African news : breaking news, features, analysis

South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal is hearing an application by prosecutors to increase disgraced Olympic and Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius' six-year prison sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine's Day in 2013.

Prosecutors say the sentence is "shockingly light", and he should be given a 15-year jail term.

Defence lawyers are opposing the application, arguing that the six-year sentence handed down by a lower court is appropriate.

Pistorius says he shot dead Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for a burglar at his upmarket home in the capital, Pretoria.

The lower court said mitigating circumstances, such as rehabilitation and remorse, outweighed aggravating factors, such as his failure to fire a warning shot, for deviating from the prescribed 15-year sentence.