BBC News.

The United Nations has renewed its warning of the scale of the humanitarian crisis facing four countries in Africa and the Middle East, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and Yemen. Its Chief Humanitarian Coordinator Stephen O'Brien said more than 20 million people were at risk of starvation and famine.

The US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said his Department will not tolerate the behavior of military personnel who appeared to be sharing nude photographs of their female colleagues on social media. Mr. Mattis condemned what he described as an egregious violation of the Department's values.

Volkswagen has pleaded guilty in an American court to three criminal charges linked to the diesel emissions scandal. The plea is part of a deal with the US Justice Department. Volkswagen has admitted that for a six-year period, vehicles were fitted with illegal software to disguise high levels of pollution.

Iraq says it’s found no evidence that Islamic State fighters have used chemical weapons in the battle for Mosul. Earlier this month, the UN said 12 people had been treated for possible exposure to chemical weapons agents in the city.

Many hundreds of people, members of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation andtheir supporters, have marched through Washington to protest against the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline. Native American tribes say leaks from theoil pipeline will pollute water supplies and endanger sites they consider sacred.

The Venezuelan authorities have found the decomposing bodies of three people inside a prison that was closed five months ago after a riot. They believe the remains belong to three inmates reported missing when prisoners were transferred to other jails.

The American author Robert James Waller has died at the age of 77. His romantic novel, the Bridges of Madison County became a bestseller after it'd been made into a film with Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood.

BBC News.