Bloomberg Global Infrastructure Partners agreed to buy a 20 percent stake in Spain’s Gas Natural SDG SA for 3.8 billion euros ($4.3 billion) from shareholders Repsol SA and Criteria Caixa. Repsol, Spain’s biggest oil company, and Criteria each sold 10 percent stakes in the natural gas distributor for 19 euros a share, according to a statement from Madrid-based Repsol ...

  TEHRAN / AP Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday unveiled a new high-speed vessel the force says is capable of carrying a helicopter and up to 100 people, Iranian state TV reported. The report follows a series of close encounters between American warships and Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf. The TV showed a catamaran-type ship described as 55 ...

  Aleppo / AFP A ceasefire billed as the “last chance” for peace in Syria appeared to be holding on its first full day Tuesday, with residents nationwide reporting a rare respite from years of violence. The truce brokered by Russia and the United States saw guns fall silent at sundown on Monday, in the latest bid to end a ...

  Bangalore / AFP Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm on Tuesday in the Indian tech hub of Bangalore which was placed under curfew after deadly violence erupted over a water dispute with a neighbouring state. Thousands of police officers were deployed on the largely deserted streets of the southern city to enforce the curfew, after rampaging, stone-pelting mobs ...

  Juba / AFP A report commissioned by actor-activist George Clooney alleging massive corruption and war profiteering by leaders of South Sudan, the world’s newest nation, is “completely rubbish”, the government said on Tuesday. A spokesman for President Salva Kiir said the report released in Washington at a high-profile press conference headed by Clooney was both “misleading” and ill-intentioned. Released ...

  Harare / AFP Zimbabwean police have announced a fresh ban on protests in the capital Harare, state media said on Tuesday, in another attempt to end demonstrations against veteran ruler President Robert Mugabe. The order came hours after a coalition of opposition parties said they would stage mass rallies across the country on Saturday to push for reform before ...

  Manila / AFP The Philippines assured the United States on Tuesday it will honour its obligations as a military ally following volleys of profane tirades by unpredictable President Rodrigo Duterte. Duterte said he was “not a fan” of Washington and on Monday called for the small number of US military advisers to leave the southern Philippines. On Tuesday Duterte ...

  Bloomberg European Union President Donald Tusk lashed out at his Polish compatriots, telling them to stop attacking the bloc as a spat between Luxembourg and Hungary underlined the east-west tension he’s struggling to defuse ahead of this week’s summit of European leaders. In untypically blunt remarks, Tusk told reporters after meeting Prime Minister Beata Szydlo in Warsaw that the ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia gears up for parliamentary elections on September 18 in the grips of its longest economic crisis since President Vladimir Putin took charge in 2000. Despite falling incomes and rising poverty, parties loyal to the Kremlin strongman look set to dominate the vote yet again. What role is the crisis playing in the vote and can ...

  Brasília / AFP Fresh off his predecessor’s impeachment, Brazilian President Michel Temer is launching reforms meant to save the tanking economy, but his austerity plan risks triggering backlash — including among his allies. The center-right president was sworn in on August 31 to serve out the rest of predecessor Dilma Rousseff’s term, after she was removed from office on charges ...