A mob has attacked Indian businesses and vehicles in Democratic Republic of Congo's capital, part of ongoing fallout from a Congolese student's death in Indian police custody.

Heavy rains that have lashed the West African state of Niger since June have claimed 55 lives and left 53 000 people homeless, authorities said.

Seventeen suspected jihadists and five members of a civil defence militia have been killed in an attack in northern Burkina Faso.

Blazes raged across northern Algeria as the country observed a national day of mourning for dozens of people killed in the latest wildfires to sweep the Mediterranean.

Algerian journalist Rabah Kareche, who reported on a protest movement by the Tuareg minority, has been sentenced to eight months behind bars, his newspaper Liberte said.

WhatsApp has been restricted by Zambian authorities as citizens cast their votes in an election taking place during a tense security environment. Facebook and Twitter appear to be restricted too.

Kenya's oxygen production firm Hewatele is doubling production this year to keep up with surging demand from hospitals that are treating critically ill Covid-19 patients, the company said.

Fifteen people have been killed in an attack in western Niger less than two weeks after 33 people were killed by suspected jihadists in the same area, officials said on Wednesday.

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has sacked all his ministers, his office said, days after he criticised some of their performances as below par and weeks after officials said they had thwarted a plot to kill the former coup leader.

Zambians were voting in nationwide elections on Thursday after a tense campaign dominated by economic woes and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The pandemic not only limited campaigning, but laid bare the country’s deep economic challenges.

The Tanzanian government has suspended a local newspaper for running what it called a false story saying that President Samia Suluhu Hassan would not vie for office in 2025.

Three civilians have been killed in eastern DR Congo in a new attack blamed on the Allied Democratic Forces, an armed group linked to the so-called Islamic State, the authorities said.

Zimbabwe has signed a $1.3 billion joint venture agreement with British-based Coven Energy to develop a fuel pipeline from the Mozambican port city of Beira to the capital city Harare.

A prominent Ivorian political figure who has been sentenced to a 20-year jail term in absentia has been detained in Mali's capital Bamako.

Nigeria will soon lift its ban on Twitter after resolving some of its differences with the social media platform, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said.

Sudan will hand longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir to the International Criminal Court along with other officials wanted over the Darfur conflict.

Forest fires in Algeria killed 42 people on Tuesday, including 25 soldiers deployed to help put out the blaze, the government said, as thick clouds of smoke covered much of the mountainous Kabylie region east of the capital.

The Guinea health authorities are tracing the close contacts of a man who died of the Marburg virus, which can be passed to humans from fruit bats.

Kenya will require all government workers to receive at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine before August 23 or face disciplinary action.