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Live Reporting

Clare Spencer and Natasha Booty

All times stated are UK

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  1. Scroll down for Wednesday's stories

    We’ll be back tomorrow

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

    A reminder of today's wise words:

    Quote Message: Send a wise person not one with long legs. " from Akan proverb sent by Nicholas Nyirenda in Zambia and Nana Adutwum Barimah in Ghana
    Akan proverb sent by Nicholas Nyirenda in Zambia and Nana Adutwum Barimah in Ghana

    Click here and scroll to the bottom to send us your African proverbs.

    And we leave you with this picture from the streets of the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.

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  2. Saudi Arabia 'extends amnesty' for illegal workers again

    Construction site
    Image caption: Migrant labourers from around the world work in areas like construction

    Saudi Arabia has extended the amnesty for illegal foreign workers for the second time, reports Ethiopian government-affiliated Fana website.

    The amnesty, which Fana says has been extended by one month, means the Saudi government will not jail illegal immigrants who want to leave the country.

    Tens of thousands of illegal workers in Saudi Arabia face forcible deportation after the amnesty.

    Ethiopians make up one of the largest group of illegal labourers there - the authorities believe there are about 400,000 of them.

    But Ethiopia says that only a fraction of its citizens working illegally in Saudi Arabia have returned home since the amnesty started in March. Only 60,000 have so far come back home despite the government paying for part of their airfare.

  3. SA's Chad Le Clos wins men's 200m butterfly world title

    South Africa swimmer Chad Le Clos has won the 200m butterfly race at the World Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

    Chad Le Clos competes in Budapest

    The 25-year-old won the 200m butterfly at London 2012 but was bitterly disappointed to finish fourth at the 2016 Games in Rio.

    Watch the action live on BBC Sport.

  4. Five graves exhumed for bald men's skeletons

    Jose Tembe

    BBC Africa, Maputo

    The head of a bald man seen from behind
    Image caption: Some people believe that the heads of bald men contain gold

    Residents in the central Mozambican district of Milange say the bodies of five bald men have been exhumed over the past three months for superstitious motives.

    "The belief is that the head of a bald man contains gold," a local police commander named Afonso Dias told the BBC in June, after a spate of killings targeting bald men.

    Milange's residents are calling on the government to intervene.

    To this end, residents, practitioners of traditional medicine and former freedom fighters have all met an official from Mozambique’s National Institute of Heritage and Judicial Assistance (IPAJ).

    IPAJ representative Antonio Gussi promised to channel their concerns to the relevant authorities, but also challenged the community members to reject any such "unacceptable" behaviour in future.

  5. DR Congo 'warlord' hands himself in

    BBC World Service

    Mai-Mai fighter
    Image caption: The Mai Mai describe themselves as "self defence" groups.

    One of the most notorious "warlords" in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surrendered to UN peacekeepers.

    The UN mission in the DRC said Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, who leads a militia known as the Mai-Mai Sheka, gave himself up near his stronghold in eastern DR Congo.

    He will be handed over to the government which six years ago issued an arrest warrant against him for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes.

    The UN and human rights groups have accused the militia and other armed groups of crimes including mass rape and hacking civilians to death.

  6. Black Coffee becomes first African host on Beats 1 radio

    DJ Black Coffee performs onstage during day 1 of the 2016 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Club on April 15, 2016 in Indio, California.

    South African DJ Black Coffee is set to become the first African act to host a Beats 1 radio show.

    When his show launches on Friday, the Durban-born house DJ and record producer will be following in the footsteps of Pharrell Williams and Dr Dre.

    Apple-owned Beats 1 radio is a worldwide, online music streaming platform.

    Speaking to South African news site IOL, he says he'll bring a distinctly African flavour to the station:

    Quote Message: The first thing you think is that you’re going to only hear house music or South African music on my show, but what we’re trying to do is to really expose people to me. As in, what do I love as this is my show? What inspires me musically? So it’s different sides and genres.”

    Black Coffee - whose real name is Nkosinathi Maphumulo - is currently playing to thousands of house fans on a summer residency on the Spanish island of Ibiza.

  7. UK travel advice for Tunisia relaxed

    Sousse

    The UK government has revised its travel advice for Tunisia where 31 Britons were killed in a terror attack at a resort in Sousse in 2015.

    On 26 June 2015, student Seifeddine Rezgui opened fire on holidaymakers in the resort of Port El Kantaoui, killing 38 people in total.

    For two years, travellers were told to stay away from the country for all but essential travel.

    The Foreign Office has now lifted the advice for the capital Tunis and major tourist resorts.

    Britons are still being warned to avoid parts of the south and interior, and the Algerian and Libyan borders.

    The US, France, Italy and Germany had already relaxed their travel advice before the British government's announcement.

    Read more on the BBC News website.

  8. Violence 'forces aid agencies to stop work' in CAR

    BBC World Service

    The United Nations office in the Central African Republic (CAR) says escalating violence has forced international aid agencies to suspend operations in three towns - Bangassou, Kaga Bandoro, and Zemio.

    Aid groups say the withdrawal of their services has left tens of thousands of people with too little to eat and no health provision.

    A recent surge in violence, much of it sectarian, has pitted militia groups against each other.

    They've also attacked humanitarian workers: three Moroccan UN peacekeepers have been killed in two separate attacks since Sunday.

    People on back of pick up truck in Central African Republic
    Image caption: Some 100,000 people have been uprooted from their homes since April
  9. Politicians vote to weaken the power of Nigerian presidency

    BBC World Service

    President Buhari
    Image caption: Nigeria's current president is 32 years above the current lower age limit

    We reported earlier that the Nigerian senate has voted to reduce the lower age limit of the president.

    This is part of a series of amendments to the country's constitution.

    Nigeria's upper house of parliament has voted to weaken the power of the presidency and strengthen the legislature.

    Members of the Senate approved a series of amendments to the country's constitution - including imposing time limits on key presidential decisions such as nominating ministers and proposing federal budgets.

    If approved by the lower house and signed by President Mohammadu Buhari, it would be only the second time the 1999 constitution has been changed.

    The lower house is set to vote on the amendments later this week.

  10. Will India copy Zambia's menstrual leave law?

    A company in India gives its employees a day off when they are on their periods and has been calling on the government to make it law.

    Zambia already has a law in place which gives women a day off when they are on their period.

    So can India learn anything from Zambia?

    BBC Minute heard mixed reviews of the law from women in Zambia's capital Lusaka:

    Video content

    Video caption: A law allows women a day off work a month
  11. Ghanaian pallbearers dance with coffin on their shoulders

    Pallbearers are lifting the mood at funerals in Ghana with flamboyant coffin-carrying dances:

    Video content

    Video caption: Ghana's dancing pallbearers bring funeral joy

    Families are increasingly paying for their services to send their loved ones off in style.

  12. Why were kidnapped oil workers in Lake Chad?

    We reported earlier that researchers for Nigeria's state oil company(NNPC) have been kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram Islamist militants in the Lake Chad region.

    Now the NNPC says one of a group of 10 people has been found alive. It gave no further details.

    But this leads to the question, what were they doing in the region?

    Jimeh Saleh from BBC Hausa explains to BBC Minute that they went on an expedition to look for oil in Lake Chad.

    He adds that Nigerian oil exploration is mainly in the south of the county but the goverenment think there are huge reserves in the north.

    Listen to him summing up the situation wtihin exactly a minute:

    Video content

    Video caption: BBC Minute: On kidnapped oil workers in Nigeria
  13. Nigerian senate votes to lower president age limit to 35

    The Nigerian senate has voted to reduce the lower age limit to run for president from 40 to 35.

    A tweet from the Senate's official account confirms the vote:

    View more on twitter

    Some tweeters are sceptical of the result;

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter

    The news site the Cable points out, before the bill can become law it needs the endorsement of 24 state assemblies and presidential assent.

  14. Zuma critic charged with ill-discipline

    Nomsa Maseko

    BBC Africa, Johannesburg

    Makhosi Khoza

    An outspoken member of South Africa's ruling party, the ANC, has been charged with ill-discipline for speaking out against President Jacob Zuma.

    Makhosi Khoza has repeatedly called for Mr Zuma to resign and has been an vocal critic of President Jacob Zuma and of corruption within the ANC.

    In a statement released last week, the ANC said it believed Ms Khoza had crossed the line and must immediately face disciplinary action for speaking out against the president.

    The party added that her comments were a “blatant betrayal of the core values of the ANC”.

    Her comments have led to death threats being made against her and her family.

    She received threatening text messages warning her to stop pushing for a secret ballot in next month's no confidence vote in Mr Zuma. One of the text messages said “do what is best for yourself and your family, you have 21 days to live”.

    Police Minister Fikile Mbalula confirmed that Ms Khoza would receive protection from the state.

  15. Benin’s brainy 11-year-old passes school-leaver exams

    Peace Delaly Nicoué

    Peace Delaly Nicoue, the youngest person to sit the Baccalaureate exam in Benin this year, has passed with top grades.

    The shy 11-year-old told BBC Afrique he was “happy and relieved” to achieve 17 out of 20 in Maths because he plans to study economics at university.

    While most students sit the Baccalaureate exams at the age of 18, Peace was given special permission by the government to take the assessment seven years early.

    His schoolteacher father, Parfait Afoutou Nicoue, says Peace showed early signs of promise:

    Quote Message: When he was four years old he could write in perfect French and English without making mistakes.”

    Peace’s next goal is to continue his studies in an English-speaking country.

  16. EU court upholds decision to freeze funds of 'conflict diamond traders'

    A diamond sits on its polishing instructions October 31, 2002 in Antwerp, Belgium.
    Image caption: Belgian authorities seized two diamond parcels sent to Kadiam's offices in Antwerp back in 2014

    An EU court has upheld a 2015 decision by the European Council to freeze the funds of two companies accused of purchasing and selling "conflict diamonds" originating in the Central African Republic (CAR).

    The Bureau d'achat de Diamant en Centrafrique (Badica) and its Belgian sister company Kardiam had challenged the decision.

    International trade sanctions were first applied to CAR in 2013 when it was suspended from the Kimberly Process, an international certification scheme which works to prevent the sale of so-called conflict diamonds by armed groups.

    In a statement today, the General Court of the European Union listed the grounds on which the European Council based its 2015 decision.

    Both sides in CAR's civil conflict, the Seleka and anti-Balaka, profited from support given to them by Badica and Kadiam, it says.

    Former Seleka forces "imposed taxes on aircraft transporting diamonds and received security payments from diamond collectors", according to the European Council.

    It also says that traders involved in the trafficking of diamonds from CAR to foreign markets were operating on behalf of Badica in neighbouring Cameroon.

  17. Kidnapped oil researcher found alive

    Chris Ewokor

    BBC Africa, Abuja

    The Nigerian state oil company NNPC says one surveyor from the group of 10 geological researchers kidnapped by suspected Boko Haram militants has been found.

    Spokesman for the NNPC, Ndu Ughamadu confirmed to the BBC the surveyor Ibrahim Gildado was found alive but did not give further details.

    Some of the security escorts who are local vigilantes were also found.

    The geologists and surveyors of the University of Maidugiri were seized in an ambush near Jibi village in Borno state in the northeast of the country.

    They were contracted to work on oil exploration in nearby Lake Chad.

    The researchers were returning from Borno Yeso area of Magumeri along with their local vigilantes escorts when they ran into an ambush.

    Lake Chad
    Image caption: The state oil company is looking into exploration in the Chad Basin
  18. South Africans pay tribute to government spokesman

    South Africans have been paying tribute to government spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa who died at the weekend after having a stroke.

    He was 56-years-old.

    Tweeters have been sharing their memories using the hashtag #RIPRonnie:

    View more on twitter

    The BBC's Milton Nkosi was at the memorial earlier today:

    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter
    View more on twitter

    Eye Witness News reports that South African National Editors Forum's Sam Mkokeli used his speech at the memorial to urge other people who work in media not to use their positions to drive a racist wedge in their communities.

  19. Nigerian who named pet dog Buhari freed

    Muhammadu Buhari in New York, in September 2016
    Image caption: The case of the dog named after the president sparked a furore at the time

    Charges have been dropped against a 41-year-old Nigerian man who named his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Joachim Iroko, a market trader also known as Joe Fortemose Chinakwe, was arrested in 2016 accused of conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace.

    A judge in south-west Ogun state found the prosecution had failed to substantiate the charges against him.

    The arrest sparked nationwide outrage. Critics accused the police of stifling constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.

    Read this story in full.

  20. Break-in at South African chief prosecutor's office

    Nomsa Maseko

    BBC Africa, Johannesburg

    South African police have confirmed that there has been a break-in at the office of the chief public prosecutor in Pretoria.

    This comes just two weeks after computers were stolen from the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions.

    Police say it is still unclear what was stolen but say the break-in occurred at Chief Prosecutor Matric Luphondo’s office in the Pretoria Magistrates Court where files on police investigations are kept.

    The intruders gained access to the building by using a fire escape and climbing through a window which leads to a women’s bathroom.

    Officials are calling this a serious attack on the state but did not say what the prosecutor had been investigating.

    Earlier this month, the Pretoria office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was broken into and laptops were stolen.

    Meanwhile police are yet to make arrests following a break in at Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s office where 15 computers in the human resources department were stolen in March.

    They contained important information about South African judges.

    Police cannot confirm if the incidents are linked but concerns have been raised around security of particularly high profile cases.