At least 22 people died in a blaze that gutted a store in Nairobi, and about 25 others are missing, officials say.
Two days after the blaze at Nakumatt supermarket, rescue workers are sifting though the debris, placing small red flags on suspected human remains.
President Mwai Kibaki has visited the scene, where relatives of those missing are awaiting news.
Police are investigating reports that doors were locked after the blaze broke out. Nakumatt has denied the claims.
Some witnesses said guards had closed exits at the supermarket to keep out looters when the fire started on Wednesday, police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said.
Forensic experts and the Kenya Red Cross are still working their way towards the rear of the store where it is believed some staff and customers were trapped.
A BBC correspondent at the scene says sections of the supermarket are still smouldering and the cause of the fire is still unknown.
Mr Kiraithe said they hoped to soon remove the bodies that had been recovered.
"The bodies have not been removed yet because we are working on preservation methods. We still believe that there are more bodies inside," he said.
Passers-by helped firefighters tackle the blaze at the Nakumatt store
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Visiting the scene, President Kibaki promised to "do what we can to assist all those who are hurt by this tragedy", Reuters news agency said.
Kenyan media described scenes of chaos as the supermarket became consumed by fire.
Some escaped by leaping from upstairs windows, causing at least one reported fatality.
People said they had received desperate calls from relatives saying they were trapped inside and unable to escape.
"I came running because I knew my mum was shopping there," said Ishmael Abdul Mohamed, as he watched the rescue operation on Friday. "They ordered all doors closed, no-one to enter or leave. I was trying to break the window with a dustbin because my mum and my sister were trapped inside but someone cocked a gun at me."
Nakumatt has denied that any doors were locked at the time of the blaze.
A company statement said the store "was fully fire safety compliant and had been installed with advanced fire and smoke detectors".
Survivor Jeremiah Omoyo, one of the store's 103 employees, told how he jumped off the roof to escape.
"The crowd below was telling us to jump," he told The Standard newspaper. "I jumped, but cannot tell what happened to the others who were screaming behind me."
Kenyan media criticised the emergency services, saying the response was slow and inadequate.
"A city like Nairobi with an estimated population of three million is served by one fire station situated close to the central business district where vehicular and pedestrian congestion is particularly heavy," the Daily Nation said. "It is fair to say that ours is a modern city with an 18th century fire-fighting infrastructure."
Prime Minister Raila Odinga - who is at the World Economic Forum in Davos - said the "fact that fire could gut down a business premise in a central place, a street from our fire headquarters... a stone's throw from a major hotel says a lot about our disaster preparedness", Reuters reported.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
As Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) agrees to join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF, the BBC's Brian Hungwe in Harare describes a sense of relief tinged with trepidation.
Curious human faces were peeping out of busy Harare skyscrapers, as crowds swelled around the MDC headquarters in central Harare.
Mr Tsvangirai said it was time to end the violence
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It was a moment of truth.
Anxious to know the outcome of a crucial meeting taking place six floors up, those gathered outside moved forward, then blocked traffic along Nelson Mandela Avenue, and camped there.
A rally, unsanctioned by police, was unavoidable but the police did not intrude. Perhaps they were as curious as everyone else to know the decision of the MDC national council.
The big question was whether or not to participate in an all-inclusive government, led by President Mugabe.
In this tense, murky political situation, there are plenty of questions and few answers. The hard reality is MDC and Zanu-PF are miles apart.
After Mr Mugabe lost to Mr Tsvangirai in the first round of the presidential election last March, a campaign of terror began.
Over 200 people died. Some were abducted, tortured and killed in cold blood, and villages were torched.
The run-up to the June run-off election was bloody and remains etched on people's minds.
State machinery was mobilised to assist local Zanu-PF party organs in attacking MDC structures.
"We won't forget this. I have problems forgiving. Justice one day has to be meted to whoever organised this and executed this horrendous project," says Emmanuel Chiroto, an MDC official in Harare.
Early one morning in mid-June, hit squads came in two unmarked pick-ups, abducted Mr Chiroto's 21-year old wife Abigail, and torched their house with petrol bombs.
"Nothing will ever bring my wife back, but the perpetrators of this are still there roaming around," he said.
However, perceived state-sanctioned violence is always difficult to probe.
"Inside an all-inclusive government, there has to be way to securing justice. Our hearts are sore," he said.
Against this hideous background, Mr Tsvangirai had a hard time convincing his party that it was time to climb down and allow for the formation of an all-inclusive government in which he will play an inferior role to Mr Mugabe.
Mr Tsvangirai's supporters believe Mr Mugabe lost the first round of elections and resorted to inappropriate means to retain power.
During the animated two-hour meeting at the party headquarters, insiders say the MDC leader's body language said it all.
Cholera has claimed more than 3,000 people in recent months
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He intended to force through the SADC mandate of taking part in a new government, getting sworn in, and addressing all outstanding issues from within, regardless of the distrust everyone had of Zanu-PF.
Insiders say there was a long, often tense, debate with the party leadership "expressing its worries that some of the main issues had not been addressed", and that "Mugabe was sinking and would take advantage of the MDC's goodwill to revive his party".
There was also a feeling that in spite of the biting economic crisis, and deepening humanitarian situation, Mr Mugabe was prepared to bring Zimbabwe down with him.
That he was going nowhere was the stark reality the MDC had to face, insiders said.
Besides, Mr Mugabe had begun a campaign of terror, which involved abductions of party activists, who are now facing accusations of banditry.
This was not going to stop, and more, perhaps, was coming, if the MDC failed to play ball.
The political agreement, signed 10 months ago between the political parties, guarantees new elections in 18 months, and a constitutional reform programme through parliament that will involve civic groups and citizens.
Fighting from within to achieve its political objectives became the only MDC option.
It is debatable whether the MDC leader capitulated because of growing internal terror, SADC pressure, or the need to address the domestic political and economic crisis.
Mr Mugabe wants the MDC to tackle the financial and humanitarian crises
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"He had very limited options," says Simon Badza, political analyst with the University of Zimbabwe.
"He was increasingly perceived as having no respect for African solutions to African problems.
"He couldn't continue defying SADC, a regional institution. Joining in was simply a strategic move to plan for elections ahead from within, rather than operating outside the political framework."
Outside the party headquarters, supporters were growing anxious.
Mr Tsvangirai, took the lift down around 1500 (1300 GMT), and walked into a waiting pick-up stuck in the middle of Nelson Mandela Avenue, then began addressing the swelling crowds that had blocked the traffic.
The street was virtually brought to a standstill.
Standing at the back of a white pick-up with a loudhailer, Mr Tsvangirai said it was time to end violence and work together in a new government.
There was excitement, as drivers blew their horns.
This was a nation pleased to be able to breathe again, after choking on shortages of basic food, power and water, a weak currency, sky-high inflation, a deepening humanitarian crisis and a 90% unemployment rate.
Under Mr Mugabe's new power-sharing arrangement, Mr Tsvangirai's MDC will control the Health, Education and Finance ministry portfolios among others.
Once inside the new government, Mr Tsvangirai will have to deal with the cholera that has infected over 60,000 people, killing more than 3,000.
He will find a dysfunctional education system, where teachers have stopped work, demanding hard currency salaries averaging $2,000 per month instead of the current $2.
Mr Mugabe wants Mr Tsvangirai to bring down inflation, stabilise the currency and win international support to finance key government programmes.
Mr Tsvangirai may be banking on international support, but the West will adopt a wait-and-see attitude and may not even bless the new arrangement.
If he fails to deliver, he risks becoming irrelevant and alienating himself from his support base. He has taken a risk, and stuck his head on the block.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
George Obama is the President's younger half-brother
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The Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama has been arrested for alleged marijuana possession.
George Obama was arrested in Nairobi with one joint of marijuana, police chief Joshua Omokulongolo said.
"He is not a drug peddler. But it is illegal, it is a banned substance," he said. Mr Obama has denied the allegations.
The US president and George Obama share the same father, but are thought to have only met each other briefly.
George Obama, who is in his 20s, is due in court on Monday.
"They took me from my home," George Obama told reporters in Nairobi from his jail cell. " I don't know why they are charging me."
Last year, George Obama told Vanity Fair magazine that he had only met his more famous half-brother twice, once when he was five and once when he visited East Africa in 2006.
Of their second meeting, George reportedly said:"It was very brief, we spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger."
He has also said that he is studying to be a mechanic and works with a local youth group in Huruma, the area in Nairobi where he lives with his extended family.
He is the youngest of his father's seven children and was born six months after his father died in a car crash in 1982.
Several of the president's Kenyan relatives went to Washington for his inauguration on 20 January, though George Obama did not.
The American president described his half brother as a " handsome, roundheaded boy with a wary gaze" in his book, Dreams From My Father.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Zimbabwe cholera cases top 60,000
Cholera is spreading to rural areas making the disease harder to contain
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More than 60,000 people in Zimbabwe have now been infected by cholera, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.
This figure had been described by the UN's health agency and other agencies as being the "worst case scenario" in the epidemic which broke out in August.
Cholera has now claimed the lives of more than 3,000 people in Zimbabwe.
The epidemic of the disease, which broke out in August 2008, has been fuelled by the collapse of Zimbabwe's water, sanitation and health systems.
Many hospitals have shut down and most towns suffer from poor water supply, broken sewers and uncollected waste.
Aid workers fear the rainy season could lead to even more infections as water sources become contaminated.
Health experts estimated late last year that 60,000 cases of cholera in Zimbabwe would be a worst-case scenario.
But, in latest figures released by the WHO in Geneva, some 60,401 Zimbabweans now have the disease. The death toll stands at 3,161.
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STATE OF ZIMBABWE
Five million people - almost half population - need food aid
Central bank introduced Z$100tr note, worth about US$30 (£20)
Unemployment more than 80%
Nearly 3,000 people dead in cholera outbreak
Many teachers, doctors and nurses not working
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The UN agency said the outbreak "showed no signs of abating" and called for urgent action from the international community to help tackle the situation.
"We are dealing with an extraordinary public health crisis that requires from us all an extraordinary public health emergency response, and this must happen now before the outbreak causes more needless suffering and death," the WHO's Dr Eric Laroche said.
The epidemic has been exacerbated by the political and economic problems facing Zimbabwe.
Many medical staff have been refusing to work unless they get paid in hard currency, because the value of the Zimbabwean dollar is virtually worthless.
The charity Medecins Sans Frontieres told the BBC last week that the disease was spreading to remote areas, making its containment much harder.
President Robert Mugabe has faced increasing criticism over his country's dire economic and humanitarian plight.
But his allies have accused Western countries of trying to use the cholera outbreak as an excuse to topple him.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said his party will join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF next month.
The deal, proposed by Southern African leaders, would see Mr Tsvangirai sworn in as prime minister on 11 February.
A power-sharing accord between his MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) and Zanu-PF was signed last September, but got mired in ever more bitter disputes.
Zimbabwe is enduring rampant inflation and an escalating food crisis.
Meanwhile the World Health Organization (WHO) says an outbreak of cholera, fuelled by the collapse of infrastructure, has now infected 60,000 people and killed more than 3,000.
Donors have said they would only provide aid once a unity government is in place.
The new timetable was proposed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"We are unequivocal, we will go into this government," Mr Tsvangirai was quoted by French news agency AFP as saying.
"The SADC has decided and we are bound by that decision."
He added that Zanu-PF had made "significant concessions", saying that the MDC would continue the struggle for a democratic Zimbabwe in a new arena.
Mr Mugabe's supporters welcomed the decision.
"We are obviously happy as Zimbabweans that we are now able to focus on reconstructing our country and move away from politicking all the time," Information Minister Paul Mangwana told the BBC. "This is a glorious opportunity for Zimbabweans to work together and show the whole world that we are able to solve our problems on our own."
A statement by South Africa's foreign ministry, quoted by AFP, welcomed the move, saying it would "help lay the foundation for the people of Zimbabwe to begin to address current challenges facing their country".
Meanwhile UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the new government would be judged on its actions.
"The international community will be looking for the government to demonstrate, through its actions, a clear commitment to reform," he said.
The BBC's Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says that agreeing to the deal requires a leap of faith for the MDC, which has no trust in Mr Mugabe.
But the decision to commit itself was the only realistic option short of abandoning plans for a unity government, he says.
The disagreements centred on how the most powerful cabinet posts were to be shared out, and on the MDC's insistence that attacks on its members should stop.
Observers say the MDC now appears to have adopted a strategy proposed by SADC leaders that it should first enter the government and then resolve outstanding issues.
The wrangling over power-sharing has paralysed Zimbabwe's government for months.
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SADC's POWER-SHARE TIMELINE
5 Feb: Zimbabwe to pass power-sharing constitutional amendment
11 Feb: PM-designate Tsvangirai and his deputies to be sworn in
13 Feb: Remaining ministers and their deputies to take office
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Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF and the MDC have also started setting up a joint committee to monitor the power-sharing pact.
The body is the first structure to be formed as a result of political agreement, according to South African mediator Sydney Mufamadi.
The committee would deal with any breaches in the power-sharing deal and could also address concerns the MDC may have about the arrest of party members and activists.
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, who chaired an emergency summit this week to get a deal, said the MDC was committed to a timeline agreed by the parties.
"...[Mr Tsvangirai] is going to be chairing cabinet and also sitting in the national security council...," he said. "We believe that this is a transitional authority essentially and its primary task is to achieve stability and the economic recovery of that country."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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By Prime Ndikumagenge
BBC News, Bujumbura
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Worshippers claim only those with a "special gift" see the apparition
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Worship has been banned on a small rural hill in Burundi, where a woman claims to see the Virgin Mary on the same day of every month.
The 23-year-old's claims of an apparition have become so widely known that thousands of people gather on the hill at the same time to pray.
But the governor of the northern province says the worshippers are troublemakers and they should stop.
The Catholic church in the area is also investigating the claims of a "vision".
The woman in question is called Euzebie and comes from a rural village known as Masinde, in the province of Kayanza.
She claims to see the Virgin Mary on the 11th day of each month.
Provincial governor Edouard Nduwimana says people come from all over the country, as well as nearby Rwanda and Uganda, to join Euzebie on the hill.
He says they stay for three nights each month, from the 11th to the 13th, during which time they pray, bang drums, sing and cry.
"Among the growing controversy surrounding the Euzebie saga, the archibishop of the northern diocese has formally advised worshippers to stop going to see Euzebie while the church investigates to confirm whether or not she has been seeing the Virgin Mary," said Mr Nduwimana, who also comes from Masinde village.
Police are to start patrolling the hill in case the request is not met.
According to followers of Euzebie, she began to see and talk to the Virgin Mary when she was four years old.
Regina Pacis regularly travels for about an hour from another province in the north to see Euzebie.
She claims she hears the voice of the Virgin Mary when she talks to Euzebie. But she says only a few people, with what she calls "a special gift", can also see her.
Mubiligi is a senior magistrate in the capital Bujumbura. He started to worship with Euzebie last May.
He claims he once saw a "miracle" when communal bread fell from the sky into the hand of Euzebie.
Both say the message from the Virgin Mary focuses on repenting sins and loving one another.
In a written message, the Archbishop of Kayanza, Monsignor Gervais Banshimiyubusa, said that in a country emerging from war, it was normal that people were attracted to a place where they believed they could receive relief for their suffering and mercy for their sins.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The army worms are among the world's most destructive pests
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The plague of army worm caterpillars in Liberia has affected some 400,000 people and the UN warns of a second wave of infestations.
Farmer and village chief Richard Kerkula from Larwoi, in Bong county near the Guinean border, describes how the worms invaded his fields.
It was early in the morning three weeks ago. As usual, I went out to inspect the crop on my land where I grow cocoa beans and banana.
I was met by a horrible sight. The leaves of my banana plants and the cocoa trees were covered in black caterpillars. They were moving around, eating the leaves.
There were thousands of them. There was no smell but their munching was making an unpleasant rustling sound.
These type of caterpillar are foreign to our area.
I had heard of armyworms attacking Liberian crops many years ago, but never seen anything like this before.
Even though they weren't eating the bananas and the cocoa beans, I knew that my crops would be destroyed. If the leaves go, the plant cannot yield good crops.
I immediately contacted the local authorities. After six days, men from the Ministry of Agriculture came to spray my land.
The spraying killed the caterpillars, but it was already too late. Seventy-five percent of my crops had been destroyed.
The worms defecated in the village creek. We knew we shouldn't drink water from there once the worms had polluted it, so we dug boreholes around the creek and collected water from there.
The armyworm invasion has hit me incredibly hard financially.
I cannot get any credit for my crops now as the fields will hardly yield anything once harvest time comes around.
This is the worst experience I've had in my lifetime. I'm really not a happy man at the moment but I've had to put my emotions aside and deal with this.
Before this happened, my farm was doing well. My family and I had two good meals every day. At the moment we are surviving on rice we had in reserve.
I have eight children, the youngest is five. I have no idea how to pay for their food, school uniforms and general upkeep in the future.
If the government doesn't grant me a loan, by August we'll be in a really bad situation.
Other people in my village were hit even harder than me. The caterpillars entered their houses in great numbers because they like to be in the shade. They were under people's beds, everywhere.
The owners of the house had to evacuate their homes for several days, while the authorities sprayed inside.
I've told people in my village to clear the area of bushes and trees outside their houses. That way, if the worms ever come back, at least they won't get into people's bedrooms again.
If the authorities had been able to get to my land earlier and spray the worms with insecticide, perhaps more could have been saved. But it took them a while to get here because the roads in Liberia are still bad.
That's because of the civil war we've had in this country. And I'm not angry with my current government for the delay in spraying; they did what they could under the circumstances.
I've been told that the government is putting a team together to see if they can help the affected farmers financially.
When I look at my field today, it looks as if the dry season has already set in. Normally that would happen at the end of March, and it's still only January.
The trees are bare, all the leaves are gone.
I don't regret becoming a farmer because that's the tradition in my family. But I hope we can get through this somehow.
I will really have to tighten my belt.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Gangs of jobless youth make money from kidnapping and extortion
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An 11-year-old girl has been shot dead as she tried to prevent militants kidnapping her brother in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta region.
The armed men seized the boy as the two walked to school in Port Harcourt, capital of Rivers State.
The children's father works for Royal Dutch Shell, a company spokesman said.
Earlier in the day, a Catholic priest kidnapped on Sunday was released after a militant leader told the group holding him to let him go.
Militant groups have been kidnapping oil company employees and their families since 2006 as part of a campaign that has cut oil production by some 20%.
Police named the girl as Oduayo Awonusi.
Her brother Emmanuel is nine.
"The gunmen came out of the vehicle and grabbed the boy," Rita Inoma-Abbey, police spokeswoman for Rivers State said.
"While the sister was struggling with them, she was shot. The gunmen went away with the boy. Passers-by rushed the girl to hospital but she died on the road."
Some militant groups say they are fighting for a fairer share of Nigeria's oil wealth.
But other gangs of armed, jobless youths have made money through kidnapping, extortion and oil theft.
In 2007 militants kidnapped three-year-old Margaret Hill, the child of a British bar-owner in Port Harcourt.
She was released without harm, but her father Mike died shortly afterward of a heart attack.
Unidentified militants kidnapped Father Pius Kii from the steps of his church on Sunday.
It is understood that no ransom was paid for his release.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
The Zimbabwe dollar is virtually worthless
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Zimbabweans will be allowed to conduct business in other currencies, alongside the Zimbabwe dollar, in an effort to stem the country's runaway inflation.
The announcement was made by acting Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa.
BBC southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the Zimbabwean dollar has become a laughing stock. A Z$100 trillion note was recently introduced.
Until now only licensed businesses could accept foreign currencies, although it was common practice.
Mr Chinamasa made the announcement as he delivered the annual budget to parliament.
"In line with the prevailing practices by the general public, government is therefore allowing the use of multiple foreign currencies for business transactions alongside the Zimbabwean dollar," he said.
The country is in the grip of world-record hyperinflation - officially set at 231 million percent - which has left the Zimbabwean dollar virtually worthless.
Teachers, doctors and civil servants have gone on strike complaining that their salaries - which equal trillions of Zimbabwean dollars - are not even enough to catch the bus to work each day.
Before the announcement, shops in Zimbabwe were increasingly demanding payment in US dollars - a reality acknowledged by Mr Chinamasa.
"In the hyper-inflationary environment characterising the economy, our people are now using multiple currencies alongside the Zimbabwean dollar. These include the [South African] rand, US dollar, Botswana pula, euro and British pound among others."
Last year, the Central Bank was forced to slash 10 zeros from the local unit in an effort to make the currency more manageable.
Now, by loosening foreign currency controls, the government has effectively admitted defeat in its battle against inflation.
The political crisis that resulted from last year's disputed presidential elections has driven the country's economy to the brink of collapse.
The situation has been made worse by a deepening chlorea outbreak which has killed over 3,000 people according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Somalia's Islamist group, al-Shabab, has taken over the city of Baidoa, one of the last strongholds of the transitional government and the seat of parliament.
Various Islamist groups now control most of southern Somalia
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They say they will introduce Sharia law in the city.
Marian Zeila, chairperson of the Somali Media Women's Association, based in the city, give her views on the takeover.
I'm concerned that the al-Shabab militants will prevent me from carrying out the work I do here in Baidoa - fighting gender-based violence.
The fact that al-Shabab are bringing in Sharia law doesn't really worry me.
Sharia law is a part of Islam, it's in the Koran. But it's their interpretation of the law that I disagree with.
They are turning Islam into a harsh religion, which I don't believe it actually is.
My organisation is trying to empower women who suffer domestic violence - and I don't think al-Shabbab will like us encouraging women to speak out.
I am not angry with them yet, but I do wonder what effect their presence will have on the women of Baidoa.
From talking to other women, it's my impression that civil society groups here are not happy with al-Shabab.
I haven't been to work since al-Shabab took over Baidoa.
Everything seems calm at the moment, but I plan to stay at home for another four days until I can be sure that it's safe to go to work.
I did go out briefly today to the centre of town to do some shopping.
I would say that today the atmosphere in Baidoa is relatively good - I saw women and children out in the streets, they were walking around freely.
I am not afraid of al-Shabab and I don't think people in Baidoa fear them.
I saw members of al-Shabab around town carrying guns today. They look incredibly young.
I know that they have encouraged teenagers in Baidoa to join their movement, but they are not forcing anyone.
People working for the transitional government in Baidoa are staying indoors.
Al-Shabab have promised they will not harm them, but it remains to be seen whether this is the case.
While the transitional government was in charge there was insecurity in Baidoa, they were unable to protect civilians.
At least the al-Shabab have restored stability - for the time being.
I am 23 and I got married just one month ago.
If things stay calm in Baidoa, my husband and I will stay here. But we want to wait and see how this goes. Nobody knows what al-Shabab are planning to do.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
![President Sirleaf and Richard Karyea [Photo courtesy of Liberian Government]](http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/45420000/jpg/_45420744_liberia_karyea_226.jpg)
Mr Karyea has been named Civil Servant of the Year 2008
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An airport customs officer in Liberia has been honoured by the West African country's president for refusing a bribe from a drug trafficker.
Richard Karyea was offered $20,000 (£14,000) to look the other way by a Nigerian smuggler trying to bring cocaine in to Liberia two years ago.
The sum was more than 1,300 times his $15 (£10) monthly salary but he refused and handed the man over to the police.
He was named Civil Servant of the Year 2008 and given a $1,000 (£700) prize.
Mr Karyea was honoured by President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf at a civil service awards ceremony in the capital Monrovia.
After refusing the bribe in 2006, Mr Karyea was made redundant - he suspects his colleagues arranged to get rid of him.
But he has gone on to bigger and better things by landing a job as deputy chief examiner at the ministry of finance.
"It wasn't difficult to turn down the money," Mr Karyea told the BBC's Network Africa programme.
"If it took me 50 years to earn that money, I'd want my conscience. I will always want my conscience."
Mr Karyea said the drugs were hidden in a DVD player.
He called the owner of the package into his office and told him he was going to open it up.
"He grabbed my hand and said 'Ah! Oga-sir! Please don't'", said Mr Karyea.
But he suspects not all the officials are so honest at Roberts International Airport just outside Monrovia.
Later he saw the man boarding a plane to go back to Nigeria.
Even though it would have taken him many years to earn the same amount as the bribe he was offered, Mr Karyea is happy.
"Right now I'm rejoicing," he said.
West Africa has become a major waypoint for South American smugglers taking cocaine into Europe.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Shebeen owners say they will mount a legal challenge to the bill
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A new law which calls time on 30,000 drinking dens, or shebeens, in South Africa will help reduce crime, a local official has told the BBC.
Western Cape Minister Garth Strachan said the abuse of alcohol was linked to drugs and organised crime.
The bill would bar the drinking dens from residential areas.
Furious shebeen owners have protested, saying it would deprive them of their livelihoods and leave 150,000 people "without food".
Some 3,000 protesters marched on the provincial parliament on Tuesday to hand in a petition against the bill.
They claim they were not consulted about the Western Cape Liquor Act and have threatened to challenge it in the courts, as well as boycott forthcoming elections.
But Mr Strachan - provincial minister of finance, economic development and tourism - urged shebeen owners to apply for licences.
He told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme: "Abuse of alcohol is strongly associated with crime, gangsterism, sale of drugs and fatal accidents on our roads. There are people who may put food on the table by selling of alcohol.
"The reality though is that we can't deal with the problems in our society, including poverty and unemployment, by allowing unregulated selling of alcohol."
He said police would not be able to close Western Cape's 30,000 illegal shebeens overnight but added this was a step towards licensing drinking dens, spared regulation for too long.
Die Burger newspaper reports that Mr Strachan listened patiently as furious protesters read out the lengthy petition of 8,000 signatures to him on Tuesday and sang: "We are tigers and not scared of you."
Errol Jackson, of the Western Cape Shebeen Association, told the newspaper: "The government wants to address a social problem, but they are taking our jobs."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Zimbabwe's water, sanitation and health systems have collapsed
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The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has now passed the 3,000 mark, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
The latest figures represent an increase of more than 1,000 deaths in just two weeks.
Meanwhile, the MDC's leader sounded more upbeat about power-sharing, a day after his party denied it had agreed to join a unity government next month.
He said it would go ahead if the rivals resolved their long-running disputes.
"Everyone agrees that, subject to the clearing of all the issues that are outstanding, a coalition government can be formed," Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai told South African newspaper The Star.
As the stalemate continues, Zimbabwe is lurching towards economic collapse.
The WHO said on Wednesday a total of 3,028 people have died from the cholera outbreak and 57,702 have been affected since August 2008.
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STATE OF ZIMBABWE
Five million people - almost half population - need food aid
Central bank introduced Z$100tr note, worth about US$30 (£20)
Unemployment more than 80%
Nearly 3,000 people dead in cholera outbreak
Many teachers, doctors and nurses not working
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The epidemic of the water-borne disease has been fuelled by the collapse of Zimbabwe's water, sanitation and health systems.
Aid workers say the focus of the cholera outbreak has now moved to rural parts of the country.
South Africa insisted the MDC had said it would join a unity government with President Robert Mugabe next month, despite the opposition's denial that it had agreed to do so at a regional summit this week.
Frank Chikane, director-general of South Africa's presidency, told reporters that observers should not "read too much" into the MDC's complaints.
Monday's 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Pretoria said the MDC was ready to form a unity government with Zanu-PF by mid-February.
SADC leaders also concluded that Zimbabwe's contentious home affairs ministry, which runs the police, should be controlled jointly and reviewed six months after the new government was inaugurated.
Home affairs has been a key sticking point, with the MDC insisting it should run the ministry if Zanu-PF is to administer the defence and national security departments.
The MDC also wants a share of regional governor and diplomatic posts.
President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai agreed to share power last September but the rivals have not been able to agree on how to allocate key government jobs.
The MDC, along with Western nations, accuses Mr Mugabe of not being sincere about power-sharing, pointing to a spate of abductions of opposition officials and human rights activists.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Islamic fighters took over Baidoa on Tuesday
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Islamist rebels have declared sharia law in Baidoa, a day after seizing the central Somali city, a stronghold of the country's transitional government.
Al-Shabab militants took over hours after Ethiopian troops pulled out.
The African Union said Ethiopia may send troops back into Somalia if the Islamist fighters grow too powerful.
Somali lawmakers, in neighbouring Djibouti due to the insecurity at home, meanwhile extended by five days the time needed to elect a new president.
Sheikh Muktar Robow Mansoor, of al-Shabab, told a rally in Baidoa on Tuesday how the movement, which means The Youth, intended to govern.
"We are informing all Somalis we want to rule with justice, and the almighty Allah's sharia law," he said.
"We are informing Somalis we will not accept any man-made constitution. We will not accept it. We shall fight with anyone who opposes it."
On Monday, al-Shabab took over the airport, parliament building and president's home in Baidoa.
They moved in as the last Ethiopian troops pulled out, two years after intervening in an effort to stamp out the Islamist insurgents.
The BBC's Yusuf Hassan, in Djibouti, says it is not clear if the Somali lawmakers will be able to return to their base in Baidoa.
The African Union's top diplomat, Jean Ping, said events in the city would have little impact on the political process, adding that Ethiopian troops might return to Somalia.
"The Ethiopians told us that they are going to secure that border," he said. "They are going back and to secure the borders."
On Tuesday, MPs agreed to delay by five days an MPs' vote to choose the next president.
The deadline for picking a successor to Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, who quit last month, was to expire on Wednesday.
Somali legislators have already expanded parliament to bring in some 200 moderate Islamists, as part of a UN-backed peace process.
But the al-Shabab, which is on Washington's list of terrorist groups, has refused to take part in the peace talks.
Some 16,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict and a million more have been forced from their homes.
The Horn of Africa country has not had an effective national government since 1991.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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By Celeste Hicks
BBC News, N'Djamena
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A ban on the use of charcoal in Chad is making life hard for people already struggling with high food prices.
Families are being forced to burn furniture, cow dung, rubbish and roots of plants in order to cook.
Since the clampdown was announced - officially in order to help the environment - charcoal has become almost impossible to find.
"I'm using wild products which I've harvested, such as palm fruits," said Nangali Helene, who lives in the capital N'Djamena.
"But they make us ill - they don't burn properly and they give off a horrid smoke and smell. Last night we started burning the beams from the roof of our outhouse."
The price of a small bundle of dead wood has shot up from a few hundred CFA francs to 5,000F CFA ($12; £8).
Feelings are running high in the city, with the main opposition coalition organising a peaceful mass action over the next few days.
"We want people to bang on their empty cooking pots every morning to show solidarity for one another," said Saleh Kebzabo, from the Coalition of Parties for the Defence of the Constitution.
For the moment, street demonstrations are out of the question - a planned rally by women was called off last week when they were denied permission.
The government denies blame for the torching of trucks carrying charcoal
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Women who did show up claimed they were intimidated by a heavy police presence.
The government says the ban is to deal with an "extraordinary" threat of desertification in Chad, which straddles the Sahel, the semi-arid region bordering the Sahara.
At the forefront of climate change, the environment ministry says more than 60% of Chad's natural tree cover has been lost due to indiscriminate cutting of trees for charcoal.
"Chadians must be aware of this problem," said Environment Minister Ali Souleiman Dabye.
"If we don't do something soon, we will wake up one day and there will be no trees. Then what will people burn?"
But although many people say they understand the need to protect the environment, it is the speed with which the ban has come into effect that has caused such anger.
Late last year, police began seizing trucks carrying charcoal, saying they were illegal.
People have resorted to burning wild fruit for their cooking
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Several trucks and their contents were set on fire on the outskirts of N'Djamena, but the government denies responsibility for the destruction.
Within weeks prices rocketed and then charcoal disappeared from the market.
The alternatives proposed by the government may seem unrealistic to the average Chadian.
"It's only in the last 10 years that Chadians have become reliant on charcoal, they can soon learn to adapt to something else," said the environment minister, keenly expounding the virtues of gas.
But 95% of people do not have gas appliances, and even those that do have to travel to Cameroon to find canisters.
Rumours abound in the local media of women setting themselves on fire because they do not know how to use gas properly.
A deal recently signed between the government and a Nigerian businessman to start cooking gas deliveries is too little too late for Marie Larlem, co-ordinator of the Chadian Association for the Promotion of Fundamental Liberty.
"We understand the need to protect the environment but we find it bizarre that the measures are so brutal and so sudden - no-one was given any warning.
"Why didn't they do this earlier? Our people have been through enough".
Chad's government says there are no plans to relax the ban.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
General Laurent Nkunda was a staunch ally of Rwanda
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Security has been tightened at refugee camps in Rwanda after protests calling for rebel Laurent Nkunda's release.
Gen Nkunda, who claimed his fighters were protecting the Tutsi community in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was arrested by Rwanda last week.
A joint force of Rwandan police and soldiers put down the protests mainly by Congolese Tutsis, on Sunday - reportedly using live bullets.
Correspondents says demonstrations against the government are very rare.
A Tutsi like Rwanda's leaders, Gen Nkunda had guarded Rwanda's western flank against attacks from ethnic Hutu Interahamwe militias who fled there after the Rwandan genocide of 1994.
But in a change of policy, he was arrested after being invited by Rwanda to discuss a joint military force from both countries against Hutu forces.
DR Congo has allowed at least 6,000 Rwandan soldiers into its eastern region to help Congolese soldiers disarm the Hutu militia.
Rwanda, which hosts more than 50,000 Congolese refugees, has not yet said whether it will hand over its former ally to DR Congo, where he faces war crimes charges.
Thousands of Congolese refugees across Rwanda's two main camps - Kiziba in the south, and Gihembe in the north - took to the camps' street on Sunday in a co-ordinated protest.
They called the arrest of General Nkunda "illegal", and expressed their anger at they way he was reportedly trapped and arrested.
But a joint force of Rwanda police and army dispersed the protesters and many were injured in the skirmishes that followed.
"We could not go on with the demonstration as planned as the police and army stopped us," one man in Gihembe camp, which houses about 20,000 refugees, told the BBC.
"What we want is that Nkunda is released so that he goes back to DR Congo to continue fighting against the Interahamwe for he's our only hope for any return to DR Congo," he said.
"Nkunda was fighting for peace and we cannot understand why he was arrested."
In Kiziba camp, refugees claim that the army and police used live bullets and sticks to break up the demonstration.
One woman who was injured in the fracas said they were protesting peacefully when they were surrounded by police.
"They started beating us but we were not deterred by the beatings, for the anger we felt was more than the sticks' pain," she told the BBC's Great Lakes service. "Shortly afterwards, they were joined by the army and started arresting young men among us. We tried to resist this and this is when they started shooting - that is how I got shot," she said.
The Rwandan authorities have not commented officially about the protests or commented on allegations that they were heavy handed in their attempt to quash them.
A refugee speaking to the BBC on Tuesday from Gihembe says the military have set up tents around the camp and intend to prevent further demonstrations.
Some 250,000 people have fled their homes in DR Congo's North Kivu province since August 2008, when Gen Nkunda began an offensive on the regional capital, Goma.
Human rights group have accused Gen Nkunda's rebel group - and also government forces - of numerous killings, rapes and torture.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is supposed to become prime minister
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Zimbabwe's opposition says it does not accept the outcome of a regional summit which said it should join a unity government next month.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the meeting's conclusions "fell far short" of its expectations.
But President Robert Mugabe said an agreement had been reached and he hoped for a "new chapter" in relations.
As the arguments continue, more than 100 new cholera deaths have been reported in the past day.
Almost 3,000 people have died in the epidemic since August and more than 56,000 have been infected, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.
Speaking at Harare airport on his return from the regional summit, Mr Mugabe said the parties had "agreed that an inclusive government should be formed" and that dates had been set for swearing in new ministers.
"We hope this will open up a new chapter in our political relations in the country and in structures of government," he said.
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SADC's POWER-SHARE TIMELINE
5 Feb: Zimbabwe to pass power-sharing constitutional amendment
11 Feb: PM-designate Tsvangirai and his deputies to be sworn in
13 Feb: Remaining ministers and their deputies to take office
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He said the concerns raised by the MDC over governorships and other appointments would be looked at.
Zimbabwe's deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC there would be no more power-sharing talks.
Mr Matonga said: "There's not going to be any negotiations, I think that process has been done, it's concluded and the president [Robert Mugabe] will form a new cabinet.
"If they [the MDC] think they can hold Zimbabwe to ransom it will be very unfortunate. I don't think the people of Zimbabwe will allow that to happen. They [the MDC] are pushing their luck."
Mr Mugabe agreed to share power with MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai last September but they have not been able to agree on how to allocate key government jobs.
After 14 hours of negotiations in Pretoria, the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said the MDC had agreed to a timeline to form a unity government with Zimbabwe's Zanu-PF.
According to the timeline, a constitutional amendment would be passed to create the post of prime minister on 5 February, with Mr Tsvangirai being sworn in six days later.
South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said: "All the parties expressed confidence in the process and committed to implementing the agreement."
SADC leaders concluded that the contentious home affairs ministry, which runs the police, should be run jointly and reviewed six months after the new government was inaugurated.
Control over home affairs has been a key sticking point, with the MDC insisting it should run the ministry if Zanu-PF is to administer the defence and national security departments.
Hot on the heels of the SADC communique, an MDC statement said the party had not agreed to the deal, although it stopped short of rejecting the summit's conclusions outright.
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STATE OF ZIMBABWE
Five million people - almost half population - need food aid
Central bank introduced Z$100tr note, worth about US$30 (£20)
Unemployment more than 80%
Nearly 3,000 people dead in cholera outbreak
Many teachers, doctors and nurses not working
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It added that the party's national council would meet this weekend to define its position.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told the BBC: "Unfortunately our expectations were not met, our case was not received, in fact there was no objective understanding and assessment of the situation."
It was the fourth such meeting since the inconclusive elections last March.
The BBC's Peter Biles in Pretoria says SADC looks powerless and has shown no willingness to impose sanctions on Zimbabwe.
The country's state schools were supposed to open for a new term on Tuesday but the teachers' union said its members did not have the resources to get to work.
One teacher told the BBC that his monthly salary was only enough for a one-way trip to work, so he is selling maize meal instead.
The cholera outbreak has been fuelled by the collapse of the water, sanitation and health systems.
Nurses and doctors are also refusing to turn up for work.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai failed to resolve their differences during a meeting in Harare last week.
The MDC, along with Western nations, accuses Mr Mugabe of not being sincere about power-sharing, pointing to a spate of abductions of opposition officials and human rights activists.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
A 40-year-old Zimbabwean primary school teacher in a high-density area of the capital, Harare, tells the BBC News website why he is not reporting for duty at the start of the new academic year - which has already been delayed by two weeks.
It's not possible for us to go back to work. A week ago we got paid and the amount we found in our accounts was 30 trillion Zimbabwe dollars for the month.
On that day it was equivalent to US$3 (£2.15), but three days later, because of inflation, it was worth only US$1 (71p) - and you can't really do anything with a dollar.
My colleagues who travel to work need US$2 a day, as a one-way journey costs the equivalent of US$1.
Actually, none of the teachers left at my school have reported to work since 2 September, when we resolved we had to be paid an amount that was reasonable.
We are on strike, although it's more that we don't have the capacity to go to work without money for transport and proper food.
Sadly, the more than 1,000 children at the school stopped turning up at the beginning of October after they realised the teachers were not coming back.
I survive like the rest of the Zimbabweans survive - vending. We sell anything we can lay our hands on.
I go into town and buy a 20kg bag of maize meal, which costs about US$7.
Then I come back to the high-density area and repack it into between 12 and 15 packs and resell them for US$1 because many families can only afford enough to cook one meal.
That's how I'm making a living now.
I've got a young brother who has a better-paying job; in fact he gets part of his salary in foreign currency - so sometimes he's the one who gives me some groceries.
Sometimes parents are also willing to pay for tuition for their children. I charge about US$3 a head for this - at the moment I have about three kids whom I teach so that's about US$9 a week.
Since last year, I have also been teaching my two children - who are of primary-school age.
My wife was retrenched from a catering company, so to make money now she prepares food at home and then goes into town and sells the lunches to clients.
Some of my colleagues do cross-border trading; they go into South Africa, they buy some goods and bring them back home and resell them.
Others have totally gone to South Africa and they are doing different kinds of jobs there.
One teacher is selling newspapers in Johannesburg; one is working in a restaurant in Cape Town and the third one is just doing some clerical work for a company in Cape Town.
I wanted to leave too when the crisis here started around the year 2000.
But after some of my friends had left, I realised they couldn't make a decent living - 200 to 300 rand (US$20-US$30; £14-£21) a month for selling papers is inadequate to provide for a family.
It is true to say some female teachers have really turned wild.
School attendance fell to 20% by the end of last year
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They go into town dressed up and in the evenings in the night clubs look for rich clients - probably the money-changers, who can afford to buy their bodies.
It's really happening.
I first got a second job around 2002 when our incomes became inadequate - then I started to give extra lessons after school.
Then around 2007 it got really bad. We were involved in a lot of strikes and that's when I decided to start the vending, taking the odd day off to trade until stopping completely in September.
When I started work in 1991, we could afford most of the things on a teacher's salary.
The number of children in the class has remained almost the same, but what has changed in the 17 years is that classroom materials are no longer being provided and the equipment has become dilapidated.
For example, I went to my school last week to check on how things were and one of the auxiliary staff was telling me that one of the classrooms had been broken into.
Under normal circumstances, the school is supposed to employ 31 teachers, but due to migration, we were down to 21 in September and of them only about 14 were qualified teachers.
I have been informed by one of the parents who is on my school's committee that they are contemplating raising foreign currency so that teachers can be paid from the parents' pockets.
But I don't see how that can be practised because most of the parents are poor.
Unless something is done in terms of the political settlement - if the political leaders agreed and then things stabilised and there was a common focus - I don't see how these things can be solved.
The school system is in total collapse and in order for things to work again probably a unity government is needed so that things can be put in place.
I miss teaching very much because it is my calling. I miss that feeling of pride I feel when students do well in life.
Also I like sports very much and I used to go with children for sports and basketball. I'm no longer involved in that and that too I miss very much.
It is very depressing indeed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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By Jonah Fisher
BBC News, Johannesburg
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Fiftieth birthdays are supposed to be special.
But a party was the last thing on Jenny Des-Fountain's mind as her half century approached.
Jenny Des-Fountain will drive tonnes of donated food to Zimbabwe
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"It just didn't seem meaningful when Zimbabwe was going through what it was going through," the blonde life-coach says.
"So I just got hold of my friends and said: 'Come on guys, bring a bag of mealie-meal [maize porridge powder] along', and they did.
"They brought beans and they brought fish as well and I ended up with a boot-load of food."
The plan then was simply to drive the food from Johannesburg to the Zimbabwe border and find someone to give it to.
But after appearing on local radio and television it soon became clear that the food was not going to fit in her car.
Donated tins of pilchards and bags of food were now piled high in the garage.
Some 120 people in Thulani's village will benefit from the aid
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The distribution of food inside Zimbabwe was also going to need some thought.
Clearly dumping several tonnes at the border was not an option.
The answer came in a chance encounter at a local restaurant.
As Ms Des-Fountain ordered she struck up a conversation with a waiter called Thulani.
Like many of the restaurant staff in Johannesburg, Thulani is a Zimbabwean and for the last two years has sent the money he earns back home.
"I called my mum and she told me that the situation is very tense," Thulani says. "So many people are starving and she told me that my daughter would not be able to go to school as there is no money and no food."
So after a few more calls it was decided that this week Ms Des-Fountain will drive her truck to feed the 120 people in Thulani's village.
A pastor there has promised to help manage the distribution.
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STATE OF ZIMBABWE
Five million people - almost half population - need food aid
Central bank introduced Z$100tr note, worth about US$30 (£20)
Unemployment more than 80%
Nearly 3,000 people dead in cholera outbreak
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Ms Des-Fountain puts the overwhelming response to her appeal down in part to the South African government's inability to find a solution for Zimbabwe.
"What is our government doing? Let's be honest - they're not doing anything," she says.
"People are calling me asking me what can we do. They wonder what they can do because our neighbours are suffering so much."
Zimbabwe's problems are such that Ms Des-Fountain's truck is barely even a drop in the ocean.
But for Thulani's village it will make a real difference.
For those with cholera or chronic malnutrition it may be the difference between life and death.
While Southern Africa leaders may have drawn a blank, Ms Des-Fountain's one-woman aid mission is a reminder that there are still those who refuse to accept that Zimbabwe is a problem beyond hope or resolution.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
"SOMEBODY IS ALWAYS DOING
WHAT SOMEBODY ELSE SAID
COULDN'T BE DONE" !
________
