Cartagena / AFP Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC rebels, Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, are due to sign a historic peace deal on Monday to end a five-decade war. The former enemies will sign the accord at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT) at a ceremony in the colourful colonial city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast, …

  The Hague / AFP In a blow to Australia, an international arbitration court agreed on Monday to take up a decade-long maritime border dispute between East Timor and Canberra which cuts through lucrative oil and gas fields in the Timor Sea. The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) “held that it was competent to continue with the conciliation process” initiated by …

  Dubai / Reuters Saudi banking shares rallied on Monday after the central bank said it would deposit about 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) at commercial lenders and introduce two new money market instruments to fight a surge in market interest rates caused by low oil prices. Riyadh’s main index climbed 0.7 percent as three-quarters of the banking shares rose. …