French oil group Total has found ways of reducing the cost of extracting ultra-deep Angolan offshore oil reserves by a fifth and has decided to go ahead with investment in the Kaombo project, the firm said on Monday. Total and its venture partners have found ways of reducing the overall capital cost by $4.0 billion (2.9 billion euros) to $16.0 billion, and production is set to begin in 2017, Total said in a statement.

The Ebola haemorrhagic fever plaguing Guinea is caused by one of the deadliest viruses known to mankind, killing up to 90 percent of people it infects. The tropical virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea. Of some 1,850 people diagnosed with Ebola haemorrhagic fever since the virus was first identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire) 38 years ago, 1,200 have died, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Out of 86 known cases in Guinea, there have been more than 60 deaths in the southern forest region of the west African nation,which borders Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Ebola virus plaguing Guinea is one of the deadliest known to man, claiming the lives of two-thirds of the people it has infected so far. The tropical virus can fell its victims within days, causing severe fever and muscle pain, weakness, vomiting and diarrhoea -- in some cases shutting down organs and causing unstoppable bleeding. Of around 1,850 people diagnosed with Ebola haemorrhagic fever since the virus was first identified 38 years ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then Zaire), 1,200 have died, the UN health agency says. Of 86 cases in Guinea there have been 59 deaths in the southern forest region of the west African nation bordering Ivory Coast, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Oil-rich Angola aims to roll out measures to boost productivity in its agriculture sector and curb its dependence on food imports, but there are concerns price hikes will harm the poor. Before its independence in 1975, Angola was an agricultural powerhouse known for its coffee and rubber production. It left the southwestern African country heavily reliant on food imports, which account for 90 percent total food consumed. In the first nine months of last year, Angola spent over $3.6 billion on imported food and drinks alone, according to the trade ministry.

Angola on Wednesday announced $10 million in aid for the strife-torn Central African Republic, with a possible credit line in the future, during a visit by Bangui's president. Joaquim do Espirito Santo, Africa director in the foreign affairs ministry, told Angolan television that the aid was to support the transitional government and to respond to the ongoing humanitarian crisis. Making an official two-day visit to Luanda, Central Africa's interim President Catherine Samba Panza said there were "still peaks of violence" but that the general situation was beginning to come under control.