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  1. Video content

    Video caption: Ukraine war: Minesweeping dog helps clear Chernihiv of Russian explosives

    Patron, a Jack Russell, has so far helped to remove hundreds of explosive devices.

  2. Video content

    Video caption: Ukraine war: Grandmother 'horrified' by capture of British fighter

    A British man serving in the Ukrainian marines has been captured by Russian soldiers.

  3. Germans urged to turn down thermostats and annoy Putin

    Robert Habeck
    Image caption: Economics Minister Robert Habeck says reducing gas and oil dependency starts with personal behaviour

    Germans are being urged to turn down their heating by a degree and use the train or bike over Easter to help reduce their dependence on Russian gas and oil.

    "It's easy on the wallet and annoys Putin," says Economics Minister Robert Habeck, who's also joint leader of the Greens, one of three parties running Germany.

    Germany is under pressure from several other EU countries to agree to a complete ban on Russian energy but it currently relies on Russia for 40% of its gas and a quarter of its oil.

    Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky criticised Germany for moving too slowly on an energy embargo, during his interview with the BBC this week.

    German economic institutes warn that immediately halting Russian imports would spark a sharp recession in Europe's biggest economy. But Zelensky says Ukraine's partners need to understand that for his country, it is an issue of survival.

  4. Video content

    Video caption: Royal Welsh lead 1,200-strong Nato taskforce training in Estonia

    The Royal Welsh has been leading a 1,200-strong Nato training taskforce in Estonia.

  5. US approves major sale of weapons to Nigeria

    Ishaq Khalid

    BBC News, Abuja

    The US has agreed to sell military equipment worth $997m (£763m) to Nigeria, including 12 attack helicopters and numerous Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS) rockets.

    The equipment had been requested by Nigeria, and would help to improve security in Sub-Saharan Africa in line with US foreign policy goals and shared security objectives, a statement from the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said.

    The US also said Nigeria will have no difficulty in acquiring the weapons, but the process is expected to take at least five years.

    It will include training Nigerian military personnel on how to use the equipment and on human rights, to avoid harming civilians.

    Nigeria is struggling to tackle violence by extremist groups such as Boko Haram and the so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap), as well as worsening attacks by armed criminal gangs who carry out killings and kidnappings for ransom.

    This is the second major arms sale to Nigeria by the US in five years.

    The US had previously rejected Nigeria's request for military equipment due to human rights concerns during the administration of Barack Obama.

    But in 2017 the Trump administration agreed to sell 12 Super Tucano planes to Nigeria, which were delivered last year.

  6. Bus crash kills 35 people in Zimbabwe

    Richard Hamilton

    BBC News

    A map showing Chipinge and Harare in Zimbabwe.

    Thirty-five churchgoers have been killed in a bus crash in Zimbabwe.

    More than 70 others were seriously injured in the accident on Thursday night.

    The bus was carrying members of the Zion Christian Church, who were on their way to an Easter service in the eastern town of Chipinge, when the vehicle veered off the road and landed in a gorge.

    Police spokesman, Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi, said he thought the bus was overloaded.

    He added that the police try to discourage bus drivers from travelling at night.

    Correspondents say such accidents are common in Zimbabwe during public holidays, when the roads are often busier.

    There are also many potholes, which contribute to accidents.

  7. Why the only chocolate São Tomé makes is organic

    Tamasin Ford

    BBC News, São Tomé

    Worker making chocolate in São Tomé.
    Image caption: Companies are increasingly processing cocoa into chocolate locally

    The tiny archipelago of São Tomé was once the world's biggest exporter of cocoa, but now it focuses on quality over quantity because it can no longer compete with larger nations.

    "We decided to produce organic cocoa only," President Carlos Vila Nova tells the BBC, explaining that buyers have to place their orders years in advance.

    "In my opinion, that's the way [forward] for agriculture. We have to focus on gourmet, because we don’t have the quantity."

    Cocoa pods picked at Roça de Diogo Vaz plantation.
    Image caption: Cocoa grows year-round which makes it a reliable crop

    Cocoa production on the twin islands of São Tomé and Príncipe is a legacy rooted in slavery and colonialism.

    The Portuguese forced slaves to work the previously uninhabited land from the 15th Century onwards, then in the 19th and 20th Centuries, plantations began producing coffee and cocoa that was farmed by the slaves and later by forced, exploited islanders.

    Cadburys, Rowntrees, Fry's and other chocolate manufacturers bought their beans from São Tomé until an exposé of horrific ,slave-like working conditions appeared in US magazine Harper's.

    By the 1920s, companies had switched their source of beans to Ghana and Ivory Coast - ending São Tomé’s ignominious title as the biggest cocoa exporter in the world.

    A worker sorts the produce on a table at Roça de Diogo Vaz plantation.
    Image caption: Some are championing 'tree-to-bar' or 'bean-to-bar' chocolate

    Now there is a growing focus on tree-to-bar chocolate, something that the big manufacturers have always said is too costly and difficult to do in West Africa.

    "By keeping it in the country we not only add value to the product by transforming it into chocolate but we also create jobs," says agronomist Fegegta Tadele Yidmekatchew who works for a French company called the Kennyson group, which has owned the Roça de Diogo Vaz plantation in north-western of São Tomé for several decades.

    "I think if that's not done [by other companies] it's mostly because people aren't willing to make the investment or pay a little bit more for the chocolate or cocoa."

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