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Lawmakers in Nigeria's Kaduna State have approved surgical castration as punishment for those convicted of raping children under the age of 14. State governor Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai needs to sign the bill for it to become law in the north-western state. He has previously supported castration to prevent rapists from re-offending. The move follows public outrage over a wave of rapes, which prompted the nation's state governors to declare a state of emergency. R. Kelly's Sixth Attempt At Being Released From Bail Denied China Calls For Investigation After Their Ambassador's Twitter Account "Liked" Porn Nigeria's federal law provides between 14 years and life imprisonment as punishment, but state legislators can set different sentencing rules. Stigma often prevents victims from reporting incidents of rape in Nigeria and the number of successful prosecutions is low. Since 2015, when a new law was introduced, about 40 rape suspects have been charged, in a country o...

US R&B singer Akon, who has been talking since 2018 about building a new city in Senegal, said at a press conference on Monday that construction work will start next year. He said that the identities of the investors cannot be revealed but that a third of the $6bn (£5bn) funding had been secured. The architect behind the city, Hussein Bakri, said the city's population would eventually reach 300,000. Akon, whose real name is Alioune Badara Thiam, marketed the city directly to African Americans. He explained he had "ran into a lot of African-Americans that didn’t really understand their culture... So I wanted to build a city or a project like this that will give them the motivation to know that there is a home back home," AFP news agency quotes the singer, who was born in the US to Senegalese parents, as saying. "As you come in from America, or Europe or anywhere in the diaspora, and you feel like you want to visit Africa, we want Senegal to be your first...

Kenya's decision to close all schools until next January because of coronavirus has left many of its private schools struggling to survive, as Basillioh Mutahi and Mercy Juma report. The classrooms at Mwea Brethren School, which once resonated to the sound of children learning, are now filled with a cacophony of clucking chickens. On the chalkboard, maths equations have been replaced by a vaccination schedule. Joseph Maina, who owns the central Kenyan school, has had to turn to nurturing animals to earn some money as he is no longer getting an income from providing an education. 'Vital for survival' Things were especially tough in March, when all the schools were told to close, as he was still repaying a loan and had to renegotiate with the bank. At first, it seemed that everything was lost, but "we decided that we must do something [with the school] for survival", Mr Maina tells the BBC. As private schools, which educate around a fifth of Kenyan children, rely on...

A timeline of how Mali's months-long political crisis culminated in President Keita's resignation following a coup For months, Mali has been mired in an escalating political crisis marked by large anti-government rallies and failed mediation attempts by regional leaders wary of further instability in the country. Political tension has been simmering following the re-election of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in 2018, in a poll that opposition parties said was marred by irregularities. Friction rose earlier this year after a dispute over the results of a parliamentary election prompted tens of thousands to take to the streets to demand Keita's resignation. The demonstrators accused Keita of failing to fix the country's dire economic situation and contain a years-long armed campaign by various groups that has killed thousands and rendered vast swaths of Mali ungovernable. The tension culminated on Tuesday when mutinying soldiers detained Keita, Prime Minister Boubou Cis...

  South Africa's Ramaphosa announces easing of coronavirus lockdown Africa's hardest-hit country to permit sale of alcohol and tobacco as well as reopening of restaurants and taverns. South Africa imposed in March one of the strictest lockdowns in the world as part of efforts to stem the spread of coronavirus. Alcohol sales were prohibited to ease pressure on hospitals, allowing doctors in emergency wards to focus on COVID-19 rather than road accidents and other booze-related injuries. Tobacco products were restricted because of the health impacts of smoking as well as the risk of contamination between people sharing cigarettes. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that stringent coronavirus regulations would be eased as of Monday as the country's infection rate falls. In a televised address on Saturday, Ramaphosa said the government would end a ban on alcohol and tobacco sales, allow restaurants and taverns to return to normal business - subject to strict ...

The illicit trade in cigarettes in South Africa is now in full swing after the sale of tobacco was banned at the end of March as part of strict measures imposed to slow the spread of coronavirus, as the BBC's Pumza Fihlani reports. Whereas once Michelle could go to her local shop in South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg, to buy cigarettes she is now having to do a secret deal. The 29-year-old economist finds sellers through contacts in WhatsApp groups and arranges a covert meeting in order to get her nicotine fix. "Once you've found a seller you can trust, a meeting point or pick-up point is arranged," she said. 'No chance to stock up' Michelle, which is not her real name, is not the only one. What was perfectly legal two months ago has turned thousands of people into potential criminals. "No warning was given for the ban, so I personally wasn't sufficiently prepared - either to get a stockpile or prepare to go without," Michelle, who h...

Kenyan journalist Yassin Juma, who has been in detention in Ethiopia since last month, has contracted Covid-19, his lawyer Kedir Bullo has told me. Mr Juma was due to appear in court in the capital, Addis Ababa, but failed to do so because of his illness, Mr Bullo added. A federal court ordered his release on bail last week, but Addis Ababa police said they were still investigating charges against him and kept him in detention. He was arrested with two Ethiopian journalists. They have been accused of inciting ethnic violence and plotting to kill senior Ethiopian officials. All three deny the allegations.

  An Islamic court in the Nigerian city of Kano has sentenced an elderly man to death for raping a 12-year-old girl. In recent weeks, there has been increasing public outcry and street protests by activists against rape cases across Nigeria. A spokesperson for the judiciary in Kano state told the BBC that the Upper Sharia Court found the 61-year-old man guilty of raping the girl under a tree on the outskirts of the remote village of Farsa in 2019. In a rare judgement on rape, the man - who was married - was sentenced to death by stoning according to Islamic laws. He has the right to appeal against the judgement within 30 days. This is the second death penalty handed down by Islamic courts in just a week in the city of Kano. On Monday, a local singer was sentenced to death by hanging for blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad in his lyrics. Kano is one of around a dozen states in northern Nigeria that have practised the Sharia legal system alongside the country’s secular laws over t...