Lausanne / AFP Pessimistic envoys from the United States, Russia and Syria’s neighbours met on Saturday in Switzerland as Secretary of State John Kerry tried to revive hopes of a ceasefire for the war-torn country. The talks marked Kerry’s first encounter with his Russian opposite number Sergei Lavrov since a US and Russian-sponsored truce collapsed last month amid a ferocious ...

  Lucknow/ AFP A stampede at a religious gathering in northern India killed 19 people on Saturday as thousands of devotees of a controversial guru tried to cross a bridge at once, police said. The followers of Jai Gurudev, a leader of a local religious sect, had gathered in Varanasi, a Hindu holy town in Uttar Pradesh state, when the deadly ...

  Baghdad / AFP A suicide bomber attacked a Shiite-majority area of north Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least 32 people and wounding more than two dozen, security and medical officials said. The bomber struck in the Shaab area of the Iraqi capital, targeting either a funeral tent or one at which Shiite Muslims distribute food and drinks on the occasion ...

  Tripoli / AFP Libya’s UN-backed unity government suffered a blow in its Tripoli base when a rival seized key offices in the capital and proclaimed the reinstatement of the former administration. The Government of National Accord (GNA) is the centrepiece of Western hopes to stem an upsurge of extremism in the North African nation and halt people trafficking across ...

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey has angrily reacted to the cancellation of a panel in Sweden about the failed July coup attempt seeking to oust the government from power, calling it a “blow” to the freedom of expression. The panel “July 15th—Behind the Scene of the Bloody Coup” had been planned to take place in Stockholm. The office of the ...

  Benaulim / AFP Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed lucrative defence and energy pacts on Saturday following talks aimed at reinvigorating ties between the former Cold-War allies. Modi hailed Putin as an “old friend” after their meeting in the Indian state of Goa, where leaders of the other BRICS emerging nations were also gathering for ...

  Bloomberg Orange SA’s Egyptian unit is set to become the country’s second 4G mobile-phone operator after acquiring an airwaves license Thursday, joining the state-controlled landline monopoly Telecom Egypt. Orange Egypt will pay $484 million for 2 x 10 megahertz of 4G spectrum and $11.3 million for a virtual fixed-line license, Jean Marc Harion, chief executive officer of the unit, ...

  Bloomberg The world’s most prominent energy forecaster will raise its outlook for wind and solar installations following a decade of underestimating growth in the renewables industry. The International Energy Agency, which was established as a watchdog of the industry in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, will “significantly” raise its estimates for renewables when it publishes its annual ...

  Bloomberg Kashagan, a vast oil field in the Caspian Sea, sent its first crude for export after about 16 years in development and more than $50 billion of investments. The venture loaded 26,500 metric tons of crude for export into the country’s pipelines, Kazakhstan’s Energy Ministry said in an e-mailed statement Friday. Of that, 7,700 tons was sent to ...

Bloomberg Egypt has appointed Citigroup Inc. as financial adviser to help with a potential sale of its stake in Arab African International Bank, according to people familiar with the matter. Central bank authorities are still determining the size of the holding they want to sell and whether to pursue an initial public offering or a sale to a third party, ...