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The west African country of Mauritania is moving its weekend to Saturday and Sunday to be more in tune with its European business partners.

« It’s clear that not being on par with our trading partners is causing us huge losses, » says Seyedna Ali Ould Mohamed Khouna, Mauritania’s public service minister. With a Muslim majority, the country has traditionally started the weekend on Friday, and local newspaper Essirage fears there may be large protests when the switch takes effect on 1 October.

The government has tried to move the traditional weekend before. In 2005, ministers shifted to a Monday to Friday work week, saying the country’s economy was losing $70m (£43m) per year without it.

Businesses say they benefitted from the change. « We had to get all our transactions done between Monday and Wednesday, because if they got left to Thursday, they would just get stuck as we wound down for the Mauritanian weekend, » bank manager Moktar Fall said about the last switch. But the next president changed it back in 2007.

As one of the world’s poorest countries, Mauritania wants to further exploit its oil and gas reserves. But other Arab states have accused it of compromising principles to improve its relations with the West.

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Egypt has a key role to play in countering Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on a visit to Cairo.

He said Egypt could « publicly renounce » IS ideology, reaffirming US support for Egypt’s battle against Sinai militants.

Foreign fighters crossing Sinai en route for Syria are advising local militants there, US officials say.

Mr Kerry is on the last leg of his Middle East tour as he tries to form a broad coalition to tackle IS militants.

He has already enlisted the support of 10 Arab states so far but he has ruled out Iran joining the US-led coalition.

IS controls large parts of both countries and its fighters have become notorious for their brutality, but in recent weeks they have been targeted by US air strikes.

The CIA says the group has as many as 30,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama unveiled plans for an expansion of the US campaign against IS.

The 10 Arab countries to have signed up to the coalition are: Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

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The Nigerian army says it has killed some 100 Boko Haram militants, after repelling an attack on a key town in north-eastern Borno state.

Government forces reportedly seized vehicles and ammunition from insurgents while securing Konduga, 35km (22 miles) from the state capital Maiduguri, on Friday.

The battle followed a warning by elders that Maiduguri was « surrounded ».

Boko Haram has been trying to establish a caliphate in Borno since 2009.

A feared commander known only as Amir is believed to be among the dead Boko Haram militants.

Nigerian troops routed the Boko Haram fighters on Friday morning « after three hours of fierce fighting », army spokesman Timothy Antigha said in a statement.

The attack on Konduga happened at 05:30 local time (04:30 GMT), he added.

Eyewitnesses said that soldiers and pro-government vigilante fighters appeared in high spirits after the battle, the BBC’s Tomi Oladipo in Lagos says.

The Nigerian military has been trying to boost soldiers’ morale and rallying public support through a social media campaign with the #VictoryForNigeria hashtag, our correspondent says.

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Police in Uganda say they have seized large amounts of explosives during raids on suspected al-Shabab militants.

Authorities said the terrorist cell was planning to carry out imminent attacks in the capital Kampala.

Nineteen people have been arrested and are being interrogated about their intentions, a police spokesman said.

Uganda has been on high alert since al-Shabab’s leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a US air strike in Somalia earlier this month.

Last week, the US embassy in Kampala warned of possible revenge attacks against US targets in response to the air strike on 2 September.

On Sunday, the US lifted its warnings after saying it believed the « immediate threat of an al-Shabab attack has been effectively countered ».

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The father of a Briton killed in a siege at an Algerian gas plant has not « forgiven or understood » his son’s death, an inquest has heard.

Stephen Green from Fleet in Hampshire was one of six British workers killed at the In Amenas plant in January 2013.

His father David told the hearing, at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, he felt « anger at those responsible ».

Forty workers and 29 militants were killed during the siege.

The inquest is examining the deaths of Garry Barlow, 50, from Liverpool; Carson Bilsland, 46, from Perthshire; Stephen Green, 47, from Hampshire; Sebastian John, 26, from Norfolk; Paul Morgan, 46, from Liverpool and Kenneth Whiteside, 59, from Fife.

It is also examining the death of Carlos Estrada, a Colombian who had moved to London.

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