South Africa is expecting to harvest its biggest maize crop in four decades a year after drought devastated output of the country's staple food.
Farmers are set to produce over 15 million tonnes which means the country will have a 50% surplus for the year, according to government figures.
The bumper harvest is a result of good rains in January and February.
The extra produce is expected to help to push food prices down, according to agricultural economists.
Food security is a concern for many and in South Africa rising food prices have made life more difficult particularly for the millions of poor and unemployed, says the BBC's Pumza Fihlani.
Image copyrightAFPImage captionMaize is a staple food for many in South Africa and across the region
A drop in the coast of food would be a welcome relief for many households our correspondent says.
South Africa, along with the rest of the region, is still recovering from the effects of last year's drought that was caused by the El Nino climate phenomenon and led to widespread food shortages.
But, according to the local weather services, the rainfall recorded in January and February this year was more than double the average.
US scientists have re-engineered a vital antibiotic in a bid to wipe out one of the world's most threatening superbugs.
Their new version of vancomycin is designed to be ultra-tough and appears to be a thousand times more potent than the old drug, PNAS journal reports.
It fights bacteria in three different ways, making it much less likely that the bugs can dodge the attack.
It is yet to be tested in animals and people, however.
The Scripps Research Institute team hope the drug will be ready for use within five years if it passes more tests.
Fighting superbugs
Experts have repeatedly warned that we are on the cusp of a "post-antibiotic era", where some infections could become untreatable.
Image copyrightSPLImage captionPetri dish cultured with bacteria
One hard-to-treat infection that has been worrying doctors is vancomycin-resistant enterococci or VRE.
It has been found in hospitals, can cause dangerous wound and bloodstream infections and is considered by the WHO to be one of the drug-resistant bacteria that pose the greatest threat to human health.
Some antibiotics still work against VRE, but the 60-year-old drug vancomycin is now powerless.
The Scripps team set out to see if they could revamp vancomycin to restore its killing ability.
They made some strategic modifications to the molecular structure of the old drug to make it better at attacking bacteria where it hurts - destroying cell walls.
Three changes in particular seem to be important, increasing the strength and durability of the drug.
Lead researcher Dr Dale Boger explained: "We made one change to the molecule vancomycin that overcomes what is the present resistance to vancomycin. And then we added to the molecule, two small changes that built into the molecule, two additional ways in which it can kill bacteria. So the antibiotic has three different, we call them 'mechanisms', by which it kills bacteria. And resistance to such an antibiotic would be very difficult to emerge. So it's a molecule designed specifically to address the emergence of resistance."
The modified drug was able to kill samples of VRE in the lab and retained nearly full potency after 50 rounds of exposure to the bacterium.
Dr Boger said: "Organisms just can't simultaneously work to find a way around three independent mechanisms of action. Even if they found a solution to one of those, the organisms would still be killed by the other two.
"Doctors could use this modified form of vancomycin without fear of resistance emerging."
Cyclone Mora has hit the south-eastern coast of Bangladesh, killing at least five people.
Most of them were killed by falling trees in the districts of Cox's Bazar and Rangamati, officials told the BBC.
Hundreds of houses were fully or partly damaged, the officials said. Significant damage is reported in refugee camps housing Rohingya Muslims from neighbouring Myanmar.
The authorities have moved hundreds of thousands of people to shelters.
Cyclone Mora made landfall at 06:00 local time (00:00 GMT) between the fishing port of Cox's Bazar and the city of Chittagong, with winds of up to 117 km/h (73mph), the country's meteorological department said.
Low-lying areas of Cox's Bazar, Chittagong and many other coastal districts were "likely to be inundated" by a storm surge of 1.2m-1.5m (4-5ft) above normal levels, the department had warned.
People have been evacuated to shelters, schools and government offices.
Fishing boats and trawlers have been advised to remain in shelters. Flights in the area have been cancelled.
Image copyrightAFP/GETTY IMAGESImage captionHundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis have been moved to cyclone sheltersImage copyrightEPAImage captionThe capital Dhaka saw rainy weather in the lead-up to the stormImage copyrightEPAImage captionThe storm damaged a number of houses in Sittwe, western Myanmar
About 20,000 houses in refugee camps for Rohingya were damaged, community leader Abdus Salam told AFP news agency.
"In some places, almost every shanty home made of tin, bamboo and plastic has been flattened," Mr Salam added. "Some people were injured, but no-one is dead."
Large camps have been set up in Cox's Bazar for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar.
A clear picture is still not available due to poor communication with many affected areas, Bangladeshi officials told the BBC.
A number of houses were also damaged in western Myanmar.
Cyclone Mora will move northwards past Chittagong, weakening as it moves further inland and downgrading from a Category One hurricane to a tropical storm, tracking website Tropical Storm Risk forecasts.
Parts of eastern India are expected to be affected later on.
The Bay of Bengal is prone to storms and Bangladesh is often hit by severe weather during the monsoon season, from the middle to the end of the year.
Last year, Cyclone Roanu hit coastal Bangladesh, leaving at least 24 people dead.
Thursday 25 May 2017
Image copyrightREUTERS
A Chinese consortium has paid $600m (£462m) for the world's second-largest condom maker.
Australia's Ansell is selling its condom division to Humanwell Healthcare Group and CITIC Capital China Partners in an all-cash deal.
Global sales of its brands, which include Mates, Skyn and Jissbon, lag behind Reckitt Benckiser's Durex.
The deal will allow Ansell to focus on its industrial and medical rubber products.
It is the second largest maker of condoms in China behind .
Ansell chief executive Magnus Nicolin said: "It is our only consumer business, it is the only business where we're not number one in the world, it is a business with a dramatically different go-to-market in terms of marketing spend."
China's condom market is expected to grow by 12% annually between 2016 and 2024 and be worth more than $5bn a year, according to a Transparency Market Research report.
Ansell said while there was potential for good growth for condom sales in emerging markets, it felt they would ultimately slow.
'Good move'
Attitudes towards sex in China have become less strict recently, and more emphasis has been placed on public health education.
Ansell's association with condoms dates back to 1905 when Eric Norman Ansell bought the condom production machinery owned by his employer, the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company.
The condoms business is the company's oldest and smallest division.
Anton Tagliaferro, investment director at Investors Mutual Ltd, a major investor in Ansell, said: "They've sold what was a smallish part of their overall business for a very good price, we think it's a good move."
Ansell shares closed 4.3% higher at $25.18 in Sydney. The stock has risen by a third over the past 12 months
Image captionThe Tamil actor is one of Asia's best-paid stars
Last week, India's Tamil cinema superstar, Rajinikanth, again made noises about joining politics.
Speaking to his fans, the 66-year-old actor told them to be "ready for war" at the right time to take on the "corrupt" political system and a "rotten" democracy.
"If God wills, I will enter politics tomorrow. If I do, I will be truthful and will not entertain the corrupt people," he said.
"I'd like to tell those who want me to enter politics for their personal benefit, don't be disappointed if I don't enter politics. At the same time, just in case if it happens, I will not even let such people near me."
The political uncertainty in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has given new meaning to Rajinikanth's remarks and has led to heated televised debates.
The state plunged into crisis after the death of chief minister J Jayalalitha in December. It eventually led to a split in her ruling AIADMK party. The opposition party DMK is now led by an ageing leader who is enfeebled.
Political watchers say the Hindu nationalist BJP - which rules at the centre - is biding time to enter Tamil Nadu, a state that has so far resisted it. And many believe the party has been wooing the superstar to make political inroads into a state, which sends 39 MPs to the parliament.
"There is a political vacuum in Tamil Nadu that can be filled by the BJP. Rajinikanth is the right person for the right party," Narayan Thirupathy, BJP spokesperson in the state, told reporters.
In the past, the star has dropped hints about joining politics, but eventually stayed away.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES
Many say Rajinikanth's rhetoric sounds similar to the growling threats the star routinely delivers to the villains in his hit movies.
They believe he has not done anything concrete in the past two decades apart from making "vague" statements about his political ambition.
Rajinikanth was born into a Marathi family in the southern state of Karnataka and worked as a bus conductor before the movie bug bit him and led him to the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
Uncertain moves
Married into an upper-caste Tamil family, he says he's a "pure Tamil" whose heart beats for the Tamils who have welcomed him and given him "fame, fortune and love".
Rajinikanth has made regular statements about participating in politics since his famous public appeal during the 1996 elections.
In a televised appeal then, he had urged the people not to vote for the AIADMK party since Ms Jayalalitha was facing criminal charges for economic offences, and urged people to support the DMK.
Political watchers said his appeal swung the elections, leading to the AIADMK's defeat in the polls.
Image copyrightGETTY IMAGESImage captionThere are more than 50,000 fan clubs devoted to the star
During the 2004 elections, he supported an alliance of the AIADMK and BJP. And, in the run-up to the 2014 general elections, BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi met Rajinikanth at his Chennai residence. Mr Modi later said the two did not discuss politics.
Tamil Nadu has had a unique relationship between its movie industry and the politics of the state for over 70 years.
Fan clubs
There have been three movie stars who have been chief ministers - the late matinee idol MG Ramachandran (MGR), later his actress wife Janaki Ramachandran and more recently, Ms Jayalalitha.
The opposition party leader M Karunanidhi was a script writer and there have been many Tamil movie stars - Sivaji Ganesan, Karthik, Napolean, Sarath Kumar, Vijayakanth, Khushboo - who joined political parties.
Rajinikanth's extraordinary popularity and brand value, especially with his mammoth fan base, makes him a potential vote magnet for political parties.
"Fans have a big part in his stardom," says Rinku Kalsy, who worked on For the love of a Man, a documentary on the actor's all-male fan clubs. At last count, there were 55,000 such clubs in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere.
Image captionRajinikanth played an ageing don in the film Kabali last year
To keep alive his larger-than-life image among his fans, Rajinikanth's script writers add to the speculative frenzy by adding dialogue loaded with political meanings in his movies.
His portrayal as a righteous spokesperson for the underdog in all his movies, who takes on social injustices, powerful and greedy villains, has been successful in sending subtle messages to his fans who often request him to join politics.
Will the star, whom even Mr Modi wished on his birthday, retire from the movies and join politics this time around?
Rajinikanth, for his part, keeps the fans and politicians guessing in movie-style suspense.
Image copyrightNEW YORK TIMESImage captionThe New York Times says this evidence was gathered at the scene of the attack
Theresa May is to raise concerns with Donald Trump after evidence from the Manchester Arena bombing was apparently leaked to US media.
UK officials were "furious" when photos appearing to show debris from the attack appeared in the New York Times.
Monday night's attack at Manchester Arena killed 22 people - including children - and injured 64.
Eight men are now in custody following the attack, carried out by suicide bomber Salman Abedi.
It has also emerged two people who had known Abedi at college made separate calls to a hotline to warn the police about his extremist views.
The prime minister is expected to raise the issue of the leak with the US president when they meet at a Nato meeting later.
Details about Abedi's identity had already emerged in the US media less than 24 hours after the explosion and against the UK's wishes.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd said she was "irritated" by the disclosure of Abedi's identity and had warned Washington "it should not happen again".
However, the pictures of debris - which appear to show bloodstained fragments from the bomb and the backpack used to conceal it - were subsequently leaked to the New York Times, prompting a furious response from within Whitehall and from UK police chiefs.
BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera says UK officials believe that US law enforcement rather than the White House is the likely culprit for the leaks.
Further two arrests
The meeting between Mrs May and Mr Trump, at a Nato summit in Brussels, will take place as British police continue to investigate an alleged "network" linked to Abedi.
Early on Thursday morning, detectives carried out a controlled explosion as they searched a property in the Moss Side area of Manchester.
Two men were also arrested following a search of an address in the Withington area of Greater Manchester.
In total, eight men, including Abedi's older brother, and a woman have been arrested in a series of raids across Manchester, Wigan and Nuneaton.
The woman was subsequently released without charge in the early hours of Thursday.
Meanwhile, Abedi's father and a younger brother have been detained by militia in Libya.
Analysis
By James Landale, BBC diplomatic correspondent
The one area where Britain's so-called special relationship with the US is genuinely more than a cliche is in the sharing of intelligence.
Presidents and prime ministers may come and go but it is the continuing engagement between UK and US officials and state institutions that drives the transatlantic relationship.
And it is one based on a principle of trust, namely that if one side shares some intelligence, it is not passed on to third parties, let alone the media.
A loose-lipped president inadvertently revealing a piece of intelligence in a conversation with a foreign leader is one thing.
But the systematic leaking of material in astonishing detail by US security officials to the papers is quite another.
US diplomats will be embarrassed by this. They will not want Mr Trump's largely smooth first foreign trip to be overshadowed by a diplomatic row with one of America's oldest allies.
US law enforcement has a much more transparent culture than Britain's and habitually reveals information about ongoing investigations. But in this case it is not their information and the consequences will matter.
British officials may be less willing to share information and wider relations between the UK and the US will be bruised.
A Whitehall source described the second US leak as "on another level", and told the BBC it had caused "disbelief and astonishment" across the British government.
The source said the the issue was "being raised at every relevant level by the British authorities with their US counterparts".
The UK's National Police Chiefs' Council described the "unauthorised disclosure" as a breach of trust which had potentially undermined a "major counter-terrorism investigation".
Counter-terrorism detectives have spoken in the past about how important it sometimes is that the names of suspects do not make it into the media.
A delay of about 36 hours, before the public know who police are investigating, can allow known associates of the suspect to be arrested before they know police are looking for them.
Mr Burnham told BBC Newsnight a decision had been taken to adopt a "cautious approach" to making information public, "and yet the first reports were coming seemingly out of the United States".
In other developments, the government has announced that a minute's silence will be held at 11:00 BST on Thursday in remembrance of those who lost their lives or were affected by the attack.
The Conservatives and Labour are to resume local general election campaigning on Thursday, and national campaigning on Friday.
What's happening with the investigation?
Image captionIsmail Abedi was detained in Chorlton, south Manchester; his father, Ramadan, was held in Tripoli
Eight men and one woman have been arrested in the UK since Monday night, including Abedi's older brother Ismail, 23, although the woman has since been released.
Younger brother Hashem, 20, was held by militia in the Libyan capital Tripoli, as was their father.
Speaking on Wednesday afternoon, Greater Manchester Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: "I think it's very clear that this is a network that we are investigating.
"And as I've said, it continues at a pace. There's extensive investigations going on and activity taking place across Greater Manchester, as we speak."
As part of their investigation, police raided a block of flats near Manchester Piccadilly station in the city centre, requiring them to carry out a controlled explosion and briefly close the railway line.
Police carried out another controlled explosion in the early hours of Thursday morning at an address in the Moss Side area of Manchester.
Anyone with information about the attack can call the anti-terror hotline on 0800 789321.
Who are the victims?
Image captionClockwise, from top left: Georgina Callander, Saffie Roussos, Olivia Campbell, Martyn Hett, Michelle Kiss, Sorrell Leczkowski, Alison Howe, Lisa Lees, Jane Tweddle-Taylor, Nell Jones, Marcin Klis, Angelika Klis, Kelly Brewster and John Atkinson
Some of the victims had been making their way outside at the end of the Ariana Grande gig when Abedi detonated his "nuts-and-bolts" bomb.
They include children and teenagers and others who had been waiting in the foyer to pick up concert-goers.
The youngest so far known to have died is eight-year-old Saffie Roussos, while an off-duty Cheshire police officer, who has not yet been named, was also among the dead.
The latest victim to be named is Eilidh MacLeod, a 14-year-old from Barra in the Outer Hebrides, also died. Her family issued a statement saying: "Words cannot express how we feel at losing our darling Eilidh."
Of the 64 injured, 20 are in a critical condition. Twelve of them are children.
Who was the attacker?
Image captionSalman Abedi was described by a former classmate as short-tempered and gullible
Salman Abedi was a 22-year-old born in Manchester to Libyan parents, and a former University of Salford student.
He attended Burnage Academy for Boys in Manchester between 2009 and 2011, and The Manchester College until 2013.
A former classmate told the BBC that Abedi was a "very jokey lad" but also "very short tempered" and would get angry at "the littlest thing".
The man, who did not want to be identified, said Abedi had hung around "the wrong crowd and was very, very gullible".
Before leaving Burnage Academy, Abedi had become "more and more religious", the man added.
A Muslim community worker, who did not want to be identified, has told the BBC that two people who had known Abedi at college had made separate calls five years ago to a hotline to warn about his extremist views.
He said they had been worried that Abedi was "supporting terrorism" and he had expressed the view that "being a suicide bomber was ok
ISTOCK
AFP
