South Africa is set to launch its first automated optical telescope on Friday, in the province of Northern Cape, the headquarters of the country's space exploration project. The multimillion MeerLICHT optical telescope could soon help unravel the mysteries of the universe, beginning with a closer look at the vast African skies.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that he will be donating half of his salary to charity.

Mr Ramaphosa said the gesture was aimed at encouraging the wealthy to dedicate some of their pay to help build the nation.

The donation of 1.8m rand ($130,000; £100,000) will be managed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF), according to the BBC.

A British judge ruled on Thursday that Nigeria’s Bodo community, which has been involved in a protracted legal battle with Shell over the clean-up of two 2008 oil spills, should retain the option of litigation for another year.

Lawyers for Bodo had accused Shell of trying to kill off the legal case by seeking a court order that would have meant the community had to meet onerous conditions before it could revive its litigation, which is currently on hold.

A London High Court judge, Mrs Justice Cockerill, ruled that the litigation should remain stayed until July 1, 2019, with no conditions attached should the Bodo community’s representatives seek to re-activate it before then.

About 50 people have died after a boat sank in the Condo River in north-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Deputy Governor of Tshuapa province Richard Mboyo Iluka said. The deputy governor, said the fishing boat that left the village of Monkoto for Mbandaka was loaded with passengers when it sank while on transit.

Sudanese teenager Noura Hussein, who was sentenced to death for killing her husband after he allegedly raped her, has filed an appeal.

"Today, we filed an appeal in the appeals court against the lower court's ruling," her lawyer Al-Fateh Hussein told news agency AFP on Thursday.

The BBC reports that a court in Sudan found Ms Hussein guilty of "intentional murder" earlier in May after her husband's family refused to accept financial compensation.

Burkina Faso has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the foreign ministry said on Thursday. China has been applying pressure on the few remaining African countries with diplomatic ties with Taiwan to cut them. “This decision is guided by the firm desire of the government of Burkina Faso to defend the interests of Burkina Faso and its people in the concert of nations,” the ministry said in a statement, which made no direct mention of China.