COLU @ CONCEPTS

Image copyright REUTERS Image caption UK International Development Secretary Priti Patel announced £200m aid to Nigeria over the next four years Britain is to reduce the amount of money it is giving as humanitarian aid to Nigeria over the next few years. The aid worth £200m ($258m) over the next four years is a 50% drop from the £100m it gave in 2017. The money is aimed at helping north-eastern Nigeria recover from an eight-year insurgency by Boko Haram Islamist militants. More than 1.5 million people are on the brink of famine in the area, aid agencies say. The amount of aid given to Nigeria was increased this year to enable the country cope with the aftermath of the insurgency that prevented people from farming their land. International Development Minister Priti Patel, however, said the Nigerian authorities needed to do more to defeat the extremists and to "secure the safety and well being of its own people". She also said other donors should increase their a...

Image copyright PA Image caption Mr Fox spoke to the media at the end of a three-day visit to Japan The UK must not allow itself to be "blackmailed" by the EU over its Brexit settlement bill in order to start trade talks, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said. He said a bad Brexit deal would damage both British and European companies. Businesses have become impatient with the slow progress of the Brexit negotiations, he added. The latest Brexit talks have stalled over the failure to reach agreement on the UK's so-called divorce bill. Both the UK and EU have expressed frustration at the pace of the talks. The UK wants to begin trade talks as soon as possible, but Brussels insists that discussions about the future relationship can begin only once "sufficient progress" has been made on the arrangements for withdrawal - including the "divorce fee". EU negotiator Michel Barnier said that at the current rate of progress, he was quit...

Media caption Milton Nkosi interviews Duduzane Zuma, the South African president's son The son of South Africa's President Jacob Zuma has denied involvement in alleged corruption despite his links with controversial businessmen. Duduzane Zuma told the BBC there was "nothing untoward" about his business partnership with the Gupta family. Leaked emails about links between President Zuma's family and the Guptas have resulted in an investigation into possible political influence. President Zuma and the Gupta family have repeatedly denied wrongdoing. In an exclusive interview with the BBC's Milton Nkosi, Duduzane Zuma said his ties with the wealthy Gupta family were down to nothing more than him being "a likeable guy". "I don't think they wanted anything from me," he said, adding: "They liked me. As I liked them." Duduzane Zuma, who is one of the South African president's 21 children, insisted ...

Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Image caption Parts of the US border with Mexico are already sealed off Four companies have been chosen to build prototypes for Donald Trump's planned border wall, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said. The four concrete prototypes will be 30ft (9m) long and up to 30ft tall, and will be built in the coming months. Officials will then spend up to two months testing the walls for tampering and penetration resistance using small hand tools, CBP said. The four contracts are worth up to $500,000 (£387,000) each. A continuous wall across the entire southern US border was a key promise in President Trump's election campaign. The prototypes "will help us refine the design standards" of the eventual wall, acting CBP deputy commissioner Ronald Vitiello said. "Testing will look at things like the aesthetics of it, how penetrable they are, how resistant they are to tampering, and scaling or anti-claim features." But he ...

Image copyright CATHOLIC BISHOP OF BANGASSOU, JUAN JOSÉ AGUIRRE MU Image caption An armed Christian militia is camped outside the seminary A Catholic bishop in the Central African Republic (CAR) has given refuge to 2,000 Muslims who are living in fear of attacks from a mainly Christian militia. Juan José Aguirre Munoz says that the refugees cannot leave the seminary's compound in the south-eastern city of Bangassou. He told the BBC that the refugees "risk death" from anti-balaka militias. The UN's humanitarian chief warned last week of possible genocide. Stephen O'Brien said that violence in CAR was escalating and the situation was becoming dire. "Violence is intensifying, risking a repeat of the devastating destructive crisis that gripped the country four years ago," he said. Mr O'Brien added: "The early warning signs of genocide are there. We must act now." CAR has experienced sectarian violence since 2013, when the largel...

Image copyright FARC Image caption The party will keep its famous acronym, but give it a new meaning Colombia's former armed rebel group Farc has announced its new name and logo as it makes its transition to a civilian political party. The group will retain the acronym Farc - which will now stand for the Alternative Revolutionary Force for the Common People - and adopt a red rose as its symbol. It was previously known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The group finished disarming in June as part of the country's peace process. About 1,200 delegates from the group met in Bogota this week at the party's first congress since abandoning its five-decade armed cause. The delegates will choose candidates to run in the 2018 election, where the new party will have a number of guaranteed seats. Source: www.bbc.com 

CROSBY, Texas (AP) — The Latest on a Houston-area chemical plant that lost power after Harvey (all times local): 6:05 p.m. An official says the fire is out at a chemical plant near Houston but they are monitoring the site for more blazes. Explosions and fires rocked the flood-crippled Arkema Inc. plant in Crosby early Thursday. The plant’s owners warned more explosions could follow because a loss of refrigeration was causing chemicals stored there to degrade and burn. Rachel K. Moreno, spokeswoman for the Harris County Fire Marshal, said the fire that began early Thursday in a trailer at the plant went out around noon. She said there are eight other trailers on the site that they are monitoring. Moreno said her agency was notified Tuesday morning about the facility’s power outage, which they believe it was caused by flooding. Moreno said any decision to enter the facility is up to the company, not first responders. Fire and police are maintaining the 1.5 mile buffer in...