North Korea to skip Tokyo Olympics over COVID-19 fears.
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Featured Contents
N Korea to skip Tokyo Olympics over Covid fears
The announcement puts an end to Seoul's hopes of using the Games to engage with Pyongyang.
Brazil variant drives South America Covid surge
Brazil has recorded more than 13m Covid cases, while Uruguay and Paraguay saw record daily deaths.
Jordan bans reporting on royal rift
News about an alleged plot involving the ex-crown prince is too sensitive to be reported, officials say.
US joins talks aimed at reviving Iran nuclear deal
The Vienna meeting will discuss how the US can lift sanctions and Iran return to full compliance.
Putin critic Navalny 'has cough and temperature'
The Russian opposition leader says three people in his prison unit are being treated for tuberculosis.
Hunter Biden: My life is not a tabloid
The US president's son talks to the BBC about addiction, grief and his scrutinised work in Ukraine.
The former WW2 ghetto falling into ruin
There are concerns that historical evidence will be lost if Terezin's buildings are not maintained.
Features & Analysis
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Women have launched a campaign - Lappa Revolution - compelling men to correct gender imbalances in Liberia's power structures.
More than 50% of Liberia's population is female, as is the case in most of Africa, yet women are a minority in politics and other spheres of leadership. The country has had a woman, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as president but activists say more needs to be done.
"We in Liberia we don't have institutions that give us the basic services we need," MacDella Cooper told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme, adding that the Lappa Revolution initiative wants to increase the representation of women in parliament.
"In 2021 we still have a very high maternal death rate. Because of lack of representation issues affecting the lives of women that could be easily resolved by having agencies of government functioning are not serving us," Ms Cooper said.
She says gender-based violence and the rape have increased and the laws meant to protect women are not enforced.
"The women are on fire, the women are very upset - and they are now standing up and taking action," Ms Cooper said.
Listen in full:
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Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has hinted at major changes in the country’s response to Covid-19 pandemic.
At a swearing in ceremony for ministers on Tuesday, she announced plans for an expert task force to advise government on anti-coronavirus measures.
This departs from the hard stance by her predecessor John Magufuli, who often dismissed the presence of the coronavirus in Tanzania.
"Tanzania cannot isolate itself as an island in the fight against Covid-19," said President Samia.
The president also hinted at major potential changes in the country’s foreign policy - directing the new foreign affairs minister, Liberata Mulamula, to set about mending international relations and saying "no country can walk alone. Cooperation is the only way".
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On Sunday, India became the second country after the US to report 100,000 new cases in a single day. More than half of those were confirmed in Maharashtra.
Tanzania's new president has announced that bans slapped on a number of media outlets by her predecessor who died last month are now to be lifted.
"I understand that there are media organisations that have been closed - let them open and ensure they follow the law," President Samia instructed national authorities.
She said media rules, regulations and penalties should be transparent, so that everyone knows what to expect should they do wrong - and so that the punishment is proportionate.
Speaking during the swearing in of new ministers and permanent secretaries, President Samia said government must not be seen to curtail media freedoms.
But some say this does not go far enough.
"We cannot operate in an environment where the same oppressive laws that were used to shut us down exist," Maria Sarungi Tsehai, who runs local station Kwamza TV, told the BBC.
"We are not asking for favours - just laws. Real change will happen when we are legally free to operate without government intervention."
More on this topic:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday spoke with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok about the country's efforts to advance the peace process and political reforms in the country.
Mr Blinken welcomed the recent signing of the declaration of principles with the Sudan’s People Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) - one of the two remaining rebel groups that have not signed a peace deal with the government.
The 28 March deal committed to integrating the rebel forces into the Sudanese military at the end of a transitional period.
It also agreed on the separation between religion and the state.
On Monday, Mr Blinken and the Mr Hamdok also discussed negotiations related to the row over Ethiopia's dam on the Nile, plus the commitment to reduce tensions over the al-Fashaga border area, whose ownership is disputed by Sudan and Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Airlines says it's co-operating with an investigation by Zambian authorities after one of its cargo planes mistakenly landed at an airport still under construction near the capital, Lusaka.
Zambian air traffic controllers at the intended airport, 15 kilometres (9 miles) away, were quoted as telling the pilot that they couldn't see his plane when he informed them he was about to land.
"When he was about to land he was communicating with the radar, and they told him: 'We can't see you,'" the transport ministry's permanent secretary, Misheck Lungu, told AFP news agency on Monday.
Ethiopian Airlines said that pilots had not been told about a new airport with the same runway orientation as the existing one.
The Ethiopian plane was later flown to its original destination.
Is police abuse gone from Nigeria?
Last October, a wave of protests against police brutality shook Nigeria to the core.
"It was something that [many Nigerians] had never seen in their lifetime," says reporter Hannah Ajala in Lagos.
At the heart of it all was the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (Sars) - a much-hated police unit, later dissolved in response to the demonstrations.
As the so-called #EndSARS protests spread across the country, the world’s eyes were on Nigeria.
And, at the time, politicians responded with promises of change and reform.
But, six months on, what happened to those pledges?
"I don’t think a lot has changed," says campaigner Ibijoke Faborode. "These are decades and decades of problems – so, the problem is not going to disappear."
So, how much has #EndSARS really changed Nigeria?
Find out in Tuesday’s edition of Africa Daily.
Subscribe to the show on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
The first phase of reopening has begun in Denmark, with hairdressers and tattooists back at work and some children’s age groups back at school. Key to the reopening is a negative test and test centres have been very busy in the run-up to reopening. So-called corona passports will also become very important in the coming weeks.
Several European countries are giving their vaccine campaigns a post-Easter boost from this morning. The Stade de France in Paris, known for legendary sporting clashes on the pitch, has opened this morning with the aim of providing 10,000 vaccinations a week. It’s one of more than 35 so called vaccinodromes that are aimed at ramping up the vaccine campaign. Latest figures show 9.3 million first doses have already been given in France. But hospital cases are still rising.
Germany’s network of 35,000 family doctors is getting involved too this week. So far the country's vaccination campaign has been limited to 430 special centres. Meanwhile, the south-western state of Saarland is beginning its exit from lockdown even though cases are still rising. Outdoor gatherings and outdoor café visits are allowed as well as contact sports with a negative test.
Italy is also aiming to speed up its vaccination campaign, with more than eight million vaccine doses expected to arrive this month alone. Prime Minister Mario Draghi has set an eventual target of half a million vaccinations a day.
Portugal's president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, last night hailed the second phase of lockdown easing as a "historic day". All but the largest on-street shops were allowed to open along with cafés and restaurants serving customers outside.
Spain’s health minister says 11 or 12 regions are seeing a clear upward trend in infection, particularly Catalonia and Navarre in the north and Ceuta on the African mainland. This month is seen as key to pushing the vaccine campaign and retired doctors and nurses are being enlisted in many areas to take part.
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At least 157 people have been killed in Indonesia and East Timor in flash floods and landslides
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