HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe state workers will go ahead with Wednesday's street protest after the government failed to give in to their demand for U.S. dollar-indexed salaries to cushion them against soaring inflation, union officials said on Tuesday.

(Reuters) - Nigeria launched a crackdown on informal Islamic schools and rehabilitation centres in late September after a man was refused permission to see his nephews at one institution and complained to police. Nearly 1,500 people have been freed so far.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian police have freed 259 people being held at an Islamic rehabilitation centre in the southwestern city of Ibadan, police said on Tuesday, adding that some complained of being beaten regularly by their captors.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan president's bid to remove a cap on commercial lending rates passed through parliament on Tuesday, after legislators opposed to lifting it failed to muster the required numbers to overturn it.

CHEJU, Zanzibar (Reuters) - Scientists seeking a breakthrough in the fight against malaria have used drones to spray rice fields in Zanzibar - not with traditional pesticides but with a thin, non-toxic film.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Nigerian police have released 259 people held captive at an Islamic rehabilitation centre in the southwestern city of Ibadan, a police spokesman said on Tuesday.

KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's President Paul Kagame has appointed a new foreign affairs minister in a cabinet reshuffle, a statement read on state broadcaster Radio Rwanda late on Monday said.

KAMPALA (Reuters) - Eight Ugandan journalists were detained on Monday as they marched in the capital Kampala to protest what they said were police abuses, including beatings and detentions, during coverage of student protests last month, a rights group official said.

EL-FASHER, Sudan (Reuters) - Sudan is discussing several scenarios such as cash transfers for poor people to accompany planned subsidies for food and other basic goods, Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok said on Monday.

CONAKRY (Reuters) - Two people were killed in Guinea on Monday, authorities said, as protesters and police clashed during a funeral procession for those killed in earlier protests over a suspected effort by President Alpha Conde to extend his mandate.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Monday and voiced support for negotiations between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan over a giant hydroelectric dam on Ethiopia's Blue Nile, the White House said.