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ReutersCopyright: Reuters

No survivors have been found in rescue chambers of a zinc mine in Burkina Faso, after eight miners got trapped hundreds of metres underground by flood waters last month.

The chambers are a place of safety and contain essential supplies like water and food, Reuters says.

"The rescue teams have opened the refuge chamber, unfortunately it is empty," Reuters quotes the government's information service as saying.

A search is ongoing, according to the same information service, and will continue until any person is found alive or dead.

The mine, which is owned by Canadian firm Trevali, has a depth of more than 710m (2329 ft).

It is located about 100km (60 miles) west of the capital, Ouagadougou.

Last week, the Canadian mine owners said search crews were working 24 hours a day to find the workers.

The case has caused outrage in Burkina Faso, as rescue operations only got under way following protests and a sit-in at a government building at a nearby town five days after the floods.

The area saw heavy thunderstorms on 16 April that cut off electricity and communications.

Read more: Families of trapped miners cling on to hope

AFPCopyright: AFP

Former Malawi president, Bakili Muluzi, has lost an appeal which would have led to a corruption case he is facing being discontinued.

The 79-year-old who served two five-year terms as president between 1994 and 2004 stands accused of diverting 1.7bn Malawi kwacha ($2.4m; £1.9m) of government money into his personal account during his tenure. He denies the charge.

The case was first brought to court 14 years ago but multiple postponements and disagreements over technicalities have delayed its conclusion.

Mr Muluzi had sought to have the case discontinued by the Supreme Court of Appeal, arguing the section of law used by the graft-busting body contradicted the country’s constitution and infringed on his rights as an accused person.

Kenyans have recorded the highest percentage of undecided voters in the history of the country’s elections, according to various opinion polls.

With less than 90 days until the August presidential election, the CEO of research company, TIFA, says 20% of registered voters do not know whom to vote for, compared to less than 10% in previous elections.

“If the candidate who wins [does it] with a small margin, it’s likely to create a very tense situation where people could contest and say this vote was stolen or it’s not appropriate," Maggie Ireri said.

She also notes that Kenya has seen an increase in polling companies in this election, and is calling for strict regulation of this rapidly growing sector.

“There are a lot of pollsters out there. But the question is whether they are using the right methodology.”

The authorities in Nigeria say at least nine people have been killed in an explosion near a primary school in the northern city of Kano.

Nigeria’s ministry of humanitarian affairs says victims have been recovered from the rubble of a building devastated by the blast outside the school.

Part of the school’s roof was also been blown off. Police are still investigating the cause of the blast but initial reports suggest it was caused by a gas cylinder in a welding shop.

News of the blast caused tension and panic across the commercial city.

A military court in Tunisia has issued prison sentences to four MPs on charges of assaulting policemen last year.

Those sentenced include Saif Eddine Maklouf, who heads the Karama Party in the dissolved parliament.

A prominent critic of President Kais Saied, he has been sentenced to five months in jail - three other members of the party received similar sentences.

A South African accountant-turned-baker who made a life-sized cake of Grammy Award winning DJ, Black Coffee, told the BBC’s Newsday programme that the cake was delicious and was built with metal structures to support it.

The cake was 6.5ft (2m) tall and weighed more than 15 stone (100kg).

“To begin I had to get metals that resembled the bone structure,”,Kurhula Makhuwele said.

“I started with the head, that was the most difficult part because it had to look like him,” she continued.

She said despite her focus on the aesthetics, the way the cake tastes is the most important thing.

“Would you believe it? It was eaten on the same day that it was delivered, almost half of it.”

Black Coffee made history in April when he became the first African artist to win a Grammy award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

Zimbabwe's central bank has lifted the suspension on bank lending services that was meant to stop the slide of the local currency.

Authorities have gradually walked back from the proposal.

Inflation has surged to over 96% in the country, as the government blames currency speculators who it accuses of taking out bank loans in the local currency to buy foreign currency on the black market.

Meanwhile some economists blame the government's control over the exchange rate for the slide in the value of the currency.

In a social media post, Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya said that the ban would still apply to entities that are under investigation for abusing loans "to the detriment of the economy".

On Saturday the authorities said ordinary Zimbabweans would be allowed to import certain basic commodities like cooking oil, sugar and bath soap duty free following price increases by local retailers.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Tensions are high in the northern Ethiopian region of Amhara as authorities launch a campaign to register all individual firearms in the region.

The move comes amid fears that new fighting could break out along disputed areas in western Tigray that are currently under control of Amhara forces.

It is not clear how many people carry unregistered weapons in Amhara, but northern Ethiopia’s bloody civil war - now in its 18th month - has prompted a surge in individual gun ownership.

Now, those armed in the region have four days to get legal documentation for their weapons.

Regional authorities say the move is aimed at tackling lawlessness.

However, critics see it as part of a wider effort to control a group of loosely connected informal armed groups known as the Fano.

The group is implicated in gross abuses by rights groups, but its supporters say it is being targeted because it is seen as a threat by the federal government in Addis Ababa.

Recent weeks have seen continued de-escalation between the government and Tigrayan forces and an increase in the amount of aid reaching to war-torn Tigray.

However, with Tigrayan demands to resume basic services like the internet and banking in the region still unmet, and territorial disputes between them and neighbouring Amhara still unaddressed, there is still a long way to go to end the war.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

The family of a 20-year-old black student who was the victim of a suspected racial incident at Stellenbosch University will open a criminal case against the alleged perpetrator, local media report.

He has yet to comment on the controversy, and was suspended from the university on Monday over urinating on the belongings of the black student over the weekend.

Further action may be taken if he is found guilty, university officials who are investigating the matter, have said.

Meanwhile the victim's family are reporting a case of damage of property to police, according to IOL’s Weekend Argus newspaper.

The incident recorded on video, which has been widely circulated, has caused outrage at the institution, with students protesting and calling for the alleged perpetrator's expulsion.

In a video filmed by the victim, he can be heard asking the student why he is urinating on his belongings – which included a now damaged laptop.

Stellenbosch University – like many on social media who have seen the widely shared clip – has said the incident appears to have been racially motivated.

In a statement Stellenbosch University spokesperson, Martin Viljoen, said the university "strongly condemns the destructive, hurtful and racist incident”.

The victim, is receiving counselling over the incident, university officials have said.

The incident has once again shone a spotlight on South Africa’s struggles with race decades after the end of apartheid.

At least four people have been killed and a shop destroyed in an explosion near a primary school in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, police say.

Part of the school’s roof has also been blown off by the impact of the blast.

An investigation is under way police say, but initial reports indicate it was caused by a gas cylinder from a welding shop, which rules out an attack.

Soon after the explosion, emergency services and security forces rushed to the scene in Sabon Gari neighbourhood.

The authorities say there were no schoolchildren among the casualties.

The explosion has caused a lot of tension and panic across the commercial city.

Kano is the most populous city in northern Nigeria.

For several years, it has been largely spared from the extremist group Boko Haram and its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province, as well as armed kidnapping gangs behind deadly violence in the region.

But nearly a decade ago a massive bomb attack by Boko Haram had killed more than 100 people in a mosque in the city.

BBCCopyright: BBC

AFPCopyright: AFP

The Democratic Republic of Congo will on Tuesday mark 25 years since the collapse of the authoritarian rule of Mobutu Sese Seko.

Mr Mobutu ruled DR Congo, then Zaire, for more than 30 years but fled the capital, Kinshasa, on the eve of 17 May 1997 as rebel troops advanced on the city.

Then rebel leader, Laurent Kabila, seized power and renamed the country the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mobutu died later that year in exile in Morocco where he was buried.

In 2013 President Joseph Kabila said the government will repatriate the body but no action followed the announcement.

Mobutu's critics accused him of being a ruthless and corrupt ruler who crushed internal dissent and plundered DR Congo's mineral resources.

The 17 of May is now a national holiday when the country celebrates its armed forces. A parade is due to take place in Kinshasa to mark the day.

Science Photo LibraryCopyright: Science Photo Library

A study of biting behaviour by malaria-carrying mosquitos in the Central African Republic has found that as many as a third of blood-feeds happen indoors during the day.

Previous research - based on the assumption that the insects bite mostly at night - has focused anti-malarial efforts on bed nets treated with insecticide.

The new study suggests that malaria defences should be expanded beyond homes - to schools, workplaces and shops.

Researchers writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences based their conclusions on a year-long study of mosquitos collected after biting events in the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui.

Malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, most of whom are young children in Africa.