products, the agency reports. 

Mr Bimha said:

Quote Message: What we are saying is that if you had already imported your products before 17 June, show us the proof and we will give you an import licence to bring the goods.

What we are saying is that if you had already imported your products before 17 June, show us the proof and we will give you an import licence to bring the goods.

Quote Message: But going forward, if anyone wants to import these listed products then you need to provide justification before you are issued with a licence. We want to ensure our industries increase their capacity."

But going forward, if anyone wants to import these listed products then you need to provide justification before you are issued with a licence. We want to ensure our industries increase their capacity."

 The restrictions would last for six months but could be extended, Mr Bimha added.  

As a young man in Kenya in 1958 President Obama's father, Barack Hussein Obama, wrote to institutions in the US to ask for help to pursue his dream of studying in America. 

He was successful and went on to attend the University of Hawaii, where he met President Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, and their son was born in 1961.

His letters from 1958 to 1964, when he returned to Kenya, were found in the archives of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York in 2013, but have only just been described publicly this week.

Newsday's Lawrence Pollard found out more from the director of the Center, Dr Khalil Gibran Muhammad:

Read the special report by the New York Times

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

A Sudanese man has been sentenced to nine months in jail by a British court after walking into the country from France through the Channel Tunnel.

Abdul Rahman Haroun, who pleaded guilty to obstructing a train, has been granted asylum in the UK. 

He had walked most of the way through the 50km (31 miles) tunnel by the time he was found. 

He will not have to go to prison because of time already served. 

See our earlier post for more details