SAN PEDRO, Ivory Coast, July 24 (Reuters) - Swollen shoot disease is worsening in the heart of Ivory Coast's cocoa belt with some plantations seeing a significant drop in production, farmers and exporters said on Tuesday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa has recalled a number of high blood pressure and heart drugs containing an ingredient manufactured in bulk by a Chinese company following detection of an impurity that may cause cancer, its health authority said on Tuesday.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates hosted the leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea on Tuesday, lauding their "bold and historic" rapprochement as enhancing prospects for peace and prosperity.

JUBA (Reuters) - Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Tuesday it had suspended activities n the northeast of South Sudan, a day after unidentified armed men stormed one of its compounds, looted property and burned equipment.

LONDON (Reuters) - Angola's $5 billion sovereign wealth fund locked horns with Quantum Global, manager of $3 billion of the fund's assets, in London's High Court on Tuesday, as the investment firm sought to overturn an asset freeze the fund obtained.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission offered on Tuesday to shoulder the cost of taking in migrants from boats in the Mediterranean, seeking to entice more governments to shoulder the burden after Italy's new government closed the country's ports to rescue vessels.

BAMAKO (Reuters) - An airport in central Mali was hit by shells, the regional governor said on Tuesday, the latest unrest just days before the country votes for a president.

DAKAR (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's health ministry on Tuesday declared an end to an Ebola outbreak believed to have killed 33 people, after 42 days with no new cases.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday President Vladimir Putin would meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan in South Africa on Thursday at a summit of BRICS countries.

PRETORIA (Reuters) - China would invest $14.7 billion in South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday after talks between the two countries, news that sent the rand one percent firmer.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Fifteen Nigerian senators defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress party on Tuesday, leaving it with minority in the upper house of parliament, an aide to the Senate president said on Twitter.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt said on Saturday it was raising the price of natural gas for home and commercial use by up to 75 percent, the latest move in an IMF-backed austerity programme that has left many Egyptians struggling to make ends meet.

GENEVA (Reuters) - Voter intimidation, threats of violence and coercion including people forced to attend political rallies are being increasingly reported ahead of Zimbabwe's elections on July 30, especially in rural areas, the U.N. human rights office said on Tuesday.

N'DJAMENA (Reuters) - Suspected Boko Haram militants killed 18 farmers and kidnapped nine women in western Chad, authorities said, part of a wave of violence that has spread from neighbouring Nigeria across the region.

ASMARA (Reuters) - The latest batch of recruits to Eritrea's national service have been told it will last no longer than 18 months, relatives said, raising hopes the indefinite conscription that forces thousands of young men to flee every month may be ending.

DAKAR (Reuters) - Congolese opposition leader and former warlord Jean-Pierre Bemba, whose war crimes convictions were quashed in May, will return to the country next week to submit his candidacy for president, a party official said on Monday.

ACCRA (Reuters) - Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Monday named lawyer and governance specialist Jean Mensa to head the national electoral commission, dismaying the main opposition party which said Mensa was an unsuitable choice.