Africa highlights: Nigeria 'foil Eid terror attack plan', SA woman crashes car into roof

Nigeria's state security agency say they have foiled plans by militants to detonate explosives in four northern cities during Eid.

The Department of State Services (DSS) said the attacks were planned in Kano, Sokoto, Kaduna and Maiduguri during the June 26 and 27 public holidays to celebrate Eid, which marks the end of Islam's holy month of Ramadan.

They said they had arrested three suspects and seized weapons including eight assault rifles, 27 hand grenades and live ammunition.

The statement said: "Their aim was to hit on soft targets such as markets, public parks, public processions, recreation centres, as well as worship centres especially the Eid praying grounds and other densely populated areas".

The DSS did not say who they thought was behind the plans.

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British diplomat and frequent tweeter Jon Benjamin is trending in Ghana as he bids farewell to the country after three years as high commissioner.

His goodbye tweet in Twi has been shared more than 1,000 times:

It says:

• It's true - Ghana is amazing
• I really love Ghana
• Thank you
• Travel well

And, judging by the replies, he has a lot of fans in the country:

Though one commenter says he's still waiting for his visa:

A temporary building in London's Hyde Park by Burkina Faso architect Diebedo Francis Kere is getting a lot of attention.

Earlier this year, he accepted the prestigious challenge to design the structure which will attract thousands of visitors over the British summer.

Kere was the first boy in his village to go to school and attributes much of his success to his access to education.

The BBC's Alex Ritson went to meet him to find out more about his canopy design, inspired by the figure of a tree.

We reported earlier that there has been a backlash to Tanzanian President John Magufuli's comment that girls should get expelled from school if they get pregnant.

To get an idea of what it is like to be a teen mother in Tanzania the BBC asked Jackie Leonard Lomboma who got pregnant when she was 15 years old.

Jackie Leonard LombomaCopyright: Jackie Leonard Lomboma

Here's her story:

My family couldn't afford to pay for me to go to secondary school and I met a boy who promised that he would talk to his parents to help once I accepted to be with him.

The first time I met him is the first time I got pregnant and that was the last time I saw him.

It was the first time I had sex.

My grandfather chased me out of home. As per the village rules and custom, when a girl gets pregnant at a young age, before getting married; you become like a curse to your family and everyone in the village.

I ended up working as a maid with a family who moved away. When they were leaving for another place, the mother asked me what I needed for her as a goodbye gift.

I told her I want to go to school.

It was really tough. The kids were bullying me, laughing at me and life at school was very difficult.

But I was empowered through education, that is why today I am supporting other girls to stand up again.

It is a big disappointment to hear such a statement from our president. It is only education that can help overcome poverty.

Equatorial Guinea is among the African countries which have agreed to contribute towards a fund to help Uganda cope with the large influx of refugees mostly coming from South Sudan.

A special conference to raise the money, called a solidarity summit, has wrapped up in Uganda with a total of $358m pledged so far. UN officials wanted to get to $2bn and expect there to be more offers of money in the future.

The European Union offered the largest part of the money so far, but Equatorial Guinea pledged $5m and Gabon $250,000.

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Ten years ago, the phrase "Africa rising" was on everyone's lips. The future was bright, investment was pouring in, commodity prices were high and most of all, money was being made on the continent.

Then came the global financial crisis and the slump in the prices of commodities.

But not everyone has lost faith.

Rich Lesser is with Boston Consulting Group, which has been doing business in Africa for decades.

The BBC's Matthew Davies asked him if Africa was still rising or just reeling from the economic battering of the last few years.

SPLCopyright: SPL

A demand for crocodile penis is driving people in Egypt to illegally poach and traffic Nile crocodiles writes Peter Schwartzstein in National Geographic.

Former hunter Assad Ibrahim told him that some Egyptians - and people in East Africa - eat the crocodile penis crushed up with honey and ginger, believing it will improve their sex lives.

The largest ones sell for more than $100, he adds.

A poacher, who he names only as Mahmoud, told him smugglers are exporting record numbers of crocodiles - perhaps up to 3,500 eggs and hatchlings and a few hundred adult live crocs a year.

But these are mainly to the Arabian Gulf, as Saudi Arabians want the crocodiles as household ornaments, he writes.

He says hunting really took off in the chaos after the Tahrir Square uprising of 2011.

Ghana's former President Jerry Rawlings has been pictured looking very pleased with himself next to a special birthday present he got after turning 70 on Thursday.

CitiFM reports that it's a 1993 Chevrolet Corvette, which it describes as a "collectable version" of the US-made car.

It adds that it is not clear who the generous person was behind the gift.

Our reporter in Uganda's capital, Kampala, spotted this accordion player entertaining the diners in a small restaurant playing the hymn My Faith Has Found A Resting Place:

Patience says that Michael Kavuma has been playing for 25 years and has recorded a lot of CDs, with mainly church hymns.

He told Patience that his accordion was imported from Germany in 2014 as they are not available in Uganda.

The big names behind Kenya's growing gambling industry have hit out at the government's plans to impose a 35% tax on gaming revenue (that is the amount left after the prize money has been paid out) on top of corporation tax on profits.

The strongly-worded statement from the Association of Gaming Operators Kenya (Agok) comes after SportPesa said it would no longer be sponsoring a whole host of teams in Kenya from next January as a result of the tax.

Agok says that while it shares the president's concerns about minors getting into gambling, plus the need to raise revenue for the treasury, it believes "that the president was ill advised that a tax of this nature will achieve the desired results".

Quote Message: The simple fact is that this tax is going to mean the closure of many of the legal businesses operating within the industry and the creation of a new underground illegal industry that will be impossible to regulate and could be disastrous to the country."

The simple fact is that this tax is going to mean the closure of many of the legal businesses operating within the industry and the creation of a new underground illegal industry that will be impossible to regulate and could be disastrous to the country."

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South African Sandile Mantsoe, accused of murdering his girlfriend Karabo Mokoena, has told the court that she had in fact killed herself.

The married father is accused of killing Ms Mokoena and burying her burnt body in a shallow grave in Lyndhurst, a lush suburb in Johannesburg, earlier this year.

Her death sparked a huge social media reaction focusing on violence against women around the #AllMenAreTrash hashtag.

Last month, the prosecution and Mr Mantsoe's lawyers agreed that the media should not be allowed to report on the details of the bail hearing citing concerns that the information was of a sensitive nature.

But following a legal challenge all parties have now agreed to allow the media full coverage.

We now know that Mr Mantsoe has pleaded not guilty to murdering his then girlfriend, but has confessed to burning her body.

He said he panicked when he found her dead and was worried about being blamed for her murder after she has had previously accused him of abusing her.

The prosecution said this was a lie and told the court that Mr Mantsoe confessed to a police officer that he killed Ms Mokoena in a ritual killing in order to save his failing business.

The chief of Gambian village Badibu Saaba explains how most of the young men have left. But six months after electing a new president, will things soon change?

Journalist Kassim Kayira is tweeting the latest promises from countries across the world to help deal with the rapidly growing number of refugees in Uganda (see earlier entry):

The pledges are coming in at a donor conference in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

Uganda hosts than a million refugees, most from South Sudan.

The UN and Uganda hope to raise $2bn.

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Cameroon coach Hugo Broos admits his side are lacking a clinical striker as the Indomitable Lions struggle to score at the Confederations Cup.

"If you have one [striker] in mind, please tell me his name and I'll go straight away and see him," he said.

The African champions missed several chances to beat Australia as they were held to a 1-1 draw on Thursday.

Cameroon failed to score in their opening match at the tournament in Russia as they lost 2-0 to Copa America winners Chile.

The results mean the Indomitable Lions must win their final group match against world champions Germany on Sunday to have any chance at all of progressing.

Defender Michael Ngadeu-Ngadjui was the top scorer for Cameroon as they won the Africa Cup of Nations in January, he scored two of the team's seven goals in Gabon.

Read more on the BBC Sport page.

Liverpool have completed the 39m euro (£34m) signing of Roma's Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah.

Salah, 25, has signed a five-year deal and has been a prime target for manager Jurgen Klopp.

At current exchange rates, the fee is short of the club record £35m paid for Andy Carroll in 2011 but matches the sum they spent in 2016 to make Sadio Mane the most expensive African player.

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said: "He has the perfect mix of experience and potential - this is a really exciting signing for us."

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Read more from BBC Sport.

Uganda and the United Nations are hoping to raise $2bn (£1.6bn) at a donor conference in the capital, Kampala, to help deal with the rapidly growing number of refugees.

Uganda hosts more than a million refugees, most of whom have fled the civil war in neighbouring South Sudan.

The country has been praised for its open-door policy and for the way it treats refugees. But it is now struggling to cope with the influx.

The UN refugee agency says it has only about a quarter of the money needed until the end of the year.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who is attending the conference, has urged regional and global leaders to help end the fighting in South Sudan.

Read more: Why a Ugandan farmer gave land to a refugee

A fire has destroyed part of Kisenyi, a commercial district in Uganda's capital, Kampala.

The local Red Cross is tweeting pictures from the scene:

Local media are reporting that the well-known Salabed warehouse was also destroyed:

A South African driver has escaped with her life after her car nose-dived into the roof of a house, say the ambulance service Netcare911.

They have tweeted pictures of the aftermath of the incident in KwaZulu-Natal province:

Netcare's Chris Botha told the Africa Live page that the woman had driven through the intersection at a junction and then through a barrier which separated the road and the housing below. The driver was airborne for a moment before the car crashed into the house.

“She miraculously escaped with her life” he said, as she is in hospital with fractures.

He added that if she hadn't been wearing her seat belt she would be dead.

News website ECR reports that three children were playing in the bedroom next to where the car had landed, but luckily no-one on the house was injured.

Kenya's court of appeal has uphold a ruling that the results announced at constituency level for the presidential election are final.

It said safeguards were in place to ensure the results were accurate.

Kenya's electoral commission had objected to the ruling arguing that it had the mandate to verify presidential results and make the final announcement.

The next presidential election is scheduled for 8 August, pitting President Uhuru Kenyatta against former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.