A police officer has been formally charged with murder over the shooting death of an unarmed, naked black man with mental health problems.

A prosecutor in DeKalb County, Georgia, said that officer Robert Olsen was charged with a total of six crimes over the death of 27-year-old Anthony Hill.

Mr Hill, a US Air Force veteran who suffered from bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, was having a manic episode when he was shot to death in March 2014 in the car park outside his apartment building.

Robert Olsen has been charged with six counts, including murder (AP)

Mr Olsen had told investigators that Mr Hill had been approaching him in what he said was a hostile manner and failed to respond to commands to stop.

As it was, he was on ThursdayImage copyrightAFPImage caption
Shinzo Abe said Japan would focus on Africa's young people and women

Japan should increase its business links with the fast-growing economies in Africa, "the continent that carries the hopes of the world", Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said.

Speaking in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa at the end of his first tour of the continent, he also pledged to increase aid and investment.

Mr Abe said he would increase support for peacekeeping in South Sudan.

His visit is seen as an attempt to rival China's huge influence in Africa.

Mr Abe said Japan's priorities would be the continent's young people and women.

"We will centre the axis of Japan's diplomacy toward Africa on two groups: Young people, who will without a doubt shoulder the responsibility for the future Africa, and women,