Fighting between al Shabaab fighters and Somali government troops and African Union peacekeepers killed 24 people on Sunday. Al Shabaab ambushed a convoy carrying troops from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) early on Sunday in the Bulamareer district of the Lower Shabelle region, about 140 km (85 miles) southwest of Mogadishu.  And About 6 million voters head to the polls on Sunday July 30 in Senegal parliamentary elections. There are 165 seats to be filled in the National Assembly, and voters will choose from a record 47 lists, casting their ballots by party rather than for individual candidates.

Zambian Catholic Church bishops are reportedly facilitating peace talks between President Edgar Lungu and his arch rival opposition leader Hakainde Hichilema. And Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe on Friday challenged her president husband Robert to name his preferred successor to end deepening divisions over the future leadership of the ruling Zanu-PF party and Lastly Google says it hopes to train millions of people in Africa in online and ICT skills.

China stepped up its warning to Botswana on Wednesday over a planned visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama next month, demanding the African nation respect China's core interests. And Uganda’s parliament is considering an amendment to the country’s constitution on land issues, but it is another proposed revision, not on the table, that is sparking the fiercest debate. Uganda’s constitution sets the age range for president at 35 to 75 years of age.

In the first six months of this year close to 3000 refugees and migrants died or went missing in the central Mediterranean, Interior Ministers from Africa and Europe met in Tunisia to discuss plan to tackle the crisis. And the costs and complications of diabetes could overwhelm healthcare systems in Sub-Saharan Africa and reach billions over the next few years. And lastly Kenyan girls invent FGM app, head to Google HQ for major innovation competition.

Nigeria's president has been pictured in London for the first time since he left his homeland almost 80 days ago. President Muhammadu Buhari, 74, came to the UK for treatment for an unspecified illness. And Western donor nations will committee no further money or resources to support implementation of South Sudan's peace deal and Lastly traders  are relieved as Kenya and Tanzania end a trade war.

The Congolese opposition on Saturday unveiled a rolling programme of strikes and civil disobedience aimed at forcing President Joseph Kabila from power. And Kenya's electoral body says it is facing hundreds of court cases from candidates, parties and civil society groups before elections on August 8, raising concern about whether the disputes can be resolved in time. And Lastly a new brewery is challenging the established global beer brands like  Heineken in Nigeria and the owner belies they can persuade Nigerians to join the craft beer revolution.

Gunmen, some of them in uniform, attacked the base of an elite security unit in Ivory Coast's main city, Abidjan, killing an officer, stealing weapons and then fighting security forces in another part of the city. And an Afrobarometer survey  in Zambia shows Zambians sound alarm for eroding democracy and Lastly there is Outrage in Nigeria as Culture Minister warns against producing Nigerian movies, music videos abroad.

Ballot papers for the  Kenyan elections have arrived in the country from Dubai, this as the US based Africa Center says the country faces risk of post- election violence. And Somalia has restored its internet connection after repairing a severed undersea cable, after an outage that the government said had cost the economy millions of dollars a day. Lastly more on a new vaccine which is promising to advance the frontier of eliminating malaria.

South Sudan's President Salva Kiir has declared a three-month state of emergency in his home state, where clashes have raged for months between clan-based militias.  And at least 50 people were admitted in ward 1F, most of them from diverse parts of Nairobi County. And Lastly more on Chinese overfishing threatens west African economies.

A female suicide bomber killed eight people and wounded 18 on Monday at a mosque in northeastern Nigeria, an area regularly attacked by Boko Haram Islamists. And,

China piled pressure on Botswana on Saturday over a scheduled visit to the southern African country by the Dalai Lama, who it considers a dissident separatist threat. And lastly the election chief in the Republic of Congo says the first round of legislative polls 'went well'.