BBC News World

Getty Images/ File pictureCopyright: Getty Images/ File picture

The government of Zimbabwe will cover funeral costs of eight church elders who drowned during a religious ceremony in central Zimbabwe over the weekend.

Nathan Nkomo, the director of the state disaster agency, said the men died during a race to retrieve a rod from the Mazowe River in Rushinga about 300km (186 miles) north-east of the capital, Harare.

The competition was to determine which one of the men would baptise the congregation.

Eight men drowned, two were rescued and no-one retrieved the stick, Mr Nkomo said.

He added that cases of this nature were rare and warned people to draw lessons from the tragedy.

A member of the popular religious sect told a local state-owned newspaper that the ritual had been conducted in previous years without incident.

The families of the men aged between 21 and 50 will receive funeral assistance in the form of cash, coffins, food and fuel to transport the bodies.

The deceased were members of Vadzizi VaJeso Apostolic sect which mixes Christian and traditional beliefs.

Rescuers at a site where a residential building collapsed on Monday say they have heard "a voice of a woman" calling out for help, our colleague Mayeni Jones reports.

She says family members and journalists have gathered just behind a security cordon put up by authorities.

At least two people have been rescued today from the remains of the 21-storey apartment in the wealthy neighbourhood of Ikoyi.

Five people have been confirmed dead.

Getty ImagesCopyright: Getty Images

State media in Ethiopia say the authorities in Addis Ababa are urging residents to register their private weapons within the next two days.

This follows comments by a rebel alliance that it was considering marching on to the Ethiopian capital.

The Tigrayan People's Liberation Front, the TPLF - which has been fighting government forces for the past year - has now linked up with fighters from an Oromo force - giving the rebels a major boost in their ability to threaten Addis Ababa.

A TPLF spokesperson Getachew Reda told the BBC the alliance had already joined up north of the capital.

Rebel advances have sparked a national call to arms by Ethiopia's prime minister and there's a state of emergency in the Amhara and Oromia region.

University of AbujaCopyright: University of Abuja

Gunmen have kidnapped six people including four lecturers from the University of Abuja in Nigeria's capital.

The attackers invaded the living quarters of the university and abducted the victims in the early hours of Tuesday, the police said.

They reportedly overpowered guards at the institution before breaking into the lecturers' homes.

The university said on its Facebook page that four lecturers and their children were taken away by the attackers.

This is the closest that armed gangs, known locally as bandits, have gotten to the capital.

The university is located opposite a military facility near the Abuja airport.

Police said that security forces had been deployed on a manhunt to try to rescue the victims and arrest the bandits.

AFPCopyright: AFP

Counting is under way in South Africa after citizens cast their votes in the local government elections.

The vote is being seen as a test to the popularity of the ruling ANC party.

The party had around 46% of votes cast on Tuesday morning, with about 22% of votes counted nationally, according to state broadcaster SABC reported.

The party got about 54% of the vote at the last municipal polls in 2016.

The voter turnout of Monday elections is not yet clear but it came amid apathy, with a third of eligible voters not having registered, according to the electoral body.

Final official results are expected later in the week.