China exports unexpectedly rise in July

Can you still send strong messages when you've rolled out the red carpet and chilled the champagne for a state dinner? China's Xi Jinping is being feted in the French capital for his first visit to Europe since 2019, despite trade tensions, spy scandals and insistence that he isolate Vladimir Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The EU and Lebanon have agreed upon an aid package to help the country deal with its financial crisis and high numbers of refugees. Most experts believe the deal could increase, not dampen, irregular migration.

The naira continues to trade around 1,300 against the greenback at the official market this week. Meanwhile, data from the CBN shows Nigeria’s currency in circulation has risen to 3.87 trillion naira at the end of March. Kingsley Nwaiwu, Head of Consumer sector sales, Global Markets at Stanbic IBTC joins CNBC Africa on the FX trading patterns, impact of CBN’s reforms and Nigeria’s drive to increase dollar flows.

Nigeria has announced plans to delist the naira from all peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms. According to the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the move is to tackle the manipulation of the local currency’s value in the foreign exchange market.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's trip to the Western Balkan state strengthens the so-called steel friendship that has developed between Beijing and Belgrade. In Serbia, China is seen as the strongest ally after Russia.

Chad's election results are being disputed after interim President Mahamat Idriss Deby was declared the winner according to provisional results, something opposition leader Succes Masra described as an attempt to "steal" the vote.